Arizona Trail 300 Update Thread

[Chad B]

Well done Scott! 

[Chad B]

Check out this webcam from the top of Mt Lemmon, no time stamp but I think it is current:


http://www.snowrental.net/skiing/united-states/mount-lemmon/mount-lemmon-webcam.html

[PirateGirl]

Great job out there Scott!

[PirateGirl]

I'm 3 miles from Mile 0 of Catalina Hwy on Lemmon and the weather is pretty bad on this side of town. It just started hailing, and I can't see the mountain in front of me. Hopefully all our riders out there are ok and stay safe as they make it up Bellota to the road. Wish this weather would clear up for them, but it seems to be going through in waves.

[ScottM]

Check out this webcam from the top of Mt Lemmon, no time stamp but I think it is current:

http://www.snowrental.net/skiing/united-states/mount-lemmon/mount-lemmon-webcam.html

Wow.  This seems like the kind of storm we get in December, not April!  You can see some fresh snow on the front range every once in a while when it clears.

It doesn't get much harder than traversing Oracle Ridge in the snow.

[ScottM]

A few pics real quick.  First, the start line:







11 riders gave it a go this year.  L to R: Jefe Branham, Tim McCabe, Rob Brinkerhoff, KC, Max Morris, Scott Morris, Chris Plesko, Marshal Bird (pictured in back), Kurt Refsnider, surprise entrant Fred Wilkinson and Stefan Griebel

Next, evening light on the Elephant Head singletrack. 







Nuclear tail winds and a strong group meant we blasted through the whole thing before nightfall.  Definitely a highlight of the ride.

Finally, this happened to my tire at mile ~12.  Bye bye tubeless.







It kept splitting, but held OK to Tucson.  Had I continued, Broadway Bikes could have sold a 29er tire for any price.  Kurt also blew a sidewall and had to put in a tube.  Hopefully everyone else had better luck.

[Chad B]

Wow.  This seems like the kind of storm we get in December, not April!  You can see some fresh snow on the front range every once in a while when it clears.

It doesn't get much harder than traversing Oracle Ridge in the snow.

Snow on the control road from last year when I pre-rode some of the course



Oracle Ridge with snow or ice is never fun, here is a shot of it last February. Pretty steep on some of the sides of the singletrack.



Hard to say whether or not the General Store would keep their doors open in a snow storm like this. I called the store and only got an answer machine. Scott, any thoughts on what Summerhaven does in a storm comes through like this?
 

Max just arrived to Colossal Cave and Rob is a short distance behind him

[ScottM]

Hard to say whether or not the General Store would keep their doors open in a snow storm like this. I called the store and only got an answer machine. Scott, any thoughts on what Summerhaven does in a storm comes through like this?

I bet they are still open.  Residents still like to buy things, I'd imagine.

It looks like the Colorado boys are hitting splits right on with my ride in '06.  I made it to the store with about 10 minutes to spare.  I think/know they are stronger than me, so I think they will make it.  Weather doesn't seem to be slowing them down much.

Even if they can't get a cabin, I bet they'll be able to figure something out to get in a warm room for (part of) the night.

Thanks for all the great updates Chad, keep it up.

[sherpaxc]

This is probably the best race I've kept up with in the past few years.  Great job Chad and Scott for getting it together.  I don't envy them right now!

[Bruce]

Anyone have an idea where my old bud K.C. is? I see he made it to the start.

[bigworm]

Man this is exciting to watch. I am pulling for those guys to make through this weather. Should Chad maybe be docked some time off his ride for having such good weather?

[ScottM]

Man this is exciting to watch. I am pulling for those guys to make through this weather. Should Chad maybe be docked some time off his ride for having such good weather?

Chad didn't have 30+ mph tail winds blasting him down the course on day 1 like we did.  Hard to say which was better, yet...

I'm hoping those guys can push through the weather, too.  Even if they do I'm still pretty happy sitting in my nice warm house, warm blooded (weak) Arizonan that I am.

I know that Kurt has pretty extensive cold weather gear, including some thick booties.  I'm not so sure about Chris and Stefan -- they both look pretty light and it's hard to imagine they have too many layers on board.  One thing is for sure -- all three of these guys are very strong, experienced and stand a good chance at knocking some time off the course record.  It was a pleasure to see so many riders hit the course hard, and to get to ride with them quite a bit (even if I was only hanging on by a thread).

I didn't see them during / after last night's storm, but previous to that they all seemed to just be having a blast out there.  They even thought the Canelo hills were fun!

[MikeC]

Are you guys able to 'see' more than Plesko, Max, and occasionally Kurt?

Those are the only 'dots' I can see.



Plesko's last known spot was near the Molino saddle ~40 minutes ago.  He should be down across the pavement by now, and headed up the Prison Camp ST.  Fun climb if you're in the mood for it.

I was just looking at the .gpx from my tour through there last year, and while there isn't much comparison between the speeds (I was going a lot slower, even with significant rest), I have a hard time seeing how Chris is gonna make it to Summerhaven before about 8pm+ tonight.  Scott--have you checked your splits?  Perhaps I'm reading them wrong, so verification would be good.

Awesome to see the webcam on Lemmon showing some thick 'n tasty awaiting the lads.  Wouldn't want them to go home disappointed.  At least now they'll have gotten their entry fee worth of entertainment...

MC

[Tmax]

From time to time the page, or system, or something, drops some dots and/or names from the leader board, only to reappear later. Also, if two or more riders are close together, the dots can "pile up", effectively hiding a dot or two.

[ZackR]

Any news of Jefe? I'd be very surprised if he were carrying any kind of tracking device. Of course he is well used to cold snowy weather, so he is probably just happy it's not too hot at the moment.

Is there a page where I can see the tracking data of the other riders? Sorry to be a pest, but I've looked around quite a bit, and only found one page, for one rider, I don't know who. I don't recall just where I found that link, either.

Very nice site, Scott. Quite a ride, too!

[Tmax]

Link is in the first post of this thread.

[Pivvay]

From those of you who have ridden this, are they (Chris/Kurt/Stefan) on a particularly slow section or do you think they just not going anywhere very fast because of the weather?  Granted their SPOTs probably aren't picking up regularly because of the clouds, but when they did register, it sure seems slow-going...

-Marni

[Tmax]

Marni, That section gets pretty steep. The weather may have made it unridable, forcing a hike-a-bike.

[ZackR]

Thanks, Tmax. I tried that this morning, and couldn't get anything to work. Must have been another Innernet Exploder moment. That's some very cool technology there. I first learned of SPOT this morning, but I'll be looking into getting set up with a unit.

[Chad B]

From those of you who have ridden this, are they (Chris/Kurt/Stefan) on a particularly slow section or do you think they just not going anywhere very fast because of the weather?  Granted their SPOTs probably aren't picking up regularly because of the clouds, but when they did register, it sure seems slow-going...

-Marni

That section is the biggest hike-a-bike section of the course. I had rested the night before riding up that section and still had to push my bike about 95% up that hill. It is very, very slow going. I assume they are on the road now, having registered a spot at the saddle of Molino. Like Scott mentioned, these gents are tough. If I was up there, I would ride into Molino Campground and go straight for the bathroom for some cover.


Here is the first part of the climb


and one from the descent into Molino Campground, a pretty technical section in some parts, especially after riding 36 hours



The cloud cover is impacting the SPOTs since the other guys still have red dots coming in (Max is on Old Spanish Trail about to refill his water/food). I imagine he will do a similar move that I did, refill and head up to Reddington to camp for the night. All SPOTS are working now, there was some problems this morning.

MikeC, I am not sure about your splits, but it took me about 3 hours to climb from Prison to the General Store/Summerhaven. They still have a fighting chance based on their last point an hour ago, if they really hammer it up.