Dixie 200/311

[ScottM]

Nice offer, Eric.

I got 5 riders online @ trackleaders.com/dixie200.  Looks like Dave Kirk got a jump on everyone, as he is oft known to do.  Have fun out there everyone.  Such a great loop.

No LW pink dot... ??  Gotta stay home and watch the EH dot?!

[DaveH]

And they are off!  Dave Kirk started yesterday, and 6 other intrepid souls lined up for the 8AM start today.



Half the field is from Moab.  

Fred W made a guest appearance - sporting a new eTrex!  If you know Fred ... enuf said. He is determined to stay on route.



Jason Hansen is on a rigid SS and had no problem cresting the big first climb with the leaders.  He also has a SPOT connect that is apparently not working correctly.  I helped him get it into tracking mode but his spot feed is still nil.  If you know Jason and have access to his SPOT account PM me and I'll see if I can help iron it out.



Jan is another Moab rider.  Check out the flat pedals!  He looked to be planning on more of a tour pace, yet still topped out the first climb with the leaders looking strong.



Mike D from Salt Lake City.  Mike just might have set a new record for ride stoke.  His kit looked tight and light.



The Steve Cook - who set the bar on the Dixie Lite in 2010, among many other exploits.



Taylor Lideen is far left of the first pic - I didn't get an individual shot of him.

There were quite a few 26" wheels present - have not seen that for some time.  Lots of suspension too.

LW and I were at the top of the first climb. As the group rolled up, we learned that Steve Cook had to retreat due to spokes breaking in his rear wheel, and Taylor also had to retreat.  So, before the top of the first climb we are down by 2. (Steve - you can restart your race clock after getting your wheel fixed).

Everyone else looked great, rolling on high stoke across the Sydney Peaks trail.

Dave Kirk is making great time and is now in the heart of the Paunsaugunt section.  This is probably the hardest part of the route, certainly the most remote.  All I ever see there are bear and lion tracks.

Mike D has the only other working SPOT, and he is in the middle of the Virgin River Rim Trail.  It may be tight timing to make the Long Valley store (Tod's) before it closes...not sure he will need anything though.

[DaveH]

Yesterday afternoon Jason succumbed to GI distress and left the route near Navajo lake.  That puts the remaining field at 4 riders - and only Mike and Dave have spots. 

They are both making great progress!  Mike is really cruising, looks to be in a great rhythm from the start. 

Dave took in some very hard bonus miles this morning.  Instead of leaving the Grandview trail at Straight canyon, he kept on trucking past water canyon #2.  Those are very difficult (aka mostly hiking) miles, that's why they are not included in the route anymore.  I'm pretty sure Dave did that section of trail as part of Trans Utah in 2009, so it's understandable how that one happened.  He did however cross a clear cold creek, so that's a bonus, right Dave?

They are both on Thunder Mountain right now and should be able to hit Harold's place before closing for a decent meal. 

The big question is, where are the two spotless riders?  I know one of them was planning to stop very little.  It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

[SLCook]

Dave Thanks for the reset, but after getting back to the start my wheel was in bad shape.  Plus my race window was closing.

I broke the heads off of two spokes.  I thought I could true and tension the wheel but it is an older wheel with alloy nipples.  I figured I would just break more as I went along.

Thanks again for all your hard work on this route.  It is a great one.  I will be back to give it a go.  Thanks to Scott for taking the time to set up the Trackleader page.

Good luck to all who are still racing.

[LyndaW]

We have Spot dots at the finish for Dave Kirk and Mike DeBernardo. Congrats guys! I look forward to hearing about your races and hearing how Jan and Fred did too.

[DaveH]

Just got off the phone with Fred W, everyone is finished and off the course!

I'll save the thunder for the riders to share...here are the results as best as I can tell.  Guys - please let me know if any of this sounds incorrect.

Nobody opted for the Pink Cliffs time bonus.  Sounds like all were a bit taken aback by how slow/challenging the southern Paunsaugunt is...so it looked like this:

Fred Wilkinson     2:06:35
Jan                   2:07:40
Mike DeBernardo  2:07:59
Dave Kirk  (ITT)  3:05:42
Jason Hansen      2:09:00(?) *
Steve Cook        Mechanical; made it to top of 2nd Lefthand Canyon
Taylor Lideen      Gear issues took him out early

* Jason had GI trouble on the Virgin River Rim trail and left the route, but rejoined the route at Tod's country store and completed the remainder of the route.

Congrats on a great ride all!

[kullaberg]

I'm Jan in above pics. Great ride! Thanks to Dave and Lynda for all their scouting, planning and initiative.

Some might say this is a 'mere 200 miler', but very few of those miles come easy. The elevation gain and loss is massive. Epic hour long hike-a-bikes. Remote and committing terrain where clearly nobody went since the last Dixie event. But also incredible scenery, adequate water and a few burger joints well placed along the course.

I rode it stage style with two nights of solid sleep. First day to Tod's was 12 hours on the trail, day two to Harold's was 15 hrs (crux Paunsaugunt traverse), and the last day 7 hrs. Mentally hardest for me was the long, somewhat tedious stretch of remote cattle roads between Harold's and Panguitch Lake.


Lynda and Dave with Steve at the start Saturday morning.


The fun and mostly rideable VRRT. But 18 miles of this does take a long time and the eastern portion was surprisingly rugged and strenuous.


Somewhere on VRRT.


Sections of what the organizers termed 'faint trail' really were nothing more than the red track on the GPS display. One must zoom all the way in and blindly thrash thru the woods. Here the baffling start to the Pole Canyon trail.


To get up on the testing Paunsaugunt was a long hike-a-bike on a sparsely used trail.


While it looks mellow and actually enjoyable in this pic, the endless Grandview/Crawford traverse was the crux of the Dixie 200.


Top of the Paunsaugunt or Pause-and-grunt as Mike called it.


More from the Grandview 'trail'. Jason and his SS.


Sunset high on Thunder Mountain, which probably had the best riding on the whole thing.


An hour too late to get a sit down meal at Harold's Place.


Also lots of sagebrush miles.


Mike and Jason at Panguitch Lake Burger Barn before the final push over the range and down to the finish line.

[moabjason]

Thanks for putting together a great course. Can't wait to give it another go next year.

[moabjason]

Thought I would post some pics of the race.

[mikedeber]

Wow, such a fun ride!  I still can't believe how much fun I had and how crazy it is that we all finished so close together.  Here's some more pics



Dave explaining how flat the route is






Jan the climbing machine



my first of many "bonus" miles






a bit of head-scratching here



8:30 on a summer night on Thunder Mountain solo - trail magic












seat bag removed and seat dropped for dark hollow



hot springs on the drive home

[kullaberg]

Good pics, Mike!

Nice meeting you. Look me up at Moab Cyclery in the fall.

[frejwilk]

Thanks for posting all the great photos everyone. I didn't take any, so it's nice to see these. I also know a few 'spectators' here in Moab have been checking this thread. It really is a beautiful route.

Having done both the Dixie Lite and now the 200, I think the 200 is a great route and event. Like Jan said, the difficulty (per mile) seems high enough to me. Definitely tougher than the Lite. But the riding time should still make it appealing to a variety of riders. The fact that it's a loop is also great. Hopefully more people will give it a shot in the future.

I enjoyed seeing and riding with Dave K and Mike out there. I only got to hang out with Jason and Jan a little on Saturday night, but we had plenty of drive time before and after. I hope Dave's drive home was OK. Dave K and I actually rode with or near each other for the last 24hrs (joined by Mike Sunday night) - then he drove off just before the others finished. Dave K, you are a machine! Mike, that hot spring looks awesome. I hope to ride with you again.

It was not surprising to see Steve and Taylor quickly ride away once we started. It was too bad not to see them again (at least at the finish) - hopefully next time!

I let Dave H know that we found the Spruce trail freshly cleared of trees. Anyone who's been up there before will be pleased to know that the result has to be at least a 1% increase in speed through there.

Thanks again Dave for the event. I was happy to see both you and Lynda at the start. One of several reasons it was easy for Jason to talk me into coming over for this. Take care,

FW

[dkirk]

Hey all,
Got some down time and just want to add my two cents worth on this route. Nice pictures everyone.
Dave, you've put a winner together. My bonus miles were limited until Sunday morning. You know what they say about a little bit of knowledge. I was having a bit of troubles with my gps. Started down the wrong trail, turned around came back, went down the right track, and then talked myself into heading down the Grandview trail to  Mill Creek  because that was the way we went during Trans Utah.....DOH! Oh well, the trail wasn't in that bad a shape.
Crawford pass was awesome, what a little chainsawing can do.
Had fun riding with Mike and Fred. Nice meeting you Mike.
The only thing I'd change... Instead of bringing your climbing legs, I think an extra lung would come in handy
Later, Dave

[cackalak]

moabjason - What was your gearing for this route?  I'm currently riding 33x19 (rigid, SS), but if I were to attempt this next year, I'd probably go 33x22.  Just wanted your thoughts, as it seems you were the only SSer there (rigid, too).

[moabjason]

My gearing was 32x22 and that seemed to work great for me, next year I will run the same gears unless I get the new surly Krampus with the 3.0 29er tires. I ran ss rigid for the siplicity and not worrying about mechanicals in the middle of nowhere.

[DaveH]

FYI the 2013 date is Saturday, June 22.  Lots of daylight, same course.

Can it go in under 2 days?

[LyndaW]

I think I can make it go in four days 

[mikedeber]

Sweet!  Looking forward to doing this ride again.  My only suggestion is to maybe have the start time be at 7am instead of 8.  It seems like there is so much daylight we may as well take advantage of it.  It would also make getting to the gas station for din din a bit more feasible for us human being-type, non-racer folks. 

[DaveH]

7 am?  Sure, sounds good to me.  Everyone is already camping near the start, so that should be agreeable to all.  Glad to hear you're coming back for more!

[DaveH]

The website is up to date for this year's event, http://2-epic.com/events/dixie200.html.

Start is 7am Saturday, June 22. 

Same start location as last year, same course.

Snowpack is currently a bit below normal so there should be plenty of time for trail crews to clear the winter tree carnage off the trails by race day.

Questions? Sound off!