Arizona Trail Race 300 – 2017
What can I say about the Arizona Trail Race 300? For those that don’t know this a 300 mile ride/race from Parker Canyon near
the Mexico border to Picketpost Trailhead near superior that follows the
Arizona trail. Not only is this a long way to go, but it is completely self
supported. This means you either bring all you will need or find it along the
way. No aid stations, bag drops, or
having family and friends support you. You can however buy any supplies you may
need either on course or off course.
This also means sleeping on trail for a series of nights. All this means that you really need to be
prepared for ride like this.
I first learned of the 300 from MTBR.com forums a few years
back. I started reading reports of this
event being amazed at what these riders were capable of doing. Back then a 25
mile ride was a “Big Ride”. Over the next few years I improved my endurance and
speed by doing events like the Whiskey 25 in Prescott. At the time those 29 miles and 4000 feet of
climbing completed in about 3hrs 45 min was a major effort. Friends being friends however pushed me to
enter Whiskey 50 the following year. I
was concerned about being able to make it, but with trepidation I signed
up. That was 2014 and started working
hard on endurance training. That year’s
50 was one for ages. We had rain, strong
winds and snow. That year I learned
something about myself. I don’t like to
give up. At the bottom of FR53 there
were many riders huddled around fires and in cars trying to warm up. I was cold and had crashed hard on the
descent when my hands froze up and could not modulate the brakes. However as I
paused to eat a Clif bar I realized that if I just kept going I would pass all
these faster riders. Well might as well keep going. So I did and I finished it
a respectable time in year when a lot of riders quit.
That ride lead me to longer rides and by the fall I started
to prepare for Arizona Endurance Series rides.
These are in the mold of 300 in that they are all 100% self supported
rides where you are on your own to follow the course and support yourself with
food and water. These rides run from about 30 miles to 80 miles and most are
6-10 hrs of ride time. It was these events that were the gate way to long
stuff. At the time I had no intention of
bike packing or doing the 300, but as I got to enjoy the longer rides and
people that do them.
Enter pack of LOCO riders.
This was a time I got to know Jeff Z and Nancy Gray. This is the couple that bikes together and stays
together. They are a fixture on the long ride scene and were very helpful in
slowly prodding me deeper in this strange world where 20 miles is the warm
up. Also I started doing rides with the
Legend John Schilling. He was one of the
riders who’s blogs I read years ago with amazement. John may not be fast, but he can keep
going. It was with this crew that I
complete a number of firsts. First 60 mile ride, first 70 mile ride, First 10hr
ride, first century ride. Also with the
help of John I did my first bikepack in June of 2016. John loaned me a seatbag for the trip and was
hooked 175miles in 2 days wow. It was on this ride talking with LOCO co-founder
and fellow 300 veteran Shannon Marshall that the idea of doing the 300 myself
started to develop. Later that summer I purchased my own set of bags for
bikepacking and did a 2 day bike pack trip with Jeff, Nancy, John, Shannon and
a few other. This time on the Az Trail from Utah south. Despite some minor setbacks after that trip I
felt like I could do the 300 in 2017 and began to look at getting time on the
300 course over the next few months in preparation.
December 2016 was big month.
John and Shannon took me on my first “LOCO” ride. (Little Off Cycing Organization). This is perfect name for those that don’t
mind doing strange stuff on bikes. For
example lets ride up to the top of Mt Lemmon from Oracle and then bomb down
Oracle Ridge. For those not aware Oracle
Ridge is notorious as the worst HAB on the 300 course. It is long narrow and
covered in underbrush. It takes a special kind of crazy to do this trail any
time outside the 300. Oh and to top it
off lets do in winter with the possibly of snow. Well that was a day I will
never forget as the ridge was snow covered and all that I was said to be. The best part was that I would know what to
expect come 300 time. Then to top it off
the very next day I did my 3rd bikepack trip along the Gila covering
the last 25 miles of the 300 course.
This time with bikepack gear on my bike.
Again my companions were John, Jeff and Nancy.
As the year moved to 2017 I set my sights on one more
Arizona trail AES pre-ride and in a completely different direction. 4 man team on 24hrs of old pueblo and on a
few MBAA races in Singlespeed. All of these required 1-2hrs of all out effort
vs the hours of riding of the endurance stuff.
Still it like interval training right?
By the time that sign up page for the 300 page was up and
ready I was apprehensive. Was I really ready for this? My mind was not due to so many other things
going and my body felt good, but was it really ready? So pondered for a few weeks and then finally
signed up. Ready or not I was going to
do it.
With only few weeks to go to event I started to really study
the course. I looked distance between potential food and water spots and
distances between good sleeping points.
I estimated average speeds and planned a 4 day target. I wanted to finish on Monday or at the latest
Tuesday. Based on the pace of other riders this seemed possible. When I did numbers
I realized how hard even that would be. 67 miles per day and 4.5 mph average
speed meant 7am to 11pm riding every day. Was I ready for this? Now 4.5 mph avg sounds slow and it is, but
that included many HAB sections and stops for water and resupply. In the end it
turned out be about right.
I arrived at Parker Canyon late about an hour before dusk on
Thursday and met up with John Schilling, Nancy Gray, Uber driver Ray Hemmele
(AKA Angry Ray), Mike and Marcus. My
father was kind enough to drive me down and stayed with me that night. We
camped the relative luxury of the back of my Volvo Wagon while the others were
in full bikepack mode already.
Day 1
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| All Smiles before the start. |
Race start was 8am and got up at 6 am. I hate being rushed on things like this and
despite have 90% of bike and gear already packed I still had last minute
adjustments to make and had to pack the car for my father’s drive home. I had
never ridden the Canelos before, but had read the blogs and talked to 300 veterans. I was mentally prepared for long slog through
these first 30 miles to Patagonia. I also knew not to try to blast up every
climb at this stage. It is very easy to
push too hard early and have nothing left. This not a 30 mile ride, but a 300
mile ride so respect it.
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| Rideable Section of the Canelos |
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| HAB is Fun! |
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| Yeah fun... Ugg |
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| Looking Happy at my first food break |
Overall the Canelos were not as bad as they had been made to
appear. Sure they were hard and had
multiple steep loose climbs that on loaded bike were best hiked up, but in the
end they went by rather quick. In about 5 hrs they were done and I was on the
paved road head down hill in to Patagonia.
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| The "Western" Canelo hills are more rideable and views for days |
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| Smooth ST and Views - AZT Goodness |
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| First of the many AZT "Rob Bauer" Gates |
It was here caught up to Nancy who started early on the day. We would end up playing leap frog for the next 2 days. First stop was the market in Patagonia. Do I need water? Might was well check. Well to my shock despite not that warm temps I had drained my 100oz camelback. I still had 2 full bottles of water, but chose wisely to buy water. I filled my camelback and headed out on the road to Sonoita. This is one of the places the 300 by passes the single track because bikes are not allowed in the wilderness.
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| The first of many resupply spots |
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| Marcus Blitzed the Canelos and looked like he was out for an easy spin! |
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| Nancy so happy... 'Yeah the Canelos are done and I lived!" |
To my horror I saw my camping stove had blown up. It was all
in pieces and spend the next 35 min trying to figure out how to put it back
together. Dinner for me was backpacking
food. Chili Mac and I needed boiling water for it. I had the water, just need the stove. Well as I was doing this I had steady stream
of other rides blew by me. Including Nancy and Jeff who had started from border
being on 750 course. Well seeing all
this and getting some energy from the food I chose pack up and press on. My goal was to get past all the crappy ups
and downs on first part of the Los Colinas segment. I had ridden this in November with Rob Coon
as pre-ride and expect flowing fun ST, but was presented with steep rocky
climbs and steep narrow descents and significant underbrush. My plan was to
ride for another hour (to about 10) and hopefully clear most of the nasty stuff
at night so I could wake up to the flowy stuff heading into Tucson. So onward
and upward I went. It was long this section on slow grind climb that hear rustle
in bushes, then a snort, and then bad smell.
Javalina right behind me. Given
those suckers can be a bit nasty I just rode on hoping he would not be too
upset for my lights waking him up. Of
the entire ride that was my most spooky animal encounter.
In time I caught Jeff and Nancy at the top of one the
rolling hills. We both knew it was not the last one, but we could not remember
how many more were left. They choose
stop and I rode on. I got past the “high
point” waypoint on my GPS track and since it was 10:15 I decided to find nice
spot and stop for the night. As did a
few more riders rolled through, but I was happy to be down for the night.
Day 1 totals – 79.37 Miles – 14hrs 21 min,
9031ft |
| Day 1 in the books! |
Day 2.
I woke early before
dawn even before my 5am alarm. I rested a bit more and started the breakfast
routine and started to pack up. As I did
Jeff and Nancy rolled by. Despite my
putting in more miles for the day I was now behind them due to my slow
packing. I would need to work on that. I
had few more rolling hills before I got to the gate that is the unofficial
dividing point of where the trail turns into the magic carpet ride in to
Tucson. Once here it would be smooth
sailing over mostly terrain that was new to me.
A few min later I passed John Schilling. He was one of the riders who
passed me about 1am in the night and had told me rode till 2am to get to that
spot. Unfortunately that was the last I
saw of John as he scratched later that day with dehydration.
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| AZT "Magic Carpet Ride" down in to Tucson. This is singletrack GOLD! |
As I hit the I-10 crossing I ran into Nancy. She was
adjusting some gear and Jeff had pushed ahead. I was starting to run low on water
and my next stop was La Sevilla campground and a spigot. I had read about it, but never been there. So
it was all new to me. I caught Jeff Z a
bit later and we rode together for the next bit to the campground. I was getting critical on water and seeing
the ranch house in colossal cave park I assumed the campground just around the
corner. By this time I was 100% out of
water needed more. The campground seemed like miles away and there appeared to
be hill after hill to get there. Parched
Jeff and I rolled into the campground and met up with some German through hikers. I down 2 bottles of water and refiled my
stash for what I expected to be east ride into Tucson and the Safeway. From Pistol Hill TH to pavement wilderness
bypass I had ridden the trail so knew it was fun fast and swoopy. Perfect to
get some easy miles
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| "Yo dude pictures? We have miles to ride!" - Jeff Z and some German through hikers. |
It seemed like it took forever, but I got into Tucson and my
off course left on Broadway Road. It was
supposed to be 2 miles off course, but there was little out there and I was
left wondering if I was really on the right road. Turns out I was and I saw 1 rider heading
back to the course. I got there grabbed
a basket and spent way too long trying to decide what food and drink I needed.
Jeff Z arrived after me and had a plan. Before I knew it he was out on patio
eating lunch and was still wandering aimlessly.
That is experience and my lack of it.
I eventually got my supplies and met Jeff for Lunch. As he was finishing
Nancy rolled up and so it was with leap frog again. It was starting to get warm out and there was
wind from the west. Good to have wind at
our backs for the Reddington climb, but the heat would not be good. Nancy
convinced me to take and extra liter of water in my collapsible bladder and it
was good I did. I left the Safeway with a 4L on my back and two full bottles.
Plus food for the night.
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| Still Smiling on Day 2 - At Safeway in Tucson |
The Reddington climb is not super long, but it is steep. I
actually chose to HAB good portions due trying conserve energy and due to the
wind which due to the switchback was often a cross wind. As I crested the Reddington
I assumed the worst was over, but I was wrong.
Chiva falls is more of an extreme off road 4x4 ride than a bike trail. It
can be ridden on a bike, but wide has crazy features and some steep HAB
ups. This was a lot more draining
mentally that I expected and sucked in a lot more water. At one point stopped to eat a cliff bar and
watched another rider climbing a nasty HAB section. The goal for the night was
prison camp based on Jeff and Nancy’s guidance and that would include the nasty
Molino HAB. The fear in my head however
was that there is no water in Molino basin or Prison camp. Only water was
Summerhaven at the top of Lemmon. I was
going through water fast too. I ate and drank and this stop gave me some well
needed energy and motivation. I caught and passed Jeff Z and the other rider
and despite the HAB sections got back to the AZT in good spirits.
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| Only 13 Miles? How bad could it be? |
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| Mood - AZT and Bikes. It does not get much better. |
Only 13 miles to Molino basin and it was still
daylight. This was not going to be that
bad. Well the singletrack from here to
Molino ranges from fun to sketchy, but one think it not is fast. I got to the
“Lake” along the AZT which is not really a lake at all. It really stagnant
water pond. I was really concern on
water now I decided to break out my filter.
Better to filter here just in case than to run out. Well despite being a little murky I could see
to the bottom in places. Here goes
nothing. So I filtered 2 bottles and 1
liter in my extra collapsible bladder. However the water in the bladder still
looked dirty. Ugg… well my camelback was
still good so again better to have all this just in case. From here I was counting the miles to the
start of the dreaded Molino HAB. When I
got there it was dark and Jeff Z was ahead.
I saw his light in the distance knew it was going to steep. What I was
not read for was amount of lifting my heavy loaded bike over 2 ft tall
rocks. Having plan out each step so as
to not fall was a challenge made harder by hiking in biking shoes. I caught
Jeff as he was putting on his hiking shoes he brought for the canyon hike. I trudged on and on. If I was doing 1 mph at
this point it was a miracle. It did end,
but then was follow up by the downhill HAB.
Some feature were rideable, but not with this bike on this day. Risk of
injury was just too high. By now Jeff
had caught back up and passed me again and we rolled in Molino campground
together. Again I was past my original
goal for the night, but still not to Prison camp. That was 2 ish miles away. How bad could it be? Well it was another tough slog. This time
there were short bits of rideable parts followed by uphill HAB. I got fatigued both mentally and physically
here and crashed twice. Not bad, but any
crash on a ride like this can end it so I had to be more careful. So more HAB anything I could possibly crash
on. My pedals were also getting sticky
and hard to unclip. After what seemed like
hours I got into the campground at prison camp.
I looked for Jeff but he was nowhere.
So I snagged spot and made dinner.
I used my “lake” water and that night decided to boil it just in
case. It appeared the filter stated to
clog as the first water I pulled look bad, but not as bad as the last bits I
pulled out. Boiled the water for dinner
and water for two bottle again to use as emergency for the next day. Then sometime around midnight Nancy rolled
by looking for Jeff. She rode off and found him, but I did not realize that
till the next morning.
Day 2 totals 85.53 miles, 17hrs 20min, 9146ft climbing
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| Day 2 done - That was hard! |
Day 3
The day started early again at day break. Back to the
routine of breakfast and packing, but also added were time needed to lube the
chain and pedals. It became nearly
impossible to get out of them last night and I hate squeaky chains so a few
drops and it was all good. Saw Jeff and
Nancy were again beating me out for the morning as they the bathrooms and
started up Lemmon. I motored out a bit
as I got to the man road I notice that my handlebars were not straight. I guess
in one of my crashes last night bar had turned.
So out came the tools and I had straighten stem. From here I was mix of shadow and sun as
proceeded on nice stroll up the mountain. This part of the trip was unusually
enjoyable. Light car traffic nice temps, low wind and fresh legs. As I was spinning up I took many photos one
handed. I am not one of those guys that can ride with no hands normally and
just one handed takes effort, but today it was all easy.
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| Nice easy early morning spin going up Mt Lemmon. 5mph not fast, but moving! |
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| "Cuz I'm Easy. Easy like Sunday morning!" |
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| Don't the "0 mph" fool you. Still going 5, but that computer was having issues all ride |
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| These 13 miles were alot easier than yesterday's 13 miles |
I got to windy point
and took a break. I had been carrying a
bag full of peanuts the entire ride wondering why I brought that weight and
space in the pack. Now I broke them out
for a little snack and they were good.
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| Windy Point - Not so windy today. - Not the ideal bike to climb Mt Lemmon, but it works. |
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| Yesterday I was down in Tucson. |
Still I had to get to Summerhaven to get more water and still hoped I did not need to use my swamp
water. The miles and elevation clicked
by and I chatted with a couple roadies.
“Where did you start?” “Parker Canyon Lake, Day 2 and 160+ miles in” “Whoa… I think I saw you on Friday near
Patagonia. I was on a gravel ride”.
“Cool” and away they went. I was
expecting streams of roadies, but only about 5 passed me. I guess the early start helps. Then I crested the high point and admired my
accomplishment. I always have wanted to climb Lemmon on my road bike. Today I did it on my Mtn bike with bunch of
bikepack gear and on day 3 of 100+ mile ride.
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| At the high Point on the 300 Course |
From here it is still
4 miles to Summerhaven some uphill and some downhill. Time to fly.
John Schilling said his fastest speed on the 750 was achieved on this
“climb” to Summerhaven. Well down, down,
down and aero tuck and my GPS showed 35 mph. Not too bad, but not the 38 John
saw on the Voodoo. Soon it was back to
climbing and saw something worrying. A helicopter with water bag. Oh no! We almost had to reroute around Lemmon
due a fire earlier in the week at Molino Basin and I did see fire crews going
up, but figured it was just clean up since I saw now smoke. Now I could see smoke in the distance past Summerhaven
and past the turn off to Oracle ridge. From
here I rolled into the Lemmon community center bath room. Turns out there was party going on. Jeff and Nancy were in there along with
Alexis and Greg. I was intent on getting
more water and cleaning out my swap water from the day before. Turns out that before 10am on Sunday
Summerhaven is pretty much shut down. Stores are not even open. It was 9:45
am. Once all my cleaning was done and
water refilled the party had moved to the sawmill restaurant. I considering going then as had all my water
and clean bottles and did not need food, but I dropped in anyway. Sat down at the table with Jeff, Nancy and
Alexis and we all enjoy a sit down lunch.
I opted for the bowl of chili and bottomless coke. Nancy picked the chili as well and Jeff and
Alexis got burgers and fries. I want to
use the time to fully rehydrate and I did.
Turns out the chili was more like a hearty chicken soup as it was a
little watery. Now some might complain,
but as I was learning on this trip fluids are the most important thing. This also where I heard of the many scratches
and that included Schilling. Only then
did I start to realize that despite not ever feeling strong so far that I was
doing pretty good as I was still out there riding.
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| Lunch did not stand a chance - With Nancy, Jeff and Alexis (not pictured, except her empty plate) |
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| Jeff Z all ready to tackle Oracle Ridge! |
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| Yeah it was a bit cold in Summerhaven. |
So meal done the 4 of us started road climb to Oracle Ridge.
I was actually looking forward to it as would give my gut time to digest by
walking rather than riding. Plus from
here to the finish I had already ridden 85% of course at various times. On to the ridge and HAB began. It was more rideable than in December as John
and Shannon and predicted because it was free of snow. Still it was not easy and can be soul
stripping if you are not prepared. I was prepared and just motored along. Not
fast, but in good spirits as I knew it was not as bad as Molino last night even
if it was longer.
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| Look closely and you can see the Orange DOT- Alexis |
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| More HAB on Oracle Ridge |
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| In December I was here with Shannon and John and this mountain was covered in snow. Not today. |
Turns out the one “easy” part of oracle ridge almost became
my undoing. The Jeep road that in
December was rough, snow covered and rutted was actually much repaired and
graded. The problem however was that
this left slick surface that was very steep.
On the brakes all the way and I used them hard. I cooked the rear brakes
bad and nearly cooked the fronts. I did
have one spare set of pads, but did not want to use them right way. So I
started pumping the rears wanting them to comeback. At times they did, but then they would just
go to bars with little effect. Not very
confidence inspiring. When I got to the
gate that turns off the jeep road and back on the singletrack I saw the
damage. Rear rotors turned brown. I had
in effect head treated these and while I had pad left it was not good. Still if they worked enough I hoped to ride
to my night stop and deal with them. The original plan for today was
Bloodsucker wash, but in talking with Jeff he figured Freeman road was
better. So that became my stretch goal
and I still had a lot of miles to go get there.
Soon came the steep uphill grunt before Cody trail’s 97
water bars. I had nearly cleaned it in
December on an unloaded bike. Today I was all HAB. When I got to the Cody trail I was feeling
good. Keith had caught up to me while I was snacking. We had ridden together in the Canelos and
lost touch. Then on Oracle ridge hooked up again for at bit. I explained the
number water bars and that #13 was doosy. He looked me kind of strange, but let
me lead out as we bombed down. I am not going to lie and say I cleared them all
as water bars in the switch backs were more risk than I wanted to try, but it
will still fun. Plus it was the first time I rode into American Flag TH before
dark. Last two times it was just about light time when I did. From here the run to Hwy 79 was fun and
smooth. Easy miles with gentle downhill grade.
I got to the hwy before I expected and found Alexis eating
the rest of her burger from Summerhaven.
She was not going into Circle K and was going to press on. I was going to do the 3 mile up road ride to
circle K. Not that I wanted to, but
because it was the last food on course. There was probably water at Freeman
road water cache, but I would rather not bank it. So off to the Circle K I went. It was here were I met up with Evan who was
on an ITT and had started a day earlier. He was about read to leave when I got
in. We talked for a bit and he rolled. I
went in for supplier and still took too long to decide, but got what I needed. Turns out the stop and detour took me 90
min. Not great, but something felt I needed.
From Tiger Mine to north to Freeman Rd was ride I had done
before and figured I could easy hit Bloodsucker wash and should be able to make
Freeman. I really enjoyed this bit of
the ride as well. I am not setting any
time records, but moving and enjoying the sunset. I caught Evan on the climb
before the descent into Bloodsucker wash and was starting to get tired now. My single helmet mounted light was starting
to become a problem now. Not with the
total light it put out, but because it tended to flatten out the trail. I was
having a horrible time with depth perception and really had to take the decent
slow. On normal night rides I run a
light the handlebars too, but with my bad set up it would not work. Plus my bar
light only last 2-3hrs. Not worth it to carry 4 batteries for it. So by now I had to let Evan pass by as he
was ripping the descent I was super cautious.
On the climb out of Bloodsucker I also caught up to Curtis who had been
a little in front most of the ride. The three of us motored on. I was able to catch these guys on the climbs,
but got dropped on the descents. My rear brakes were useable right till the
last 5 miles to Freeman. Bang.. I stopped. Something failed in the rear
brakes and I was not sure what it was. A
quick check and I saw nothing obvious and they still seemed to roll. I did hear
metal scraping and figured I must have worn the pad down to the backing. From here I knew it was mostly a climb and
not real hard descending so I chose to ride on and fix them at camp. I end up being the first of the group to
crest the climb by Antelope peak and hit jeep road down to Freeman. By this
time I was cold and needed another layer, but I remember Freeman rd being just
around the corner. Well this went on for a lot longer than I anticipated, but
eventually I crossed Freeman rd and continued on to look for a camp stop. Found
one and made camp by moon light. It was after 11 and I was done.
Day 3 totals – 75.6 miles, 17hrs 21min, 11,300ft
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| Day 3 - Another long one, but still a good part of the way to being done! |
Day 4
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| What I wanted to be my last camp! |
This day was a late start.
As it became light I stayed tucked in my sleeping bag. I really did not
want to get up and so I lingered. As I was packing up Evan rolled by. He had
camped about a mile or behind me and was already going. I proceeding to finish
packing and rolled the short distance to water cache to attend to my rear
brakes. There was a shade structure
there and bench. I was able to us knot
in the shade structure to make bike stand to change the rear brakes. Turns out part of the metal spring had caught
in rotor and ripped off. I had a spare set of pads, but not a spring. Oh crap.
Well I made the best of what I had and was able to straighten what was
left of the spring enough to allow it work with then pads. Then I was on my way, but it was nearly 8am. The boulders section was the only bit from
Oracle ridge to the finish I had not ridden before and it turned out to be
fun. Relatively easy miles all the way
to the base of Ripsey.
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| The infamous counterweighted gate |
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| Ripsy climb off in the distance. Last 2 times I was here the sun lite up the switchbacks. Too early today. |
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| Evan S - Top of the Ripsey Ridgeline |
From here I pulled a head on ridgeline rollers and got the
tight switch back descent. Normally this
is a fun challenge, but today I was just a challenge. Evan smoked me again as I played it safe.
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| Made it to Florence-Kelvin Hwy Crossing. Almost home! |
We got to Kelvin TH and crossed the road to ups and downs
head toward the bridge over the Gila and Maintenance yard where there was the
last water spigot. It was getting warm now and we got there we ran into a
through hiker sitting under tree resting. We spent the next hour resting,
drinking water and eating. Probably too much time, but I was also considering
the heat of the Gila climb. I really want to hit that in the shade and that
meant 5pm-ish. If I stared the climb at
5pm and it took 5 hrs like last time that means 10pm. So 11pm just to be safe. All seemed doable. I loaded on what expected to be too much
water. 3L in my camelback, 2 bottles,
2.2 liters in my collapsible. I did not
trust my water filter any longer it was hot.
Better to be safe than sorry.
The trail along the Gila can look flatish when compared to
climb to Picketpost, but I deceiving it pretty much always going up or down and
will wear you down. I hit this in good spirites being refreshed and ready. It
was hot and I did not need to rush, but only had 36 miles to go to finish. I could tough that out.
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| Rob Bauer's Singlespeed coaster brake fuel machine. Really he uses those red jugs to carry diesel! |
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| The diesel is for this bad boy. Rob Bauer himself in action! Thanks Rob! |
I started the climb tired, but otherwise ok. As I rolled on however is started have more
than just normal seat discomfort. I hurt
to transition from riding to HAB and then from HAB to riding. There was move
and chaffing going on and it was not good.
I eventually had to abandon low gear grinding and just walk it. Before that I did my second animal
encounter. This time a bobcat or small
mtn lion got lit up my head lamp. He
stopped and stared right at me. He had cross the trail out in the open and was
headed away as turned to look back. He stood motionless as I kept on moving
slowly by. I figure I could have pulled out the camera, but that might have
been pushing it. So I rolled on.
As I crested the climb out of the Gila and into Martinez
canyon I had to do something. Evan had passed and it was just me out
there. So I when changed my shorts and
cleaned up one again. Things got better as, but I still could not sit in the seat.
From here was mostly downhill, but still 3 hrs of riding in good
conditions. What to do? Well time to singlespeed it. I change gears
to bigger gear that was suitable for standing climbing and the plan was to
stand the entire ride back. What I could
not climb in this gear I would HAB. I
had no other choice really. Martinez
canyon is very pretty, but also tough.
It is up and down bench cut trail that is not easy in daylight, but at
night a big risk. At one point I fell
off the side of the trail and was lucky to only go a few feet down. Still must
take it easy and be cautious as this area is very remote as well. So I soldiered on HAB by moonlight and
riding what I could ride both up and down The minutes turned into hours as
miles every so slowly ticked by. I got
to the Telegraph Canyon road crossing showing only 7.5 miles left. Those were still a long 7.5 miles mostly
trending down, but still with enough ups to make it work. By the end my feet hurt from the constant
standing and even in the last half mile I had to dismount for rock feature that
could really hurt in fall. Then at
12;44am I rolled in done. I went to
look for my father but did not find him.
I had called in from Kelvin and was actually later than planned, but he
was not there. My cell phone had not
signal so I borrowed Evan’s and found he was stuck in road closure along Hwy
60. So changed and rolled out my
sleeping bad for another night under the stars.
No fanfare at the finish, but I did finish the toughest ride
of my life.
Day 4 totals 67.8 miles, 17hrs 53 min, 8810 ft
Total - 3 day 16hrs 45 min - 308 miles and 38k of climbing. One heck of a ride!
 |
| Done - No fanfare, no crowds, no fans. But I am done! 3 days 16hrs 45 min! |
