2018 Arizona Trail Race 750 - Day 6

I woke at about midnight to the sound of bike tyres crunching on gravel. A dim light rolled past with a little blinky red tail light flashing, then it was gone.....

I had set my alarm for 0330 and when I woke I really didn't know if I had dreamt about someone riding past or actually seen it.

It was a clear, cold morning on top of this hill and I packed up as quickly as I could to get rolling. The now dirt road climbed for 15 minutes which was good as it allowed me to stay warm, then it proceeded to drop from 916m(3000ft) to 650m(2130ft) which was a hoot, even if it was cold! Somewhere near the bottom of that first descent I crossed a small bridge, then there was a light coming toward me. Someone else out on a bike? At this hour? Cool!

We stopped to say "hi" and it turned out to be Aaron Denburg, the sole North to South AZTR750 racer! We chatted briefly and I warned Aaron about the big climb coming up, then we got back to it. (I later learned that Aaron was a veteran of this race and knows the course like the back of his hand)

2018 Arizona Trail Race 750 - Day 5

I was up at 1230ish and quietly packed my bivy into my bar bag. It seemed like Dean was sleeping in, as a quiet snoring was emanating from his bivy, about 20m away. I tip-toed past him as he was by the entry point to this little clearing by the river. I knew I would be seeing him again, later in the race. He is one strong rider.

The trail went up, pretty much straight away. It started out as double track but quickly went to single track. Single track that skirted around a cliff face with a high wall on one side and a drop off the other. I pushed most of the ups and hooted down the downs. There were many, many of these. 

I made a deal with myself this morning. I was not going to look at my gps distance at all and I was not going to look around in the darkness at all. I was simply going to look at the trail, keep moving along it and when I had done enough moving, Picketpost trailhead would be in front of me....

The only photo I took of that morning. Lots of exposure.