I still find myself on here from time to time and on Scott's blog. There is so much awesome history. I'm forever thankful for this forum and those who have helped answer my many questions. Also, BP.NET still has the best emojis on the internet.

Much love,

Neil

None, my lady was worried when I finished a few years back.

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for someone to help me with a package I need shipped after we start on Thursday. Are there any racers family or friends willing to pick up a package from me at the border and bring it to the post office? I'll pay you for the package plus some. Shoot me an email if you think you might be able to help. Neil.beltchenko@gmail.com

Thanks,
Neil

Leaning towards riding the 4peaks option if this is the future route. I certainly prefer dirt over pavemen and have done the paved route a few years back.  Who else is going the 4peaks route this year? John, what’s the likelihood this is mandatory next year?

Looking for a ride from Tucson to the border on the Wednesday before race day. Hit me up via email if you might be able to help me out. Neil.beltchenko@gmail.com

Nope, not available for ITT. Just press the replay button from 2016 and time it up to the current time, that’s what I’m doing. Man, I  so wish I could have been out there with them. I’m so damn proud of everyone out there!!!

Yeah, my vote is earlier the better. The first Thursday of the month would be nice. It was scortching during the 300 this year. I’m sure Scott has his reasoning for this.

Lets keep it at June first, I'm happy with that each year. If it's any comparison, it was mid 90's on the AZT this year, we all survived.

I see the gauge bottoming out on 4/11 https://www.cbrfc.noaa.gov/snow/station/sweplot/sweplot2.cgi?yrList=median&yrList=avg&yrList=2018&yrList=2017&stationList=CPSC2&tavg=s&hsim=&hires=on&showtab=on&index=&dbsvr=&indextitle=Untitled  Check the tabular data.

If I was going to do it, I would go ASAP and skip the tab singletrack, skip bedrock in favor of Koski traverse, and ride the new stuff to/from Nucla. I'd also start/stop the clock in the same spot with no untimed section. This removes any question of how to handle an ITT that started at some point on the loop other than GJ, something I ran into in '09. A pure interpretation of the Grand Loop and closing the loop between end of Tab and beginning of KOKO.

This is what I would do if I ran it right now, but I'm not going to race anymore this spring, that being said, I think we might need to just play it out from year to year as far as start times are concerned. What do people think about rolling May 11th? I'll be traveling to Peru on the 11th, so I wont have any presence, but the route/routes are known. It would be awesome to see folks resurrect this! I hope to give it another spin this fall.

Looks like Kurt will take ~5 hrs off the record.  That's my call.  Quite an impressive overnight crossing for him.  The temptation to stop and 1) drop bike 2) close eyes, must have been strong!

Thats what I'm thinking, I pushed it pretty hard after Jacob Lake, but I think 5-7 hours on my time is realistic. Stoked for him, and excited for the future of this race. A little bitter sweet, but at the same time if anyone was to do this, it was Kurt, who previously held the record for years.

-Neil

Hey AZT Friends,

Beth Shaner and I are looking for help in getting from Picketpost to Parker Canyon Lake. Our ride fell thru and we are now scrambling to figure out an alternative.  Beth needs to get dropped off in Tucson as she is heading to the boarder. We plan on getting to the area late on Tuesday or sometime on Wednesday. If you know of someone willing to help us, please message me, thanks!

Another desert rookie question:  How much sealant should I have in each tire due to all the sharp pointy things?  I assume it would be more than usual... 

My best advice for you is to just plan on running over plenty of sharp pointy things.

Alright, this is great, people are interested. For future years sake I do like the idea of the first Friday in June, but I also like Jason's start idea, but then you can't really plan very far in advance if people need to put in time off months in advance. Maybe Memorial Day weekend could work?

Mike, If we do end up removing the singletrack at the top of the Tab, you know the Koski travers is a extremely difficult, and we add all the singletrack into Nucla, this and adding the Western Rim could even things out perhaps. This would be far more rugged than the Bedrock detour and still allow a resupply in Nucla. I like the idea of rolling this event a bit earlier as it gets so damn hot out in the desert sections.

A Memorial Day start every year could be nice for vacation time.

Let me know what you think. I'll try and recon the TAB before this years GD but it might not happen if I can't find time in Early May.

Thanks,
Neil

What?? Oh no, David was a joy to talk with, he was a big ball of energy. Sending my condolences to his family.

I'm also looking for a ride from the finish or Phoenix area or Tucson to the start...anyone?

You doing the 300 or 750, Rebecca?

Based on the Columbine Pass SNOTEL, the route this year might be passable sooner than most years, we are currently looking at a total snowpack of 21 inches and it looks to be melting pretty quickly.  That being said, who knows what spring will offer and I have a hunch that it might be a wet one considering how dry this winter has been. Thats how it works, right?
https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=409

So...... if we want to bring this race back, we should brainstorm a group start. Personally, I'm busy most of May with a trip to Peru, but I don't necessarily need to partake in the group start, I just think we should set a date and keep it rather consistent from year to year.  It seems in the past, early June was the best time to start, and to avoid some heat, maybe we start on a Friday evening, say 5pm? What do people think about June 1st or June 8th start with the thought of going counter-clockwise starting at the Lunch Loops TH.

Also, it sounds like they are going to finish the path from Fruita to Loma here soon, this will be a nice addition to the route and a great alternative to I70. I was pretty scared going through this section during my ITT attempt this past fall. I had a number of 18 wheelers honk at me showing there displeasure of me riding the HWY. Does any GL locals have an update on this path? It also sounds like Paul Koski is working on improving some trails into Nucla, which would be much appreciate, but you will still have to endure the Koski Traverse, something that basically broke me to my core this past fall. There is an optional resupply in Nucla, and this happens to be the only resupply along the route outside of services near GJ/Fruita.

It is my understanding this is a much more difficult route than what was initially drawn up, and breaking 3 days, seems next to imposable, but who knows.

Anyways, I just wanted to get the ground work started. I'm happy to organize this, but at the same time, I have yet to complete the whole route. I'm going to perhaps give it a go if weather allows in early May but a new job and a busy schedule may not allow. I might just try to run Nucla to GJ, we shall see.

Thanks,
Neil

Planned on racing the 750 this year but a job promotion and life is getting in the way, lucky for me I think I'll be able to rock the 300 (90% certain), which sounds way more interesting to me at this point in time. The 750 is one of those monsters that is tough to forget about the pain. I think I need another year to mull over my dedicated, time and energy to one of the toughest races out there.

I might call this the year of the 300s, ITI, AZT, Grand Loop and TNGA.

Hope to see everyone at Parker Canyon Lake next month!

Has there ever been any discussion of alternating directions of either the 300 or 750, like CTR does every other year?


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I was thinking about this for 2018 but the thing holding me back is the actually race. I would rather be racing with folks, it creates pressure and strategy, something I really enjoy about bikepack racing. I'll be doing the ITI 350 this year, which really put me out for a while last year. The challenge of healing in time is intriguing in-itself.

So toast, set expectations that were not reasonable. I also broke a spoke and was mm away from running my frame. But overall, my motivation was just not there for that final dig, knowing but not knowing how tough it is. I’ve never been so hot and so damn cold in a 24 hour period. As far as paradox, it still needs some work, and Paul would be the first person to tel you that, but it’s a great start. It also clearly added a lot of time and mileage. Let’s get a race start for next year!

Very helpful, thank you Bryan.