AZT 750 Results

The AZT 750 is complete. In a word the ride was "BRUTAL." It started nice enough (with Kurt S. and I missing the very first turn off the dirt road as we chatted about this and that). Kurt is the other rider joining me officially in unoffiically racing all three this summer.He is a kid to me (just like 37) taking a bit of time off from a 10 year ride around the world with his girlfriend. So for now we will have two records when we both finish all three rides in August - the kid and the master. Not much eventful in those first couple days of desert riding except lots of snakes (including a huge rattler that tried to bite me descending Gila Canyon), mouthy gila monsters, manzanita and cactus flats and a bit of snow on Mt Lemmon. Oh, and it did get HOT at least by Colorado standards. While enjoying the dirt road ride over the Roosevelt Lake in the early mornng hours I remembered why I moved from Arizona to Colorado (a thought which would permeate my mind for the next 6 days). How much harder can it be to do those next 450 miles after all? They really do not have "mountains" here in AZ, do they? WRONG! 

The fun started while descending Oracle Ridge after a very pleasant cruise with the road bikers up the black top highway. This is where I threw a rock and broke the rear cage on my new XTR derailleur. For whatever reason I kept from this point on missing chances to go to a bike shop as my rigged up solution was working ok with duct tape and cardboard and other items. The real fun started out of Payson when the climbing started for real and the "trail" (all 3 to 6 inch clear spots that were not overgrown and full of eorded rocks) became unrideable for most of the 26 mile Highland section (where Kurt wrote in the sign in book something like "thanks - this is BRUTAL"--can't agree more). In this section my derailleur completely fell apart and I dragged my bike up those last 2 miles of boulders to the rim in the dark and into the cabin full of mouse shit (I opted for a tree as Hanta virus is not uncommon in northern AZ).

After finally arriving in Flagstaff and a bike shop before it closed I was optimistic about having an uneventful ride to Utah witha new derailleur. This was until however just 15 miles out of there on the trail the chain dragged the derailleur into the rear wheel shreddng it from its post (apparently the tech did not put the chain pin in all the way). So it was back to the duct tape model (now equipped with the top of my flat kit box). After running out of water and most food I made my way to the green slimy tank (the only water in the whole section which I gulped down after treating it twice) about 20 miles outside Tusyan where I geared up the next day for the "hike" a bike over to the north rim.

After repeated questions like "what the hell are you doing?" and other more useful questions like "why aren't you riding it?" or "where are you riding that thing?"I simply nodded and dragged on to my slowest cross of the big ditch since I was a small kid. After making it over to Jacob Lake in time for a steak dinner I thought hey Mark said it is all downhill from here to the finish and just 26 miles thought hey I will be in bed in Kanab in a few hours--NOT. Large sections of rutted cow pastures and sandy hike sections later (and like 4 plus hours) I finally got to those final switch backs without a light and a fading headlamp. Just a mile to go and poof over the handle bars for one more taste of that good Arizona sand. All in all a very tough ride and Iwould rank it as one of the toughest and likely THE toughest of the three having now ridden all three over the past three summers. The official finish per Scott Morris is as follows. Next month Kurt and I are on to the TDR where we actually plan on "riding" our bikes the whole way!

Arizona Trail Race Results
2012
 1. Kurt Sandiforth - 9:08:06
 2. Brad Kee - 10:10:48
2. Matt Fusco - 10:10:48
4. David Goldberg 11:16:34
5. Marshal Bird - 13:02:37
6. Arno Minner - 14:04:44
7. Jill Hueckman (*) - 14:11:36
8. Mark Caminiti - 16:03:22
Relegated Finishes:
Aaron Boatman - 9:08:17 (Outside assistance & motorized transport off route)
DNF: Beto Avelar
(*) Jill missed a ~6 mile portion of dirt road, riding a different road instead. Her time of 14:11:36 sets a new women's record for the AZTR

"Riding" the Grand Canyon North Kaibab Trail at a whopping 1.5miles per hour.