I bailed out at Red Rock State Park Visitor Center. My body succombed to complete exhaustion and refused to go on further. It was not my year. Best of luck to everyone still out there.

I have just arrived in Flagstaff.  Getting ready for tomorrow. May be up for some dinner and a beer.

I experienced some of that extreme mud in 2013 also.  I made the start in Flagstaff but took a wrong turn early on and it took me well into the early afternoon to correct my mistake.  Due to my inability to find the trail in some spots I ended up taking the highway around Mormon lake so I probably missed a lot of the mud. I ended up camping the first night about 4 or so miles short of the ADOT station. I was exhausted and clearly a long way short of the planned day one stop.  I got a very early start Saturday morning after a really cold night. At the ADOT station I spent about an hour unfreezing my front derailleur as the combination of ice cold frozen mud was hard as rock. I did not have further problems with mud on the ride from ADOT into Sedona. In 2013 I bailed at the end of day two. By the time I arrived at brutal hike-a-bike that is the precursor to Lime Kiln trail it was just getting dark and that is when my main source of lighting decided to fail. I could not see navigating Lime Kiln in the dark with no good light so I took the highway into CottonWood.  I had not yet given up but changed my plan to get a hotel in CottonWood and then continue the next day. Sadly I found out that everything in that town was booked solid and I had no good options.  So I bailed and hired a taxi to get me and my bike back to Flagstaff where I could get a hotel. This year I definitely want to skip that mud; however, starting anywhere other than Flagstaff is not really a good option for me.

Does anyone know what the current water situation is at the top of Mingus?

I am in. Returning and hoping to correct my 2013 go the wrong way on the first day mistakes!

B_Bock: How many days riding are you expecting for yourself to complete the race? I don't have any allusions of my being anywhere near your fitness/capability level!

Any idea how much real interest there is in doing the race this year? I might be interested if I knew there were some riders similarly matching my ability. I am 55, ride a Specialized 29er hardtail with cane creek thudbuster to compensate.  I don't think I could sustain more than about 60 to 70 miles per day.  I toured about 150 miles of the route starting in south lake tahoe going clockwise about two summers ago. It's certainly a spectacular trail.

-Carl from Santa Monica.

Looks like there is missing elevation data for ~miles 103-112 and ~116-141. I could not get TopoFusion to add the missing information.

For riders doing the AZT 300 do people park their vehicles at the Picket Post end for the duration of the ride?  Is doing that and taking shuttle to the start the best option for people that are traveling from far away to participate?

Unfortunately I have had a last minute change of circumstance which means I will not be able to race this year.  Sadly I will just be a blue-dot follower this time.  Wish everyone attending a good and safe ride.

-Carl

I expect to be driving into Flagstaff Thursday evening and take a room and would consider sharing.  I come from Los Angeles so it is a fairly long drive for me. Depending on time I might make a stop in Williams to scout the route through town there as I have not seen it before.

Last year I did two days of the ride starting in Flagstaff before I bailed in Cottonwood. I hope to do better this year although it is looking to be pretty hot in the lower elevations and heat exhaustion may get the best of me.
Last year I parked on a residential street just about 2 or three blocks away from the Friday morning meeting spot/restaurant. My SUV was parked there 3 days without issue and would probably do that again unless someone offers a better suggestion.

-Carl

I am in, signed up this morning.

I met these chicks on the trail around Bell Mountain. Most of them had these matching green bikes and they were all tearing up the trail. Said they were all nurses. I wanted to wipe out just for the attention!

Replaying the race day 2 on trackleaders it looks like Blake Bockius passed me just past the Oak Creek area.  When I got out of that section on to a short flat spot I took a wrong turn and went about 50 yards down a wrong path.  I looked back and saw two riders with bike packs taking the correct path.  So I quickly turned around and tried to catch them but could not keep their pace. I never saw them again.  Did you guys pass two guys on horseback just before hitting oak creek?  I was dipping my sore feet in the cool waters there when the horse riders passed by.

Can you share a gpx of the track to Jerome? I drove thru there on my trip into flag. Stopped and had a ghost Burger. A very interesting spot perched precariously on the side of h mountain! Can you also give more details of your rte back to flag. How long/difficult was that ride?

Carl F. Here in flag. I have definitely scratched.  FRIDAY I took a horribly wrong turn which cost me a lot of miles and about four. Hours of lost time. I recovered and made it just short of munds where I camped for the note. I was up musing early Saturday and rode straight thru Schnebly road never seeing the stage one stop. Then made it to lime kiln by about 6:00 pm. The first section of that trail in murder and not meant for bikes. It was dark now and y main lupine headlight failed so I was mushiking that in near total darkness. Where I hit the first hwy crossing I bailed and rode the approximately 14 miles into cottonwood by pavement. Adding insult I got miles first and only flat on the hey which I had to repair in the dark. Cottonwood. Was totally sold out of hotel rooms and I did not have the energy to ride 4 more miles to get to dead horse around 11:00pm. Me exhaustion took over and I arranged a tactics back to flag and the only hotel I could find. All said I had a great time although riding solo. Best wishes goal all who ate still out there doing it.

Straight up Mingus from go would be a big bummer!

Is plan A the original Flag start? If so I am interested as I would rather not start in Sedona.

To Minneapolis.

I will be arriving in Flag in about two hours. I have a strong preference for starting tomorrow as I have to be back in Santa Monica Wednesday for a Thursday AM flight to nneapolis.