AZTR 2013 Discussion Thread

[tanman1337]

Yah there is a really good cafe there at clint's well as well as a tiny gas station. It is a ways off course, but I'll bet you they were dreaming of a big stack of pancakes and their delicious milk shakes. I can't blame em. I would ride the pavement to get that kind of recharge. They have a long way till Flag

[mikepro]

Looks like both Forest and Eric spent the night at the Clint's Well oasis - they must've really needed a re-charge.

[Eszter]

Looks like ScottM's yellow dot is reloaded and on the move.  Go ZOOOOOOOOM!

[Marshal]

Look's like Max dropped off the abyss of the S Rim and 11:19am and is now on his way into the big ditch.......I would except to see his Spot dots show up occasionally from the depths, and then reappear on the N Rim some time tomorrow.  

If all goes well and assuming usual pave/detour I suppose he could make a late afternoon re-supply at Jacob Late and finish it up late tomorrow

direction edit......

[RollingStone]

I met Max at the South Kaibab trailhead and took a few shots of him making the transition from biker to hiker. He's in great spirits and sez he's planning on pushing thru to UTAH.

[RollingStone]

Here's a few more pics of Max at the south rim. I think he's going to need new shoes after this race.

[schillingsworth]

Awesome shots RollingStone, thanks!! Talk about on the SPOT reporting!!

[Marshal]

great pic's  thanks!

man that inside pedal on/near Max's lower back is going to be painful............

go Max.......

[ruthslp]

nice race everyone! i was watching from the east coast:-)
congrats eszter on another course record!!

[ne14cycling]

FANTASTIC pics!...look at those shoes!  HAB 750

Cliff Clermont

[Buttermilk]

man that inside pedal on/near Max's lower back is going to be painful............

That pedal might be acting like a spur, Max is motoring through the ditch...

Keep on truck'n Blake, Aaron and the rest of ya!!!

[mb]

Max crossed the Colorado River and has started up Bright Angel.  WOW! Go all you racers Max, Blake, Aaron, Eric, Forest, Mark, Sheila, Cjell and Scott. What all'you'all are doing is phenomenal.  Keep it up we are watching dots and egging you on.    

[AZTtripper]

So I did remember my camera for dropping Scott off this morning, now I just need to get back into my Picasa account so I can post a pic.

Leaving for Utah tomorrow, drop one racer off at the start then just head north to pick up another at the finish. It's great I get to see a lot of the state on somebody else's dime.

[AZTtripper]

Scott at Montezuma Pass before starting down to the Border.

[schillingsworth]

Great shot Tim, I think Scott was practicing that pose when Chad was introducing him at the start of the 300 last week!!

I put together a rather long-winded recap of my journey through the 300, tons of pics if you haven't browsed the link I posted the other day.

http://schillingsworth.blogspot.com/2013/04/azt-300-sweet-redemption.html

[AKSharon]

Now that I am sitting back in Alaska in my much loved 20 degree temperatures looking at the pictures I took of the AZT300 I think, wow that looked like a great easy ride!  I don't want my memory to fade so fast and get sucked into going back for the 750 next year!   Michael Braun and I have done several backpacking events together for the experience of pushing ourselves and getting to see some great country that others have worked hard at putting GPS files together for.  We do these as tours not races and the weight of my bike shows it at times, this time it was overkill taking a down jacket and a 15 degree bag with all the comforts of a good night sleep, we are known for sleeping or at least attempting to sleep full nights.  But living in Alaska you always have to be prepared when you go out, so I take that with me in the lower 48 as well.

Everyone talks about Oracle Ridge being a brute, but I knew it was Scott putting together the course so I assumed it would be a lot of HAB up some sick terrain, and in deed there was a lot of HAB, but it didn't bother me mentally as I was prepared for it, I just had to go into my happy thoughts and believe I was doing this for a good reason.  Michael and I decided to the push from Oracle to the finish line without stopping, but that didn't work as the heat was just brutal for us, we had to lay down in Bloodsucker Wash for 8 hours until it got a little cooler.  I was worried about water so we stopped and loaded up as much as we could at every stop possible, even if it took us 1.5 hours to filter water in places like Beehive Well, that clogs your filter a lot with all the dead birds, and crap in the water. 

We had our challenges out there, encounters with rattle snakes, gila monsters, thorns, thorns, and more thorns, chollas - they are sick, bloody noses, relentless heat, issues with route finding and doing more climbing when you shouldn't, but we all have different challenges and hopefully we all learn something from it.

It's amazing how our bodies work, my legs felt like a million dollars the last day, not heavy at all, I could ride stuff that I would never dream of riding with a 55 pound bike, BUT the heat was a killer for me and that last push up that never ending canyon out of the Gila was not the best time of my life.  And the last 10 miles seemed like they would never end.  I have to say when we finished I wanted to leave my bike at the trailhead for somene else to enjoy and it was now time for me to take up another hobby that I had come up with in all my thoughts of pushing, I said to my self that I would take up golf, photography, cooking, etc.  But I put the bike in the car and drove back to Phoenix.  The next morning I was already talking to Michael about the California Sierra Trail, and other events, I guess that didn't last long!

I want to thank Michael's wife and my husband for allowing us to do do these bikepacking events together, thanks to Scott for all his hard work in putting out the cue cards and gps files.   It was great to meet everyone along the trail, I think that is one of the things I like the most in these events is meeting the other people along the trail.  And a huge shout out to Rich Wolf, if you don't know him you should, he is such an optimistic guy and truly a joy to be around.  I originally met Rich at the stagecoach 400 in California last April, Michael and I had some GPS issues so we ended up riding with Rich and Brendan and Mary Collier, the organizers of the race, for a whole day and night and it was the best part of that whole 400 miles was meeting Rich.  Super impressed that Rich did the 300, you are my hero!! 

I have to wear a business suit to work everyday and the people I work with would never believe what these bikepacking events are like as they ooh and ahh over someone in the office who just did a 10K running race and don't know how they have the energy to do such a big event.  You can't even begin to explain to someone that the AZT 300 is just a little bit harder than a 10K running race so I don't even try!

Michael and I have been working on a bikepacking event up here in Alaska, he has the GPS file done and I am in the final stages of the cue cards.  Go to Kenai250.wordpress.com.  If you want to get out of the heat of the lower 48 this summer and see some amazing country, please come join us, it is 250 mile loop and starts July 5.

Sharon

[mtbcast]

Eric Foster called in from Flagstaff and Sheila T called in from Payson!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/azt13/

[mb]

Now that I am sitting back in Alaska in my much loved 20 degree temperatures looking at the pictures I took of the AZT300 I think, wow that looked like a great easy ride!  I don't want my memory to fade so fast and get sucked into going back for the 750 next year!   Michael Braun and I have done several backpacking events together for the experience of pushing ourselves and getting to see some great country that others have worked hard at putting GPS files together for.  We do these as tours not races and the weight of my bike shows it at times, this time it was overkill taking a down jacket and a 15 degree bag with all the comforts of a good night sleep, we are known for sleeping or at least attempting to sleep full nights.  But living in Alaska you always have to be prepared when you go out, so I take that with me in the lower 48 as well.

Everyone talks about Oracle Ridge being a brute, but I knew it was Scott putting together the course so I assumed it would be a lot of HAB up some sick terrain, and in deed there was a lot of HAB, but it didn't bother me mentally as I was prepared for it, I just had to go into my happy thoughts and believe I was doing this for a good reason.  Michael and I decided to the push from Oracle to the finish line without stopping, but that didn't work as the heat was just brutal for us, we had to lay down in Bloodsucker Wash for 8 hours until it got a little cooler.  I was worried about water so we stopped and loaded up as much as we could at every stop possible, even if it took us 1.5 hours to filter water in places like Beehive Well, that clogs your filter a lot with all the dead birds, and crap in the water. 

We had our challenges out there, encounters with rattle snakes, gila monsters, thorns, thorns, and more thorns, chollas - they are sick, bloody noses, relentless heat, issues with route finding and doing more climbing when you shouldn't, but we all have different challenges and hopefully we all learn something from it.

It's amazing how our bodies work, my legs felt like a million dollars the last day, not heavy at all, I could ride stuff that I would never dream of riding with a 55 pound bike, BUT the heat was a killer for me and that last push up that never ending canyon out of the Gila was not the best time of my life.  And the last 10 miles seemed like they would never end.  I have to say when we finished I wanted to leave my bike at the trailhead for somene else to enjoy and it was now time for me to take up another hobby that I had come up with in all my thoughts of pushing, I said to my self that I would take up golf, photography, cooking, etc.  But I put the bike in the car and drove back to Phoenix.  The next morning I was already talking to Michael about the California Sierra Trail, and other events, I guess that didn't last long!

I want to thank Michael's wife and my husband for allowing us to do do these bikepacking events together, thanks to Scott for all his hard work in putting out the cue cards and gps files.   It was great to meet everyone along the trail, I think that is one of the things I like the most in these events is meeting the other people along the trail.  And a huge shout out to Rich Wolf, if you don't know him you should, he is such an optimistic guy and truly a joy to be around.  I originally met Rich at the stagecoach 400 in California last April, Michael and I had some GPS issues so we ended up riding with Rich and Brendan and Mary Collier, the organizers of the race, for a whole day and night and it was the best part of that whole 400 miles was meeting Rich.  Super impressed that Rich did the 300, you are my hero!! 

I have to wear a business suit to work everyday and the people I work with would never believe what these bikepacking events are like as they ooh and ahh over someone in the office who just did a 10K running race and don't know how they have the energy to do such a big event.  You can't even begin to explain to someone that the AZT 300 is just a little bit harder than a 10K running race so I don't even try!

Michael and I have been working on a bikepacking event up here in Alaska, he has the GPS file done and I am in the final stages of the cue cards.  Go to Kenai250.wordpress.com.  If you want to get out of the heat of the lower 48 this summer and see some amazing country, please come join us, it is 250 mile loop and starts July 5.

Sharon

Nice to get your perspective Sharon. I laughed when I saw that Bloodsucker Wash photo.  I holed up for 4 hours in that same spot last year.  Although not for 2013, I now have Kenai250 on my list.

[wookieone]

Those Pictures of Max are awesome!!! Go Max GO, he looks so damn bad ass!Jefe

[markphx]

Eric Foster called in from Flagstaff and Sheila T called in from Payson!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/azt13/

Eric Foster's mtbcast from Flagstaff and AZT analogy is freakin' hilarious! Definitely worth a listen in my opinion.