Run to the River

After the APC115 last weekend, I still had a bit of an AZT itch to scratch, so this morning I headed out to the Picket Post trailhead to head south on the AZT to the Gila River and back.  I wanted to this for a few reasons: first, to scout a potential water source that Scott M. had told me about, and second, see what the climb up out of the river valley is all about… My last trip out there, several of us had started at Kelvin but never actually made the whole climb due to a really soft trail and diminishing daylight.

Started at 8:00AM in the shade of Picket Post (brrrr…..46 degrees) and proceeded to climb the flowy stuff around the west side of the mountain.  Finally reaching Martinez(?) Canyon, I stopped a few times to take in the scenery which was absolutely amazing.  The poppys were, well…starting to pop!  Several of the hillsides were covered in brilliant orange. 

Descending down to the Gila, it seems it goes on forever.  In the back of my mind, I just kept thinking about the grind up and the remoteness as well.  I kept the speed reasonably in check since a fall might mean a tough situation.  I started to carry  my puffy jacket, beanie, and matches on these long, remote rides just as a contingency.

I reached the top of the jeep road(Battle Axe Rd) (last quarter mile to river) and then went left to find the potential water source.  About a mile down a jeep road, I found it….well, at least evidence that water was there, but not much more than wet ground – bummer.    And it’s too bad that the Gila is contaminated too…tons of water flowing there, but not fit to drink.

So I put the ipod on, turned up the volume, and settled in for a big climb back up….and wow, what a climb it is.  Luckily the trail has plenty of grade reversals so you have time to recover but like most of the AZT, it uses existing jeep roads in places that are 20% grade…HAB for me on the SS.  Finally reaching the high point, I was really looking forward to the descent back to PP.  Almost BCT like in it’s design, it begs you to go fast although at times an overshoot could be ugly.

 Finally rolled back into the lot, 43 miles, 8500 ft of climb....good ride!

Ride Stats

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/147169493#

APC115 - Check that one off the list....

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 6^th 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 5^th 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 5^th 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

2011 Recap

Seems most of my posts are about great epic rides I've done so I thought being Dec 31st, it was time to look back on 2011.  As usual for this time of year, I'm sure we're going to see posts where people list their miles ridden which is great...however, these threads really don't prompt any meaningful comments other than, "wow, that's a lot" or "gee, I need to ride more...".   I mean sure, I rode a TON of miles this year, more than any year in the past.  But the miles are but one byproduct of riding; almost a surrogate variable for the other things gained as a result of sitting atop our bikes.  So, I'd like to mention the other things gained this year as a result of that time investment.
1. New friends:  I've met some really great people this year through riding that are not only fantastic riders and athletes, but really good, honest people.  The kind that would give you the shirt off their back (or a tube out of their pack).  I am truly thankful that our common interests have resulted in friendships that will last a long time.  I look forward to sharing more miles with them.
2. Sense of Accomplishment:  We all have our ways of getting that sense of accomplishment be it through our careers, family, etc.  I certainly benefit in those two areas however, riding has given me something with seemingly no ceiling for improvement.  When I think back a few years ago when I started back into riding, my goals at that point seemed unattainable... I marveled at people that could ride single speeds up mountains.   Little by little, I was able to accomplish those goals.  This year, I rode more 40+ mile rides than ever before and now feel cheated if a ride is < 20 miles.  I did my first bikepacking trip during which I covered almost 110 miles in 2 days.  My goal in 2012 is to do the AZT300 and do it in a respectable time.
3. Better family life: This may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, but having time to explore your interests truly makes us better the rest of the time. 
4. Skills:  One of the things I recognized as a weakness in my riding, was my bike handling skills.  Although I still have a ways to go, I am descending faster with more confidence than before. 
5. Endurance:  I have to say, that I'm probably in the best endurance shape in my life...too bad it took me 46 years to get there!  There is something very satisfying about suffering up a climb and feeling your legs recover very quickly.  For me, this is probably only the second time in the past 3 years, where I've been at a point where it feels like the "pieces come together".  I can ride hard, hour after hour, and my legs continue to respond.  Truly a great feeling....

Finally, for those that read my ramblings, I appreciate it and look forward to sharing more of my adventures in 2012.
Cheers!
Ray

BCT C2C2C - First Bikepacking Trip

For months, I'd been acquiring gear, pouring over gear lists and weights, and trying to decide where to do my first real 2 day outing.

I'd thought about heading into Reach 11 and sleeping the night to test out that part of the gear but I figured I may as well go big...well, maybe not huge, but big enough.  My main goals were to
1) test out the gear and decide what works and what doesn't and
2) Get 2 good solid back to back days of miles in.  BCT was the obvious choice for this since it's fairly easy to access if you had to have someone come get you at 2AM when you're shivering.  Plus, the proximity to water made it easy to stash some water to preclude having to filter/purify.

Day 1: I parked my car at a friends house in Anthem who was nice enough to offer up some driveway space.  They also were going to ride south with me on day 2.  They(Jeff and Tim) rode with me up to Emery Hendersen via some bits of Maricopa trail, dirt roads, and the BCT.  At Hendersen, my friend Darren met me to ride north up to Bumble Bee where he had a car parked.  We set off from Hendersen at about 9AM and proceeded up the BCT.  I immediately noticed the additional weight I was carrying slowed my ascent of the hills.  I had thought about gearing down prior to the trip but decided to stick with the 32x20.

photo courtesy of Steve Wolf (http://stevewolf.smugmug.com/)

Just north of Table Mesa, my chain derailed sending me into a thorny bush and a rock pile.  Luckily the extent of my injuries were just a bruised elbow.  Near Rock Springs, we continued up the trail (I'd never traveled north on this section, only south).  I knew the ascent up the stagecoach section would be tough...sure enough, it sucked pretty bad.  I managed to ride about 1/2 of it but figured it was time to save some matches for later as well as day 2.  At Bumble Bee, Darren had a huge jug of water where I filled up.  Said my thanks and goodbye to Darren, then I continued north with my destination Hidden Treasure Mine, 11 more miles.  I arrived there in good time still with daylight and decided to find a camp spot. I'd thought about continuing up to Mayer and camping just south of there, but the colder temps and wind were a concern and in hindsight, was probably a good move.   There, I built a fire, relaxed and settled in for a quiet evening.

Day 2:  I woke up several times through the night but managed to get back to sleep without too much problem.  Finally, I got up at about 7:30 figuring that Jeff and Tim were going to be meeting me around 8:30.  Cooked some oatmeal, drank some coffee, and loaded up.  I headed up the trail a ways figuring I'd run into them.  Sure enough, just before Antelope Canyon, I spotted them ahead. We started heading back south, stopping at Bumble Bee where we had water stashed.  Tanked up again, we pressed on.  I could tell my legs had been pretty beat up the day before and was hoping they'd eventually come alive.  I knew there were really 3 big climbs left and just started thinking about what it'd feel like to be done with the last one.  Climbing the trail up from the river at Rock Springs was brutal.  A normally enjoyable climb, after 80+ miles in my legs and all the gear, it was all I could do to keep the pedals spinning.  I just kept setting short term goals...next hill....next hill.  Finally crossing Table Mesa Rd, I knew we had the next challenge.  Luckily my legs came back alive and I stood on the pedals.  The prior fatigue I'd felt had subsided and it seemed I could stay in a good groove.
Finally at the top, I knew we had several miles of rolling trail before the next small climb.  At the next climb, my legs felt even better and I was able to ride without worry of deep fatigue.  Rolling back into Hendersen, we knew the home stretch was left...5 miles of so-so trail but this time, it was the final 5 miles of an epic adventure.
2 more things...
First, I want to thank Darren, Jeff, and Tim.  Darren, not only a superb mtn biker and athlete, but a great guy.  I sincerely appreciate his encouragement and kindness.  Having a jug of cold water at BB was great and much appreciated.  And his future in-laws make awesome beef jerky.  It's a welcome change from a steady diet of Cliff bars.  Jeff and I have talked about a big N-to-S ride for a number of months.  Thanks to him for keeping it in his sights and involving me.  Biggest ride to date for him today and not only did he do really well, but kept a positive attitude all day.  And thanks for a spot to park my truck and shuttling water up to BB.  Great to have his Father-in-law Tim along too...great rider
Second, this was intentionally a ride to learn from...A few things I learned...
1. Not gearing down with 15 extra pounds is tough...really tough.  But hopefully, it'll make me stronger.
2. Trim every bit of weight out of your kit as you can...an extra 2 lbs has slow, wearing impact on you.
3. Your legs will feel like crap, but keep the food and water going in, and they'll come around...caffeine laced gels are awesome late in the day when you need an extra push to get over the next hill.
4.  Keep the goals small when your mind is in a bad place...next hill, etc.
5.  My gear list was pretty close to being right-on.  I'll make a few tweaks, and some deletions for the AZT300 in the interest of weight, but pretty darn close.
6.  Manage the water...I under-hydrated on day one and drank a bunch the first evening.  Luckily I knew there was going to be water at BB and worst case, I could have filtered&Purified at HTM.

Ride stats
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/137131893

The Kelvinator

Monday¸despite the daunting clouds and threat of rain, 4 of us headed out to ride some of the new AZT south of Picket Post.  However, we decided to approach it from the Kelvin side since the plan was to do an out and back north of the gila exploring some of the new trail, then do a loop around Ripsey…well…the second part didn’t happen but none-the-less, it was still an epic day albeit covering only 42 miles of trail.

Jeff had found on the AZ trail site (http://www.aztrail.org/) that just a few days prior, the last bit of trail was finished.  So, it seemed appropriate that we had to ride this last section and see the ceremonial spike they had placed by the trail.  Heading across the bridge and left on the dirt road, the mudfest started.  The first section of trail north of the river actually follows a road recently constructed by the mine as an access road.  It climbs almost right away and we could see that eventually, all that elevation would be given up.  However, we were stopped short by a foreman that claimed the trail wasn’t open and it would be dangerous given the heavy machinery operating to build the trail.  What?  That seemed odd…wasn’t it finished?  We speculated that the mine had paid to build that last section since it gave them access to some areas (there was a drill rig up the hill from the road…certainly not part of any trail building activity). 

OK, change of plans…we headed back the way we came and decided to follow Freeskiers GPS track from earlier this year and rode the railroad tracks to bypass  the “unopened” section.  We rattled along the tracks making “choo choo” sounds the best we could.    

Finally just before the bridge back over the Gila, we found the little connector segment that put us on the trail.  From there, the trail meanders just north of the Gila, crossing a number of drainages.  It varies from superbly constructed trail cut into the side of steep, boulder fields to low lying, silty sections that skirt the riparian areas.   There are certainly a few short sections that need some feet and tires to compact, but all in all, it’s a great 15 mile or so stretch until you turn north up Alamo Canyon.

Darren...happy to be out of cold, snowy Canada!

Me concentrating and climbing

 And that’s where the climbing begins…up a steep jeep road for about 0.25 miles, then turning to singletrack that continues to climb the east side of Alamo Canyon.
Heading up the jeep road...

 

 

The soft tread made the progress slow but we continued to press on, continually amazed at the views ahead.  After several miles, the trail crosses back through the wash and continues to climb the west side of the canyon.  The trail here was a bit easier to climb due to a rockier surface, but also a more gradual grade. 

Looking back south

 Looking back south again...

 
Stopping to regroup with a fair bit of climbing ahead, Nancy’s voice of reason convinced us to turn around.  It was just past noon and although we hadn’t reached the point where we saw earlier this year from the Picket Post side, it seemed the sensible thing to do a 180.  Minutes later on the descent, Jeff found the sharpest rock on the planet  and decided to ride over it putting a “mother of all sidewall gashes” into it.  Sh*t.   Ok...I'm not the most experienced rider, but the engineer in me says that's a bit of a problem.

We’re easily 20 miles from cars, sweaty from climbing, and getting colder by the minute.  Park boot to the rescue… Damn, I would NEVER have figured a Park boot could mend that…I mean, it barely covered the extent of the slice.  Amazingly, he got the thing inflated with no major tube bulge and we continued on.  (Note to self: buy a few park boots and some needle and thread)!

Arriving back at the car with tired legs and muddy bikes, we loaded up and headed home.  Thanks to Jeff, Nancy and Darren for a great day.  A truly epic adventure.
And thanks to Jeff for capturing the photos...

Ride stats...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/135516180

Two T-Squared

After the AES McDowell60 (which was really 44.5 miles) last weekend, I was needing something shorter but still a good solid effort. I had a crazy idea of doing several of the time trials in the valley all in one day. The original plan was as follows: 1. WaltAZ TT in the McDowells 2. Trail 100 TT in PMP 3. Shaw Butte TT 4. Desert Classic TT Then the plan sort of fell apart...had late start and a conference call at 2:30 that I could not miss. So I dropped off #4 headed out... 1. WaltAZ TT - this is a great little 13 mile TT in the foothills of the McDowells that has a bit of everything. My SS is geared at 32x20 which was probably too spinny but this morning was super windy and I'm kinda glad I had that gear. Completed it in 1:11:21 (1st place...for now) but I felt really slow going up Taliesin with a monster headwind...I kept looking at the clock thinking that I was headed for a 1:40 finish. Flying down the last 0.25 mile which is not steep but zig zags down a cholla field that would be more than happy to leave you with some thorny twinkies covering your body if you crashed. 2. Trail 100 TT : fail...after pounding out #1 above, I didn't have another 1 hour at my anaerobic threshold in my legs. 3. Shaw Butte TT: this is a short one and one that I've been meaning to go ride...1.4 miles, 800 ft climb. Started at the electrical boxes at the gate and jumped on it...after the first big left turn, the trail gets super steep and I managed to keep the 32x20 turning...finally the next steep section did me in...hopped off and ran up that section. Back on near when it flattened a bit, I mashed the pedals more, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest...finally hitting the towers. Finished in 13:49...ufff...that frickin' hurt.

Bikepacking....almost ready!

I've been slowly assembling gear over the last few months to begin a sort of new chapter in my riding that involves so called bikepacking. It's been something I've pondered for quite a while and after spending significant hours surfing bikepacking.net and other ultra-light backpacking sites, I put a gear list together and decided with the help of my Mom, we'd sew up some bags. The first two were a frame bag and gas tank that took us the better part of the day to create. Made primarily from x-pac material with some 1/8 inch foam sandwiched in between along the tubes, they turned out pretty well.

Following that, I made another long trip out to the east valley where Mom lives, and we made a seat post bag; for the front side of the seat post. Very similar in design to the gas tank, I've loaded it up will all the usual repair stuff that I'd carry on my back (spare tube, leatherman squirt, first aid kit, multitool, zip ties, etc). Loaded it's 1lb, 8oz...nice to get that off my back. I've been carrying that for even day rides which has held up very well and been a rock solid design. Finally, I received most of my sleep kit (bag, pad, ground sheet) and decided it was time to load up the bike and go out for a test ride. The seat tube bag was loaded as described before, the gas tank bag loaded with snacks and spare charger, and the frame bag loaded with 32oz of water, steripen, pump, and filter funnel. I strapped the sleeping stuff to the bars with a couple of straps and pulled it towards the stem with another velcro strap.

All the bags full of stuff were an extra 11 lbs. Headed out to BCT to do LPL from Rock Springs and I immediately noticed that extra weight as we climbed up after the first river crossing. The bike handled actually very well and everything stayed put. After arriving back home, I did a little post-mortem as I unpacked things looking for signs of wear, etc and found that the cheap Wally World dry sack on the bars had developed several wear marks from the velcro straps, wires and cables. I figured I'd better proceed with making the handlebar harness which I'd designed about 3 weeks ago to better protect those items since I'd hate to start wearing holes in my brand new down bag, pad, and whatever else I put in there. Having the day off and needing a day off the bike, I headed out to Mom's again to make the handlebar harness... Here are the final pics of what we made.

Major "Thanks" goes out to my Mom who's sewing skills and patience are 2nd to none. Not only did I save money, but I gained extra time with Mom and did all those chores around her house she needed done...win-win for all! Looking forward to a real test of all the gear on my first overnight....