AZT 750 ITT October 2012

[AZTtripper]

Yeah he's right in the middle of the nightmare on the Highline Trail.

[krefs]

Ugh, Highline in the dark wouldn't be any fun. At least it's not Highline in the rainy dark! Either way, it looks like he's made it about 10-12 miles in 7 hours. Ouch!

[tanman1337]

Hey Kurt, I was asking a few people on here about the big hike. How do you recommend to carry the bike through the canyon?

[AZTtripper]

Looks like he send a message and then stopped. Points are stacking up. Taking a break before the last big push to gain the rim?

[ScottM]

Paul is having an impressive ride.  I understand he is quite an accomplished adventure racer.  I would estimate he is roughly 15 to 20 hours behind record pace at this point.  That's difficult, but not impossible to make up.

Based on conversations with Aaron Boatman, the instigator of this ITT attempt, I would guess Paul is going to follow the snow detour route on the north rim, even though the trail is free of snow.  It'll be a good comparison to Kurt's record, I suppose.

No matter the case, he's having a heck of a ride and I'm cheering him on all the way.

[AZTtripper]

It will seem silly to me not to ride the clear trail. Like I said riding all of the trail should at some point trump total time.

No matter what he's been cruising it.

Having this one man show to watch makes me think we really do need to have the Fall Southbound AZT/BCT combo event.

Edit He stayed on at the first snow detour.

[krefs]

Paul's definitely having a solid ride. It looked like the Highline Trail really slowed him down yesterday. The snow detours I took around the Mormon Lake area definitely saved a bit of time, as did the one around the Snowbowl area. I still dealt with a lot of mud and snow even on that detour up there. I'd say 2-3 hours of saved time in all for those detours compared to riding the true AZT. The North Rim would be tougher to estimate. It'll be tough for Paul to make up the 12-15 hours he's behind at this point. I pushed pretty steadily all the way to the end, but if he has some energy left and can pick up his pace, it still might be possible!

[tanman1337]

This is really cool to watch unfold. Can you guys explain the difference between taking the snow detours and the AZT? Are riders allowed to take either one during the AZTR or is it something that is decided by Scott when weather comes in? Is the mud and snow up North just as bad as the mud down South that seems to turn into clay?

[AZTtripper]

Tanner the mud up north is worse then down here. Up north the mud is super sticky and it goes on for miles and miles. The section down in the Santa Rita's is just that one hill. Up there it starts somewhere after Blue Ridge and runs all the way thru Anderson Mesa.

During the main race season riders make their own decisions when they are out there. The thing in the race is that if you choose to skip something and then the guy behind you rides it, you just lost. Of course that doesn't mean you can just slow down and wait forever for things to dry out.

The first year they had snow detour from the end of Blue Ridge all the way thru Happy Jack and all of Mormon Lake. And then more after Flag. Since then the only one needed has been the North Rim.

[krefs]

The snow detours are a frustrating thing. I really didn't want to have to do the series of short ones south of the Grand Canyon in 2010, but there was an amazing amount of snow that spring, even in the end of May. I ended up doing some hiking through mud and snow even with the detours I took. And the N Rim singletrack is simply out of the question with a bike almost any spring.

It looks like Paul has really been suffering the past couple days as his pace slowed down considerably. I just check the tracker, and it looks like he's been hanging out in a neighborhood east of downtown Flag for the past few hours. With such a long stop, he's now a full day off record pace. I hope he keeps pushing, though...that landscape north of the Peaks is such a neat area to experience.

[krefs]

Bummer...it looks like Paul may have thrown in the towel. I hope he gets a good night's rest and instead continues on in the morning. I hate to see people bail from great adventures just because they're not on record pace. That's the perfect opportunity to just slow down and savor it.

[AZTtripper]

No doubt, he can still ride the most trail ever, in race mode on the course. At least by what's recorded and that I know of.

[ScottM]

Yep, a fall full-trail ride is still a tangling carrot for someone out there.  As both Aaron and Paul found, the trail can be a bit more challenging in the fall.  Foxtails and other trail obscuring growth are at very high levels, and many sections of AZT haven't seen traffic since cooler months (April!).

Paul messaged me that he has to be on the east coast by tomorrow night, so he simply did not have enough time to complete the rest of the trail.  It was record or bust!  Nice ride, Paul (and Aaron).  It was great to see a couple of fall ITT's.

[tanman1337]

Tanner the mud up north is worse then down here. Up north the mud is super sticky and it goes on for miles and miles. The section down in the Santa Rita's is just that one hill. Up there it starts somewhere after Blue Ridge and runs all the way thru Anderson Mesa.

During the main race season riders make their own decisions when they are out there. The thing in the race is that if you choose to skip something and then the guy behind you rides it, you just lost. Of course that doesn't mean you can just slow down and wait forever for things to dry out.

The first year they had snow detour from the end of Blue Ridge all the way thru Happy Jack and all of Mormon Lake. And then more after Flag. Since then the only one needed has been the North Rim.

Tim thanks for the reply. I guess I'm still a little confused. So basically each rider has the ability to detour wherever they want around the mud without getting DQ'ed? I know that the detour would probably be the longer way around, but just wanting to know if I have it right.  Hey Kurt, so did you already have snow detours planned out and way pointed before you rode the 750?

[AZTtripper]

Tanner

So far it's always worked out that everybody has made the same call at all of the detours. Not sure what Scott would do if one person missed something everyone else rode.

There's just no way we can say the detour starts here. You guys have to make that call when you see what's on the ground at the time. It would be possible for some one to get thru and then latter another person gets caught in a rain event and has to detour.

I should think you'll want the detours loaded up in the GPS. Not sure for the newer units but with my old etrex I would just make the main track small enough to leave a couple of open tracks for the detour sections.

[ScottM]

Thanks Tim.

Tanner --

Almost always a detour will be on a road and faster, so they aren't the longer way around.

Each year I look at the snow models and determine what the 'acceptable' detours are.  As Tim said above, every year except the first (2010) the only allowed detour has been on the north rim.  When Kurt rode that year I had GPX for several other detours published.  The rule has been that any of the published allowed detours are OK, but you do not *have* to take them.  So if you get there and based on previous conditions things look good, by all means, stick with the AZT.  But if you're racing it almost always comes down to taking any detour that is permissible -- just like the 100+ miles of paved detours allowed in New Mexico on the divide route.  95% or more of all divide racers take them, even though conditions are often good enough to stick with the main route.

Hope that helps answer your question.

[tanman1337]

Yah that helps a ton! Thanks for all the clarification. I guess this forum topic is pretty well spent now. I will post any more AZTR questions in the planning thread. Thanks for the responses.

-Tanner