Dave,  thanks so much for hosting a fun event! You have created a course that is beautiful, adventurous, and brutal.

This was my (and Ian's) first attempt at a bikepacking race, though we both have been cycling for a long time.

The climb out of the canyon went quickly and was conversational in pace. We hit snow almost immediately on the Sydney peaks trail, and had 10-15 minutes of hiking and route finding. From the summit at 11k, things began to string out on the descent, and before long it was just the two of us. Riding through the open meadows of that plateau were some of the best miles of the trip.

The descent into Navajo Lake was ridiculously fun and wild, but with lots of downed trees. After a relaxed water refill at the campground, we were off on the VRRT.  I was optimistic when I saw fresh log cut on the first mile of trail, but I don't think it lasted longer than that first mile. Before long we were jumping endless downfall, but somehow managed to keep our pace consistent.  At times it felt like a cyclocross event with waist high barriers. Many sections of the VRRT were rougher than I had anticipated, and I was regretting having a hardtail. 

Eventually we made it to Todd's store, and choked down some $1.99 gas station burritos before heading up the road towards the Pole Canyon climb. The upper section of Pole canyon is rough hike a bike, but feels so wild and remote that it kept motivation high. Our plan was to sleep early and at higher elevation to avoid the cold valley inversions. After a refill at Water Canyon spring we started the climb up towards Crawford Pass, and decided to bivvy when we found a nice spot around 10:30pm. It stayed remarkably warm up high where we camped, and continued to be warm when we started riding again at 4am. Not until we dropped down into the Tropic Reservoir valley did the temperature precipitously drop, and we quickly had to put on every bit of clothing we had. There was frost on the grass as the sun rose, and my hands became as painfully numb as then have been in a long time. We skipped the Tropic spring water source because the upcoming campsite was more on-route, but it turns out the campsite doesn't have reliable running water. Luckily some campers saw our situation and helped us out with a small refill.

The miles up to Thunder Mountain are fast dirt road, and I was only slowed down by some worsening chamois issues. Extra chamois cream was essential.  Thunder mountain was fun riding, and I would like to go back there with fresh legs -- we both walked some steep sections that I'm sure are easily ridden. We skipped Harold's restaurant, and instead restocked at the Indian trading post just up the street. They have a reliable selection of gas station type food. On the way to Panguitch lake we knew we were on a reasonable time, and began to push more consistently on the climbs when we could. The "piped spring" listed on the GPS waypoints is a great little oasis with a huge tub of perfect water. This section again had some really rough road that had me wishing for full suspension. After another water refill at the Panguitch Lake store, we started the long climb back up to the plateau. After 180 miles of riding, we agreed it would be more fun to roll in together rather than attack each other to the end. On the upper sections and on Spruce trail (again very wild and endless down trees) I would go ahead on the short climbs and hike a bikes, and Ian would catch me on the descent.

The Dark Hollow descent ended up being the hardest part of the whole ride for me.  The number of down trees and steepness of the trail did not go well with my bonking body.  At one point we couldn't even see the trail with all the downfall, and just bushwhacked through the woods following GPS. Ian was certainly faster than me on the technical downhills and could have saved some time by going ahead, but we ultimately stuck together and rolled into the campsite with the same time.  I think we both pushed each other in different areas of the ride, and neither of us would have been as fast alone.

A few things I learned: 1) If I do this ride again I would prefer dual suspension.. I'm convinced it would be faster and less fatiguing on this course. But definitely don't skip this event if you only have a hard tail like me! 2) I didn't need my water filter or tablets because the reliable water sources are well spaced. That said, the peace of mind of having them for backup may be worth it. 3) Chipotle burritos in seabags will explode and get rice and beans on everything else you own. 4)  I'm convinced in good conditions someone could do this ride around 30hrs. We slept (or at least tossed and turned) a leisurely 5 hours.  I'm sure people can push this and potentially ride straight through. Since it seemed that didn't work out last year based on the reports, we just decided to be conservative and schedule the sleep for our first time out.

Give me a week of recovery and I'll start thinking about doing more races like this in the future!

Adam

We did it the first week of October. The aspens were peaking in the high country. We had cool nights and warm (80s) degree days. 100+ does not sound as fun.  Time to reconsider Idaho?

I did it in 2014 with my wife, and she also had limited technical mountain biking experience. We were on cross bikes and I pulled a BOB trailer. Most of the dirt sections are fast fire road, with a couple exceptions. There is rough decent after Cedar Breaks national monument that I was able to ride (barely), and she walked.  It is about a mile of technical terrain.

There is another very difficult climb as you leave Zion that neither of us could ride on cross bikes with our gearing, and was very loose and rocky. 

Finally, there were some extended sections of sand washes as you enter St George.  Some of these are ridable depending on your comfort on sand, others forced us to walk for ~0.5 mile because it was so deep (though we were on 33c cross tires).  Other than these sections, everything is very ridable on a cross bike.

I do not remember the road sections having dangerous amounts of traffic.  We had to hitch hike through the Zion tunnel which is a bit awkward.

Overall it was a beautiful route, and I would do it again.  We did it in 4 days, which I think was too aggressive and made it quite hard. I would recommend 5. It could start to get very hot in June. 

I would also recommend you look into riding the Idaho hot springs main loop.  If you did the cut-off the milage would be similar. This route probably has more non-technical dirt, but more climbing and total elevation gain. The hot springs are awesome.  It is also significantly more remote, so bail out and hotel options are difficult.

Just returned from the main loop; took 8 days.  We rode 29ers and pulled one Bob trailer.  Everything was ride-able with the trailer except about 10 yards of off angle narrow single track on Galena Pass.  We avoided the Middle fork (FS 268) closure by taking FS 327 over rabbit creek summit, camped at Black Rock camp ground, then FS 376 back to the Middle Fork. FS 327 is large road, easy to follow, moderate grade, some washboards.  FS 376 is closed to cars (ATVs only), loose, and very steep for 2 miles before descending. I would say it is a reasonable detour for the closure if you don't have to get to Boise. We had an extra USFS map to guide us (available for free in Idaho City Visitor Center), but these roads were very well marked and the ACA map sufficient. All other road closures around Skeleton Creek and Dollarhide summit are now easily passable. Unfortunately many/most of the hot springs in the southern half are washed out right now. Locals told me FS 268 is closed at least till October.

Casey -- any input on using FS 327 --> FS 376 as a cutoff to avoid the Middle Fork (FS268) road closures? This takes you over rabbit creek summit.

We are leaving today for the main route -- planning on starting in Ketchum and and going CCW to let the roads improve in the south.  I still can't find good information on the Dollarhide summit closure, and the forest service office can't tell me if it is passable on bikes.

Any idea how suitable the main loop is for a cross bike?  I'm hoping to go light and fast, and I'm thinking the cross bike will be more efficient. Plan is to pull a BOB with all the gear for two.