Chad's AZT 300

[ScottM]

Chad is wrapping up the singletrack portion of the Lemmon climb, getting ready to grind the rest on pavement.

Unless... he goes for hero points and climbs Bug Springs.  He's big talked about such things in the past, but somehow I think he'll take the pavement.

He's on pace to hit Oracle tonight, and possibly finish tomorrow night, for a sub-4 day total time.  We'll see if he can pull himself away from his traditional Coors tallboy at the General Store in Summerhaven, though.  I expect to see his SPOT hover for a while there, up in the deliciously cool 8000' air.

It's getting hot (80 here in town), with 90 forecast tomorrow.  Not great for the Antelope Peak and Gila River areas (tomorrow's task), but at least the wind will help keep things relatively cool.

[Marshal]

Yep, already windy and getting warm fast, too.  75 at my house and climbing. 

Tracking is working fairly well now.  He's on the AZT at Redington, and just crossing Redington road to begin some nice ridgeline riding.

Scott, I can see Chad's track on "his" page (http://topofusion.com/tracker-azti.php?name=Chad%20Brown) but there is no general "track page" showing up on (http://topofusion.com/tracker-azt.php), just a blank area on my screen??  

During the AZT, when my wife wants to watch the 'red dots' will she have to go to 'individual' pages??

am I missing something?

Oh, and about right now it looks like Chad is about to hit some smooth quick pave climbing........

[Pivvay]

Nice work Chad, keep on truck'n! Get'r done, lucky #3!

[ScottM]

Scott, I can see Chad's track on "his" page (http://topofusion.com/tracker-azti.php?name=Chad%20Brown) but there is no general "track page" showing up on (http://topofusion.com/tracker-azt.php), just a blank area on my screen??  

During the AZT, when my wife wants to watch the 'red dots' will she have to go to 'individual' pages??

am I missing something?

Yeah, I just noticed that too.  It's fixed now, but something is occasionally getting messed up with the main tracker page.  I'll get it figured out so that at least the links to individual racer pages always show up.  BTW, you'll show up on there as soon as you register a point.

[PirateGirl]

Once he gets past Palisades, he will have gone past his previous pull out points on the AZT300. Hopefully he'll celebrate a bit in Summerhaven. 

[ScottM]

Once he gets past Palisades, he will have gone past his previous pull out points on the AZT300. Hopefully he'll celebrate a bit in Summerhaven. 

Right!

I just got this from Chad's girlfriend, Kendall:

He reached the top of Mt Lemmon!  He said his legs have reached a new kind of pain that words cannot describe.  They are beyond in "pain".  He was literally drinking his coors light on the phone, burbed in my ear and then said he was going to jump back on his bike.  At least he is going "downhill" for a little while.  He said he will reach Oracle tonight.

!

[Pivvay]

Hehe. Go Chad Go!

[Marshal]

Well if I remember right from my time last yr it looks like Chad is timing the “Traverse of Death” about right.  If he doesn’t stop to long in Summerhaven he should be through most of the nasty sticky picky walking sections before full dark.

[PirateGirl]

Woohoo! He's going down the other side! Remember, the pain endured makes finishing that much sweeter. 

Just noticed more SPOTS are showing up on the page as folks get ready for Friday. This will be great to watch. I'll be checking the page each chance I get to follow the race. Good luck racers!

[ScottM]

Woohoo indeed!  He cruised through the 'nasty' part of Oracle ridge and is now enjoying the sweetness of the Cody Trail descent.

More swoopy miles await him coming around to Oracle.  It'll be dark by the time he rolls into Oracle, but not by much.

[ScottM]

Chad's at the A-frame Chalet motel in Oracle for the night.  They give a discount for AZT riders/hikers.

He recommends an easier gear than his for anyone SS'ing the route.  He's in fast-tour mode (same pace Fred, Pete, Mike and I rode last year), but said that gear has really worked him.  He's now contemplating his options for the last push to Superior.  It's a stretch not easily covered in a day, often ending in a nighttime fumble to the finish trailhead.  Water and heat are a big issue, with forecast for upper 80's to 90's tomorrow, and, of course, more wind!  He said he's already pretty sick of the wind -- that it's been pretty constant throughout his ride.  He also reported that the traverse of death is in good shape -- only one tree down, and recent trail work.  I was a bit surprised how quickly he burned through it per his SPOT track.

One funny thing -- if you look at his third to last point you can see he missed the turn for the Mariposa trail in Oracle state park.  Only by 200 yards or so, but funny that he happened to drop a point there.

Otherwise, he seems in great spirits and said he's having a great ride.

Water reports:

Spigot at Madera is ON
Spigot at Palisades is OFF

[AZTtripper]

Looks like the third time's the charm for Mr. Brown I always knew he would do well if he gave himself the chance to slow down and ride his own ride. And SS rigid no less!!!

[Pivvay]

Palisades is off huh? Ugh

[ScottM]

Looks like Chad was up at about 5am, rolling out to make the last push to the finish.  That's a motivated start time.

Unfortunately the message from his SPOT was an "OK", not a TRACK.  So I think he's still confused about the operation of the unit.  It just underscores that we need to change the instructions sheet to be more clear about how to get it into track mode for the 300.

Unless he looks at it (the flashing LEDs do indicate that it's not in TRACK mode), I don't expect to see any points from him.  So we'll just have to wait in suspense to see if he wraps it up today or not...

[ScottM]

Palisades is off huh? Ugh

Yeah, it often is this time of year since it can easily get below freezing up there.

Plan to hit Summerhaven for agua.

[Pivvay]

Did we ever figure out if there is agua at Summerhaven off hours though? My small nightmare is planning to get water at summerhaven after it's closed up for the night and there is none available. That would be saaaaaad.

[ScottM]

There are public bathrooms in the visitor center (near the pie shop) that have water... but I don't know if they get locked at night or not. 

There's also the fire station, which is actually on route, on the Control Road before Oracle Ridge.  There should always be someone there, and IIRC, there are hoses on the outside of the building.  You can't miss it (the fire station).

[Pivvay]

They told me the bathrooms are locked overnight last year. Whether or not that's true I can't be sure but it sounded unwise to count on them. Good to know about the fire station.

[Pivvay]

There is an AM SPOT point there for Chad so I think he's likely moving? Wonder if he doesn't have it in tracking again...

[AZTtripper]

Did we ever figure out if there is agua at Summerhaven off hours though? My small nightmare is planning to get water at summerhaven after it's closed up for the night and there is none available. That would be saaaaaad.

As I recall it is possible to get a room in Summerhaven.