@ScottM, any timeline when trackleaders will be up for registration/viewing?

Thanks for all the work putting a new route together, ScottM & others.

can someone clarify if Mike Hall holds the official record for this?  2016 right?  and total time? 

Yes, 13:22:51.

Power/lighting question to get this started....

I have a sinewave beacon and son 28 hub.  I'd like to run a wahoo roam & a garmin varia rear light, if feasible.  Both are mini-usb.  As well as have another USB port for charging phone (or battery bank) if needed.

What's the best way to wire that up to make it as efficient/reliable as possible, and is a battery bank mandatory/necessary for the TD?  Would prefer to go without to save weight....but maybe not worth the risk?  idk.

Or maybe it's best to run the gps/rear light wiring straight to a battery bank, then charge that as needed (I'd imagine prioritizing downhills/easy flats and turn it off for climbing).

The wahoo would last 12-14hrs on it's own, and the rear light 6-7 hours, no idea what their lives are with a 10,000mAh bank.  I'll also likely carry a garmin etrex 30x as a backup, because it's not much weight and can double as AA battery holder.

They crossed HW 50 and at least on paper, it's easier from there.  That's the way Chris explained it to me, anyway.

*after brown's creek/chalk creek it gets easier.  I think that section between hwy 50 and shavano TH might be some of toughest on the CT, though some of that might be where it sits in the course and not how hard it actually is.

They're almost to the top of Georgia, then it'll really start to get easier.  Bet that Tandem is fast downhill and through Terryall, and I know they trained a fair amount on buff creek.  I can't even imagine riding that whole thing on a tandem, so impressive.

Fantastic run by Neil.  Blasting through the San Juan rain and thunderstorms and never looking back.  Legend

Like I told John I was worried something like that would happen once the gps trail ended.  Used signage and the routes on mtbproject and the azt trail app to stay on course and double check, but unfortunately they're not up to date with trackleaders and the latest changes.   Oh well, it's a bummer but I'm not too disappointed.  My full route upload is on strava, since trackleaders and my spot didn't communicate well.  Definitely had some other hiccups but as far as I know I caught them and was able to backtrack.

Noted on spot recommendations.  I'll have to upgrade my plan thing and find a better spot on the bike for next time.  I know my friends and family were pulling their hair out wondering why updates were so few and far between.

Huge congrats Timon on a historic ride, particularly for a rookie run. Be curious your thoughts of where, if anywhere you could make improvements on this already superhuman effort now that you know the course front to end.

ahhh...this is what causes me to lose sleep.  I think about all the things I did wrong or could do better/faster/more efficiently, and little about what went right.  There's always time to shave somewhere.  With that said, it's still fun to theorize....

• I think most of it is course knowledge and obviously importing the correct gpx track.  I burned up a lot of time (especially at night) pulling out my phone, clicking the gps locate thing, zooming in and making sure I was where I was supposed to be. All those little 30-60sec stops add up.  I think consistently moving forward is one of the biggest keys to fast bikepacking, though I kind of wonder if lots of little micro-rests are beneficial in some way to staying fresher.  I did a little out and back on pavement after I-10 where the azt does the bike detour, was confused where I should go and it took 5mins to figure out.  Two more little out and backs on Redington pass Rd, because it was really difficult to follow the 4wd roads at night when they constantly split and come back together, and then split and don't come back together....etc.  Course knowledge on top of the gps is even better, because it's so much easier to rip through intersections and trailheads without even slowing down and looking to see if you need to take a hard/soft left/right, hop on the dirt road or find the single track on the other side of the road or whatever the situation is.
• I flatted the rear sidewall early the second day.  Spent about 20mins changing it to be absolutely sure anything sharp was out of the tire casing and the tube wasn't going to push through the sidewall and I wasn't going to flat it again a couple mins later or pinch flat it from running too low pressure.
• Took too much food.  I pulled almost 4k calories off my bike at the end, which is roughly 3lbs.  That's kind of a lot to drag all that way.  Was thinking anywhere from 40-48hrs, and didn't want to come up short on calories.  I'd probably do less total calories, and more of the liquid/mix variety.  Couldn't tolerate chewing anything substantial in the heat.
• Weather and risk dependent, one could theoretically ditched the down pants/jacket and warm gloves...which means one less bike bag and less weight there as well.  I used the gloves for 20mins after I got my hands wet, and didn't need the puffies.  But similar to taking too much food, better to have and not need than need and not have.  Especially for potential injuries and whatnot at weird times, far from trailheads.
• Would take more water up Mt Lemmon and less down.  Ran out at the beginning of the road climb which wasn't ideal.  Then filtered from the stream at the top and carried that probably 40+ miles and barely used any of it.
• I attempted a couple trail naps, but failed.  Plan was to go until early day two and if timing allowed pass out for 30mins or so when the weather was nice as a little refresher.  Laid down in a wash and after 20mins I was still wide awake so cut my losses and kept moving.  Did a similar thing at the bottom of picket post.  It was 4:45pm and that whole canyon was getting cooked by the sun and I could tell my core temp was super high.  Figured it'd be best to wait for 45mins and let the shadows grow and end up riding more in the dark than potentially dealing with heatstroke going up there.  Tried to sleep but no luck after 20mins so I sat there for another 10mins in the shade and then continued on.  Even without sleep those instances weren't complete losses though.....energy seemed to feel better after being off my feet for a bit.
• Carried 6 AA batteries that I didn't use.
• Kurt told me specifically not to go out too hard, then I probably went out too hard.  It's just too easy to do when you're tapered and at lower elevations and conditions are good.  Should've saved more of that energy for Redington pass and Mt Lemmon climb

I think sub 37hrs is possible, potentially even 36 if you go super risky on gear choices.

Wow, was a blast watching you kill it out there, congrats! I will say that yeah having it in your jersey pocket is probably a contributing factor - OR WAS IT THE SPEED??!! lol. I attach mine to my shoulder strap of my pack near the top so the top faces the sky. Never had any issues doing that. And as you also got to learn, the eTrex family will cut off anything over 10k points, so the simplified versions are what to use and why they are provided. I can't believe you dealt with that logistical issue while riding such a fast pace.

Congrats again!

Oh, lol....oops.  Guess it was my fault in the end.  You'd think they'd warn you when you open it like "hey, we're gonna cut off all the important stuff once you're well established out in the middle of nowhere, are you sure you want us to cull this file?'

.

I don't like wearing packs for longer distances, creates extra hand fatigue.  Will have to rig it to handlebars or seat bag I suppose.  My bigger revelate bag has a nice spot for it, but this smaller one didn't.

Looking back at the trackleaders history it'll be consistent at 10m intervals, and then miss an hour chunk, then a handful of 10m hits, then miss an hour+.  Weird.

Congrats Jefe!

Sorry about the bouncy spot, must be infuriating to watch.   It's a newer Spot GenX, set to 10min intervals to conserve some battery.  Had similar issues last fall with it not updating as fast as others do.  Sounds like everyone was getting hour updates, not 10mins.  I have it in my back middle jersey pocket.  Maybe that's the issue?  and it gets blocked by my body too much?  I don't know.  I'll try to mount it on the bike next time away from me and see if that helps.  Open to suggestions.

The track (AZT300 2021 v6) that I downloaded from https://aztrail.home.blog/route-gpx/ is corrupt or something when uploaded to my Garmin etrex 30x.  Don't know how I stupidly didn't notice it until I was out there, but it only goes from parker canyon lake to 77 miles, right before the I-10 crossing.  I re-downloaded and imported the file this morning to make sure it wasn't a one-off bad export/import before, and it did the same thing.  The simplified 10k version has the entire 277 miles.  Lesson learned on previewing the whole course on my device beforehand and/or having multiple track files on the device.  Fortunately had my phone as a gps backup and was able to use trackleaders/mtbproject and a call to the girlfriend to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Timon,
You're best bet is to go further south, come up & over Montezuma Pass & drive up to PCL via W. Montezuma Canyon Rd. Dirt road is in pretty good shape.

Okay, awesome...thanks!

Question about getting to the start from Sierra Vista.  Google recommends the route below, but I've been led astray by google before, into dead ends and locked gates and private land.  On the other hand it'll occasionally overestimate time significantly on dirt roads, when it thinks you'll go 20mph and you can do 50+.

Is this doable and worth it (likely in the dark too), or not so much?  If not, is there any other way that's better/faster that doesn't require going so far north?  Vehicle is 4x4 truck with 35's.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

stores and restaurants are opening! Easy to stay 6 feet apart on the trail and easy to bring a mask- no weight or space really needed. Might just need to modify the start- start in waves?

Jefe canceled the grand depart.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOp54X_Y9iQ

Trackleaders will be up and ITTs will be open....so long as there's no shelter in place orders and waterton canyon opens.

Thanks for the update, Jefe.

Hoping (and training for) the best.

I'm sure Kurt's stuff is great, and looks like super reasonable price too.

I don't approach it much differently than 12-24hr racing.  Lots of time on the bike, usually 6 days a week, couple days a week are hard intervals, spend as much time at altitude as feasible, be well rounded in terms of hiking/running/weightlifting, most rides are moderate/endurance pace with plenty of long back to back days.  Don't bury yourself too deep with overtraining.

Aside from racing I don't really bikepack due to work/life time constraints, though there is some speed to be gained by being familiar with all your gear and how your bike rides loaded down.

Considering 2021 divide run, will probably spend a lot more time on bike with a fully loaded frame bag when training for that. Get used to pedaling with that more constant gravitational pull down and backwards.

DQ for outside help, but completed distance in 4:07:30   +/- a few minutes

Dumb question,

With today's technology do some of the leaders know what kind of lead they have or is everyone just riding blind?

A lot of riders are hauling ass out there.  Good to see.

There's cell reception a few times a day to check trackleaders.   Was still getting 4g LTE at 12.5k north of Silverton.  Then can definitely get it in Buena Vista, Leadville, Copper, Breck...etc

one more etrex question.

when it shows the 'battery low' screen, it will keep recording until it completely shuts off....correct?  so if i know where i am, no use in changing batteries until the screen shuts down.

Cool, thanks!

When you swap out batteries, theres nothing special to save/do, correct? Simply re-load the CTR track, show on map, and keep going.  Current track data will be saved automatically...?

Some eTrex 30x questions if anyone's familiar, since this is my first time using the device for any length....and the garmin user manuals are useless.

1. What's the realistic battery life, using fresh energizer lithium's, and running it with no backlight (except for occasional position checking at night)?

2. Is there a good setup that extends battery life?  (like having it in a north-up position, instead of track up position)  Any preferred data fields?  I feel like always looking at the mph or mileage might be depressing.

3. Am I missing something, or is the correct way to navigate a track to go into the 'track manager', select the correct .gpx file, then show in map....and ride it.  My Wahoo and Garmin watch will 'lock' onto a track and beep at you if you go off course, but this doesn't appear to have that function?

4. The 'current' track is always recording what you're doing, so long as the device is on...correct?  So delete all current track data prior to start, then turn device off at the end to get an accurate .gpx of what you actually did?

2 weeks of rest and fine-tuning, and ready to roll.

No negativity! Snow will melt, except for a couple drifts.... Gonna be all good. 👍

Beltchenko out in front of all the 300's like it's nothing.   Impressive, as usual.

The Kokopelli 100/140, a mountain bike ultramarathon that for the last two years began in Fruita, Colorado and finished at the Sand Flats Recreation Area just outside of Moab, has been deemed to pose a “significant danger to the safety of the public.”

wait...i thought that's what the point of these things was?  if it were easy and perfectly safe, everyone would do it.

how many people die in stupid jeep/motorcycle/atv accidents every year in moab?  die or need to be rescued off the colorado river?  doesn't stop them from permitting for that.