Rolling South- Final thoughts on preparing for the AZTR 300

Countdown Clocks

Next Friday, April 11^th 2014, I’ll be setting out on the Arizona Trail Race 300. I’ve been committed to trying this race for the past year and I’ve been actively preparing for the past 5 months. 2013 was my first season participating in ultra endurance mountain bike racing. I had discovered bikepacking the summer before and the thought of putting a little hustle into my off-road cycling tours seemed exciting. So I signed up for a number of Colorado Endurance Series events. I had a good rookie season with descent rides. I also pulled off some fantastic personal bikepacking trips last year. I really like how ultras have refined my touring skills. Conversely, the efficiencies, adaptations and solutions you discover when taking on a big personal trip, easily translate into an edge for the next race. With this experience and being somewhat of a driver/goal oriented individual, the AZT seemed like a logical next step to focus on this winter.

Training for these long rides with friends starts months before your tires hit the starting line. Last season, I learned through trial and much error (and pain) what worked and did not work when prepping for one hundred, off-road miles. I’ve learned I have got to build up a solid foundation of miles and hours in the saddle. This work needs to be consistent, outdoors, at all hours and in all conditions. Many mortals can go out and suffer through 100 miles and 16 hours of mountain biking on any given day. But it takes a base level of fitness, strength and skill to do it day in and day out. When I rolled my first one-day ultra, the 2013 Durango Gravel Grinder, I had yet to figure out the proper template for readying myself for races like this.  Almost a full year later, I’ve discovered a formula that seems to work for me and my body type…which is not one of a cyclist or an endurance athlete.

So it’s been a stimulating adventure prepping for the 300. I’m weighing in at 178 for AZ, having completed a rigorous schedule of physical conditioning this winter. Spinning, fatbiking and grinding gravel helped me to log 1100 miles in the saddle over the past 12 weeks. That worked out to be about 130 hours in the saddle. Additionally, paying attention to my diet, juicing daily (60 pints of homemade goodness) and being proactive 24/7 with hydration and nutrition have all been important factors I’ve concentrated on. I’ve taken what I learned thru training last season and have added some additional dimensions to this year’s race prep. Specifically, I’ve added new ways of prepping body and mind like acupuncture, daily mindfulness based stress reduction practices, massage and daily stretching, quitting drinking (since the super bowl), hiking (including specific HAB training days in the snow/rain/mud) and lifting 3X/week. I feel great. My mind is focused and my fitness foundation is very strong. This has increased my confidence, which will continue to aid me in visualizing the most positive outcome throughout all points on the trail.

If I am worried about anything, it’s my body. Injuries both past, present and hopefully not future, continue to be my greatest challenge. I actually started race prep in November but experienced a moderate hamstring tear to my left quad around the New Year. I had to back off completely for three weeks. If I rushed my return to training, the injury could become chronic. Not surprisingly, I experienced three, minor re-aggravation events in the weeks following but feel good to go for next week’s start. I experienced another set back in early March when my left ankle, which has a long history of being total junk, flared up again. And again I had to back off my training goals for a week. The greatest sacrifice I made in prepping for this race was choosing not to snowboard this winter. For those that know me, I hope this serves as strong evidence of my fidelity to training and commitment to this race. Although snow riding is my soul sport, I knew I needed to be as conservative as possible with this old body if I was going to tackle the 300 so early in the spring. I’m at peace with making this choice. Heading into race day, I’ll have my brace and we’ll be keeping a close watch on all things knees and ankles.

Thinking about gear and logistics never stops. I’m super psyched to have a system that works and have made only minor adjustments to my standard set up. I’ve decided to forgo a handle bar bag as I’m bringing no tent and limited layers for Arizona. I’ve added Bedrock’s Tapeats To Go Bag to my bars because I’m incredibly impressed by the bags capacity and ease of use while opening/closing with one hand. I struggled with my GPS logistics- specifically downloading a compressed track of a route as large as the AZT 300…a lot of this has to do with being a Mac user. But we figured it out and my Etrex is all loaded up. I’ve got custom cues and water tables from the Arizona Trail Association-Anyone racing the AZ should donate to this group. I’ve loaded key topo sections onto the iPhone and have studied the route in Google Earth, Topofusion, on the ATA page and in the AZ Gazetteer for many hours. I’ve read all the blogs, posts, articles and forums I can find- like I said, the research and study, strategy and planning never stop.

I am also committed to making some gear sacrifices. I do not own fancy bike lights and I did not want to drop the coin on this equipment for the AZT. I’m going to roll with my own combo of a  Black Diamond Spot Headlamp and two Planet Bike bar lights for an overall total  of approx. 460 lumens. I know it is not a lot of light. But I barreled down the Schaffer switchbacks with this illumination strategy and survived…I also want to see this trail in daylight for the first time and this decision has influenced my overall race pace strategy. I’d like to be moving each day by 4am. It’s dark for about 2hrs. and I’m usually moving pretty mellow at that time of day. I figure if I am on single track or road or whatever at that point, I’ll just slow down. When the sun rises at 6 am, I’ll fuel up and hammer hard until an off the bike lunch break. Then another 5 to 6 hour push gets me to dark at 7pm and in bed by 8/9ish. (yeah right....) This approach gets me six to seven solid hours of slothing before rising and readying myself at 3am to repeat the next day. So about 4 hours of potential night/darkness riding each day and it’s the full moon out too. I think this lighting plant will allow me to squeak by but I wont be setting any records. Again, I can always throttle down, travel slow all night and never sleep….we’ll see?

You can see a complete gear list for my kit here. I had a super cool shakeout ride in Moab a few weeks ago and it allowed me to dial in my AZ kit and check in with my fitness base. You can read about that adventure here.

I’ve got a little bit more schoolwork to tackle, some more juice to drink and more packing this weekend before we blast south Tuesday evening. I’m excited, nervous, confident and happy. Thanks to everyone for the love, encouragement and support. We’ll see you on the other side of this thing.

Watch the Arizona Trail Race Live!

Michael's Personal SPOT Page

Big Ups to Pale Goat Racing for the support:

Thanks to Durango's local bike shops and equipment manufactures for all the wisdom and wrenching along the way. Also, thank you for providing the opportunity to continue to spend way too much time and money on bikes and gear!

        

My Arizona Trail 300 Kit

On Me:

POC Helmet- with Black Diamond Spot Headlamp

Giro lightweight cycling hat

Optic Nerve Photochromic cycling glasses

Bandana

P-cord Necklace- lip goop, whistle, wedding ring

Patagonia SPF 15 Ultra Running t-shirt- fluorescent Green for visibility

Patagonia Wind Shirt

Sugoi arm warmers

Sunto Vector Watch

Primal Wear Chamois

Zoic Bike Shorts- license/ccard/cash/emergency contacts in cargo pocket

Tall compression socks- white

FOX gel gloves

2 Velcro ankle reflectors

Ankle brace

In my Bedrock Seat Bag:

Columbia packable rain pants

NOLS Rain Jacket

Patagonia Wool t-shirt

Patagonia heavyweight polypro top

Patagonia lightweight polypro bottoms

Mountain Hardware synthetic down jacket

Showers Pass Wind Gloves

OR Windproof Winter Hat

Louis Garneau Neoprene Shoe Covers

Smartwool socks

SOL Escape Bivy Sack

Mountain Hardware Phantom 800 fill down bag-regular rated to 45

Big Agnes Sleeping Pad

Tyvek Ground cloth

Extra Food

In my Bedrock Triangle Bag:

Water/Cue sheets

Camelback bladder (no tube)

Water Bottle

Potable Aqua

Sawyer filter

Food/Snacks

Spork

Extra ziplocks

Cloth rag

In my Timbuk2 Goody Bento Box:

SPOT tracker- in plastic pouch on top of box

Butt ButterLube

Hand sanitizer

Lezyne Bike Tool

Duct tape

2 snaplinks

2-2oz bottles of Stan’s

2 Salsa accessory straps

sleeping pad repair kit1 spare break pad

zip ties

patch kit

Pedros tyre levers

micro pliers

Gerber Paraframe knife

Ripstop tape

Assorted allen wrenches and micro wrenches for bike

Safety pins

Sewing kit

Extra batteries

In my Bedrock Tapeats Bag and Bedrock Wingate Bag:

Daily snacks/food/lunch

Sunscreen

Electrolytes/salt

IPhone

In my Osprey Viper 13 100-oz. Hydropack:

Food/Water/Snacks

Soda/xtra water bottles when needed

IPhone charger

lighter

Med kit including:

rubber gloves

tweezers

gauze/pads/band-aids

neosporin Pain

advil/Benadryl/Imodium/antacid tabs/dayquil

carmex lip med

small ace wrap

Toiletries including:

skin lotion

toothpaste/toothbrush

eyedrops

face wipes

emergency TP

On my 2013 Salsa El Marachi:

King Cage Stem Bottle Holder

Lezyne pump

2 spare tubes wrapped in tyvek

Etrex 20 GPS unit

GPS mount

Ergo Grips

2 Planet Bike Blaze Headlights

Big Cats

This is from the 3/28 AZ Trail Association Member's Newsletter. Not sure what I'd do if I was blessed enough to encounter one of these cats in the backcountry...Just another factor to consider when racing the 300- 
big cats, refugees, smugglers, border patrol along with all the regular desert hazards like heat/sun/wind/cold, snakes and scorps and pointy things that hurt, etc.....I love thinking about this ride and can't wait to line up!


Jaguars Given Room to Roam 
 
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently designated more than 764,000 acres in Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico as habitat critical to protecting the endangered northern jaguar. This includes the Huachuca, Patagonia and Santa Rita Mountains, as well as other ranges throughout Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. The last two positive identifications of a jaguar - perhaps the rarest mammal in North America - have been on Passage 5 of the Arizona National Scenic Trail.

The jaguar, which is listed as an endangered species, once ranged from California into Louisiana. However, habitat destruction and hunting decimated the population. Jaguars have been spotted occasionally in southern Arizona in recent years, including tracks positively identified as a jaguar earlier this month along the Arizona Trail.

The announcement made last week means that federal agencies will have to consider the potential impact on jaguars before approving large-scale impacts to public lands. The designated habitats were decided after a team of scientists studied the North American jaguar population's history and current habitat, which is mostly in Mexico. A jaguar recovery plan from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is forthcoming.

The Jaguar Critical Habitat Area has been added as a layer to the Arizona Trail Interactive Map, available online (ATA members have access to this, and additional layers). And the next time you're on Passages 1,2,3,4 and 5 (between the US/Mexico Border and the northern end of the Santa Rita Mountains), keep an eye out for signs of this beautiful animal. Please report any sighting to Steve Spangle (Steve_Spangle@fws.gov), (602) 242-0210 ext. 244.
 

Synthesis. Had to think about this a bit.....

AZT Training Week 11 Recap

                                       

AZTR 2014 Countdown

Countdown Clocks

AZT Shakeout Trip- 3/21-3/23

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take on a 2 day/night shakeout ride in preparation for the AZT 300. I had originally scheduled three days in Utah but had to cut out Friday's leg of the adventure because of work in Durango. The original plan was to head to Moab, leave from town heading up the Potash Road and camp at iSky on Friday night, do WRIAD on Saturday and then take Magini back to town...However, I skipped Friday's grind and instead used the time to chill with my sweetie, put in a water cache at the top of the Mineral Bottom switchbacks and spent the night bivied at Horsetheif Campground to start my adventure.

 Trip Report

I spent Friday evening repacking food, tweaking gear and enjoying the comfort of Ht campground's picnic table and vault toilet. (It's the little things that matter most right?) I was excited to test my sleeping system and this weekend's cold temps did not disappoint. (more on that Night 2)

Canyonlands Entrance Gate 

I awoke at 4 am sharp with no alarm and was packed up and moving by 4:45- First up, about 10 miles of pavement to the entrance station at Canyonlands National Park. I quickly purchased a permit and launched out on the Shafer Switchbacks. Barreling down those turns in the dark was a good test of my bike lights and courage. A totally scary, poorly illuminated, break burning blast! Here's what the swtichbacks look like in the daylight:

wiki photo

With the switchbacks done, I made the turn onto the White Rim road and enjoyed another hour of darkness. When first light hit, the power of my immediate surroundings was quite overwelming! I took the chance to take a solitary, sunrise walk across Little Bridge (Musselman Arch)

As the early morning light illuminated the landscape, the enormous scale of Canyonlands came to light

6 feet wide, 5 feet thick and 300ft. straight down!
wiki photo

All alone in the middle of nowhere

I had an awesome morning and the weather was great- at least for those of us attempting the White Rim in a Day- overcast, cool and not too much of a wind (yet!) I ran into Adam V from bikepacking .net who started last year's AZT 300. It was cool to cruise along with him, get some AZT beta,  discuss the upcoming ultra racing season and play the "do you know?" game with him. Adam is an impressive athlete and he's planning on tackling this year's CTR. Good luck in the Dirty K and see you in Denver this August my man!

Team Kokopelli Represent! Paul and Jeff- WRIAD 3/23
Photo-Jeff Hemperley

It seemed like many AZT racers had picked this weekend and route to shakeout their systems. It was so awesome running into so many great folks on the rim. Although I did see tourists, multi-dayers and jeepers, the majority of folks I saw biking on Sat. were all tackling the WRIAD in some form or another. However, I was the only fred that decided it would be a good idea to load his kit with 2 1/2 days of food and water and charge it all in a day.

For future WRIAD attempts, I'll go back with a light bike, some clothes and a hydro on my back. I'm confident that 9hrs. or less is totally doable for this guy...The times for some of these freaks are amazing!

However, I also want to do this ride like a river trip- Complete with a SAG wagon, beers, lawn chairs, etc....the scenery and camping is just too good to rush through this route! Future trip idea- I also think packrafting a bike, via the Colorado from Moab, to the river below White Crack camp and then hiking up to catch the White Rim would be a super fun, multi-sport expedition!

On this, my first ever White Rim trip, I had pounded out the first 50 miles and hit lunch on schedule at noon. Noah had told me Murphy's Hogback had a righteous view and it did not disappoint as a lunch spot.

Lunch at Murphy's Hogback

I spent a solid hour at Murph's. Chilling, hydrating, eating and cleaning up an unexpected mess. One of my 2 cans of Coke had punctured, flooding my hydropack with soda and turning a bag of Cheezits into orange cement. I choked down the orange mortar and drank the other can.

just keep grinding....

After lunch, I kept pedaling but stopped way to much too take it all in. The nature definitly slowed my pace down, as I took ample pictures/video and reflected upon how blessed I am to be able to do this. Finally, I made the turn towards the Green River, which is supposed to be the less scenic part of the White Rim route. Funny, I just thought the scenery kept getting better and better....

Making the turn towards the upper west basin 

Hitting the Green River above Potato Bottom

As the rigors of the day began to wear on me, I focused on the basics: hydrate consistently, eat proactively and always move forward. This simple strategy has and continues to serve me very well on long days in the backcountry. I had little problem dispatching with Hardscrabble and was in high spirits late in the route. But there's some slow going with the sand along the river. I just continued visualizing a strong finish. Picturing the cold water cache and a Starbucks doubleshot  I'd left Friday at the top of Mineral Canyon was good motivation too.

Got Sand? The White Rim has plenty for you!

After a full day and 90+ deep, you end it all with a stiff climb up the Mineral Bottom switchbacks.
Photo-Jeff Hemperley

The final push up the MB switchbacks is a big, in your face, tasty way to finish WRIAD. Watching Shawn G from Koko clean the pitch on a singlespeed was a religious experience.....here I am, pushing a 2X10 and he passes me at mile 90 something, laughing and enjoying every second of the climb aboard his kitted out, one-geared pain machine. Very impressive my man! Actually, He did pause once. To rib me about my light-less finish at last year's Dolores 100....I guess there are worse nicknames than "no lights Mike" 

I set up a killer bivy on top of Mineral Canyon and settled in for the night. My first day came in at 13:37- with 2:37 of stopped time.

Camp Night 2 atop Mineral Canyon

Rachel and I had discussed the forecasted lows for Saturday night and I knew it was going to be the colder of the two nights out. I was determined to push my gear (clothing and sleep system) as far as possible and knew that if I couldn't get warm, I'd just get up and start moving. Afterall, I wanted to know exactly what my set-up was cut-out for....and I'd rather learn that now than in a snowstorm on Mt. Lemon... Well, mission accomplished! I shivered awake at 3:30 am and finally decided that I wasn't getting any warmer by lying on the ground in the pre-dawn chill on the rim top of this massive canyon. I got up, hastily packed and was moving by 5ish? I pedaled the 14 miles back to Horsetheif campground very slowly. It was really cold, even on the bike with all my layers on. 

A cold, early AM headwind, no breakfast and the sucky push up MB road had me a little down but things turned around once I hit Horsethief campground. As I leaned my bike up against the outhouses, I heard "bikepacking, huh?" behind me, I spun around surprised to see none other than Jeff, el Freako, Hemperley all rested from a warm night in his Wolfpup camper. He was there with Paul, just as surpirsed to see me, and they insisted I come rock some hot breakfast, coffee and heat with them. I politley declined the food, water and heat, as I was fully committed to the self support and wanted to stay in "field mode" I did however enjoy the company, their picnic table and linger with them probably an hour longer than I should have. It was quite a gift to find them there and thanks again guys for the hospitality!

 I arrived back at Horsetheif Campground to find Paul and El Freako just waking up and graciously offering me some picnic table space. Photo-Jeff Hemperly

Bottles topped off, trash into the dumpster, breakfast in my belly and some good conversation-on to Day Two! To get back to Moab, I planned to ride back towards the park but bail off to the east on Gemini Bridges road. From there, I'd take the first five trails of the Mag 7 route down to lower Gemini bridges road. I ended up getting a little turned around after being sucked into the Great Escape trail-what a cool trail that is!!!!  I eventually made it back to GB road, ate some tuna with meat cookie at the Gooney Bird, finished the last bit of my water and set out to grind up and over Gemini Pass back down to 191. I had the hill to myself and I soaked in the views across the way-  Moab Brands/Arches/Sovereign/Klondike etc.

I busted down to the bikepath and blazed into town. I pedaled straight to Milts. A bacon cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake proved a worthy ending to this ride. With only a few weeks to go until the line up at Parker Lake, I'm feeling strong and my head is filled with ideas and refinements after a terrific weekend on the go. I've got more race prep to do and at least one more shake out ride to go.

Day Two came in at 45 miles over 6:15 moving and 1:50 stopped

Bull Canyon

Gemini Bridges from Great Escape

Back in Moab