2016 Arizona Trail Race AZTR planning thread

[SlowRide]

FWIW... I really liked using a tump line in the canyon last year. Added it to my backpack. With hip strap, shoulder straps, and a tump line I was able to move the load around to different parts of the body and give other parts a break.

[NATURAID]

Now ATA it is ok for me. Ciao

[NATURAID]

Hey Maurizo,

No, you do not need a permit just to hike across, for this year, 2016.  You do need a permit if you plan to camp ANYWHERE in the canyon.  Many racers get a camping permit for Cottonwood campground, just in case.

As to your other question: yes, you can decide which route to take on the North Rim.  It is OK as far as the race is concerned, to take the paved road all the way to Jacob Lake.

Ciao Scott Thank you for thise information. Ciao from Italy

[HomeGrownMTB]

Had few people inquire about services so we thought we'd post some deets. We need at least 4 people to make these shuttles work so we thought since you all are on the forum, you might have friends that are participating with you. So spread the word that there's a service out there that will work with you. Option 1- We can pick up at the Picket post Trail head(Superior) Thursday afternoon/evening and shuttle you to Tucson. Then an early am(6amish) shuttle on Friday am to Parker Canyon Lake so that you are there by suggested 8am start. Option 2- Just shuttle from Tucson to PCL on Friday. Price is $85 for option 1 and $45 for option 2. Spread the word and leave the driving to us!! Happy to answer any other questions offline if needed. 52zero 23svn zeroonetwoniner Cheers!

[Foster]

Really temping to come out and ride the 750 this year...

[schillingsworth]

I was out on the AZT again this past weekend, rode from Picketpost south to Kelvin (Final 40 miles of the 300 in reverse). The trail is in great shape, not too much vegetation encroachment except for some branches along the stretches by the Gila. The river was running high at 200 CFS. The wildflowers are in peak form along the river, hillsides covered in poppies!! Temps have been hovering in the mid-upper 80's the past few weeks. Ugh. Something like 15 degrees above normal.

I put together a comprehensive blog post on all the mountain bike legal passages of the AZT a while back. It isn't meant to be used as a cue sheet or water resource for the AZTR, but rather to give an idea of what to expect trail-wise on those passages. It was gathered from over 4 years worth of riding and there are plenty of links to ride reports and of course tons of pictures. There's a link to it on the ATA website here: http://www.aztrail.org/mtn_bikers.html (Mountain Biking the Arizona Trail) or on this site under 'Trip Reports'. Hopefully, you'll find it useful.

Really getting excited for the 750 now that we can officially say it's 'next month'!!

-John

[Woodland]

Had few people inquire about services so we thought we'd post some deets. We need at least 4 people to make these shuttles work so we thought since you all are on the forum, you might have friends that are participating with you. So spread the word that there's a service out there that will work with you. Option 1- We can pick up at the Picket post Trail head(Superior) Thursday afternoon/evening and shuttle you to Tucson. Then an early am(6amish) shuttle on Friday am to Parker Canyon Lake so that you are there by suggested 8am start. Option 2- Just shuttle from Tucson to PCL on Friday. Price is $85 for option 1 and $45 for option 2. Spread the word and leave the driving to us!! Happy to answer any other questions offline if needed. 52zero 23svn zeroonetwoniner Cheers!

Are there any shuttle options that do Picketpost direct to Parker Lake - versus stopping in Tucson for the night?

[wolfmansbro]

Just a quick post saying that I am in for the AZT 750 this year. Currently planning on flying to Tucson from SLC on Thursday. Need to find a shuttle from the airport to the start. Open to jump on a shuttle with anyone looking to put together a group shuttle to the start (2 of us going from SLC).
Question for those of you that have flown to Tucson in the past or done a one-way flight with your bike. Do you recommend flying with your bike in a card board box or shipping your bike in a box ahead of you to a bike shop?

[the tortoise]

Really temping to come out and ride the 750 this year...

Aren't you getting a little old to do that??!!

[woodsy]

What is the hardest passage to navigate without a GPS? I'm pondering a 750 ITT run this month, conditions permitting. Just curious if the trail is difficult to navigate in certain sections without a GPS. I can imagine, though I'd like some input from experienced individuals. Getting an eTrex at this point isn't going to happen, but if I can get everything else together I'd love to ride the trail before wildfire season starts for me in April.

[Guild44]

Hey Sarah

I would say have a GPS on your handle bars and a cue sheet of distance to next food and water. Keep a close eye on your GPS track!

Those who take less tend to do better.

Carry something to boot a sidewall slice, an extra tire is over kill, too heavy and the next bike shop never that far. Ride the Canelo's conservatively there's some tire slashers in there as well as the limestone south of Colossal Cave. 

Some may carry winter shoe covers and go over the Lemmon in a snow storm, others will wait it out at the bottom. I don't think people skimp on gear just remember the go light moto.

I am still using the carbon bars I carried thru the canyon on my 06 800 mile AZT tour, the 07 and 10 AZT 300 plus. Easton Monkey Lites delaminating but still going I think you can quit worrying, obvious damage in a crash may kill them but that would be rare and should be avoided anyway.

No idea what dress tights are.

Pearl Izumi X alp Enduro are pretty popular.

Hopefully you'll get some other responses.

Tim

Thanks Tim! This helps a lot. Definitely planning on lightening up this time around ... too much HOB not to!

[xcracer]

I haven't ridden all of the trail north of picket, but the Canelos can be tough without a gps. In the dark it can all be hard, ripsey is iffy in spots when your half asleep. Do you have a cycling gps? You can likely put a gpx file on that.

What is the hardest passage to navigate without a GPS? I'm pondering a 750 ITT run this month, conditions permitting. Just curious if the trail is difficult to navigate in certain sections without a GPS. I can imagine, though I'd like some input from experienced individuals. Getting an eTrex at this point isn't going to happen, but if I can get everything else together I'd love to ride the trail before wildfire season starts for me in April.

[woodsy]

I haven't ridden all of the trail north of picket, but the Canelos can be tough without a gps. In the dark it can all be hard, ripsey is iffy in spots when your half asleep. Do you have a cycling gps? You can likely put a gpx file on that.

I've got a Garmin Edge 510, it doesn't have the space to load the whole AZT topofusion file, I've tried, but maybe others have had luck. i could try to load passages I'm unfamiliar with, aka everything south of the Mogollon Rim.

[xcracer]

Ive had problems trying to load huge tracks into my 510 as well. I think breaking the track into smaller sections should allow you to do it without sending your garmin into mass storage mode. Maybe somebody can chime in and explain to you how to either simplify the track or cut it up into pieces.

[woodsy]

Ive had problems trying to load huge tracks into my 510 as well. I think breaking the track into smaller sections should allow you to do it without sending your garmin into mass storage mode. Maybe somebody can chime in and explain to you how to either simplify the track or cut it up into pieces.

So the ATA has this page, maybe for members only? http://www.aztrail.org/passages/passages.php#notes

It's got 3 different downloads you can do per passage, and I just added the first passage onto my Edge, going to see how many I can load up and still have the device turn on. Not super familiar with the courses function, but it would be better than winging it with cue sheets.

Adding to this, are some of these passages hiker only as I'm guessing? I don't know if they make available the mtb routes separate from the hiking trail.

[SlowRide]

I've got a Garmin Edge 510, it doesn't have the space to load the whole AZT topofusion file, I've tried, but maybe others have had luck. i could try to load passages I'm unfamiliar with, aka everything south of the Mogollon Rim.

I'm guessing the issue you're having is that you are not using a pre-simplified version of the track. Most(if not all) Garmins can only use tracks with up to 10,000 points. There are pre-simplified versions provided by Scott available here:

http://topofusion.com/azt/gpx/

The file you'll want for the AZTR750 is:

http://topofusion.com/azt/gpx/AZTR-2014-rev1_reduced_10k.gpx

This is the current route simplified to 10k points and should load on your Garmin. I also put the snow routes gpx on my Garmin last year for the 750, it was nice to know which way to go when I got to the north rim.

[AZTtripper]

Adding to this, are some of these passages hiker only as I'm guessing? I don't know if they make available the mtb routes separate from the hiking trail.

Yes don't go by the ATA you'll want to use the topofusion links that Slowride posted.

You'll want a handle bar mounted GPS that you can easily read. The reduced file should fit. Lots of places to get off track things are better then they were 5 + years ago but your still going to want it.

[AZTtripper]

Thanks Tim! This helps a lot. Definitely planning on lightening up this time around ... too much HOB not to!

Great have a fantastic time out there.

[Yogi the Barry]

Re: Large GPX files
Buy a copy of Topofusion [if you don't have it already Edit: and if you run Windows], which not only supports this forum and community, but is a nice bit of software on its own.
Resample the large GPX file to under 10K points or just download the one that Scott has already resampled. Due to having problems [with my eTrex 30] in the past with other GPX files right at the 10K limit, I resize down to 9000-9900 points, which has always provided enough fidelity when riding. I also delete any other unneeded track files on my GPS, turn off any other maps I don't need and confirm the track is actually on the GPS. This last point is very important. I've uploaded tracks thinking the upload was successful, but it wasn't or the track was corrupted. To ease you mind, mine is always stressed during the GPS boot, load a backup GPX file that's been resampled to an even different size. And if you recently updated the GPS' firmware, there's usually a few very good reasons that firmware was updated, make sure the update didn't break something else or corrupt your GPX file. I usually reload GPX files after a firmware upgrade.

I've got a Garmin Edge 510, it doesn't have the space to load the whole AZT topofusion file, I've tried, but maybe others have had luck. i could try to load passages I'm unfamiliar with, aka everything south of the Mogollon Rim.

[THE LONG RANGER]

I posted this earlier, but if you're like me without an OS that supports Topofusion, here's how to do it on a Mac, with the buggy software (BaseCamp) that comes with it,

http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/2015/12/28/import-a-gpx-file-into-your-garmin-etrex-20/

The GPSVisualizer tool also has a, "max. points per track" option when converting GPX tracks (you can convert one GPX Track to another) - the service itself is really great, but it's a little more awkward and low level for a casual user.

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/tutorials/track_filters.html
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input?convert_format=gpx