2020 was going to be the year of getting out and being able to do the AES rides on the actual event days. The past couple of years have always fallen on weekends when I had my kids - but in 2020 something switched in the matrix and almost every event was going to be in play. It's such a different feeling doing these along with other people. I was actually nervous for some reason. I knew once the route got off the pavement neutral start that it was going to be pretty stout until after passing Antelope Peak.
Of course, I had a gig the previous evening so didn't get to bed until 1AM and I had a 5AM wakeup call in order to make it to the start from Phoenix...
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The view just prior to 8am. More people than I was expecting.
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Riders signing in to the "ultra official" piece of paper that serves as the results board.
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The beginning of the route started basically right on the 24 HOP course, and we headed south on dirt toward HWY 77 where we would then continue the neutral start on pavement until we hit the dirt turn off that would take us to the Tiger Mine TH of the Arizona Trail. The pavement grind was pretty uneventful, but the quick pace up a steady grade had me working harder than I wanted to this early.
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Off of the pavement and the fast people broke free pretty easily. Per the usual lol.
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Figured I'd better calm down because the effort of trying to keep up with the speed demons ain't a good idea for this guy
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Tiger Mine TH.
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Last time I was here as in April 2017 as part of the AZT 300 race. It was dark and I was pretty crushed after tackling the Mt. Lemmon Road climb and subsequent Oracle Ridge "goodness". This was certainly going to be a trip down memory lane.
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Big views that I missed in the dark last time.
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Such amazing terrain out here.
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I decided to let this guy go ahead of me. I don't really like the feeling of being in front of people. Good thing I'm slow so this isn't a problem!
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Thought I might be able to keep him in view for a while. Nope.
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Sweet singletrack. I remember looking for a place to crash in the dark in 2017. Pretty bare bones, until you hit the sandy washes!
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All kinds of fond memories of the AZTR came up when I descended down to the first wash. I camped there with Marcus and we ate our leftover pizza from the place in Oracle. And super comfy sleeping in the sandy wash. The only bad thing about the location was there was a bird that wouldn't shut up down there. But I digress...
This section of trail is beautiful, but tough. Lots of work to get up and down the washes. So pretty though! The trail was filling in with vegetation in some spots. It was late January, so the trail hadn't seen tons of traffic yet.
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| All kinds of memories were made up on that mountain... |
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Nice little spot for a snack.
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Supergate!
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Antelope Peak in the distance. I wouldn't be hiking up it for the time bonus.
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Ruggedly beautiful
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The pictures stopped here - I started to suffer pretty good after the burning descent down to camp grant wash - I was pushing (HAB) some of the trail prior to Antelope Peak, and I was trying to figure out how I was able to get through this section fully loaded with bikepacking gear. I finally did make it around Antelope Peak and began some jeep road grinds that eventually turned mostly downhill which was fantastic because I was smoked.
Finally ended up joining the 24HOP course, but we were going the "wrong" direction. I ended up pulling over for one guy who was on the course pre-riding it. Going that direction on the course was pretty fun honestly. Mercifully, the staging area appeared and Max was sitting there and offered up a cold beer which I gladly drank. Hung out for a few minutes while others rolled in but then decided to get out of there since the drive home was good for a couple hours at least.
I ended up at Nina's house, and she asked me if I had heard about Kobe Bryant. I was like no what happened? She said that he died earlier that day in a helicopter accident. Wow. I didn't know what to think. So unexpected. So tragic for everyone involved. RIP.
Here's the strava:
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