Aaron coming up on Cottonwood. Solid trip across so far. Now the trudge to Phantom.

He packed up and dropped in quick (~40min) ... not messin' around.  If he moves thru the night, there's no lemonade to be had that early in the morning.  Here's to hoping he tops out on the South Rim 3am-5am and gets breakfast in Tusayan.  That'd be a sweat way to roll into that tourist trap.  " ... 'sup everybody, what have YOU been up to the last 24hrs?"

On the 750 NB side, there are fully twelve riders on sub-9-day pace.  Long way to go, but damn that's a fast field this year.  3 SS in that group, too.

You're right on the lemonade. Maybe last call. A guy can dream after all.

Aaron is at the North Rim.

Warm day for this time of year. 86 down at Phantom. Hope the water is turned on and the lemonade is cold.

Alice Drobna is slightly behind her 2015 pace, but as always is super steady on the single speed.

Max M and Paul Hamilton look an hour or two ahead of Joe Grant (2016) coming into Summerhaven.

By the way did Max have on a large backpack in John's pictures? New canyon strategy?

Kurt is dead on with Neil's Summerhaven (2016 750) time.

On current pace Kurt looks slightly ahead coming into Oracle.

The back and forth on their current and historical rides is good fun.

Kaitlyn hits the current Oracle timing spot with the same time Eszter went through Summerhaven. Quite the ride happening there.

I wondered if she could hold onto her form after that storming Old Pueblo ride. I guess the answer is yes.

Neil is holding close on Kurt's time.

Kaitlyn on her way out of Summerhaven.

Temperature is very similar 4/11/2014 vs today. Wind may be an issue.

Point forecast for Ripsey

Today - Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight - Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. West wind 12 to 17 mph decreasing to 6 to 11 mph after midnight.

Neil is 2 hours, more or less exactly, behind Kurts 2014 time at summerhaven.

Jonathan is also the Long Trail (Vermont) supported FKT and a Barkley and Hardrock finisher.

Assuming, yeah I know, that the Peak 2 Fire stays at current-ish size and that they do not close the whole 10 Mile area, an easy reroute with the same mojo would be Wheeler to Burro Creek. Same elevation gain and relative smack down as Miners. Drops you off right in Breck for easy supply with much better options and hours than Copper. Bike path down to Tiger Run and Roberto es tu Tio.

Brian hit Salida in 9:17:19 since start

Jay was 10:06:01 since start

Andrew Kulmatiski is descending towards the basin on his ITT about 13.5 hours faster than Brian's pace. He looks to be about 10.5 hours
behind Mike Hall's record pace at that point. With the bonus Canadian time this year he is on a good run.

Well, I believe Mr Hall has just gone thru Whitefish faster than anyone in TD history at 1:08:30.

Craig Stappler 2013 1:08:50
Mike Hall 2013 1:09:31
Kurt Refsnider 2011 1:11:36
Jefe Branham 2014 (super wet year) 1:11:50
Neil, Jay, and Seb 2015  1:12:17, 1:12:20, and 1:12:31

Off to the races. All positive thoughts directed to no fires in N.M. this year.

A quick note on JayPet for those who only follow the TDR.

He came into this adventure having thrown down massive rides at the Iditarod Trail Invitational 1000, and then the AZT 750. Two very different, and very difficult events. To now be pushing the pace on the third leg of his Grand Slam +1 is mind blowing. Most impressive bikepacking season I can imagine. Positive thoughts to Jay and all the intrepid on route. CTR will be special to watch.

Also I see Lael has caught Eszter's ghost. What a year.

Longs for the finish.

Big Dave rollin' strong to the finish NOBO. Under 20.5 days.....great fun to watch the dot and the MTBCast reports were awesome.

I cannot speak for Mike and the Breck Epic organization, but in two years of supporting a Breck racer and heading out to every part of that course there has never been any associated closure.

Some thoughts though.

That section of trail is entirely too popular for a closure, and Mike is a local so he gets it.

The Tarryall section will spread the field more than usual by that point, so not that much interaction.

Last Mike is so stoked about everything, if he knew CTR racers were coming he would put out the heads up to smooth the way.

Oh... and Mark my headset is feeling loose. Maybe I'll check it at one of the new establishments.

Remember the NoBo mileage is counting down not up. C$ is sitting on 1520 miles currently. I believe that only Mike, Craig, and Jesse would be ahead based on that. Quite a ride out there on his own, including a frame repair and some much longer sleeps early on. If C$ was as serious as some I have a feeling that he would be scary fast, well scarier than he already is, but then he wouldn't be C$ and we would all be the poorer for it. Burn on riders.

A quick update on the West Fork fire. The entire town of South Fork is being evacuated. While this is still quite a distance from the route S of Del Norte, it serves to show how volatile southern CO and all of NM are right now. The moisture content in our fuel here in central AZ is at an all time low and I am sure it is the same there.

Riders need to be aware of the potential for fast moving wildfires triggered by lightning strikes or human carelessness. In that terrain you can be caught in a matter of minutes. No record or route completion is worth a life. We also need to consider the ramifications of a multi rider incident on future NFS regulation of this non event. Be smart and safe out there everybody.