Coconino Stage Race 2013

[Yogi the Barry]

At least the weather [Forecast Discussion below] for Fri onwards looks good. Maybe the wind on Wed/Thurs will blow away some of those goatheads, which are at plague levels here in NM. And with a waxing moon, the few hours after sunset will be nicely illuminated. BTW, I don't plan on camping at either the Schnebly or Mingus camps. However, as penance for this sin, I will be leaving an offering can of Santa Fe Brewing Octoberfest at both those scenic summits as I hopefully bike thru. Look for it and share with the needy.
 - Yogi the Barry
MODELS SUGGEST SNOW LEVELS ABOVE 9000 FEET AT SUNSET WEDNESDAY BUT FALLING WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. THURSDAY MORNING...SNOW LEVELS ARE PROJECTED AT 6000-6500 FEET FOR AREAS WEST OF A LINE FROM PAGE TO BLACK CANYON CITY. MODEL QPF AMOUNTS ARE DOWN A BIT VS 24 HOURS AGO. THE BULK OF PRECIP ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT. AT THIS TIME SNOW ACCUMULATIONS LOOK TO BE UP TO AN INCH AT 7000 FEET WITH 2-4 INCHES ABOVE 8000 FEET ON THE KAIBAB PLATEAU AND SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS. CLEARING WEATHER MOVES IN FROM WEST TO EAST LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

[krefs]

Coconino behaved as it normally does and beat the pulp out of me yet again, but in an acceptable way this time around. A few comments on what I encountered that might help anyone riding it this weekend:

-- Anderson Mesa is hell as usual, thanks in large part to cattle using the trail when it was wet. Someone needs to train those bovines to stay out of the mud.

-- Lime Kiln Trail (between Sedona and Cottonwood) is in rough shape. Beware of the ruts hidden in the grass. And fill your tires/tubes with ample sealant, because the goatheads out there are awful!

-- Mingus has not gotten any easier.

-- Coyote Spring is filled with nice clear water.

-- The Verde River good and clear, too.

-- The descent off Bill Williams has quite a few downed trees, some at particularly inopportune locations.

-- The Texaco in Parks is still closed. The makeshift post office behind it has a drink cooler, cash only.

-- Alfa Fria Tank (where you hit the AZT on the west side of the Peaks) has nice water as usual.


All three of us that started on Saturday morning finished, and I do believe 3 different records were set in the process. I also will say that starting in Williams (or more specifically, finishing in Williams) is probably the toughest way to ride the loop. Hitting the Mingus climb at mile 165 was rather terrifying.

Our times...

Bobby Treadwell, singlespeed, first ever ultra!: 36:28 (+/- a couple minutes)
Kaitlyn Boyle, first ever ultra!: 46:20
Me: 30:52

Bobby's time blows me away, only an hour off Aaron Gulley's old record! I think Bobby said he slept for 9 minutes, and this ride was 3x his longest ever previous ride. Kaitlyn battled an annoyed stomach for a good chunk of the ride and seemed to enjoy her first real night riding experience. She also amazingly didn't sleep at all through nearly 2 full nights of riding! And I finally conquered that route after failing to do so on three previous occasions.

Have fun out there, everyone. Perhaps I'll come up and say hello the night you're on Mingus.

[LyndaW]

Congrats Kurt! Smoking fast time!

Congrats to Bobby and Kaitlyn too. Great to see riders out there flying around Coco.

[ScottM]

Wow, solid work by the Prescott College bikepacking team!  Obviously the course was well taught and fueled the stoke nicely.  Can I be in the next class?  Will it teach me how to smash the Coco loop, 'cause I need to!

Thanks for the course beta, Kurt.  I'll get a new GPX posted with some minor tweaks from Kurt on the re-route.

[ScottM]

If you want a SPOT rental, please drop me a note or sign up here ASAP:

http://trackleaders.com/coconino-signup

I only mention because several people signed up on the AES site and marked "will rent from trackleaders" but haven't signed up for a rental.  We need to get them in the mail ASAP.

[Yogi the Barry]

Scott,
I don't see anyone showing up on the Trackleaders [or BlueDot] web site. Is this another Firefox browser issue or something else? I also sent you a PM about my registration and Spot rental, as instructed to work around the Firefox issue. I hope you guys didn't mail me a Spot, because it will not arrive on time. I thought the Spots were going to show up at Mike and Ronda's Fri morning...[?]
-B

[ScottM]

Hey Barry, I haven't loaded the roster yet onto the tracker since I'm trying to track a few last minute people down.  There will be a few more adding on as the date gets closer.

It's looking like I won't be there this year, but either Tim McCabe (AZTtripper) or someone local to Flag will have the rental units at 'The Place' on Friday morning.

[Inertiaman]

What are people planning for lodging in Williams?

I'm contemplating a mixed ITT/stage ride, leaving Sat morning from Flagstaff and riding straight through to Williams in one push, lodging with other racers in Williams on Sunday night, and riding the fourth stage on Monday with others.

Ideally I'd like to share a hotel room with others in Williams.  Not sure if I'll get to Williams before most stage racers or after . . . hopefully I'll be there by mid-day if all goes as planned.

[Matt Schiff]

I haven't fully committed to the trip to Flagstaff because of the weather. I see the possibility of a few inches of snow. Are the trails rideable when wet or is there the clay problem?

[Inertiaman]

First of all, thanks to Kurt for the excellent condition report earlier in the thread.  I've got some additional questions to help my planning.

I've summarized all the water sources below, and am soliciting additional knowledge/confirmation on these sources.  Specifically:
 - are any of the sources noted below NOT viable?
 - are any of them off course more than 100 meters or so?
 - am I correct in understanding that the Texaco at ~ mile 203 has water available 24 hours if purchased from a vending machine?
 - only Coyote, Verde and Alfa Fria will require filtering; all others are potable?
 - did I miss any sources?

It looks like Verde to Williams is the longest stretch, unless the Texaco isn't a solid source, in which case Williams to Alfa Fria is a pretty long distance between water.

Thanks in advance for replies . . . I suspect this will help others in addition to me.

Mile
0     Flagstaff
23   Pinegrove CG
30   Dairy Springs CG
45   ADOT spigot
58   Sedona
68   Oak Creek
72   Red Rock SP
89   Cottonwood
113  Coyote Spring
133  Verde River
172  Williams
203  Texaco
225  Alfa Fria tank
240  Flagstaff

[ScottM]

I haven't fully committed to the trip to Flagstaff because of the weather. I see the possibility of a few inches of snow. Are the trails rideable when wet or is there the clay problem?

This storm does seem like it could be potent.  The good news is it's supposed to exit quickly and may leave some drying out time Thurs afternoon and into the night.  Having said that, the soil on Anderson Mesa and on Stage 1, in general, is not good when significantly wet.  There's some clay in there.  Previous Coco stage races have been re-engineered to start in Sedona, though I am not sure how much that gained in the long run, as parts of Lime Kiln can be bad too (though I have never seen it wet myself).

It sounds like Mike from Flagstaff will head out to check out part of the course Thursday PM and post if it looks bad.  Starting a day late could be a good call, either keeping the stage format, or going thru-ride.

[ScottM]

FYI - I have posted a second revision (v2) of the main GPX, cues and waypoints (oh my!).  V1 is still fine and there are no major changes.  But I improved the track based on Kurt's latest GPX, including a few minor reroutes of the AZT on Anderson Mesa, an adjusted turn just east of Wing Mountain, and the elimination of / option to skip a small piece of the Lime Kiln trail just east of Highway 89.

On the latter, that was the change to the cues.  He reports it is rutted and full of goat heads.  I remember parts of it being fun in the past, but it's not that exciting, especially with a road right next to it.  The GPX takes the road now.  But just note that the only place it's OK to skip singletrack on Lime Kiln is *BEFORE* you go under the highway in a culvert.  You'll know it when you get there.  After that, it's Lime Kiln all the way.  I think people have unknowingly skipped this little piece in the past.

He reports the re-route is "peachy."  I would guess it shaves somewhere between 15-25 minutes off the route.  The v1 GPX that I drew in was right on.

[ScottM]

Mile
0     Flagstaff
23   Pinegrove CG
30   Dairy Springs CG
45   ADOT spigot
58   Sedona
68   Oak Creek
72   Red Rock SP
89   Cottonwood
113  Coyote Spring
133  Verde River
172  Williams
203  Texaco
225  Alfa Fria tank
240  Flagstaff

I would not count on the campgrounds for water this time of year.  The ADOT park is solid, so it's pretty easy to get through stage 1 with just that, and fill up for camp there.

Red Rock Park should be good.  You just have to go inside to get water.

Otherwise I think you've got it as far as reliability and which ones you need to filter/treat.

[krefs]

Don't count on getting water at Pinegrove or Diary Springs CGs. They're both closed due to the government shutdown, and I would assume the water has been shut off. There are a few ponds out in that area, just before Pinegrove CG, from which you could get water if you needed some.

The Texaco Station is still closed, but they are also the Parks post office. So the makeshift PO is open during normal business hours. But you'll be going through there on Monday, which is a holiday, so they'll probably be closed. The drinks are not in a vending machine, just a standard gas station-type cooler. So if the PO is closed, you won't be able to buy any. But there is a stream you cross right near the end of Sycamore Canyon Rim that has some water in it, so you could treat that. There's also a cafe/store on Rt 66 ~1/4 mile west of Parks, so you could swing a short way off route to grab something to drink there. They also have great Philly cheese steak sandwiches.

[Yogi the Barry]

Plan-B? I'll be heading out this afternoon to hit the road. Probably driving sans access to the web. Would be nice if anyone could post a timely weather condition update by noon-ish. I need to show up at Mike & Ronda's Fri morning to pick up my Spot. After that, I might get my Better Half to drop me either at the ADOT/I-17 point or Sedona to start. Delaying the start by a day is probably the thing to do, but I don't have that option. I can only imagine how messy things might be in the Flag area if there's much rain/snow.

[schillingsworth]

Best of luck to all the riders this year, looks like the weather is making things interesting up there! Our small group ran into a similar predicament last year. We opted to start our loop in Sedona and waited out a fast moving downpour that Friday morning. I'm glad we did as the moisture really helped us on the Lime Kiln trail, reports from a week earlier were very thick moondust over large sections of trail.

Looking at the radar, light snow is falling over Anderson Mesa right now. The system is supposed to move out quickly today, then clearing tomorrow. I guess it all depends on exactly how much of the white stuff actually falls today.

[AZTtripper]

Just got to flag. Sky is clearing. Spent the night at the Mingus campsite, woke up to an inch of snow!

Considering starting in Sedona, to avoid the mud.

[Pascal]

From the NWS... Mud fest? I still have ~1 hour to decide to register and drive up from Tucson...
 
 A COLD FRONT HAS CAUSED SNOWFALL ACROSS PORTIONS OF
 COCONINO COUNTY THIS MORNING. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE MOST
 CURRENT SNOWFALL REPORTS RECEIVED AS OF 815 AM MST.
 
 ********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************
 
 LOCATION          STORM TOTAL     TIME/DATE   COMMENTS                   
                      SNOWFALL           OF
                      /INCHES/   MEASUREMENT
 
 ARIZONA
 
 ...COCONINO COUNTY...
    WILLIAMS               4.5   815 AM 10/10
    PARKS                  4.0   800 AM 10/10                           
    JACOB LAKE             4.0   730 AM 10/10                                                                             
    GRAND CANYON VILLAGE   2.0   800 AM 10/10                           
    MORMON LAKE            2.0   812 AM 10/10     
    BELLEMONT              2.0   800 AM 10/10                           
    FLAGSTAFF              0.5   800 AM 10/10

[Yogi the Barry]

Cool. I'll bring my skis and skins, but leave the shovel and beacon at home... 

[AZTtripper]

Snows spitting again.

Schnebly road could well be a sloppy mess for a couple of days the way things are looking.

I know I don't want any thing to do with Anderson Mesa mud. But how sticky are the main trails in Sedona?