Arizona Trail Race 2014 in progress

[ScottM]

They'd be first to not take snow detours, yep.  They even made it through the Fisher Fire area just after it opened!

Pics of Jeff and Ron attached.  Go guys go!

[mikepro]

Pics of Jeff and Ron attached.  Go guys go!

Love the creative use of sleeping pads as spacer/buffer, and the dual-backpack.  True pack-mule style!

[Walkurtalk]

Yaaaa Ron and Jeff! So good to say I had the honor of meeting you two out on the trail!

Longwinded as I am, here are my thoughts just on Day 1 of my journey (aka hell):

http://allthingsepicwithjill.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-arizona-trail-race-750-miles-of.html

[aarond]

Wow, thanks for your nice words Jill, I blushed when I read them.  But, you know who is really fast?  Kurt R., not to mention Aaron G and Neil B.  Need to get these guys on the 750 next year

[schillingsworth]

Huge Congrats to Ron & Jeff, way to go!!!

[ScottM]

Yes, hurrah for Ron and Jeff, wrapping it up in good form with more AZT than anyone else logged this year.

That wraps up the AZTR this year, though more blogs and photos are sure to come.

[swami29]

Hey thanks ALL both 300 and 750 participants and supporters.Special thanks to Ron and Duck my psyco cycling buds and  Beth ,wife and support system extrodinere. Special thanks to Scott for making this not just a race but a lifetime adventure.  . I knew from early on and last years 300 that a finish would be worthy goal. At 58  I did`t have any illusions about keeping the pack in site,after all many of these athletes could be sons or daughters! I felt kind of lame hitting the 20 day mark when so many finished in half the time or less. The Canyon just about crushed us,with too heavy loads.and no spring in our steps. Really 6 miles from Phantom to Cottonwood was all we had that day,no " I`ll just rest for a couple hours then push on" we were DONE. But every day  we made progress a little at a time. Thanks to Jill and John Schilling`s words of encouragement through the posts. Getting to ride the  Fisher  Fire route  was special to me flying on singletrack on my local trails.  Also the snow route to Jacob opened my eyes to some Arizona topography I never expected. Yes  the race ,got me to the start and I`m throwing out the thought that it is one of the very toughest ones out there. The thought that  each and every rider or hiker that completes the trail has had to endure and revel in a landscape that takes you from stunning scenery  into your "deepest darkest pain cave" My hats off to you  all!......... Jeff (swami) Swanstrum

[bmattingly]

Jeff and Ron Way to Go.  Tough weather last Saturday.  Got 4 inches of snow at my house.  Snowed all day.  What a journey that was for all of us.  Enjoy your down time and much needed rest.  You earned it big time!!

I made my $ contribution to the ATA this week.  Did not have time to get to it before the ride.

Cheers all

[ScottM]

Thanks for contributing to the ATA, Brad.  I was going to write one last reminder to join up.  The ATA does some amazing work, and we extremely lucky that they are so progressive and MTB friendly.  If you raced, finish or no, please join the ATA as a member, which you can do here:

http://www.aztrail.org/membership/join.html

What a year, huh? 

The 300/750 will be back on full moon weekend, April 3th, 2015!  That'll be the earliest it has started, but the way winters have been going around here, I bet it'll be good.

If anyone knows of any other writeups to link on the results page, please post them here or drop me an email.

Here are a few favorite quotes from 2014 (so far):

Thanks to Scott morris for making this happen, it feels like going to sea in a small boat - Aaron Denberg

After the wifi didnt work at canyon lake I couldnt sent my scratch letter and had to keep going. -- Arno Minner

It's not how hard it the AZT hits you, it's how hard you hit BACK! - Mark Caminiti

After that section I was thinking of demanding my donation back from the Arizona Trail Association because I didn’t want it to fund this type of poor trail construction. - Shawn Gregory

So, I'm pushing my bike, holding a knife in one hand and looking for this cat. Things were going south rather quickly for me. - Jeff Hemperly

Aaron saw a Gila Monster and he shouted (scared me a little) “Kurt, Kurt!” -- Neil Beltchenko

Things like, rocks, cacti, and bushes started to turn into dogs, people, bikes, even aliens.  -- Neil Beltchenko

The sunset ride off the river and up into those awe-inspiring majestic cathedral peaks, with a full moon, experiencing an unexpected eclipse, catching up to Arno who is lucky he didn't fall hundreds off feet off the trail, flushing those red-glowing-eyed birds off the trail [what are they?], stopping [after seeing hundreds during three evening rides] to finally inspect the source of the blue-green blinking lights [the Spiders from Mars?], a HAB that never seemed to end, - barry ritchey

[dream4est]

My quote is paraphrased from Sylvester Stallones Speech in Rocky 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY


Plus the comeback speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-g-QgkiDc


If that doesnt move you, this one will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC6sMFbL288


this one is good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdmyoMe4iHM

I was 9yrs old when that happened. I still remember it like yesterday. I can still hear Al Micheals legendary phrase "Do you beleive in miracles? YESSS!!!



And then of course this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSDhhZtRwFU

If those dont get you, this newer one may:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEL8PYu4RR4


Finally, the greatest speech ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoVM9nm42E

Jimmy V. was the man.

[Ron Thomson]

Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to Scott Morris for putting all this together. I can tell a lot of work went into this labour of love.
It has been noted earlier that myself and Swami rode the Kaibab Plateau and did not take the detour onto Jacob lake road. For the record, I found Oracle ridge, Highline, and the GC hike to be much harder than the Kaibab Plateau. Sure there was a some snow and some mud and quite a few deadfall but it was really quite rideable. Even if there had been more snow I feel it still should merit an attempt to be ridden instead of an automatic detour. I think it would be fair to say that if there is snow on the road then you should probably ride the road but if there is no snow on the road then you should probably ride the trail.
Hopefully with the knowledge gained on this ride I will be able to put together a faster time in the future. (being old-timers we needed our nightly sleeps)
Congratulations to Jay, Jill, Kurt and Alison and everyone who took part in this incredible race. 

[Gimmearaise]

Yes... thank you Scott, And happy birthday to you!

[Yogi the Barry]

Thanks to Scott [Trackleaders/SPOT rentals/Bikepacking.net/Overall Stoke!], ATA, fellow racers, their families, my Better Half [Kathi] for supporting me to do crazy events like this, MTBcast and all the awesome people working in the convenience stores along the way.

[aarond]

Here is an article the local paper in Wyoming (The Sheridan Press) did about me and the race. 

http://thesheridanpress.com/?p=20435

[ayayron]

Better late than never - part 1 of my AZTR750 recap.

http://mowglimedia.net/journal/2014/4/30/aztr-750-race-report-the-first-300-miles

[ayayron]

Hey all you racers - 300 and 750 - I'm putting together a video from my AZTR750 race this year (took about 6 hours of raw footage out there), and I've got some gaps in the story from when I was just too tired to do any filming. I'm hoping other people took some video as well that they wouldn't mind sharing with me? Anything helps, and of course you'd get credited. Just a fun little video to help share this amazing experience. PM me if you've got some footage for me. Thanks!

[ImAFred]

Hey all you racers - 300 and 750 - I'm putting together a video from my AZTR750 race this year (took about 6 hours of raw footage out there), and I've got some gaps in the story from when I was just too tired to do any filming. I'm hoping other people took some video as well that they wouldn't mind sharing with me? Anything helps, and of course you'd get credited. Just a fun little video to help share this amazing experience. PM me if you've got some footage for me. Thanks!

thatd be awesome...cant wait to see it!

[LyndaW]

Beautiful photos. I look forward to the next part.

Better late than never - part 1 of my AZTR750 recap.

http://mowglimedia.net/journal/2014/4/30/aztr-750-race-report-the-first-300-miles

[ayayron]

Recap part 2:

http://mowglimedia.net/journal/2014/5/15/aztr-750-apache-junction-to-flagstaff

[ayayron]

Last part!

http://mowglimedia.net/journal/2014/5/18/aztr-750-flagstaff-to-utah