AZTR - 300 and 750 Race Discussion Thread - 2015

[schillingsworth]

I sure hope Katherine has a cooler full of goodies waiting for her, that was one monstrous push to the finish. Congratulations!!

Awesome ride Scott!! I was living vicariously through your tracker. It was fun watching you progress northward. Cheers!!

[kiwimom]

I too hope Katherine has great things waiting for her at the finish.  That was an amazing last push with very little sleep after Flagstaff.  We spent many an anxious minute  glued to our computers watching her spot move about at 2.00 am, wondering if she was ok, only to find out later it was the cold that kept her moving. Congratulations to all the riders, a magnificent effort.  Rich, we are  cheering for you to, think you are amazing.

[geekonabike]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – John Fairbairn called in with a triple for Mormon Lake!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

When I grow up I'm gonna have Johns attitude.

[windowace]

OOF!!! That was some serious work. Calves are crushed from the hike up to the north rim. Canyon hike was awesome (except maybe the last mile or so), tump line was perfect, even took time to jump in the Colorado. That route beats on you and then soothes and coaxes you back with sublime moments.  I had the most awesome tail/side wind all the way down 89 to Jacob lake.  Great job everyone.  Oh yeah, carried the easy button the whole way, but felt I only needed the support and encouragement of my family and friends to get it done!   I'll get more posted up in a few days. Be strong, Be Kind, Be Funny when you can! Cheers!

[Adam Alphabet]

OOF!!! That was some serious work. Calves are crushed from the hike up to the north rim. Canyon hike was awesome (except maybe the last mile or so), tump line was perfect, even took time to jump in the Colorado. That route beats on you and then soothes and coaxes you back with sublime moments.  I had the most awesome tail/side wind all the way down 89 to Jacob lake.  Great job everyone.  Oh yeah, carried the easy button the whole way, but felt I only needed the support and encouragement of my family and friends to get it done!   I'll get more posted up in a few days. Be strong, Be Kind, Be Funny when you can! Cheers!

Awesome Job Scott! Pleasure to ride with you between Sonoita and Flume. It was great to follow your ride along on TL and I'm super stoked that your Canyon hike went well. Nice work!!

[mikepro]

Awesome Job Scott! Pleasure to ride with you between Sonoita and Flume. It was great to follow your ride along on TL and I'm super stoked that your Canyon hike went well. Nice work!!

Ditto.  Great to meet & ride with you both in that same stretch leading up to K Camp.  Congrats, Scott, on the 750 finish, as well to all other finishers and those still making their way up to Stateline on route.  Also, best healing wishes to Tanner Morgan - get 100% soon.

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – John Fairbairn called in from Flagstaff and Rich Wolf called in from Mormon Lake!

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

[dream4est]

Well back at my new house in NM
Wow

I went for a 10:23:59 the other night
The canyon I just completely destroyed in 15 hours - by far my best
The Kaibab plateau had other ideas - namely the notion that Caminiti with no clothes or sleep kit the whole way wAs a little beat down and no match for north rim country at night. I walked I crawled and I begged. Finally I turned my sol lite ubivy into a badass orange jumpsuit. Under my outer layer. It worked but still not enough clothes?
Well I still couldn't move at riding speed on the flats till 520am, when I finally got flowing to Jakob lake. So 12 hours after winning a canyon bAttle royal I humbly walked up to a closed jake at 630. No water.

I used all my powers and my brain said there would be a hiker water cache at the trailhead but on the other side of te road not the north side we regain trail. Bam. 2 gals of water right where my brain said they would be. Never been in that corral area? I was I the zone and a 5th finish was now a mere formality.

That canyon straight thru beat down I administered for the first time in my career was for Tanner. I really didn't think I had it in me but I barely stopped much less took of the bike. Tanman motivated me from the hospital with one text I got in the  middle of nowhere.
Mark Caminiti - 5
 Grand Canyon- 0

[mtbcast]

Great job, Mark!

[Mxhdroom]

Wonderful, Mark. A superb ride, a great report and an inspirational message to bikepackers everywhere. 5 finishes on the AZT 750 where most of us dream of competing in something like that just the once. Outstanding. 

Ride on.

Gary

[ScottM]

I've been out on the road and the trail, but still following along -- just not able to post anything.

Some phenomenal finishes lately, and I'm so stoked about everyone out there still keep'n on. 

Everyone that finishes the beast that is the 750 deserves a shout out, but definitely wanted to hit up:

-Alice - destroying the 750 record on a VERY impressive rookie run - sub 10 days!
-Katherine - also killing the record with an impressive rookie run
-Mark x 5 - determination, guts, grit
-JayP for improving his time and attitude over last year
-Denberg for staying in it
-Dylan - posting one of the top 5 fastest times yet

Ron Thomson seems poised to shatter his 20-day time this year.  Heard from Rich Wolf, our red lantern, today about a prescribed burn off Lake Mary.  Sounds like he made it through with no issues, though.  Gotta love these guys at the 'back' riding their hearts out. 



 

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – John Fairbairn called in from Mount Humphries last night!

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

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – John Fairbairn called in from Mount Humphries again this morning where it's cold!

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

[JayP]

Attitude is everything and I had a much better time this year over last as I knew what to expect. This route IMO is the toughest dirt bikepacking route out there. Kind of like how the Iditarod Trail is the toughest snow route.
Even though I had a successful finish / ride last year I felt like I was beat. My goal for this year was to just have a better time and not clock time. I also wanted to see how my body would fair after doing the ITI.
I am pretty smoked right now but the drastic change in temperature from one event to the other didn't really effect me as I thought. And I embraced the trail with a better attitude. So overall I am happy with my performance.
We all have our own issues while on the trail. I dealt with a floppy broken shock for about 4 days. That really worked me as I had to stand and finesse the bike through all the chunk with out shock slap. With the lower bottom bracket due to compressed rear end I was constantly having to pay attention to my timing to not get pedal slap. Although that happened plenty and I definitely thought I was going to explode my pedals at some point. My hands were taking a beating from standing and having a lot of weight on them. I was close to my limits and Flagstaff came just in time. Absolute Bikes took care of the shock rebuild and a bunch of other tuning. I burped my rear tire and hit my rear rim enough that it is toast.
I put one cactus thorn through my little finger. Yep, in one side out the other. That was a free shot of adrenaline. I pulled the spine watched it bleed like a hose and taped it up.
When I got to the Highline Trail I put my Canyon shoes on and power hiked the whole thing to the top of the rim. I had nightmares about this trail from last year it was so over grown. Turns out it was brushed out and it was a super wide trail but it is still rough with chunky rock. I thought the shoe switch was a great approach to taking on this section.
Speaking of trail maintenance. I noticed a ton more trail signs and improvements over last year. They are clearly improving the trail all over. I seen a crew on top of the North Rim and I couldn't praise them enough for the work they do.
When I finally closed the gap to Aaron I had fun starting to think about strategy and do a little racing. I was kind of bummed when I heard he needed a rest. I give him huge props for his ultra lightweight style.
The Canyon really did me in this year as my calves are still sore and tight. When I reached the North Rim my muscles couldn't even function to pedal a bike. It literally took me 2 hours of soft pedaling, stopping and passing out on the road, to finally reach an expected speed on the pavement.
My biggest crux with coming down to the desert from my Idaho winter is the dry air. The heat I am OK with but that darn air fires up my asthma / allergies and is just hard to feel good in. The further North I headed the better I felt.
Well, just wanted to drop a few words and congrats to all that take this beast on. And a personal Thanks to Scott M for keeping us all honest with such an amazing route.
Have fun and keep riding!

[ScottM]

Nice sum-up, Jay.  The AZT is hard, no doubt.  No such thing as a clean and pain-free traversal, that's for sure.

The trail is improving a little every year.  Highline is slated for more work.  Signage keeps getting better.  No one really has any worries about it getting too easy... and if it does, there are sections we are currently skipping that can be thrown in....

Results still coming together over here:

http://topofusion.com/azt/results.php

Including links to writeups/blogs/etc as I see them.  Please post here or email me if you see any I don't have linked yet.

[joeydurango]

Been checking out some of the writeups.  Nice work, everyone!  And of course, awesome work on the 750, it's been fun to watch the blue dots from home after the 300!  Congrats on the win and on having more fun, JayP.  Great rides, everyone - see you out on the trail!

[tanman1337]

Hey All,

Thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes. I am still "racing" every night in my dreams and wake up to a pool of sweat and my side hurting. I just wanted to give you all a little update on what exactly happened during my injury and what I learned from it. At around 1 P.M. on April 8th, I had just resupplied in my home town of Payson, AZ. I finally found some KT tape at Big 5 for my knee, which had been giving me some issues for quite a few days but that point, and some other things that you could not just find at local gas stations. I only resupplied with about a liter and a half of water for the Payson to Pine section because I was very confident/motivated from a great resupply in my home town and had just hiked the whole Highline trail only about a month before. I was one of the only people that probably knew that the dreaded Highline Trail had been well cleaned up and no longer did every foot of it come out and try to bite at you. Anyways, I was very motivated to get up to Pine, resupply very heavy on food and kick the hell out of the Highline that night to try getting back up to where Alice was. As soon as I left pavement in the neighborhood on the north side of Payson, I started ripping down the first decent only to have a near miss with a 3 foot tall boulder and clip a small 4 inch tall anchored down rock. I went over the bars faster than I ever have before. When I hit the ground, I could not breath, but I figured I just knocked the wind out of me... First thing I thought, "What bones did you just break?". I started moving all of my limbs very slowly and to my surprise, everything was mobile. I had a large gash around my left elbow, but I thought it would manage without stitches. Once, I finally had the courage to stand up, I almost immediately fell over from being lightheaded and dizzy. I walked my bike over to the nearest Ponderosa pine tree and hung my bike up on a branch. I went for my multitool to bent back my brake rotors...unfortunately I collapsed on the ground and felt extremely nauseous. I battled the feeling of nausea, dizziness and lightheadedness for sometime while on the phone with my fiancé telling her what happened. I was very upset because just minutes before I felt SO GREAT! I explained to my fiancé that the symptoms were most likely from a small concussion because I hit my head pretty good (YES I had a helmet on!). I have had many concussions in the past and this one didn't give me any visual symptoms so I truly believed it wasn't anything severe. After about 30 minutes to an hour of debating on if I should just return back to Payson, I decided to make a reservation at the cabin up in Pine, ride/hike on and get some rest in a bed that night and then continue with the Highline Trail first thing in the morning. As I made my way up toward Pine hiking the accents and biking the small amount of decents, I felt like I had zero motivation and no energy unlike just a few hours before. I started to have very uncomfortable pain inside my abdomen, but I kept thinking, "That was a very hard crash, I'm sure my organs just got knocked around good!". I even saw Jens and Gunther pass by and say, "Man dude, you don't look so good." I continued up the huge climbs all way to Pine finally arriving at That Brewery. At this point, I was in some very serious pain and it was radiating all the way up my sides and into my shoulders. The problem and reason I did not take a ride straight to the hospital is that I was simply stubborn and wanted to finish the first of my three large races to attain the Triple Crown Challenge. Once I got to the small cabin around 8 P.M. I "tried" laying down on the bed to call my fiancé and tell her I was going to try and sleep it off... I couldn't even get a full sentence out of my mouth... I hadn't even been in the cabin for 5 minutes and I got back up and went back over to the entrance of That Brewery and waited for a ride to the hospital. Once I arrived at the Payson hospital, I went back for a CT scan of my abdomen. I was told that it would be about 45 minutes to an hour before I would get the results. Within 2 minutes they ran back into my room and said, "You are taking a helicopter ride, you ruptured your spleen and you bleeding badly." I told the nurse that I was about to lay down up in Pine and just "sleep it off" and she said, "Honey, if you would have went to sleep, you would have never woken up...". About 20 minutes later I was airborne and my life flipped upside down... Earlier that day, I was making great time, super motivated and was finally riding in cooler weather. Now, I was flying in an Air Evac, racing down to Phoenix, not knowing if I was going to see my pretty fiancé's face again or even be able to pet my dog again. I was supposed to be getting married in less than 3 weeks... It was pretty emotional because I thought for awhile that my own drive and perseverance was going to be the thing that killed me... "Why didn't I just turn the damn bike around and go into Payson to get checked out 9 hours ago..." I really thought for awhile, that by being stubborn and hiking all the way up to Pine, I may have just killed myself. When I arrived at the Level 1 Trauma Center in Scottsdale, the doctor was on the helipad completely scrubbed out waiting to receive me. I was wheeled into a room of no less than 20 people trying to rip my clothes off and get an assessment... The trauma doctor was the most calming person I had talked to all day. He made me feel immediately comfortable. I still remember asking him the words I have always feared to have to ask, "Doc....am I going to make it?". He smiled and said, "Of course you are." Anyway, I was able to see the CT scan images and he showed me that my abdomen was filled with blood and that my spleen was now in many pieces. He was highly impressed that I could even walk with a Grade 4 Spleen Rupture and said I must be tough. I just told him, I was probably just stupid. They embolized the main artery through an angioplasty in my femoral artery and stopped the bleeding. I will now have to get many vaccinations and antibiotics to stay healthy for the rest of my life, but I should feel normal in about 6-8 weeks. My Triple Crown Challenge is going to have to wait till next year


Lessons Learned-

I do not consider myself reckless and I am truly intune with my own mind and body. I kept checking all the way up to Pine for any swelling, discoloration and bruising of the abdomen and there was nothing. Even to this day, over a week after the injury, I have no bruises or swelling of any kind. So even though you aren't showing any external symptoms after a brutal crash, you might want to get checked out if you are feeling abdominal pain.

I like to pride myself on always pushing forward and never quitting. This has been instilled in me throughout my entire life...but there is a time to let your ego down and at least get yourself checked out. If you don't look out for your body, you can't push it even further next time. We only get one chance at this life and one body. Don't screw it up beyond what is fixable.

I have also learned that there will always be the people in this life that encourage you to get back up, brush yourself off and try again and then there will also be people that try and keep you safe by holding you back. I'm not going to tell you which ones I usually listen to, but just remember, they all want to see you safe...

Cheers to all you 300 and 750 finishers! You guys and gals are amazing!

-Tanner

[mtnbound]

Tanner - All I can say is "Wow!!".  I can't believe how you continued on after that devastating accident yet still be able to recognize that you needed to go to a hospital immediately instead of "sleeping it off" and never waking up.  That is a very frightening incident.  I am sorry that you will have life long issues but am so glad you are still alive and can go on with your life (and even continue riding).  Best wishes on your wedding!

[mtbcast]

Glad you're okay, Tanner! The trail /s will be there! Take care of yourself so you will too!

[mikepro]

Glad you survived, Tanner, and happy to have a report to read that's from you as opposed to an obit written by someone else.  Along with all other riders I met, I also had fun chatting with you along the route.  When you have a moment and check back into this thread, remind me again who made your frame/saddle bags (which I think looked 'tight' and well-designed).  Thanks and glad you are alive to ride another day!