2022 AZTR Preparation & Planning

[taprider]

Yes, I tried their website, and it says in the small print that they don't mail out permits, they just email something that you print yourself, and because they can't verify the authenticity of foreign credit cards, they don't accept them anymore.
As well, there is only one place in Phoenix that you can buy one with cash.

[schillingsworth]

Why am I not surprised. Thanks for the heads up, at least it only affects the area around Gold Canyon.

[schillingsworth]

Made some updates to the website today. Created an Announcements page to help keep track of things and have a general landing place for such items.

https://azt300-800.com/announcements/

Also, went through, with some help, of the Rules page. It was mostly a reorganization, some re-wording & grammar. Please take the time to review if you plan to line up at the start. Even if you've 'been there, done that' give it a once over for a refresher.

https://azt300-800.com/rules/

Believe it or not, there's been a few requests for a more difficult route!! So, for anyone wanting more of a challenge, both southbound routes have been altered to meet this. They are available as ITTs only. Both tracks have not yet been finalized, but are very close. Both routes will do most of the Lemmon Drop route and El Pilar by Temporal Gulch, the 800 southbound adds a slice of AZT near Roosevelt Lake, the Apache Trail returns, Montana Mtn. near Superior gets added too. I hope to have these both finalized by the time registration opens. 

[taprider]

when using an ETREX 30x I could divide up the 140,000+ point track into 15 ~9400 point tracks and display them one at at time (like at had to with much smaller tracks for my old Map62)
will this slow my ETREX down too much?
with the 10,000 point track, last time there was many times there would be a straight line displayed but more than one choice on the ground that did not correspond to the gpx. line

[phatmike]

when using an ETREX 30x I could divide up the 140,000+ point track into 15 ~9400 point tracks and display them one at at time (like at had to with much smaller tracks for my old Map62)
will this slow my ETREX down too much?
with the 10,000 point track, last time there was many times there would be a straight line displayed but more than one choice on the ground that did not correspond to the gpx. line

I have no idea if it would slow it down - never tried that. Honestly though in my experience following the trail was never too difficult with a 10k point track. I guess there are some places where it can be a bit more difficult like the area between tiger mine and antelope peak where there are some cattle trails that can be a bit weird especially at night. I lost the trail heading down boulder creek at night but I don't even know if a better track would have helped.

I hate to state the obvious but are you zoomed in far enough on the track when navigating? to the 200ft level? I've accidentally tweaked this mid-ride and then end up changing it back when I noticed turns being harder to navigate.

Other than that, maybe you could split the difference and maybe make two tracks. One for the southern half and one for the northern. Then still use the 10k point cutoff. That would effectively get you double the resolution which would help I suppose.

[Bkindall]

Speaking of navigation, I?m thinking of doing my first AZT300 attempt navigating from my Garmin Fenix 6x solar watch. I?ve used it for other bikepacking trips. Any thoughts out there?


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[MikeI]

For cholla, get and carry a comb.  Google "pick comb for curly hair" and get one! 

Flicking the cholla off with it is pretty painless, trying pliers you'll tend to end up pulling on one side of the thing and the other side digs in a little bit ( ouch ) ... the comb goes in underneath the thing and you flick it off. 

[phatmike]

Speaking of navigation, I?m thinking of doing my first AZT300 attempt navigating from my Garmin Fenix 6x solar watch. I?ve used it for other bikepacking trips. Any thoughts out there?

Haven't used a watch before, my immediate thoughts is that having to take a hand off the bars to check the route would be kinda annoying. Not an issue in a lot of cases I am sure, but I always tend to check my position on the track especially when going downhill just to make sure I am not off track and needing to go back up if I made a mistake. Fairly easy to glance at the bar mounted unit to double check myself. taking a hand off the bars to do that would be less than ideal for me.

[AZTtripper]

Haven't used a watch before, my immediate thoughts is that having to take a hand off the bars to check the route would be kinda annoying. Not an issue in a lot of cases I am sure, but I always tend to check my position on the track especially when going downhill just to make sure I am not off track and needing to go back up if I made a mistake. Fairly easy to glance at the bar mounted unit to double check myself. taking a hand off the bars to do that would be less than ideal for me.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/641375
It's an interesting gadget had to scroll all the way to the bottom to see that it has turn by trun navigation.

Speaking of navigation, I?m thinking of doing my first AZT300 attempt navigating from my Garmin Fenix 6x solar watch. I?ve used it for other bikepacking trips. Any thoughts out there?
 

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Does it have a way to warn you if you get off track, I see it has a turn by turn and I have heard of people using apps with TbT. Having the unit on your bars where you can always see it is of course better.

[taprider]

"Turn by Turn" seems to be a really bad idea for mtn bike backpacking, where you are going through mazes of trails at trail centres and every un-mapped naturally occurring game trail or cow trail, or social trail looks identical to the trail you should be on, especially if they already have tire tracks on them.
It seems pretty easy to me, to follow a gpx. line displayed on a device. Just keep your "you are here" arrow on your coloured line, and the racers that have got badly lost (such as Tour Dividers crossing the border into the US in the wrong place) were trying to navigate by "Turn by Turn"

[Bkindall]

Thanks for the comments! It actually has turn by turn dialed into whatever route I load on it, so it?ll use the same file the Etrex would be using I believe. And I can just follow the arrow on its map if I need to as well. It?ll tell me I?m off course, and it?ll be mounted to my bars with a nifty Garmin adapter used for such a use.

Any other thoughts on possible drawbacks? So far its seeming like it?ll work.


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[AZTtripper]

"Turn by Turn" seems to be a really bad idea for mtn bike backpacking, where you are going through mazes of trails at trail centres and every un-mapped naturally occurring game trail or cow trail, or social trail looks identical to the trail you should be on, especially if they already have tire tracks on them.

Even zooming all the way in won't save you from some of these, the trail is getting better and better with use and signage, if you end up on a cow trail north of Oracle the key thing is having a track to see what direction to head to find the trail.

It seems pretty easy to me, to follow a gpx. line displayed on a device. Just keep your "you are here" arrow on your coloured line, and the racers that have got badly lost (such as Tour Dividers crossing the border into the US in the wrong place) were trying to navigate by "Turn by Turn"

Sounds like he'll have that just on a smaller screen.

I didn't know how the TD rider got so far off course, obviously it's best to keep an eye on the track as well. Now if someone finds their way back south to the International border and can't tell what side they're supposed to be on then we have real problems.

[AZTtripper]

Thanks for the comments! It actually has turn by turn dialed into whatever route I load on it, so it?ll use the same file the Etrex would be using I believe. And I can just follow the arrow on its map if I need to as well. It?ll tell me I?m off course, and it?ll be mounted to my bars with a nifty Garmin adapter used for such a use.

Any other thoughts on possible drawbacks? So far its seeming like it?ll work.


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OK so bar mounted, and you have used it enough to feel comfortable with following a track. Assuming your a rookie from out of state, I would also say you could study the course, print the cues and study the course on a full sized screen, print a map with the right scale to sow overall landmarks and main gravel roads. If you know that Canelo Pass road will lead you to Sonoita, you won't have to spend hours following the track, if things go wrong you should be able to navigate back to civilization.

[Bkindall]

Great ideas. 👍


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[schillingsworth]

Once again the fine folks at Homegrown Shuttles will be offering their services to help get riders to the start from either Picketpost trailhead or Tucson. Sign-up for a shuttle here:

*Registration for the AZTR has not opened yet and having a shuttle reservation does not guarantee a spot in the Grand Depart.

https://homegrownmtb.com/event/arizona-trail-300-800-race-shuttle/

[AZTtripper]

Once again the fine folks at Homegrown Shuttles will be offering their services to help get riders to the start from either Picketpost trailhead or Tucson. Sign-up for a shuttle here:

*Registration for the AZTR has not opened yet and having a shuttle reservation does not guarantee a spot in the Grand Depart.

https://homegrownmtb.com/event/arizona-trail-300-800-race-shuttle/]https://homegrownmtb.com/event/arizona-trail-300-800-race-shuttle/[/url]

Somebody should print John's shuttle directions map and give it to the driver, there's no reason the van can't get you all the way to the border fence if that's where you want to go. On the other hand if they go thru Sierra Vista you might be sick of the van and want to get on the bikes at Montezuma Pass.

[schillingsworth]

I sent the map to Tara at Homegrown.  

[AZTtripper]

Last year the driver told them the van wouldn't make it to the border, coming from Parker he drove them past 103 Mesa to the top of Copper Cyn. So they sat in the van longer and got to ride a slightly tougher route to the start.

Looking at the map I can see where the change back to a split shuttle sending them to Parker first, and I is hard to see that the purple line continues past the red. In the dark for a driver who's never been there, didn't know how much better FS 4726 is then the Copper Cyn rd.

Not seeing anything at the link assume the plan is to get dropped the night before as in past years.

The border was hoping this spring, did not make for a good nights sleep down there, hopefully things have calmed down for that area.

Last fall the grass was too tall to safely park anywhere except right at the border, anybody planning to camp out the night before?

Tim

[schillingsworth]

FS 4726 is fine the entire way, I drove the Juke down it last year for the send off after I woke all the 300 riders by accidentally setting off my car alarm at Parker Canyon Lake!! Oops. The final bit of Copper Canyon Rd. could be dicey for the shuttle van or anyone else without high clearance and/or 4x4.

I plan to be down there on Wednesday night, not exactly sure where I'll camp, but I hope to be at the start in daylight for a bit. There was a covered structure a short bit up from the border on the west side of FS 4726. May be a good spot for the night....

[AZTtripper]

Pretty sure the structure is leftover from Border wall construction, it would be a huge spot if they cleared it out. There's also a clearing .2 up the Ida cyn road FS 771 also called Oversite cyn on the old map. Hopefully Border activity will have moved on to some other area.