600 km brevet or Xterra?

A 380-mile out and back from Casa Grande to Tombstone? Very tempting. 40 hour time limit. My AZT 300 debacle has me aching for some more miles this week, something epic. If my cheeks can heal up soon, this might be one option. It is a little early to decide what I am doing on Saturday (only day off this week), but maybe I can squeeze this one in. The only downside is the $55 entrance fee that includes bag drops and a hotel. The other option is the Xterra race at Saguaro Lake, not so epic and more expensive, but it would give me a chance to do a triathlon.

Tomorrow, Max and I are headed down to Patagonia Lake. Max will be kayaking, I'll be trying to swim behind him for at least an hour in my wetsuit. After that, I'll just relax, maybe go for a quick run around the lake. A quick day morning trip, then it is back to Tucson for work in the afternoon.

Tucson International Film Festival

AZT 300 starting line pictures




Headed to at least one movie this year. Here is the schedule for this year's film festival.

Out

150 miles clocked in and a broken saddle caused me some massive chaffage problems. I tried chamois lube and some lotion, along with my fleece sweater on top of the saddle. Even rested for 3 hours with gunk on the sore areas, no luck.

Race started off pretty calm, a few of us were up in the front, switching off who was pulling. Blair and Troy pulled over for some water as Scott and I pulled ahead and chatted a bit only to be later joined by Mike.

Scott, Mike and I continued yo-yoing at a pretty reasonable pace for the next 15 miles, until Mike flatted before the paved road into Patagonia. I got to Patagonia in front of Scott and Mike about 2pm, exchanged a few words to both of them at the market before setting off solo. I never saw anybody else after Patagonia.

Toward the end of Salero Ranch, my saddle broke, although after about 10 minutes, I managed to fanaggle it to stay on. The high for yesterday was in the high 80s, although with enough water I didn't feel very overwhelmed by the heat. I stopped at the Smithsonian for some water and a quick bath before descending Elephant Head and managed to sneak out most of the Madera Canyon section before getting filtering water at the stream in Madera Canyon (water faucet is still broken). Box Canyon was a little windy at times, although it was nice to have some dirt road riding. More gates on the AZT turnoff, but some sweet singletrack riding. I love riding at night, especially on the day before a full moon. It is always eerie to ride into camping areas so late, camp fires are dwindling, everyone is asleep. These are the times that I think it is time to go to bed, then I realize that I did not bring my sleeping bag or pad to force myself to keep riding. Although, there were times when I had wished I brought a sleeping bag even went so far as to doubt my decision to another multi-day race. Bad thoughts seem to creep in when your mind starts wandering after 18 hours in the saddle. No Ipod yet since I was saving it til the section after Tiger Mine Rd.

I kept rolling into the night, but the saddle became a huge issue and started rubbing me the wrong way. I had an emergency stash of lube (frankly, I have never used the stuff although I carry it around jic). No luck. I got to La Seville Picnic area just before the sun starting coming up on the horizon, aout 530ish. Time was flying by quickly. The road ride to Basha's was hard and painful since the chaffing was becoming ever apparent, although I arrived just as planned, 730 a.m. 135 miles of hard mountain biking in less than 24 hours.... I was content and ready to ride some more, although my saddle and shorts needed some more attention.

I thought some lotion might do the trick. Only made it worse. I rested at the bench on the side of Basha's for 3 hours thinking that might help. It didn't. I pressed on into Reddington after one amazing pep talk from Max. Road riding was hard, riding the dirt road up Reddington was damn near impossible. Time to face the inevitable. Thoughts of the secluded sections after Tiger Mine Rd would be hard enough to ride tired let alone in the shape I was. I turned around and came back down off Redidngton to the Circle K. Coffee and pull out time.

Chris is back home. Jefe is recovering. The rest of the crew, as far as I know, is still out on the AZT.

Next project... changing my bike setup drastically. About a year ago, I had to decide between a road or a mountain bike. A chose an expensive road bike over a descent mountain bike. Big mistake. Frankly, the mountain bikes that I currently own are not meant to be ridden for 24+ hours at a time. The Tucson Bike Swap is tomorrow.

Final day before the race

Bike and gear are ready. I am ready. My head is shaved to one inch.

My plan is to ride at my pace in order to ride through the night on Friday/Saturday (cooler temperatures) and continue on toward Lemmon. I hope to get to the Control Rd turnoff before sunset in order to start descending Oracle Ridge. According to recent trail work, there is a chance that this section of the trail has been drastically cleaned. The only question remains... is it safe to ride at night or has the traverse of death only been altered a little bit? Weather on Mt Lemmon looks descent so I am going to take a gamble and lighten my warm-clothing load like I did last year. If I miss my deadline, I might just stay down at a lower elevation and take a nap.

A few updates about some of the racers. Max is at home with knee pain. He's out of the race. We had planned to ride together for most of the race. Heal up soon Max. I hope to see you tomorrow on Houghton Rd or at Reddington.

Plesko and Jefe had to bow out of the race today after rolling the Element outside of Show Low. No injuries, bikes are intact, nevertheless the prospect of getting back home after the race might have been problematic if they continued down to do the race. Both had a very good chance at finishing the race, and Plesko would have made the record for rigid singlespeed since nobody has ever finished on said setup. Damn, I wish all three of you could still ride tomorrow.

Waiting to hear from Fred about his arrival in Superior. Until then, I will be prepping dinner and doing some last minute adjustments.

Quote of the day

At times I wondered why I had my bike with me as it was slowing me down so much.

Dave Harris in reference to the Sedona Big Friggin' Loop

I'll be uttering that exact phrase tomorrow a few times, I can already envision where along the route.

AZT 300 ready?

Marshall seems to have his bike dialed in. Chris seems to be headed in that direction. The rest of the crew seems to be reticent about their plans. Scott seems to be gearing up for another record setting run. I hope Max's knee heals this week.

I'll be posting my bike in a few days, plan is to have one, small seat bag and 3-4 cages for water.

It was really rocky....

The crew from New Mexico summed up the SBFL.... "It was really rocky." About 60 miles with a little under 9k of climbing, and tons and tons of hike-a-bike. I managed to crank in a few minutes before Dave C and after Lynda. Lynda and I chatted and yo-yoed for about the first 35 miles, until she dropped me on Baldwin, where then I proceeded to flat (although the slime held almost to 179).

This weekend left me wondering a few things about the AZT 300, most notably, how to carry so much water given the higher temperatures that seem to be here. Additionally, the trail work on the traverse of death offers a new opportunity for a sleep-deprived cyclist to go over Lemmon w/o having to wait until daylight to ride down Oracle Ridge. All things considered, it looks like it is going to be an ideal weekend, a weekend that allows me to push my limits.

Post-SBFL, I drove down to the AZ Ironman to volunteer giving out Gatorade and water. Very encouraging. Each person that ran by was trying to finish the marathon section of the IM AZ despite the early mid-90 degree weather.

It was encouraging to ride so much this weekend.... looking forward to Friday.