My first AES APC115 is now complete (as of 6:30PM Saturday)
and about all I can say is, “holy crap…what a beatdown”. But I’ll elaborate…since you’re here…
Twelve of us assembled yesterday morning and started this
sufferfest a few minutes after 5AM. We
proceeded back down the dirt road then up the highway towards Oracle. A bit east of Oracle as we hit Tiger Mine
Road, the race “officially” began with some of the faster geared guys able to
take advantage of the slight downhill to where the AZ Trail started. We hit the trail and that’s when things got
interesting. That section of the AZT was
described to me as “raw” and “cactusy”….sure enough, the trail made its way in
and out of about 5 washes where the decent was narrow and sketchy, and the
ascent up the other side was loose and steep…which btw equals hike-a-bike for
me on the SS and definitely didn’t want to burn those precious matches so early
in a huge ride. I was at this point in 6th place
with Chad B. just up ahead. With his
gears and skills, there was no way I was going to close the gap so keeping it
constant was my goal.
Finally, we reached the new section of trail that bypasses
the gasline…having never ridden the gasline, I was told it was aweful however the
new trail definitely has it’s challenges.
At this point, I could see Chad and finally caught him (and Neil) thanks
in part to a navigate error on their part just prior to the super sketchy and rocky
decent into Grant wash. (as an aside,
these rides not only test your mental and physical strength, but route finding
skills as well…a few miscues there really chews up time).
Exiting Grant wash, I was in front of Chad now trying to
hang with Neil. It was the last I’d see
of Chad the entire day although with his mad techy climbing skills, I expected
to see him behind me at any time. I
couldn’t keep Neil’s pace but was able to keep him within sight all the way to
the water cache at Freeman road, at about the 43 mile point.
At that point, the 3 leaders(Kurt, ?, Max) except Neil had
climbed Antelope Peak for the bonus time and were just rolling into the water cache. Neil left that was the last I’d see of him. I got back on the bike and left just before
Max and continued north. Shortly Max was
on my wheel and we continued to make our way through the Boulders section of
the AZT. We stayed somewhat together up
until about Rispey wash were I lost him.
This was probably my first real mental lowpoint of the ride –
the trail follows the wash at this point, and it was just soft enough that I
felt every pedal stroke took 300% more effort than it should. I could also see the switchbacks heading up
Ripsey knowing that’s where I’d be
heading. So, I bailed off the bike
figuring walking would help me conserve energy.
I proceeded to walk and ride (mostly walk) the entire climb up Rispey
which is about an 800ft ascent, much of it very loose and rocky. At this point, I thought Chad would catch me
since I felt like my pace had slowed so much.
Finally reaching the top, I rolled along the ridge catching the views as
I could. I spotted Mt. Lemmon WAY off to
the south which just several hours prior seemed within reach…then it hit me…I
am WAY out here…
The decent down the north side of Ripsey is scary…loose,
narrow, rocky, and steep. At this point,
I didn’t want to risk a fall so I rode the switchbacks that seemed getable and
unclipped a foot for the others. Finally
hitting the Florence-Kelvin highway was a mental charge…I knew the miles now
would come easier being a well graded dirt road. Man was I wrong. After a short descent, you hit the low point
in elevation in the ride in the Gila River valley. This was my pit of despair…I started climbing
the 6% grade, head down just so the false summits wouldn’t work on my
head. Finally about half way up, my feet
hurting and energy low, I knew it was time for the silver bullet… jumped off the bike, reached into my pack and
downed a caffeine energy shot, a few chunks of beef jerkey, and put on the
ipod. Wow, did that help. Back on the bike I felt like a new man.
I finally reached the AZT and hence finished the upper loop –
this helped… however, I was running short on water and knew I probably had 1-2
hours back to the cache. I made the
mistake of underhydrating on the first 40 miles, tried to make up for it on the
next 40 and now was really thirsty and only ½ bottle left. Uggh…major low point #2. I just kept telling myself that it was going
to be fine, and if I had to ride 30 minutes without water, I wouldn’t die. I came upon some hikers that were just
finishing their 20 mile hike and one says to me, “would you like some water?”. What? Really?
I graciously accepted their offering, said my thanks multiple times and
got back on the bike. This was
HUGE. No more did I have to worry about
water, my body felt good so I was able
to pick up the pace a bit back south on the AZT to the cache.
At the cache, I grabbed a bit more water figuring it was
about a 2 hour ride back. In a few
miles, I came up on Max who I’d last seen before Ripsey. He had ran out of water and then making it to
the cache, drank until almost throwing up.
We then road together the rest of the way back. Race wise, he’d climbed Antelope peak so with
that time advantage on his side, there was no sense trying to lose him.
All in all, it was a LONG day on the bike, my longest to
date, but a key part of my AZT300 preparations.
It taught me several things, one of which being that a trail is not a
trail… In other words, the AZT is a
rugged trail. Not build to MTB trail standards
like BCT. It’s technically challenging,
loose, rough, steep, narrow, thorny, non-existent in places. Without a GPS, you’d be SOL. Without some
tough tires with sealant, you’d REALLY be SOL.
If BCT were like doing curls,
riding the AZT is like doing squats…full body workout.
Until Chad posts the final results, I believe I placed 5th
out of the 12 that started. (EDIT: 10 started and Chad hiked Antelope Peak and thus with that bonus took 5th...so 6th out of 10) I hoped for
better, but the 4 individuals ahead of me are truly worthy AZT veterans. So, I’ll take my 13:30 time and 5th
6th place and be very happy. It was a real
test… I’d like to think I’d have felt
stronger if I hadn’t caught a cold 3 weeks prior, but such is life…you just
have to “roll with it”.
Thanks to Chad for organizing these rides – they are always
a great gathering of like-minded people that just like to ride their bikes…a
long way!
ride stats....
http://app.strava.com/rides/3693878
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145390044
