Bradshaw Bender! Backroad to Crown King to Mayer and (mostly) Full Black Canyon Trail.

Well, I told people that I would be blogging about this which surprisingly generated some interest, so I guess I better make this good. No pressure right? Haha.

A little background first...

I guess you can say that this trip started close to twenty years ago when I had my first trip to Crown King via the back road from Lake Pleasant. Friends that I worked with were into 4x4 trips and general shenanigans and this was one of the better "destination" type trips for that kind of thing. We would supply up, take the trip up the road and camp out near CK and head into town for supplies and food then head back to camp. Always a good time.

There are two really distinct odd memories of those many trips. The first is seeing a stock Subaru Outback that was deep between Fort Misery and Oro Belle mine. This was back before they used to do a lot of trail maintenance. No clue how he got back there. Second was seeing a mountain biker close to the same area. I couldn't even comprehend that. Cardio was not in my vocabulary, and even taking vehicles up was easily a half day commitment if everything went well. How the hell do you ride a bike back here?

Fast forward a bunch of years - I guess to around late 2011 and I started getting into mountain biking. Back then rides consisted of 5-10 miles. I had already been through a big part of my weight loss journey, but was still more into weight lifting than cardio. My friends started to get into MTB more so I decided to give it a shot and I liked it, so that started my journey out of the weight room and into the great outdoors.

Around 2012 we came across an Arizona specific MTB forum and read accounts of dudes doing things that didn't seem possible. Twenty plus mile rides were the norm for these guys and they extended to even bigger rides and even the concept of bikepacking.

Soon after that myself and a couple of buddies embarked on our first bikepack of our own. On the BCT from Table Mesa Rd to Bumble Bee. Two twenty five mile days and it freaking crushed us.

The progression continued and eventually I was one of the guys doing rides that were in the twenty plus mile range on the regular. Looking for more of a challenge lead me down the path of endurance "racing". Somehow in the tangled web of the internet I found blogs of these freaks doing huge rides in fantastic areas. It all led me to Arizona Endurance Series. This opened the door (rabbit hole?) that I am currently falling through.

Needless to say, this has led to me completing 5 AES routes over the last few years along with some other "big mile" days of my own design. Which has led me to really contemplating one of the best MTB ultras out there - the Arizona Trail Race (300).

This race has been on my radar for several years, but couldn't ever really comprehend what it would take to really take it on. Last year I was getting closer but knew in my heart that it wasn't the year. However, Arizona endurance freak John S. said something to me and one other guy in a discussion thread about the race. He said something along the lines of - "You guys have the fitness to do this right now"...

That really stuck with me and has been a motivator ever since. I gotta say, the AES community is full of the most amazing people. I have yet to meet someone who has any kind of negative vibe at all. Just a bunch of bad asses riding bikes and pushing the boundaries of body and mind. Everyone has been so helpful and giving. I hope to meet more of them in the future.

Anyways, all of that to say that the race is about five months out from now, and I really needed to get at least one big overnight trip in. I've always wanted to do a full trip of the BCT from north to south, but the shuttle aspect makes it a pain. I also have read a bit about some trips that have taken place higher up in the Bradshaw mountains. In a moment of clarity (or maybe insanity) my old world of 4x4ing and new world of mountain biking collided when I saw this route from John: Pleasantville

I thought to myself that it would be freaking epic to ride mountain bikes from home to CK via the back road, then drop down to intersect BCT and take it all they way home. But how possible is it anyway? That climb to CK is steep and nasty. But so are many sections of the AZTR. What better way to test myself?

Some Strava research indicated that yes several people have ridden bikes all the way up to CK, though usually from a staging area north of the lake. Starting from my house would mean that we would already be 30 miles in at that point. Also, we would be riding loaded bikes. Meaning food, water and sleeping gear.

It was on. I took several tracks and started doing some work in topofusion to piece everything together. The first iteration was simple. Home to CK via the backroad, drop down via the main road to intersect the BCT then head south all the way to its terminus at Carefree Highway then continue south on the 51st ave alignment which would lead through open desert/state trust land (and a loop 303 crossing) back to my neighborhood.

This looked all good, and we could have supplied up enough in CK and Cleator to get us to rock springs, but then we would be missing a big section of the black canyon trail. A revision was made to head north along the BCT to get to Mayer, AZ for a nice chunk of miles and a good resupply point in Mayer. And now the story starts...

We wanted to get an early start so Marcus showed up a bit before 4am. Some final adjustments and we were on our way right from my driveway!

Final prep

We had a short little jaunt through my neighborhood and crossed the bridge over the CAP canal and hopped the barrier - feeling the full weight of the bikes for the first time. This led us to the Pyramid Peak area. It's a fun little area that motos and MTB's like to play in. We were thankful for the decent rain the night before as it really made the sandy spots easier to ride. We made pretty quick work of this and came to the loop 303. There is a way to get underneath it, but I wasn't quite sure where it was at, so we rode to a spot where the fence usually has a break in it. The fence had been mended so again we lift bikes over and navigate the barbed wire. We crossed over the 303 and then another fence and more flat riding to access Carefree Highway. Two more fences to cross - at least these have gates you can open and don't have to lift bikes over. We are now briefly on the BCT and soon connect to the Maricopa Trail to head west and access Lake Pleasant.

The riding remains flat through this section, with a handful of short punchy washes you have to navigate through. Again we were mostly happy for the rain because it kept the sandy areas ride-able. There were a couple mud puddles that snuck up on us though because we were riding with our lights on low to conserve battery power. Running with minimal lights might have saved us much later the next day...

Some gates to deal with by road crossings

Right next to the entrance to the lake here - a little mud on the tires.

We got through that section and now the first bit of what felt like real mountain biking as we dropped down to the Agua Fria crossing just south of the lake. This was easier to navigate than the first time I was through. I think the people who run the prickly pedal bike race did some work in there - much appreciated! Soon we were entering the official trail system at Lake Pleasant, and the sun started to make its appearance...

Here comes the sun...

We made pretty quick work of the first half of the trails there, though the weight of the bikes was noticeable as we navigated some decent climbs for the first time. We stopped at the desert tortoise campground for a quick snack and to load up on water. This would need to get us to Crown King. We both loaded up with 100 ounces and I also was carrying two 32 ounce gatorades with me so my pack was quite heavy at this point. I was glad I had those extra fluids though and I would end up needing them. Marcus who is like a camel wasn't carrying anything other than the 100 ounces and he ran out a bit before the top of the climb to CK.

Refuel time

Yours truly...

Quiet campground

Lemme take a selfie... Stashed my helmet light right after this because I was feeling the weight of it

From here, we had to navigate the second half of the trail system and we had our first gpx challenge of the ride. I must have drawn in the track wrong or something else because we dead ended in another picnic area. No biggie, just take the road and connect back up to Castle Hot Springs. It's our ride, we will do what we want!

Saw several groups of wild burros and a group of eight javelina as well. In addition to some sweet views of the lake. The floating bridge was still out of commission. The lake is as low as I have ever seen it!

Burro walking away from us here. 

Sweet views!

Eventually we were in for the dirt grind on castle hot springs to the turn off at cow creek road. This was gradual climbing for the most part with a few steep ones to deal with. We were both being careful not to push to hard - reminding ourselves that we had a full day in front of us not to mention the next day!

Excellent views, hard to capture the scope in a picture.

Um, yeah. We are going up there eventually...

No services for 20 miles. Hope you are ready!

Already have gained a bit of elevation. Lots more to go.

We finally arrived at CK rock and took a break. I downed one of my gatorades and was happy to have that bit of weight off my back. A couple in a side by side rode up towards us and the driver asked if this was the way to Crown King. We confirmed and off he went. We thought it was weird because the big rock clearly points the way, but the rock was turned a bit so the "CK" was facing north. Usually it faces east so drivers see it. Anyway, the guy must have thought we were crazy, we would meet him again much later in the day near Oro Belle mine... All in all the traffic was minimal and we just saw a handful of vehicles heading towards CK this day. We intentionally picked Friday as our start day as this route can be a zoo on Saturday and Sunday.

The famous CK rock. It's been turned a bit.

From here, the elevation gain comes quickly. Marcus was riding really strong and churning out a lot of the climbs on the bike. I tend to be able to hike just about as fast as I can grind out the steeps in granny gear, and I feel like it's less taxing for me physically so lots of hike a bike (HAB) was had for me. You'll notice that as suffering goes up, the amount of pictures goes down!

Looking south towards Lake Pleasant.

And one at Fort Misery. Cool place for a break, despite the name. Thinking of burgers at this point.

We enjoyed the fairly easy riding after the break. It's sort of flat through here as it follows Humbug Creek. We passed a bunch of medium sized mining equipment in the area. First time I've seen that, or maybe the first time I was going slow enough to pay attention.

Fort Misery looking north-ish. We still need to go UP THERE. These clouds were very welcome as it was warm.

Eventually the flatter terrain of the creek had to end and the pain was about to get real as we made the approach to Oro Belle mine. It was about two miles of suck for me. I watched in amazement as Marcus was grinding it out on the bike. I rode short segments of it, but was fine with pushing. The views were out of this world. It was on this section that the 3-4 side by sides that had passed us heading north earlier in the day ran into us again as they went south back to the lake. They all gave us the "wtf" looks. I don't think they expected to see us so close to the final approach to the top.

The coolest thing about this route is the change in scenery that happens in this last push. Arizona is freaking awesome!

Terrain is changing. More trees!

Just beautiful. 

Rarely does a picture capture the steepness of a trail - I think this one actually does. Marcus is up there, in about the center...

We've come through all of that via the roads you see in the picture. 

Looking back down this section.

Side by side heading back down. 

Almost to the top. Being somewhere like this makes you feel small!

Thankful for the ability to do this.

Marcus being kind enough to wait for me. Just one final push...

One final push remained. Marcus and I both hiked this section. Marcus's knee was feeling a bit sore, and the shale would just kick out underneath your tires as you tried to ride. Better to push at this point...

Finally made it to the top of the climb. We are in the pines now and it's all downhill for about 2 miles to get to Crown King and real food!

This little guy is tired...

I'd say we earned this downhill.

We arrived in CK and a couple of ladies in a truck saw us and said "good job". We'd talk to them more in a few minutes once we got to the saloon.

We were both pretty crushed at this point, but we were so stoked to be here. We gave ourselves an hour to eat and resupply.

At this point the story goes, "so two bikers in spandex walk into the saloon in Crown King". What a sight we must have been. It's not totally unheard of to see people ride their bikes up to CK, but the vast majority do it from the access road off of I-17 towards bumblebee.

When the people in the saloon heard that we came up from the lake side they couldn't believe it. They freaked out a bit more when we told them our actual start point near 51st ave and Happy Valley. They said what time did you guys leave yesterday - and we said we left at 4AM today. One of them (who might have been slightly drunk lol) said that we were "world champions". Maybe world champions of smelling like ass, because Lord knows we certainly were a mess at this point. Everyone was really nice, but we had to get out of here soon so we put our food order in and ordered a beer. We then sat at a table far away from everyone because I think we were both worried that we were stinking up the joint. It was also at this point that we realized that it was fairly chilly so we stayed inside instead of eating on the patio.

So good. 

Sadly, neither of us got any pictures in CK except for our food haha. I think you can tell what was on our mind.

We said our goodbyes to the people in the saloon and headed next door to the general store to pick up water for the trip down to Cleator and beyond. I was kinda chilly so I through on another shirt on top of the two I had on and after we filled our packs with water it was all downhill to Cleator. Magnificent views as we went down. Minimal traffic as well. I would never want to do this on a weekend - traffic is just too much in my opinion. The temps warmed up as we lost a lot of the elevation that we worked so hard to gain. I wasn't shivering anymore, so I was happy.

Just after leaving CK and the views start opening up.

Looking back towards CK.

Expansive. Views to the east forever...

Marcus stoked to be here. When looking up from Sunset Point he always wondered what was up here. Now he knows.

We made quick easy miles to Cleator which is a mandatory stop in my opinion. Crazy cool place.

Basically this.

And after this stop the suffering really started. The original intent was to head north on BCT, get to Mayer, resupply and then make some return miles south on BCT to get a head start on day two.

Fat freaking chance.

Both nights really brought on the challenges - more mentally than anything. The section heading north to Mayer neither of us had seen, but it looked reasonable on the elevation profile. Only about a thousand feet elevation gain when it would "flatten out" and give us access to Mayer and resupply haha. That sounds funny now. Those 17 miles to the chevron took us 3.5 hours. We couldn't really figure it out at the time. The climbing seemed endless and exposed since night was fully upon us. We were hiking and pedaling and seeming getting nowhere. And Mayer lives on the other side of a mountain/hill so you can't see the freeway or anything until the very end. Super frustrating. We kept passing spots that looked like they would make good camp locations, thinking we might at least make it back to one of them.

That never happened.

Mercifully, the trailhead came but we made a dumb decision out of tiredness and ended up bushwhacking to access  HWY 69 instead of the gravel road out of the trailhead. Luckily, the highway has a full sized lane as a shoulder, so we felt fine making the short trek to the store down the road. There we topped off water in our bladders again, and I bought another two gatorades. Also on the list:

King size snickers.
Package of chocolate frosted donuts.
And this:

It's a party at 9:30 PM in Mayer. Pure awesomeness in a cone. 

We made our way back to the trailhead resigned to the fact that we would not be making any miles south today. We looked around the trailhead area for a spot to lay out sleeping bags and I told Marcus that it was going to get no better than the outhouse right in front of our faces. This is the absolutely cleanest outhouse I have ever seen. No smell. No bugs. Flat concrete with walls on three sides and a roof? Done. We hung our kits and gear on the fence, and cleaned up a bit. We laid our bags out and I slammed down the snickers, shared the donuts with Marcus, and we also shared some pop tarts. I drank one of my gatorades and that was it.

I was out within a few minutes. The thoughts of the next day were in my mind. We were in Mayer, and had to get all the way home the next day. What have we gotten ourselves into? I was feeling pretty stiff and woke up a couple of times at night due to some weird cramping and in my feet and my calves a couple of times. Also thought I heard someone walking around at one point, but it was just the wind.

Marcus woke up once and yelled "Get me outta here". He was all tangled up in his bag. I laughed so hard at that. I was also happy to need to get up and pee a few times. Good to be hydrated with a long day coming up and at warmer temps. While the lower elevations were still to have nice temps, the canyons of BCT and the exposure to the sun make it seem warmer than it is. Also there was a wind out of the north which might seem nice, but it makes the air feel still when you are moving with it. You don't get the cooling benefits until you are stopped.

Super deluxe accommodations...

Day two broke and it was chilly with a breeze out of the north. I felt surprisingly good - no pain or super stiffness like I was expecting. The rear was a bit sore, but no big deal.

We both slept longer than we wanted, but we ate a bit and got on the trail fairly quickly. There were some trail volunteers who showed up right before we left and we talked to them for a few minutes. We told them of our previous day and how we crashed out right there at the outhouse haha. The guy mentioned the names of the volunteers who maintain this facility after we said it was the cleanest outhouse we had ever seen. They didn't mention or give us a hard time about "camping" there - as it technically isn't allowed. Though I don't think what we did can be classified as camping... I'm sure they are happy to see trail users up here. They talked about the trail work they are doing on the other side of the freeway. That is BCT up there and we didn't do it, thus the "mostly full" BCT in the title. I think most people consider this the northern end of BCT at this point until they finish up more work on the northern segment from here anyway.

We had to make our way over the ridge that was hiding our view of Mayer the night before and then we had some pretty easy and beautiful miles for most of the morning.

My view most of the trip. Marcus always pulling strong. 

Cattle standoff. This was a theme all the way to the bumble bee trail head.

Cattle like the trail too! 

We were up in there yesterday. Hard to believe. 

We got through the jeep/ranch roads and then figured out why this next singletrack section was so tough the night before. It was a nice downhill grade going this direction. The exposure wasn't as bad as what it seemed the night before, though there were still some sections where a mistake could have some consequences. All in all, I really enjoyed going down this section and it redeemed itself for sure here. In a couple of places the views to the south were just enormous. Wow, are we really riding this?

Start of the goodness. 

Now we are seeing why were so slow up this section the night before. Much better going this direction!

Held back for a bit here so Marcus wouldn't feel like I was on top of him going down. 

The trail started to flatten out a bit, but was still fairly easy riding. Had a couple more cattle encounters...

Mooooove over steak!

And then our first mechanical. Sliced sidewall.

Good times. Got out of here fairly quickly though. 

We finally made it to the bumble bee trailhead and it was later than what we were hoping. It was just about noon. Took us about 4 hours to get here from the start. It's going to be a long day...

The reality of a long day ahead starting to be realized.

At this point the pictures pretty much stop. We were really wanting to not waste a lot of time, so we kept moving pretty well. The BCT from bumble bee to Rock Springs is pretty nice. Not my favorite section, but it has its great moments.

We did have one WTF moment when we came to the Agua Fria crossing just north of Rock Springs. We approached and there was a 30-40 foot body of water blocking our way. I don't remember this at all from my previous time through here. Not really wanting to get wet we scrambled over some big rock formations to the east and it didn't look promising. We scrambled to the west and there was potential so we crossed the little stream there but were worried that the "pond" was going to be there on the other side of this high ground. It was so overgrown we couldn't tell what we would find.

Mercifully, the ground remained dry and we pushed onward toward some nice climbing and well constructed trail. Food awaits in Rock Springs!

Delicious. 

At this point it was 4PM and we were feeling fine, but the efforts of the ride were starting to drag us down. Gotta keep moving. After the refuel of burger, fries and pepsi in RS, we headed down some sweet track back down to the Agua Fria and then the big climb up to one of the best views on the BCT. This climb and following decent is just a treat and to do it at this time of day is really special.

Get a picture here every time!

Golden hour creeping in. Never been here this time of day before. Magnificent. 

From here the pictures stop. We wanted to get as much of the trail out of the way before pulling out our lights. Let it rip! I ended up getting my third best ever time on the RS to LPL segment. Not bad for being on a loaded bike and the big efforts of the trip so far.

It was getting dark now and decided to get lights set up. Put my big light on the bars and the blue light indicator came on - decided though to wait for a bit because there was still some light to work with. The reality of a longer night ride than we anticipated was apparent so saving as much light capacity as possible was the name of the game. This also meant riding slower...

Finally, it became too dark to ride without lights, so I went to flip it on and nothing. No battery indicator or anything. Ugh. I still had two sources of light, my main helmet light (which I barely ran in the early morning of day one and not at all on night one) and also a headlamp which had 5 hours capacity on high and 50 or so on low. It would be workable especially once we got on the flats closer to our destination. I really hoped that my main helmet light would work all the way home though.

The ride through to Table Mesa Road was OK. We were just fatigued and mentally drained. We knew we had a decent effort to get back and again, the night hours just puts a weird vibe for me. Plus the finish line was getting closer. In the back of our minds, families came into play. They knew we would be finishing in the dark, but the estimating game is one that I am not good with (sorry hun). The original plan was to get home right around dark. The reality was much different. It was a combo of the late start to day and without the benefit of making miles south the night before.

Live and learn.

I guess the biggest thing about this was letting the wife know that yes I am out here in the back country but I also am with a person that I absolutely trust and we promised to look out for each other. I told my wife that she needs to trust that process and that I will be in contact when I am able (which isn't often in this section of trail).

I understand the concern she has (and Marcus's wife as well). That said, I told her that when I do have contact with her, it would be much appreciated to save the subtle lectures for another time. I probably took her texts to me stronger than what she intended, but at that point, anything other than "great job" or "you are awesome" or "you can do it" is just going to be another negative thought in a mind that is already fighting all kinds of negativity. Love you babe! Thanks for dealing with me and these adventures!

Anyway...

We were still amazed that it was dark and people were still firing their guns off at table mesa road. I'm all for guns, but c'mon it's freaking dark people!

The next section to get to emery henderson is where things got really rough. The trail has seen some better days and is very rocky. No big climbs really, but again just like Mayer, you keep going hoping to see see city lights but they never appear. There is always another ridge. Always!

This part of the ride is pretty blurry for me. It was around 8PM I think and another big day was already in the books. The finish like was so close but here are the obstacles that we encountered on the way to the EH trailhead.

1. Birds flying right at Marcus's face
2. A skunk right on the trail that didn't want to move.
3. Marcus finally punctured the tube we put in earlier in the day. We pulled the valve core out and I gave him some sealant to hopefully keep us from having to put in another tube.
4. Had to stop a time or two to add air.
5. Below average trail conditions and diminishing bike handling coordination due to fatigue.

The diminishing coordination should be no shock. Both Marcus and I have clocked in previous big days in the nine hour range. Day one clocked in at a seventeen hour day and now on day two we were right around twelve hours. Something for us to keep in mind - you're gonna slow down as the days and hours go by.

We finally got to EH trailhead and Marcus had to fuss with the tire a bit more. This time it lasted till the end of the ride.

Outhouse at EH trailhead. This one was not clean and could learn from the caretakers of the big bug TH in Mayer...

Fighting with the tube again. It held this time.

So the part from here is supposed to be flat, sandy and boring. It's flat, not sandy and rocky and in general a piece of crap "trail". It was hard to follow at night. We ran into one spot and we were dumbfounded. I stole a pic from John S showing what it looks like in the day. It looks even worse at night.

Piece of crap trail. Pic courtesy of John Schilling.

We finally attained the other side and it still was below average, but not as bad. Lost the trail a few times and in trying to find the route I ran right over some kind of death cactus. It put the largest spines in my back tire I have ever gotten. Yelled out a couple of choice words and Marcus said "Dude you ran over a cactus". I never even saw it. Ugh.

I pulled out the small pieces without consequence but knew I had to keep the big chunk in there to act as a plug of sorts. There was no repairing that one in the field and I didn't want to tube it.

We kept riding and it was holding air. We were approaching Carefree Highway again and merged onto the track where we headed west earlier in the morning the day before. This time we stay south! Almost home! Honey keep the light on!!!

We cross CF highway and got close to the 303 crossing when I felt my rear tire going soft. No!!!!! Didn't want to deal with this so close to home. I decided to pull the valve core and put in more orange seal in my tire and pump it up hoping I could limp home on it. It holds for now.

Crossed the 303 and dealt with the same fence B.S. as day one. Getting so close now! Unfortunately, the easy riding due to damp sand on day one from the rain was a distant memory and now there was sections of super dry and deep sand that were hard to ride through. I couldn't really ride up on the stiffer berms because the sideways flex of the tire was something I was weary of with my rear tire being close to giving out. In fact after doing that I lost air in my tire and had to pump up again. This time it lasted the rest of the way!

Approaching my neighborhood, it looks eerily similar to the section north of EH where the ridge blocks all city lights. Marcus was like, "I don't remember riding through those hills". I let him sit on that thought for a minute or so and then told him that we didn't have to and that my hood was nestled in between what he was seeing. Another five minutes or so and we saw my neighborhood lights and we were freaking STOKED! Came up to the concrete barrier separating pyramid peak and my hood... lifted the bikes over (awkwardly for me) and rode the streets a mile or so back to my house. 11:15PM finish wow what a freaking adventure.

Helped Marcus get his bags off of his bike and said our goodbyes. He had a long drive home. He headed out and I had to collect myself a bit before heading inside. Needed a shower so freaking bad. Walked in said hi to the wifey and my daughter who was home and headed straight to the bathroom to wash up. Finished that and then went out to talk to the wife. I was still kinda wired yet tired at the same time. Had some food that she picked up earlier for me. Uploaded to Strava of course (or the ride never happened) and then finally got to bed around 1AM.

Woke up at 7AM what on earth is happening WHY AM I AWAKE? Got a couple short naps including one right before "The Walking Dead". What a time to be alive!

So thankful to have the "fitness" and equipment to be able to attempt something like this. Glad to have a friend silly enough to take the bait and do it with. Also thanks and much respect to guys who demonstrate what it looks like to push limits. John S, Ray H, Jeff Z, Bart L, Joe P etc. The AZ endurance MTB community is amazing.

Till next time...

Crown King and BCT Bikepack coming up!

So I've been bikepacking several times, and this will be Marcus's first. This will double my longest (my previous long was 75ish miles up in the Cabin Loop area on the rim).

What better way to really get a feel for the challenges of the AZTR300 than to do this. I'm not sure if anyone has done it before, but here is an overview.

From my house near 51st ave and Happy Valley, head north through open desert and bypass the loop 303 and then CF Hwy in order to intersect with the Maricopa Trail.

Head west and use the MT to gain access to the newish trail system at Lake Pleasant where we will top off on fluids and then begin the dirt road grind around to the Crown King trail. This isn't a MTB trail, it's more of a 4x4/OHV trail that takes some beautiful country all the way up to Crown King.

I've done it in a vehicle, never on a bike. Strava research shows that people (much stronger than me) have ridden up there. So it's possible. Just gonna be tough with bikepacking gear. But that's exactly the point.

Once we acquire CK, we will refuel at the Saloon and general store. Then bomb down the dirt road all the way to basically I-17 where we will intersect with the BCT and head north to basically its Northern terminus at Mayer (yeah I know it goes beyond that, but we aren't going to do that). The plan is to get anything else necessary in Mayer and then start the trek South on BCT until we feel like we have had enough. Set up camp and crash out.

Next day get up and continue the southbound route and go into BCC/Rock Springs for any supplies/lunch and then continue BCT all the way south until we run into the Maricopa Trail again at which point we follow it back to my place.

A giant lollipop of goodness. At least in theory.

Here is what the route looks like: 154 miles and about 14k elevation...

Prescott "mini" monster 2016

This weekend was my "official" kick-off of training for the AZTR 300 in April. Though I've been focusing on building up miles and climbing recently, there is no getting around needing to get some big, punishing rides in to prepare.

Enter the Prescott "Mini" Monstercross

I had done this route about 18 months ago and this version was way tougher in my opinion.

The day started off decent enough. I went to bed and woke up with a headache, which is rare for me. Apparently Marcus had some stomach weirdness also, but nothing that was going to stop us from riding. We both also didn't really get enough sleep, I think both of us were around the 4 hour mark. Not optimal, but whatever.

Marcus rolled up at 4:30AM and loaded up in my truck and we were off. Had some pretty interesting traffic encounters on the way up. People are stupid!

Made it up to P town and it was downright chilly. Low 40's when we started. We started to climb right away so we warmed up quickly. After the climbing, we promptly lost all of the elevation on a sweet decent. I mentioned to Marcus that this really make the day feel like it would be easy. We both knew it wasn't going to be, but it still felt like it.

We made it to the Granite Dells section at about 1.5 hours in. Just cruising and enjoying the day. Grabbed a picture of both of us and continued on...

Notice the rogue panda bags. They were rock freaking solid. I didn't use all the gear that I purchased from them, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed. 

We made it through the dells and crossed hwy 89 into a weird little custom home area. It's cool, but certain areas of it feel really closed in. I don't know if I could live in there to be honest. Some of the areas are more open, but it just feels "weird" to me. I dunno.

A little more techy/HAB sections after the housing area but then we were back to actual extended riding.

We passed Willow Creek Reservoir and Marcus discovered that he had lost his bluetooth headphones. Bummer. We were both good on fluids so we bypassed the available water here.

More riding on mixed trails until we dumped out onto Williamson Valley Rd. where we had a high speed roll and turn off into a neighborhood. Ground our way up to a trailhead and the beginning of some rubble filled trail. Kind of a pain, but it ended quick enough and then we had some fairly fast and flowy trail for a bit. Hit some legit pine trees for the first time in the ride to, so that was nice.

We stopped at the water source and it was filled with bees. I managed to top off water for Marcus and myself without getting stung and we got moving. We were close to the half way mark, but we both knew that things get really tough for the last 20 miles. Still feeling good though...

From here, it has an overall uphill trend, climb a bit, descend a bit, all while continuing to get higher in elevation. I started to lose Marcus on the climbs a bit. Not by much, but he was waiting for me at the top of the significant sections. The day was starting to wear on me, and even though the temps were nice (high 60's mid 70's at this point) it was starting to feel warm due to no shade.

We finally made it to the wolverton descent and I told Marcus it is nice to be going downhill, but it's just chunky enough to beat you down a bit. It makes you work. We made it to hwy 89 and had a pitstop at the white spar CG. Filled up on water for the final beat down.We debated on how much water to get. On paper, we only had about 15 miles to go. But it was warmish and we knew the shenanigans were coming. I took on a decent amount of water, but then when things started getting weird I totally stopped drinking. Dumb move. It made things more difficult for sure, and I was fighting of some cramps during some of the climbs. I need to remember to stay on top of hydration. Food isn't a problem, but hydration can be. I need to get this dialed if I want to survive the AZT300.

The last 10 miles (and really the last 4 or 5) are really tough. I thought we had a sub nine hour finish in the bag but then the boy scout "trail" HAB followed by Turley trail said no to that. Just a kick in the nuts. That's all there is to it. We finally finished and were cruising pavement back to the start area when we noticed an off leash dog barking in the road. It was fairly large and we contemplated what to do.

Dog on the left

We kinda barked at it and it moved further away. At this point, we went toward it so we took a quick left at the road you see on the left in the picture. The chase was on. Marcus and I were both laughing and sprinting down this road. I turn around just in time to see the dog eat pavement when it tried to stop quickly after realizing he was past the territory of his house. Funniest thing ever. It retreated through the open gate and Marcus and I turned around and made our way to the end. It's always something!

All in all, a good day. I still finished faster than the last time, and like I said with a harder (IMO) route. I'll take it. Having Marcus riding with me probably helped a bit. This route can be a bit depressing solo. More so than the other AES routes I have done solo. I'm not sure why that is.

CK bikepack is next!

Strava Link

It's starting to get real

I'm starting to obsess a bit over the AZTR coming up in April. I know it seems so far away, but there really is a lot to do in that time. Mostly training but also gear acquisition and logistics planning. Luckily this race is maturing and there are a lot of blogs with a wealth of information which are super helpful. Still though, the 300 route is no joke and no matter the riders ability or knowledge, it has the ability to knock anyone out at any time. It has cut down some legends and I'm not anywhere near them ability wise so I always have that in my mind.

Gear wise, I ordered up the majority of my bags from Rogue Panda. For the time being I am going to roll without a seatbag, but I will have the full complement of frame bag, two top tube bags plus a handlebar roll. Seatbag will come later I'm sure, but I am going to see how what I have works out when we do a little run up to Crown King for a bikepack shakedown trip.

Also, I have been scouring for deals on other gear. I found a sweet sale for an REI branded down puffy jacket for 50 bucks. Score. It's an ugly color, but I don't really care.

Training has started to pick up a bit. Mainly focusing on doing more climbing now that the weather is getting cooler. A mix of hill repeats Monday is a 6 minute climb that I repeat as much as possible and Wednesday is a shorter hill < 60 seconds. Mix in a big-ish ride on Saturday. Humboldt will be on the regular rotation. At least every other week.

Starting in October I will be getting in at least 1 AES style ride per month starting with a running on the Prescott mini-monster.

Looking forward to all of it!

Just one of those days...

I was planning on a Humboldt run on Saturday but Marcus texted and said he was going to be on the west side so I suggested a full PSP tour. He hasn't been out there for a while and is in fabulous shape compared to the last time we were out there.

Started bright (ok not so bright) and early at 5:15. We didn't want to take lights for 15 minutes so we just took it slow to start. Almost immediately I knew it was going to be a hard day. Marcus has a higher pace that me so I wasn't being lazy, but wasn't super pushing or anything but I knew right off the bat that my legs had nothing - even on the flat CAP road that goes from Deem over to Sonoran.

We hit up the grunt of an entry climb from the trailhead and got started. I was trying to not slow Marcus down too much, so I kept the pace decent but I was already feeling like I was in the red on everything. Not good.

Stopped at some of the intersections to explain what things were and where they went (and to rest haha). I told Marcus I had to slow up a bit. I felt bad, because I knew I was holding him up. I told him that today was going to be a bad day for me. But I didn't want to waste the early start and hey... sometimes you just have to HTFU.

Onward...

Got up to Dixie loop and I knew I was in trouble. I had to freaking walk significant parts of the climb. I haven't had to do that in years. What the  hell is going on?

Mercifully, the climb ended and it's a fast decent back down to Bobcat where Marcus was waiting for me. From there, it's flat through the neighborhood over to the North Sonoran section on the other side of Dove Valley. Marcus asked how I was doing and I said shitty but let's keep going. Mental game.

The climb heading towards Carefree Highway is milder in grade but it was still kicking my ass. Didn't walk at least. Before we started the climb, I told Marcus I'd just meet him at the new TH. I met up with him and he was sitting in front of the big fan they have installed. It's cool, but how about some potable water? Not sure what they were thinking there...

Now on to the pain game. It's a decent climb to the towers, but not too bad. But I knew what was coming, and it was going to be ugly. The north climb from central. I started walking pretty early and alternated between pushing and riding the whole time. Like I said earlier, it's been years since I've had to walk anything here... other than if I dabbed and had to push the bike to an easier starting place. Made it to the top finally and Marcus was not there... no biggie. Fast decent down and there were a lot of riders out today. Cool! I even came across Jeff and Nancy. I didn't say anything to Nancy, but as Jeff passed I said "Is that Jeff?" proceeded by a 3 second pause then finally he skidded to a stop. He looked like he was struggling a bit and they had a beefy climb that was just starting. Told him sorry for interrupting the flow, just wanted to say "hi".

The rest of the trail back to apache wash TH is mild and fairly easy, so I made it to there and I said we have two options... one are the flats back to SoSo, or the rest of NoSo to where we started. I was kinda hoping he would say flats, but he said that will be boring to which I agreed, so we ate a bit and finished up the rest of the full NoSo loop. A couple of painful spots, but nothing like the climbs on the other side.

Back through the neighborhood and to the Bobcat trail. This is deceptively uphill and is shitty when you are just ready to be done. There are a few short punchy climbs through a couple of washes as you make your way to the cholla forest and then it's a sweet downhill to another steep wash transition. Then it's the last major nut punch of the day. Strava segment called "nice climb". We today it should have been called "nice hike" because as soon as it pitched up I hiked the whole damn thing. Ugh. Finally that was over and did the fast decent back down to the trailhead where this all started.

Now just six miles back home. I always dread this part after a big ride. It's boring with a couple of hills thrown in and the final kick to the teeth to get back up to the gate. Done. Felt really good to be done with this ride. Dropped back down really fast, and then took a little dirt jump. I told Marcus that that 1.3 seconds of the jump was the only fun I've had in the last three hours haha.

Eff me what a day. Good mental training. I'm pretty sure this was due mostly to a very bad week schedule wise - lot's of late nights and early mornings. I'm pretty sure I was dehydrated at the start too and just was never able to overcome that. Good lessons. Hopefully I'll be back on track this week.

Flagstaff Weekend

The last couple years I have been able to get up to Flag to do the flag2gc ride. Both years Marcus and I have been able to go up the day before the event to get a ride in on Friday. Last year, even though we got up north early enough (usually the Monsoon storms brew a little later in the day), we got caught in some nasty conditions, but luckily came out unscathed.

This year, we ended up leaving N. Phx a touch before 5AM and were on the bikes off of Schultz Pass Rd at 7:15. We had pulled up a Schultz Trail loop that started on Lower Moto and decided to take that and then break off on the AZT heading North toward the snowbowl area... until we felt like we had done enough or the weather started to look iffy. We got about 6 miles in on the AZT section and then the clouds started to roll in a bit. Since we knew that we had about 16 miles back to the truck if we turned around right then, we decided better to be safe than sorry, so we turned back. 16 miles of awesomeness all the way back to the truck, with a phenomenal downhill run at the end. So much fun, and so beautiful!

As we finished up and were getting the bikes into the truck, the rain started. Perfect timing! Time to get the eff out and go get lunch. 

The next day we got up bright and early for the depart of the flag to GC ride. It went off pretty well, they added a bunch of AZT singletrack north of FR 418 which was a blast to ride. I hadn't ridden the section north of FR 418, but had ridden it south of there. Amazing trail. 

After that, there was a bunch of gravel grinding to be had. The sag stops were great, and overall it was a quiet peaceful day on the bike for me. I ended up helping Travis a bit and sticking around at the sags waiting for him to make sure he was doing OK mechanically. I don't think I'll do that next year. Marcus crushed it as usual. I don't have any pics of this day - I regret that a bit, but maybe next time.

Back at it...

Took a couple weeks off the bike for vacation and stuff. Started back this week with a smallish mountain bike ride and but this week is about getting the bike commute started again. Tuesday was hot, and today... supposed to be even hotter (112).

What a way to get back in it.

Next week will have more MTB added, along with some interval stuff likely.