2011 AZTR Updates / Discussion Thread

[sherpaxc]

Lynda, my wife said that you were her hero.  She said "Way to kick some ass"

[Erick L]

Not sure about and signage it does seem like they shouldn't have it signed as that is the norm. If anything a sign saying under construction.

The new track is signed.  I don't remember seeing anything about construction or any other thing that would indicate it is a dead end.  I nearly followed Brads tracks down it as well.

Erick

[Erick L]

Looks like Eric L might have missed a turn it's a easy one to miss as you can fly down the road and then need to go through a gate onto single track.

Looks like Eric is making good time must have been a spot glitch.

Ha, it wasn't a spot glitch!  Right about the time I was thinking, "Man it's nice to finally be able to bomb down a road", I realized I was off route.  Then I had to hike back up the road to find the gate on the left that I cruised by.  The spot must have hit me right when I turned around.

Erick

[Chad B]

Max called me with some updates. He has not had any very many mechanicals but last night when he was camping some packrats stole his gloves and ate some of his helmet straps and pads (I assume). He has to buy another helmet soon. He is going to camp out tonight before hitting the Highline tomorrow. He is super excited to be out on the AZT!

I posted up his voice mail here http://chadfbrown.blogspot.com/2011/04/maxs-voicemail-from-az-trail-race.html

[DaveH]

Chad, that works great for me (in Chrome).  Thanks!

Stupid packrats, argh...chewed into his helmet?  Nasty.

[krefs]

Haha, packrats. I've had some adventures with those fat rodents. Next up for Max is the Highline Trail, as he points out. There's a few miles of hike-a-bike leading up to it, and then the majority of the 17-mile traverse below the Mogollon Rim on the Highline is rutted, overgrown, washed out, burned, and mostly unrideable. He's going to face slow progress, it he knows that's the name of the game up there, and he sounds as calm as ever. Once on top of the Rim, he'll enter a different world, and the riding is beautiful (albeit slow and bumpy in many places) all the way past Flagstaff.

[DaveH]

We drove back through Payson, Pine, Happy Jack and Flagstaff roughly paralleling the route.  I didn't see any sections that looked like a snow detour would be necessary.  Maybe the shadows of Mormon Mtn will be snowy in spots, but it looked clear from the road.  Same story at Jacob Lake - not a bit of snow.  I'm sure the North rim will have it's fair share though.

[Walkurtalk]

An account of my struggles that prevented me finishing:

http://allthingsepicwithjill.blogspot.com/2011/04/azt-300-race-report.html?spref=fb

[AZTtripper]

Nice write up Jill, tough luck with the flats. Good luck slaving at the bike shop it will no doubt serve you well in the future. I would consider 3 tubes a minimum for the AZT, and never leave a tube with slime behind. It's even good to have a way to transfer slime from one tube to another.

[AZTtripper]

Ha, it wasn't a spot glitch!  Right about the time I was thinking, "Man it's nice to finally be able to bomb down a road", I realized I was off route.  Then I had to hike back up the road to find the gate on the left that I cruised by.  The spot must have hit me right when I turned around.

Erick

AZT rule of thumb if the going is easy you must be going the wrong way!

[AZTtripper]

Stupid packrats, argh...chewed into his helmet?  Nasty.

Huh I can't image there would be any salt to attract them LOL.

Max is making good time heading towards Pine. At least he is up a little higher now so it should be cooler for him. He's got some rough jeep trails to do and then a HAB up to rejoin the AZT then a fun DH into Pine. There is a 2 track just west of the highway that will give him safe access to Pine. And then he knows the Highline will be a HAB from Hell!

[sherpaxc]

So do people JUST use slime tubes, or do they start with Stans and move towards the Slime?

[DaveH]

I'm sure there is no standard, but I choose tough tires and 3-4 oz of stans.  That rarely fails if I ride carefully, but if it does I have 2 normal (not lightweight) tubes that I've injected 3 oz of stans into.

For tires this year I had a captain control rear and rampage front, both in the 780g range + stans.  Fast?  Not really, but one flat offsets any speed advantage gained from a lighter tire.  Grippy?  Hells yea. 

Still looking for new shoes tho!

[Marshal]

There is a small grocery store in Pine that I had pre-planned to re-supply at before hitting the Highline Trail.  Max’s Spot is almost to Pine and he might soon be re-supplying in that very store. 

Ouch this hurts a bit watching Max’s single  Spot Dot crawl up the AZ route

Marshal

[AZTtripper]

I should think that a lot of people are starting off running tubeless these days, the one mistake that has been made repeatedly is non sealant tubes as back ups. While a non sealant back up is fine for everyday riding it's weakness becomes clear pretty quickly.

In 07 I used up all 3 spares, then last year I only had one flat. I like to run schrader valve tubes with Stan's in them. I carry a small bottle (trial size) for each back up tube. I even experimented with reclaiming Stan's from the tire. When a bunch of Stan's ends up in the tire I pore the bottle into the tube then pore whats in the tire into the bottle to use latter.

One of the down sides to Slime tubes is that by the time you start thinking patch there is no Slime left but you'll have numerous holes. If you have back up sealant then all you need to do is patch the bigger holes, that's the theory any way.

[AZTtripper]

Right now he is on a section of pavement the road out to Tonto Natural Bridge. Then he'll drop down into a small community of cabins, they have a trail out of there that climbs up to the AZT. Then it's DH to Pine for the resupply. At the Pine TH there is new trail to bypass the out of the way section. The new short cut was just built last fall Max can follow that and give Scott the new track.

[AZTtripper]

Spot just updated he's enjoying some HAB out of the Arrowhead Canyon Estates.

[ScottM]

Check out this interview with LW by Mary Reynolds for the examiner...

http://www.examiner.com/endurance-sports-in-tucson/wallenfells-wins-arizona-trail-300-mountain-bike-race

Thanks for the great article, Mary.

[vinnie b]

My son and I met Max when he passed through Jakes Corner. Sorry to hear about the rats getting into his stuff. If anyone talks to him tell him we are following him throughout the rest of the race and cheering him on. Max seemed like a great guy and is most definitely a Bad-Ass to tackle what he is doing. I have spent alot of time in the areas he has been in for the last couple days and along the Rim and it is some rugged country. Can't even imagine trying to do that on a bike.

Max, best of luck to you on the rest of your adventure...

Take care,

Vince and Rhett

[AZTtripper]

Vince thanks for checking in rats are just part of the adventure out there.

Some pretty rugged country to say the least and today is a biggie.

Lots of HAB but there is some cool riding as well.





And possibly some trees to climb over.