2009 Coconino Loop Race Thread

[YuriB]

Looks like all is well as the remaining group trickles into Williams. I'm guessing showers and pizza are on tap this evening.

[mr.hobbs]

Hey All,
Back at home in Calif. tonight.
I got to hand it to you Ariz. boys...a bunch of tough bastards.

Mother nature threw her best at me yesterday, I made it though most of
what she handed out. Sand, rocks, sand in the rocks, flat tires, tired feet.
Then I met my mental match 3 miles from the top of Mingus Mtn. I had no good reason to see
the top of that thing after the previous 45 miles. Both days were filled with trails I wouldn't ever
see on my own.
At 6:30pm, sun going down, I was too tired to fight had Scott & Chad been there anyway, so I put
my tail between my legs and called in the back up plan, Thanks again Rob.

Highlights: swimming in Oak creek, Sedona trails, & that view from the top of stage 1.

Great meeting and riding with everyone. You guys are seriously talented riders (and Hikers, bikes optional on this ride).

No regrets on my end.
-Tony

[jonesy792]

I'm sitting in a comfy motel room in flag and am oficially out of the race.

The last couple of days have been the most grueling that I have ever experienced both mentally and physically.  The hike from cottonwood up mingus took me nearly 6.5 hours, kept going and camped just south of perkinsville.  Perkinsville to williams also took forever, I probably could have continued if I would have pushed myself harder but that would have meant spending another night on the trail and my sleep system isn't warm enough.

On another note the doc's here in flag told me that riding 150 miles after suffering a groin injury that causes internal bleeding is not a great idea.  Who knew?

David

[JCPayen]

I`m out too, I felt too bad at Cottonwood to climb up to Mingus 
I slept yesterday night somewhere in the desert between Cottonwood and Sidona.
I rode to Flagstaff and I`m now in a lodge.

[Rob]

I'm home in so cal.  The first day after getting lost right at the end of the stage I ended up with 71.8 miles. I took a wrong turn on the last mile after stopping in Munds for dinner.  I eventually found everyone and set up camp.  The next morning after getting packed up and pedaling not more than 100 yards I knew that I wasn't going to be able to finish, especially not having the GPS course, so I told Scott who was still at camp that I was going to head back to Flagstaff.  

We talked about a route to get back which would have been about 40 miles.  I decided to just hightail it up the 17 back to flag, but not after getting breakfast at Munds.  

After eating I got on the onramp for the 17 and saw a truck coming so I stuck out my thumb and he gave  me a ride into town.

I decided to get a hotel and drop off my gear, shower, lounge and then do some local riding. I rode to Buffalo Park and climbed Oldham trail which was very fun, even the techy climbs, then went on Brookbank to Little Gnarly, and then descended Shultz.  I had a blast.  

After getting back to the room I got a call from Tony who said he was done. Turns out he left his keys hidden by the car so I was able to walk over from the hotel and then drive to Cottonwood to pick him up.  A few minutes later he calls and says he's got Yuri with him.  We get back to flag rested and then headed back to Cali this morning.  

I learned a lot on this trip!  Thanks Chad and Scott for setting this up!  Thanks Tony for the ride and for riding with me on day 1.  I made a bunch of new friends and got to ride some awesome AZ trails.

I'll be back next year.

 

[jonesy792]

haha it seems to me that the only finishers will be the ones that created the route

[mtbcast]

Coconino: Chad Brown and Scott Morris call in from Williams.

[Rob]

On the way to Fisher point, in the morning.



Tony














Yuri taking a lunch break on the AZT.

[Rob]

On my way to Munds Park









Schnebly Vista Point. 



Morning Sunrise




On my way to Oldham through Buffalo Park.





This lost dog ran beside me on the trail for a while until we ran into her owner. 





Didn't take any more pics, had too much fun on Little Gnarly and Shultz to stop.

[ScottM]

Oh YEAH!  Back in Flag and the Coconino Loop is done!!  Can't believe how well the last few hours of 1-track into town flew.  Five and a half hours total race time today...

This is an awesome loop, but definitely no walk in the park, especially when you ride it hard.

Off to find food.  I think we are meeting again at the Place for post-race grub, in case any of the dropped racers are still in town and want to head over.  I will probably be there around 2:30 or so.  Rob may already be there.  He had a good ride today -- both he and Tim left super early when it was around freezing.  Props to them for enduring the cold on some fast/flat forest roads through frosty meadows.

Lee, Chad and I got a huge breakfast, waited for the sun to pop up, then started blasting out of town.  Lee and I caught Chad, spinning madly, just before Sycamore rim trail.  Chad and I proceeded to rip the pants off that trail until Chad noted a missing cleat screw (he had a spare).  I continued on, only to find a bonus convenience store on the route.  Tim was there and we rode a bit before I pushed on to the Wing Mtn moto trail.  It's pretty much all singletrack from there.

Gotta give it to Chad for his ride yesterday too.  He set a blistering SS pace out of the Verde River and had enough of a cushion to walk (mostly) up Bill Williams Mtn, talk to a mountain biker for 15 minutes and still turn in a heckuva fast time.

Psyched to see 5 riders finishing up the loop.

[mtbcast]

Just posted your call here, Scott! Great racing!

[jonesy792]

Photo time!

Neutral roll out


Rob on az trail


Yuri demonstrating hike-a-bike technique


Jean-Claude approaching mormon lake


Can't beat the view from stage stop #1


That is unless you drop down towards sedona to get a closer look




Fast forward to halfway up mingus and meet road runner (beep beep)


I got a little bored of hike a bike


Started in the upper left, rode right, then down thru the center, now I'm here


Fiery sunset near Perkinsville


Handlebar meets crotch at high speed

[Rob]

Holy crap Jonesy! Ouch! Good job on getting as far as you did.

Scott, Chad and the other finishers, you guys are animals! Congrats!

[brink]

How about we meet up at the AZ brew pub at 3:45. Tim just arrived.

[mtbcast]

Chad Brown calls in from the finish. He's on his way home and gives us a wrap-up!

[AZTtripper]

Just got back to Tucson it was a great ride but it is nice to be done today was a blast especially the bouldery climb after Snow Bowl road.

It was another long hard day of riding I finished up with 8 hours 35 minutes for the day.

Posting pics will have to wait for tomorrow tho.

Jonesy all I can say is ouch! And way to hang in there as long as you did.

Tim  

[jonesy792]

Memorable moments of coconino:

• Crashing within the first two hours of racing
• On the lime kiln trail "wow I'm on a dirt road going fast....... wait.... I'm going fast, this can't be right (checks GPS) dammit missed the turnoff" repeat several times
• Chowing down on a couple of Dom Miguel burros in cottonwood "these are 500 calories apiece!?!?  I'll take two more for the road!"
• Being passed by day hikers going up mingus
• Filtering water from scummy lake on top of mingus:
  Guy: "you actually gonna drink that stuff?"
  Me: "yep don't have much of a choice, I ran out of water coming up"
  Guy: "why don't you drink from the water fountain?"
  Me: "there is no water fountain, all water on mingus has been turned off"
  Guy:"oh"
  akward silence
• Woman driving perkinsville rd. in passenger car:"what are you doing out here? this is a really rough road"
  Me: "Yes it is indeed a rough road"
  Woman: "where will this road take me?"
  Me: "uhh.. perkinsville and then jerome"
• riding/hiking towards williams desperately wanting to hitch a ride, then getting close to williams and wanting to keep riding

[Chad B]

Great job to Tim, Lee, Scott, and Rob B for finishing! For those that lined up to race, great effort. Honestly, the hardest part is making the decision to do a race like this, and you all accepted the challenge. I hope you come back next year!  

This route came about from a simple dream of connecting some of the best singletrack in northern Arizona. Unlike other races that have only dirt roads, this race comes with a hefty amount of singletrack (and I hope to add more next year, or at least more doubletrack at the minimum). Not all singletrack is created equally, as in the case of Mingus Mtn where you have to really, really work to get to the singletrack. Like other AES races, it does challenge your limits. It was a collaboration of a handful of people, thank you to all those that helped make the route, especially to Scott and Lee. Also, thank you to Joe from MTBcast for allowing us to do the call-ins.

I have decided that the 250 and 350 will be on separate dates for those that want to come back next year and try for more miles More to come on that later.

Headed to get some coffee, sit in the jacuzzi and enjoy this morning weather here in Tucson...

[ScottM]

Good pics everyone. Keep 'em coming.

Send me GPX tracks and I'll put together a replay.  Should be a good one with all the passing and back and forth out there.  I have SPOT data of course, but GPX is better.

I'll have preliminary results up in a bit.

[ScottM]

haha it seems to me that the only finishers will be the ones that created the route

Haha, you had more to do with the creation of the route (Mingus!  105 trail!)  than several of the finishers!

Jonesy, that injury looks gnarly.  Major props for pushing on, as the only thru rider, with many unknowns ahead and with a blood bruise like that.  Good on ya.  AZT 300 next spring?