2018 Arizona Trail Race 750 - Day 2

I awoke and it was still dark. Good, I didn't oversleep. I had set my alarm for 0430 and I tried to pry my eyes open to see what the time was now. 0420. Nice. Time to get up.

I jumped up and got into my kit as quickly and quietly as I could, mindful of the people camped just near me. I ate the second half of my Sonoita takeway buritto, washed down with a can of Starbucks esspresso, mmmmm, coffeeee, while I stuffed my gear into the bike bags. It was cold so I layered up a bit. I knew I would warm up quickly as there was a big HAB right from the get-go this morning. I had watched all the passers by last night push up to the top of the ridge.

So, I began Day 2 by walking that ridge too. Once at the top I was warm and for the next hour or two I grovelled along, riding a little, pushing a lot. The singletrack was very narrow along here and kept dropping into small drainages which climbed steeply on the other side. I felt good this morning but was getting a little frustrated at my apparent lack of progress.

2018 Arizona Trail Race 750 - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Here I was, panting hard, sweating harder, pushing my heavily laden bike up a steep, loose hillside in southern Arizona under a blistering sun, just a handful of miles from the Mexican border. 

I briefly thought "what the fuck am I doing here, no really..., wtf ?" as I rounded yet another tight, loose, rocky, climbing switchback. I stopped to take a pull on my water bottle, then my eyes swung out to take in the vista of the Miller Peak wilderness. 

Holy crap! From up here at 6000ft, the view was magic! 

I had been riding/walking with some guy from Idaho or North Dakota for about five minutes and he just kept his head down and pushed on. I felt like saying "look to your right!!"  

He was deep in the pain cave, just 45km into this 1230km race. The Arizona Trail does that to people. It gets inside their head. All of the stupid pushing up a fall line trail with no breeze. Have you ever noticed there is never any breeze when you are climbing in the hot sun? No breeze, just the quiet muttered curses? But then the yee-haws of the loose, steep, rocky drop down the fall line on the other side help to wipe that horrible memory of the climb.......until the next steep pinch.......

So, what was I doing, grovelling along the Canelo Hills section of the Arizona Trail on this fine Thursday morning I hear you ask? Lets rewind a little to explain how I found myself in this mess. You may wish to grab yourself a cold beverage before continuing......

The Time Has Come !!!

Well, that 3 month period went quick !!! I can't believe that I am jumping on a jet tomorrow morning, bound for the US of A and a world of hurt and wonder on the Arizona Trail!! (warning-excessive use of exclamation points in this post is highly likely!!)

I went to my last PT session with Jim at Transitional Fitness this morning and I can't thank him enough for all of the effort he has put into training me. I am feeling strong from a overall perspective which will be important as I wrestle my laden bike along the sometimes overly kindly named "trail" that is the Arizona Trail. While my cycling prowess might be a few notches below the fitness I carried into the Tour Divide, I am happy to sacrifice some of the on-bike fitness for the overall strength. 

The Gym Bike sweat sessions are over!!

I am a little less confident in my gear setup unfortunately. I simply haven't tested all of my gear on multiple overnights. This was partly because of time constraints and partly because some major players in my kit (like my bivy) are awaiting me in the US as they weren't available to purchase locaally or over the interwebs. My philosophy with this aspect of my sub par preparation is that I will just harden-the-fuck-up and make it work!! I am again taking a massive chunk of time out of my family's life by taking part in this silly race so I plan on not wasting that time and will just get it done.

I still have to pack my final gear into my bags and to box up my bike. Before I do I will be shouldering the bike for one last (first actually) hike to see how it rides on my back. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!! 

1st and only hike.......what could possibly go wrong....?

I have fitted the latest SRAM Eagle GX gearing to the bike so I should be able to pedal up a vertical wall if I so desire. 

The length of the derailuer cage is a bit concerning but I have a spare mech hanger just in case. Lets hope it isn't needed!

My gear exceeds the capacity of my bags but I can't see myself doing the race with less than what I have laid out here so the final cull will have to be made in Sierra Vista, the day before the race start.

Gear.......

Tool Kit

The link to Trackleaders is here so that you can follow all of the action from the 5th of April, 7am MST. The time conversion for us Aussies is 7 hours ahead but 1 day behind. That means the race starts at midnight, Friday EST here in Oz. The race discussion forum on bikepacking.net can be found here.

The racers to watch will be former record holder and Tour Divide winner Kurt Refsnider, current record holder, Idtarod 350 winner, Colorado Trail Race winner, TD 3rd place getter (in 2015) Neil Beltchenko, female Single Speed record holder Alice Drobna, mtb mega-star Rebecca Rusch(300 race) and probably a whole bunch of others I haven't heard of before.

Well, I hope you enjoy the show. I know I am going to have a love/hate relationship with this trail. I am just hoping that love triumphs eventually. ;)

See you on the other side.

Cheers.