Arizona Trail Race

The Grand Depart for the AZTR kicks off tomorrow (7a for those doing the 750 miler & 8a for the 300). This is a self-supported bikepacking event along the Arizona National Scenic Trail. There are a few Wilderness detours, but there is a ton of singletrack...and hike-a-bike!!

Follow the racers LIVE here: Trackleaders.com/aztr19

The venerable @evdog began his ITT (Individual Time Trial, i.e. NOT Grand Depart, hence yellow dot) early this morning for the full meal deal 750. Give it hell, Evan!!

I'll be down at the 300 start tomorrow morning & will share some pics. I've had the good fortune to guide this event into the future. This year, riders on the 750 have the Four Peaks option, it shows as the green line on the map. This may become the official course next year, looking for feedback this year. It's tough, adds 20 miles to the route & 8200' more elevation gain. But, riders get to put tires on 20+ more miles of actual AZT.

Good luck to all the riders out there, enjoy!!

 

There's often a solid race discussion thread here.

 

Thanks for the update, Schil. Go, @evdog!! He is giving that knee quite the test, but he has been killing the rides, so he'll have a fun time. Plus he knows a bunch of the way – pretty cruiser to forget the nav for awhile and just grind away.

Hoping they have good weather and not too much mud anywhere. One year ago I was heading to the start, damn it seems like forever ago...

 

The MTBCast has long covered this with actual rider/racer call-ins. Not sure if it is still active.

 

Looking at the live tracking....how are some riders sooooo far off course?

 

Looks like they haven't arrived to start yet?

 

Looks like @evdog is around mile 370, just north of Phoenix.

 

It's been an interesting race this year, near a 45% attrition rate overall so far. Huw Oliver blazed through the 300, fastest rookie time ever at 2d 3h 45m. Yes, MtbCast is taking rider calls, there's been some good ones!!

@evdog is putting together a very nice ride, good pacing. He gets to enjoy all things Happy Jack today...40-ish miles of lava rock embedded forest roads. Thankfully, the ATA has a massive project to replace those roads with singletrack, a short bit has been done already. On my way home from sending the riders off last Thursday I noticed his dot at the Sahaurita Rd. trailhead, it's on my way so I stopped to see if he was there taking a break. Sure enough, he was.




I have a bunch of photos from the start. Here's a link to the public album. My buddy, Mike, was also there snapping pics & videos, his content is in the album as well.

As of this morning, the leader is getting set to drop into the Grand Canyon while the Lantern Rouge will be making a slog through the furnace today along the Gila River. It's going to be in the upper 90's down there today. I sure hope he carries a ton of water, even takes a nap during the heat of the day. He's had quite the gritty adventure, going off-route a few times, backtracking to a bike shop, etc.

 

Wow, this is true adventure. So impressed! So looking forward to ride reports and pics in attempt to live some of it vicariously!

 

Update from @evdog He lost his phone somewhere after Flagstaff, before the snow detour!! Gah!! Hopefully, some kind hiker(s) will snap some Canyon portage pics & email them back. He's down in the ditch right now, possibly spending the night at Bright Angel or Cottonwood CG. He was at the Backcountry office in Canyon Village y'day probably securing a permit. Almost there!! Finish it!!

 

Thanks for keeping us up to date. That sucks that Evan lost his phone.

 

Thanks, @swillings.

Bummer about the phone if he’s using it for nav, which I doubt. Otherwise, no great loss. Less time playing with electronics = more ride time. Analog power FTW.

 

What a race! Great seeing you out there on the second day John! Thanks for all the work you put in on this. Great times! And tough times...

I got to the finish on Tuesday in a time of 13 days 6.5 hours. Starting a day before the main group depart I eventually got passed by most of the field. I was doing the AZT for the challenge not to get a particular time, but it was great to be able to ride with a bunch of the faster riders for a while before they pulled away. It was interesting that I could keep pace with them as long as I could put in long days. But up north when it was colder and I was less willing to ride late into the night they were able to pull away as they kept going. Having done the whole route now puts those fast times in a whole new light. Very impressive!

I had a great first couple days getting to base of Molino HAB near Tucson. Then Mt Lemmon had its way with me in scorching heat on day 3. I kept up a steady pace after that and was able to ride with some of the faster racers on and off until around Pine when they pulled away for good. I hit the worst part of both Highline Trail and then Happy jack in the dark and wasn't feeling it so I took early nights to tackle those in daytime. Lost my phone just past Flagstaff and spent a few hours looking for it but someone must have picked it up. Gave up and put in the miles to the South Rim. Opted to slow down at the Canyon and do it over 2 days in daylight (how can you not???), then got hit with multiple storms on the hike out plus a bonus "welcome to Jacob Lake" evening lightning show complete with snow, hail and driving rain. Thankfully they had vacancy. Finished off the ride the next morning expecting death mud for the full experience but was able to ride through. Then a 24hr odyssey of hitch-hiking, shuttle bus and rental car to get home a day late for work.

I was super bummed about the phone only because I had 9 days photos on it which were not backed up. TR, when I get around to it, will be a bit sparse unfortunately. I did bring along my go-pro which I was able to take pics with after that. Still have fingers crossed that someone will do the right thing and turn in my phone. No sign of it so far, and the find my phone feature doesn't work in airplane mode.

 

Congratulations on a great ride, Ev! Crushing effort! Another feather in your extensive plumage; nothing like that feeling. A coldie on me next time we cross paths.