Dixie 311

[DaveH]

I've been sitting on this one for some time now.  I took the best part of Trans Utah and cooked it into another couple hundred miles of great stuff and came up with this:



311 miles of bikepacking bliss.  More here:  http://2-epic.com/?p=1098

The scoop:

What:  This is a multi-day self-supported mountain bike race.
When:  Friday, June 25 8:00 AM
Where:  Near Parowan, UT.

It's a loop.  Lots of trail.  Some high points could still be snowed in late June and if so reroutes will be made.  Refuel options at mile 67 and 195.  I'd expect race times of 2.5 to 4.5 days.  GPX forthcoming.

Who's in?

[SandSurfer]

Don't taunt us Southerners like that, if'n you're gonna call it the Dixie, it better be in the South, and I mean the southeast, east of the Mississip and South of the KY/VA state lines.

Looks like a great ride nonetheless.  Rock on.

[DaveH]

Oops!  

Southern Utah is known as Utah's "Dixie", it even says "Dixie" in 30 foot tall lettering on the cliff above my house.  Dixie is everywhere down here.  But she was stolen I do admit

I'll be out your way next week!  Looking forward to some southern hospitality.

[ScottM]

Dang Dave, this looks just about perfect... distance, area, timing, layout (loop), name, et cetera.

Bravo and well done.

I'm going to start loading my mp3 player with 311 tunes right now.  Music, Grassroots, 311, Transistor...

[Chad B]

I am in.  Seems like a perfect route made for those that have the summers off.

Anyway we can use the Alpacka for this one? We need to get a race with a mandatory Alpacka section.

[Chad B]

I'm going to start loading my mp3 player with 311 tunes right now.  Music, Grassroots, 311, Transistor...

A think you mean Bluegrass...you know, to go with that Dixie theme. I will be wearing my Confederate Primal Jersey for this one!

[ScottM]

A think you mean Bluegrass...you know, to go with that Dixie theme. I will be wearing my Confederate Primal Jersey for this one!

Nod your head to this!  

[Chad B]

Nod your head to this!  

I don't even know what that really means...I am going to upload Beautiful Disaster and code name that my race for the 311.

DaveH-Can you describe WTH is happening at Mile ~200 on your profile? That scares me a little.

[protoceratops]

That must be the Alpacka part...they like that.

[DaveC]

Ohhhhhhhh................. damn.

[DaveH]

DaveH-Can you describe WTH is happening at Mile ~200 on your profile? That scares me a little.

The great self-propelled Dixie Escalator! Or, um, let's just say I'm taking gears on this one

DaveC - sorry man, I meant to announce this months ago but things got in the way.  Hope you can make it.  You've already seen a good sized chunk

Have I mentioned this is peak flower season at all route elevations below 10k?

I'm more than a little stoked on this one!

[Chad B]

I'm more than a little stoked on this one!

As am I, great timing to announce it. I needed some motivation for this coming week, I lost sight of a common goal this time of year....enjoy the outdoors.

Also, this is a good cool down for the Grand Loop and warm-up for the CTR.

[DaveH]

Chad are you doing GL again?  I figured being the first to SS the beast would be plenty for you but what do I know.  And thus begins the love/hate with the GL 

[wookieone]

Damn You Harris!!! Thinking, scheming, maybe soon begging for time off.......

[DaveC]

DaveC - sorry man, I meant to announce this months ago but things got in the way.  Hope you can make it.  You've already seen a good sized chunk

I don't see any reason why I won't be able to make this one happen.

[DaveH]

Well then this is shaping up to be quite the party.  Some surprise sniffles yesterday had me holed up with a box of kleenex and TopoFusion, a dangerous combination.  I tightened the route considerably, and did away with a large part of the Fremont ATV route N of Hwy 12.  Now we get a wilderness experience on the Sevier Plateau with an exciting descent off Mount Dutton.

Here's the update I posted to the event page, along with a link to a preliminary .gpx.  A lot of snow has to melt before I can scout a few key pieces, but for the most part this is pretty tight and created from on the ground recon or acquired tracks.

A preliminary track is ready, http://2-epic.com/transutah/dixie311-preliminary.zip.  NOTE:  this is preliminary pending a couple scouting missions.  It will work for general planning.  The route will no doubt change close to race time based on scouting missions.

Changes:

• Added Spruce trail on the Markagunt
• Added remote trail network atop the Sevier Plateau, including a singletrack descent of Mount Dutton
  
• Added Louder ponds trail on the Markagunt
• More singletrack in the Tushars
  
• Removed the Navajo lake loop (the complete VRRT should be plenty, eh?)
• Added trails south of Hwy 20

[Chad B]

Chad are you doing GL again?  I figured being the first to SS the beast would be plenty for you but what do I know.  And thus begins the love/hate with the GL 

Time will tell. I will be up for the Dixie though!

[DaveH]

DaveH-Can you describe WTH is happening at Mile ~200 on your profile? That scares me a little.

A picture is worth 1000 words (breaths?).

[Chad B]

I think you need to up the "vertical exaggeration" 3D option to get a more accurate picture. It does not look steep enough.

[jeremy11]

A think you mean Bluegrass...you know, to go with that Dixie theme. I will be wearing my Confederate Primal Jersey for this one!

I'll add in Battle Hymn of the Republic as well ;-)

Great route, I'd love to get in with this but don't know what is feasible yet with minor IT band issues and some question marks on my summer work schedule.  I've got to do something big somewhere though...