Coconino Stage Race 2013

[Yogi the Barry]

Comments on my 2-day Coco 131
Day-1, Friday, October 11th
Breakfast of confusions - Thanks to Brad for meeting me at Mike and Ronda's for the Spot* hand-off. Although I didn't get to hear all the conversations at the long table, seemed like about one-third of the field was going to delay their start by a day, one-third was MIA and the other third's plan was TBD. Not having the luxury of waiting a day, I was already on the 3-day schedule, I opted to compromise and start at ADOT/I-17, hoping for a bit of frozen tundra to sneak thru any potential mud.
The big thaw - Believe I started rolling about 10:30am, fully clothed. First few miles off of I-17 were nice and cold. Road surface was half-frozen, half Play-Doh, able to ride at about 70% and not have stuff fling off the tires. After a few miles of descending, the road completely thawed and transformed from gelato to glue. It was getting impossible to avoid the mud. The closer I got to the Schnebly overlook, the worse it got. It's amazing how much noise tires can make, coated with clay and rocks, as they try to saw thru the fork bridge and chainstays, right before totally locking up. I can only imagine how bad the mud must have been for those who opted to start in Flag.
Mud induced epiphany - With wheels totally gummed up, the process evolved into a simple cycle: cuss, dismount, cuss, roll bike backwards a bit to let the big balls of mud fall off, cuss, scrape off mud from wheels-frame-drivetrain, cuss, mount bike, cuss, pedal a few feet until wheels won't turn, cuss... repeat a necessary. During one particular bad meadow of mud, while literally spitting mad, I had an epiphany: The adult evolution of crying is cussing. So ironic to be so close to that lovely red sandy soil below the rim, which didn't contain much clay. Got a bit of bonus distance, getting offtrack in my rage and not paying attention to the GPS. Amazing fact: After heavy rain, only the finest and most adherent of clays settles between rocks. It only takes 2-3 feet of contact with these small congregations of clay to recoat your tires. So, instead of riding thru rocky sections, thinking that this will avoid the mud, one has to carry the bike thru the rocks.
Red or Green? Once I reached the Camp-1 overlook, I pulled out a can of Santa Fe Brewing Oktoberfest, as a reward for those who persisted and followed. In the spirit of being from New Mexico and not wanting to get into a political debate of which is better [red or green?], I adhered both a red and green gummy bear atop the can and placed it on the ledge. Hopefully the ravens didn't rob the bears and/or knock the beer off into the abyss. Did anybody drink it? Hope it was tasty...
Red rocks! Once off the rim and having cleaned the bike enough to roll, the descent down Mund's was quite fun. By sheer luck, a friend of mine, who was biking up the road to meet me and not knowing the course was on the parallel trail, heard my chain slap while I was descending and called out my name. Ralph and I descended down to the trailhead, where we shared a beer and lunch for an attitude adjustment. As everyone who has ridden Sedona would assume, my first time riding thru the area was very enjoyable, except for running into a band of Obama hating mountain bikers. However, all things must come to an end...
Lime Kiln [LK] - Except for the few miles of descent into Dead Horse Ranch SP, I pretty much don't every feel a need to ride this segment again. Box checked. Seek out professional counseling. Move on. I cold write an entire book on LK. True confession - I cheated! I followed directly in Ralph's tracks, thru one particular bad stretch of goathead hell. By doing so, we determined during one of our tire cleaning stops, that my tires only picked up about 15 goatheads each, compared to 25 for Ralph. Good to have a friend along, but tempered a bit by your friend who doesn't have a light and is slowly losing air from his tires. The most draining part of the 50-something mile [4900' climbing] day for me was the anxiety, not the physical exertion, of not knowing if all the goathead punctures would seal, while riding LK.
We met my Better Half, Kathi, and Claudia at Dead Horse Ranch SP to camp. After a shower, recovery beer and Thai food in Cottonwood, life was returning to good...
-Barry
*Also need to thank Scott for coordinating with Brad. FYI, my Spot unit seemed to be living up to its name - transmitting mode was spotty. Sometimes it would stay green... sometimes red... Perhaps it just couldn't make up its red-or-green? mind. And another thanks go out to Dave, http://nukesunrise.com/, for getting a bag made for me in time.

[cforsand]

Replaying the race day 2 on trackleaders it looks like Blake Bockius passed me just past the Oak Creek area.  When I got out of that section on to a short flat spot I took a wrong turn and went about 50 yards down a wrong path.  I looked back and saw two riders with bike packs taking the correct path.  So I quickly turned around and tried to catch them but could not keep their pace. I never saw them again.  Did you guys pass two guys on horseback just before hitting oak creek?  I was dipping my sore feet in the cool waters there when the horse riders passed by.

[Matt Schiff]

Just finished up the Coconino. Indecisive about what I had wanted to do because of the mud, I drove to Flag on Friday and made plans with 3 others, Mike, (on a single speed from flag, going for a thru ride) Blake, and Tom, to meet Sat at 7am. Myself, Blake, and Tom decided to ride the first two stages on Sat and meet up with whoever we found camped at the top of Mingus.

The first day contained a bit of mud still. Miles 10-16ish involved not riding on the trail, just pure cross country nonsense. There were also many other muddy parts that were unrideable or slow going. In the shade there was about 5 inches of snow in one spot. Made it to camp 1 in 5:30. I don't like riding in the dark so it was all one big push, no stopping in the time out safe zone. I basically just kept hammering it and could care less how I felt the next day. I got up to the end of stage 2 in 7:27 for a total of 12:57 for the first two stages. Caroline, Devon, and Jeff had a fire going. I expected to meet up with the CO crew but they told me of Aaron's accident and Zach with a broken spoke. Tom and Blake pushed on until almost midnight to make it to camp 2 as well. Mike had dropped out, not sure he was prepared enough for the night riding.

Day 2 we got a bit of a break, with a tailwind blowing from the south. It made for a fairly easy day unless you were descending down the snowy backside of Bill Williams in the dark. Climbing up, I realized I was the first cyclist since the snow fell. Descending the backside could be done carefully with some walking or just point and shoot. I prefer the latter method. I cut a tire but got it to seal up. Over the 3 days I had no less that 5 holes with stan's spraying out, all sealed up. Not bad for a set of tires with 1700 miles on them now. The time on the day was 6:32. Both Tom and Blake made it in before dark. We were all a little surprised at our times, given our studying of previous years.

Today there might have been a slightly unfavorable wind, but it was light. I questioned my desire to hammer it all the time but I do love pushing myself and competing. Hard not to love the final descent but the fork would barely budge so my wrists killed and I couldn't seem to stay on course. Stage time was 5:20.

I hope to do this another year when the weather doesn't have people scattered all over. It really is fun to push it for long rides but then sit down for hours and eat.

[B_Bock]

Congrats Matt! You were killin it out there.
I started Saturday morning with Matt, Tom, and Mike.  Anderson Mesa was brutal mud conditions. I could not ride the trail with out my bike coming to a complete halt. I ended up walking and riding through the grass and bush. Everything seemed like gravy after the mud..Ha.
The plan to start Saturday and ride the first two stages was a good one. We were able to catch up with Mark, Tim, Caroline, Devon and Jeff. I had a great time out there with the other racers. What a treat to stop at the end of the day and go off the clock.
My times for the four stages
6:07
9:49
8:15
6:18
Now I'm ready for ski season!

[ScottM]

Hey guys,

Great times!  Impressive to post those kind of numbers with mud and without the first stage stop.

Schiff, that's an insanely fast third stage time.  Glad you got some return on fighting mud on stage 1, conditions wise.  I'm not sure I ever thought that section could be done that fast.  I think your times add up to faster than the current record.  Congratulations on putting together a killer ride - on the first go, right?

Glad you guys enjoyed the stage format.  It is pretty cool to have downtime while still out there bikepacking and racing self supported.

[mb]

Wow, it's great to be reading this thread and hearing all the epic stories and piecing together the puzzles from trying to follow the dots.  Lot's of lessons in all the posts too.  Congrats to all riders for taking this one on. 

[Inertiaman]

Alright I guess its my turn to comment on my experience ...

My times;
Stage
1   6:08:09
2   9:55:32
3   9:07:13
4   6:34:14


I started Saturday morning w/ Mike, Matt and Blake.  Good first hour.  Then the mud.  I've lived through clay hell once before on the Mah Deh Hey in North Dakota, so wasn't surprised but was plenty annoyed.  I had to remove my rear wheel a half dozen times to clear mud.  But eventually the singletrack gave way to road and conditions improved enough to make reasonable progress.  Got to the Sedona overlook w/ Mike and Blake and chilled out for 30+ minutes to relish the passing of the mud and the beauty of Sedona.  Then onward.  Blake and I stayed together on stage 2, not out of planning, but just coincidentally similar speeds.  Night fell midway on Lime Kiln.  the sand wasn't as problematic as the primitive grassy singletrack, which very difficult to distinguish at night.  We food'ed up in Cottonwood, suffered up Mingus, and were in our bags by midnight.

Sunday Blake, Matt and I started together, not early.  Matt was soon off the front.  The water at Coyote was good and clear, btw.  Filtered w/ Blake again at the Verde, then I got caught up in the scenery, the nice dirt roads through the forested areas, and the great weather.  Bill Williams was OK going up, until I discover a broken link on my rear suspension.  I nursed my bike up and over to Williams.  The snow on the north side of Bill Williams was substantial, 4-6 inches in pockets at the top, and compromising the trail down to 8000' or lower.  Then I met the worlds largest rock water bars . . . one after the other.  I can't imagine the scale of water flow that justifies such tall rocks.  Stopped periodically to re-insert the broken suspension link.

Nice relaxing night in Williams.  Sorry for the snoring Matt.  

The fast start today helped psyche me up.  Great weather again.  A temporary fix for my pivot with a bottle cage bolt surprisingly held all day, including the final great lava-dodging descent into Flagstaff.

I really enjoyed the course and meeting the other folks out there.  Looking forward to seeing some of you at other events.

Cheers,
Tom

[Yogi the Barry]

Comments on my 2-day Coco 131
Day-2, Saturday, October 12th
Rolled out of Dead Horse right at 6AM. Hard to leave all your friends and family all snug in their sleeping bags. Had to work on drivetrain, pump up tires after all the oozing on Lime Kiln, yada, yada. So much for that 5AM start. At least the previous evening's Thai food didn't become an issue. Very cold rolling thru Cottonwood and I didn't shed any clothing for an hour.
Then the climb up Mingus. I didn't think it was that bad. It's only climbing from 3500' to 7800'. OK, 4300' of climbing makes it that bad. At least most of the HAB and CAB [carry a bike] was consistently up. I hate HAB that doesn't gain elevation. Downhill HAB is the most demoralizing. More irony to be hiking up the north slope of Mingus in shorts and a short-sleeve jersey, stepping thru piles of graupel and frozen ground. Called-in and ate at the hang glider launch. Took about five minutes for one wee little section of my hamstring to quit cramping every time I tried to put my socks and shoes back on.
Stopped at the supposed Camp-2 site to drop off another Oktoberfest beer, but two parties of RVs had already laid claim. So I packed away that one pound of awesome beer. Got stuck behind a caravan of trailer pulling RVs on the nice and smooth [now not fast] section of road atop Mingus. What doesn't kill you, diesel fumes and soot, just makes you stronger, right? With all the missing topsoil and erosion, some of the upper descent down Mingus pretty much sucked on a hardtail. Don't know if I would have liked it on my Ibis FS bike either. For some strange reason I really enjoyed playing with the electric gate. Amazing that a gate, along a utility easement, could even be installed.
Checked out Coyote Spring, even though I still had probably 2L of water. Right before leaving, decided to filter a liter, just to be safe. After five minutes, all I had was about a cup of water. Last time I used my GravityWorks was 2012 CTR. Hmmm, guess there's a lesson there. Looked at the profile to the Verde and decided 2L should get me there. Besides, I had tabs if needed. For all the boring double-track leading up to the Verde, at least the railroad grade was easy enough to allow scenic viewing. One incredible area of yellow flowers was awesome eye candy. Having never ridden any of this route, vistas of things to come up north were intimidating.
At the Verde, ran into a couple who had been camping since Wed. They confirmed that it had rained "very hard." They were pretty quiet after that statement. Must have been an experience. As I was digging out the water treatment tabs, I pulled out that can of Oktoberfest. Hmmm... I offered it up as a trade for 2L of water. They gladly offered water, but were still studying the can of beer as I was biking away.
What goes down, unfortunately all the way to 3800', has to go up. IMHO, the climb out of the Verde was the 2nd biggest suck of the entire ride, until getting up into those wonderful ponderosa pines, at about 6500'. I truly don't like double-track riding, but the afternoon light was giving it quite the nice ambiance. Memories of the mudfest the day before came flooding back every time I had to dodge large puddles and the piles of snow [at 7000'] in the shade got me wondering about the north side of Bill Will. I hate biking in mud and biking in snow is just the wrong tool for the right sport. Amazing how fast your mind can come up with a reason to cut a ride short. Not realizing that the final few miles were going to be on fast pavement, just made the decision to beeline straight into Williams even easier. Found my Better Half at the Railside RV CG and I called it a ~82 mile, 11,500' climbing, 12.5 hour day. A bowl of hot soup and bread, smothered in butter, never tasted so good...
A distant family issue complicated the third day's decision to ride and I had to call it quits. Oh well. Perhaps next year I'll finish it or... mutate this ride to include Jerome [Judd?] and less double-track.
-Barry
PS-Anybody else out there have an eTrex 30 that just shuts down for no reason? Mine would do this about 2-3X per day, usually when zooming out, but not always. I'm on 3.20 firmware, BTW. Very unnerving every time your GPS has to be restarted. You just wait and pray while it boots...

[fastmtnbiker33w]

PS-Anybody else out there have an eTrex 30 that just shuts down for no reason? Mine would do this about 2-3X per day, usually when zooming out, but not always. I'm on 3.20 firmware, BTW. Very unnerving every time your GPS has to be restarted. You just wait and pray while it boots...

Did you select the correct battery that you used?  My buddy has a 30 model....was running lithiums with it set to alkaline and it caused some issues.  Once we figured that out, it stopped shutting down on him.

[aaron w]

Wow Matt, you put down a smoking fast time.  I'm not suprised though after your CTR result this year.  Nice work man, wish I could have seen you out there.  

I'm in a lot of pain right now.  Just got back from my Dr.  Looks like I've got a slow recovery ahead of me.  I've got no broken ribs but some are out of place and the cartilage around my sternum is all torn up.  That's what is making all the noise in my chest.  I don't like weird noises coming from inside my chest!  Hopefully I can at least get on my road bike in a few weeks.  

[cforsand]

I met these chicks on the trail around Bell Mountain. Most of them had these matching green bikes and they were all tearing up the trail. Said they were all nurses. I wanted to wipe out just for the attention!

[Yogi the Barry]

Dave,
To be honest, I neglected to check in the setup menu. I'm also forgetful to turn tracking on/off. I usually run Li or alkaline batts for long rides, but for this short of a ride I had keeper NiMH batteries in it. I'll check to see what it was set to. I thought it was a battery contact issue, but I was staring right at it on a really glassy section of trail and I have to rule out vibration.

BTW, thanks for the timely construction of the frame bag http://nukesunrise.com/. I should have mentioned this in my previous two TR postings. Me bad. I'll try to find time and post some photos of the bag on this forum. BTW, I didn't use the bladder sling in the bag, just laid a bladder [with no more than 1 to 1-1/2 L] at the bottom of the top compartment. I'll get the sling back to you for reuse on another customer's bag. For longer rides, I believe having your frame bag will allow me to ditch either the bar or seat bag. And having all those high density items in the lower compartment, like a piggy Slime tube and tools, made for a low CG and easy access.

Did you select the correct battery that you used?  My buddy has a 30 model....was running lithiums with it set to alkaline and it caused some issues.  Once we figured that out, it stopped shutting down on him.

[JeffD]

Sitting here at my computer, laundry going, gear mostly unpacked, bike a mess of groans and creaks, legs sore, I'm feeling a bit melancholy that my time on the Coconino loop was only 4 days.  What a beautiful route!  Thank you Scott M. and the others who put the route together, it was a real joy to be out there to watch the miles melt away (or drip away...) under the blue high desert skies.  My work has provided lots of stress over the past year, so it was refreshing to be able to get into the mountains on a bike and hit the reset button for a while, and remember how the simple life of living off a bike is essential to maintaining one's sanity.

My times:
1 - 9:27
2 - 11:56
3 - 11:10
4 - 8:53
TOTAL - 41:26

I arrived in Flagstaff on Thursday early afternoon from a warm southern California morning.  In Flagstaff, it was in the 30s and raining/snowing.  It was unclear what the general plan was for Friday, but as Devon said, if you show up at The Place around 7:00 am, the plan will work itself out.  Friday I had a hearty breakfast of eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, then decided to give the stage ride a shot that morning with a group of 5 who were doing the 250 (Caroline, Devon, Gerry, Carl, and myself) and also Tim & Mike who were going on to Tucson after Mingus.  We got rolling a little after 8:00 am.



It was a chilly morning, but the singletrack started quickly and warmed you up real nice.



We even had a few hike-a-bikes early on.



It was probably around mile 12 or so that we hit the first meadow, and the AZT "death mud" started.  I really didn't know what was going on as my bike slowly crept to a halt.  Looking down, I saw this silly putty like material wrapping around my tires and clogging up everything.  Although frustrating, it was really quite comical as we would ride through mud, then pine needles, for the mountain bike equivalent of tar and feathering.  At the observatory I dropped down to the dirt road above Lake Mary Road, and tried to head back to the trail, but only hit worse mud there.  I hiked down to Lake Mary Road and decided to skip the entire Anderson Mesa section, and rejoined the trail at Pinegrove Campground.  The mud was still hit or miss here, and I broke a derailleur hanger, which I fixed and pushed on, eventually getting to ADOT.  Unfortunately my friend Gerry broke his chain in the mud and was having drivetrain issues, so he decided to head back to Flagstaff for the day.



The ADOT water hoses offered a welcome wash for the bikes.  Talked briefly with the CO crew, then decided to ride into Munds to pick up some food and a champagne (of beers) for the night above Sedona.  We arrived at the overlook just as the sun was setting, and were welcomed by a can of Oktoberfest which was quickly consumed (thank you, Yogi!).



Day 2 started with some super fun (and dry) Sedona trails and before I knew it I was rolling through Red Rock State Park.  The HAB at the beginning of Lime Kiln was somewhat unexpected, and the sand and goatheads kept things interesting on the descent and rolling trail into Cottonwood.  My camera was not working, I think due to moisture from the first night, but I did snap a quick picture of Mingus looming in the distance.



In Cottonwood, I ate a BBQ cheeseburger at Hog Wild, picked up some chain lube at the bike shop, then refueled at the Maverik station before the Mingus climb.  I carried 170 ounces of water up Mingus which turned out to be a good decision, as I sucked my bladder dry the next day rolling down into the Verde.  Not much to say about the climb up Mingus, I got to the boulder field near the top of the trail by the time I needed my light, and rolled the last mile of trail in the dark to the picnic area.  For some reason I thought the restroom/picnic area was the camp, and I was disappointed to see nobody around.  Checked my cue sheet and realized the campsite was a couple miles ahead, so I jumped back on and pedaled to the campsite, again disappointed to find nobody.  It was chilly and I knew riders were behind me, so I started up a fire and before long Caroline and Devon rolled into camp followed shortly by Matt (on a blistering pace from Flagstaff!).  We hung out for a while by the fire before I put the earplugs in and retired to my toasty down bag for the night.

Waking up on Day 3, Caroline was already gone and Devon was on his way out.  I drank coffee and ate some mac and cheese that I couldn't stomach the night before, and met Tom and Blake who had arrived when I was asleep.  Enjoyed the nice ripping singletrack down from Mingus, then zoned out on the road down to the Verde where I filtered another 100 ounces for the climb to Bill Williams.  The climb from Verde to Benham Trail was very pretty, especially up top, but I was not feeling well.  My stomach was off and I had to stop a few times to eat and drink.  As the road became less steep, I seemed to get better, but my pace was pretty slow up Bill Williams.  The wind was picking up and I had to bundle for the descent down to Williams.  The snow made for some fun descending.  Similar to Matt, I had a puncture around a switchback which thankfully the Stan's sealed quickly.  I remembered from my Michigan singletrack days that wet logs are slippery!  Had to turn my lights on when I started following signs for the City of Williams at the bottom of the descent, then met up with my wife and we headed to Comfort Inn for the night.

Woke up Day 4 feeling pretty good.  The comfort of a hotel bed and hot shower did a lot to rejuvenate me.  Had a nice hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast, and yogurt at the hotel.  Got rolling to a crisp morning around 8:15 am.  Before long, I hit the dirt and was really loving life as I was cruising on the Forest Service roads.  The easy gravel roads were a welcome change from the Bill Williams and Mingus trails.  We hit the Sycamore Rim trail which was very cool, albeit a bit slower than I was in the mood for at the time.  Hit the dirt roads again, crossed the freeway, then stopped at McDonald's for a double cheeseburger and some fries.  The salt really hit the spot.  The climb up Wing Mountain was shorter than I expected and the moto trail was FUN!  Had a bummer moment when I passed Devon, who had broken his derailleur hanger and said he was probably going to bail for the day if he couldn't get it fixed.  Finished the descent and started the climb up Heart Prairie.  A pickup truck passed me with two dogs in the back... it didn't take long before I realized the dogs were involved in a form of open-air copulation.  I cracked up and it helped ease the pain of the climb.  The trail opened into a meadow with the snow covered mountains on the left, and an Aspen grove on the right, and everything felt right with the world.





The final descent into Flagstaff went by far too quickly, but it was neat to ride amongst local riders, families, commuters, and such as the route returned me to downtown Flagstaff.  Met up with my wife again for a luxurious night at the Highland Country Inn (no really - it is a great budget hotel!) and enjoyed a Sonoran Dog at the Lumberyard Brewing Company before passing out for the night.



It will be a while before I can get out again for 4 days of bikepacking, so this trip will hold a special place in my heart for some time.  Nice to meet everyone on the trail, including the speed demon Matt, Devon, Caroline, Carl, Tom, Blake, Tim, Mike, and the CO crew (sorry to hear about the crash, Aaron, healing vibes).  Looking forward to the next time my tires hit the AZ dirt, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

[Yogi the Barry]

Re: eTrex 30 Shutting Down
I checked and the unit and it was/is set to NiMH batteries, which is what I was using. I just updated the firmware from 3.20 to 3.30. Perhaps that will fix it. Even though that isn't an item listed in the update, perhaps this issue is something they broke while fixing something else that was broke - typical two steps forward and one step back firmware 'update.'

Did you select the correct battery that you used?  My buddy has a 30 model....was running lithiums with it set to alkaline and it caused some issues.  Once we figured that out, it stopped shutting down on him.

[The dude]

My times:
Stage 1: 9:31
Stage 2: 12:26
Stage 3: 12:08
Stage 4: DNF

I left with the Friday morning group and got my fill of sticky mud riding.  On the plus side it was the perfect consistency to peel off in largish pieces once mixed with pine needles.  The ADOT spigot and hose was so crucial for washing our bikes off.  I had never been to the overlook at the first camp, it was amazing and well worth suffering through the mud for.  I didn't mind the lime kiln trail and the BBQ in cottonwood was a real nice bonus.  The Mingus climb... Well I guess it wasn't quite a terrible as I imagined, I'm actually glad it got dark forced me to stop looking at the top every 10 minutes thinking I was close.  The fire Jeff had started as Caroline and I rolled into camp was so nice, thanks again Jeff! 

The ride down Mingus and to the Verde was perfect solitary riding for me.  Of the whole course it's the part where I felt most removed from cities, towns, cars, planes, etc.  The climb up Perkinsville road was just brutal tho.  I think I preferred the Mingus climb :-0 although I imagine this is not a common view. Blake said I had a sick mind for saying so... haha.  I remember staring at the Benham trailhead sigh wondering if I should just ride the road on into town, it would be so much easier! But that’s not in the spirit of endurance racing and I pushed on.  On the way down I wasn’t surprised to find snow and deadly slippery water bar logs. 

The next day I felt stronger than the previous ones and was making pretty good time until I met the bloody Fu*^%ng stick of slaying (Derailleurs) on Wing Mountain just after turning on the Moto trails. I didn’t catch on to how perfectly it was getting jammed in-between my spokes, rear derailleur and chain until it was too late.  On close inspection my dropout hanger was fine (it’s a huge machined piece of solid metal) the piece that got bent to hell is the aluminum bracket in-between the dropout hanger and the derailleur. I try to carry spares for everything but dang, I didn’t have one of these. I tried to bang the bracket straight with a rock and my pliers but only managed to split the aluminum and give myself a couple blisters :-( I considered making it a SS but that wouldn’t work with the full suspension.  About this time Jeff rode up and helped confirm I was sol.   So with no chain or rear derailleur I coasted and scooted my way down the Moto trail, onto the FR and out to Highway 180.  My wife picked me up at the Ski-lift lodge cabins. 

My Friends and Family seemed more bummed and concerned that I had to drop at 220 miles than I was.  The whole experience was still amazing, the high I had at that point from the gorgeous views and riding of this final day wasn’t phased by this incident much at all.   

And… as usual I learned stuff: the Shimano Bracket Axle Unit or B-Axle Unit is the piece to mount newer direct mount derailleurs to non-direct mount dropout/hangers like mine. When I originally built this bike I looked into a replacement hanger but its so damn stout I figured it would never break, I guess I just stopped thinking and didn’t consider the bracket part.  So now to get a replacement and spare… too bad Shimano has them backordered for a month.

As my single speeder friend said: “SS don’t have that prob! ” its still just not enough to make me want to ride that course with one gear.

For next year: Go faster… Duh! So I have time to chill and catch the whole sunset at stops one and two.  Also no mechanicals.

Thanks to all fellow riders and the great folks who created this course.

Devon

[Yogi the Barry]

Re: Shimano B-Link [SS riders can skip and resume destroying your knees] 

Last year, while riding in Moab, I did a slow-speed plop and bent a B-link on an XT Shadow + [plus*] rear derailleur. This was on an Ibis Mojo SL with a butter-soft hanger. I was amazed that the B-link bent and not the hanger. I torqued the RD back into parallel and could readjust the cable to index the shifting, but lost granny until we got back to camp, where a vice was called into action to straighten it better. I ordered three B-links - one as a replacement, one as a carry-along spare [also carry a spare hanger] and one as a garage spare - from LBS [Bikeworks, ABQ, NM]. Think I was the first person that ever ordered this part from the shop. Your experience makes me think my experience wasn't just an isolated incident.
For those interested, Shimano part number for this as XT Shadow + is: Y5Y098010
[This part should also work for SLX and regular Shadow, non plus, RDs, but confirm with LBS]
#1 in the exploded diagram link below:
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/RD/EV-RD-M786-3321_v1_m56577569830801190.pdf

*I highly recommend the plus {+} versions of the 10-spd Shimano rear derailleurs - SLX, XT or XTR. The friction clutch of the "+" RD cuts down on chain slap, chain suck and dropped chains.

... until I met the bloody Fu*^%ng stick of slaying (Derailleurs) on Wing Mountain just after turning on the Moto trails. I didn’t catch on to how perfectly it was getting jammed in-between my spokes, rear derailleur and chain until it was too late.  On close inspection my dropout hanger was fine ... the piece that got bent to hell is the aluminum bracket in-between the dropout hanger and the derailleur. I try to carry spares for everything but dang, I didn’t have one of these. I tried to bang the bracket straight with a rock and my pliers but only managed to split the aluminum and give myself a couple blisters :-( I considered making it a SS but that wouldn’t work with the full suspension.  About this time Jeff rode up and helped confirm I was sol... the Shimano Bracket Axle Unit or B-Axle Unit is the piece to mount newer direct mount derailleurs to non-direct mount dropout/hangers like mine. ... So now to get a replacement and spare… too bad Shimano has them backordered for a month...
As my single speeder friend said: “SS don’t have that prob! ” its still just not enough to make me want to ride that course with one gear...
Devon

[ScottM]

Sitting here at my computer, laundry going, gear mostly unpacked, bike a mess of groans and creaks, legs sore, I'm feeling a bit melancholy that my time on the Coconino loop was only 4 days.  What a beautiful route!  Thank you Scott M. and the others who put the route together, it was a real joy to be out there to watch the miles melt away (or drip away...) under the blue high desert skies.  My work has provided lots of stress over the past year, so it was refreshing to be able to get into the mountains on a bike and hit the reset button for a while, and remember how the simple life of living off a bike is essential to maintaining one's sanity.

Awesome.  This is exactly why we do it.

I've been waiting for any other times before compiling results.  Seems like there were quite a few others out there, but maybe not 'officially' timing themselves on the route / stages.

Anyone know of others that haven't reported their times but were timing themselves?  Thanks.

[B_Bock]

Awesome.  This is exactly why we do it.

I've been waiting for any other times before compiling results.  Seems like there were quite a few others out there, but maybe not 'officially' timing themselves on the route / stages.

Anyone know of others that haven't reported their times but were timing themselves?  Thanks.

Caroline Song? I'm not sure if she was timing or not.

[pokey]

I did write down my times but I was not actually racing which was why I did not initially report my times.  I suppose since I did ride the route I'll post my times...
Stage 1: 8:52
Stage 2: 12:55
Stage 3: 11:06
Stage 4: 9:25

I loved the route and am looking forward to riding it again, hopefully next time without the mud. I only took a few pictures because my camera finally died on the second day.

caroline

[ScottM]

Results are up!

http://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/aes-results/

Let me know if I missed anyone or anything.  Sorry about the delay.

Thanks everyone, for coming out and for your enthusiasm.  I'm now officially overdue for a Coco ride.