Most days we ran into sections on the trail that were too difficult for me to ride and we had to turn around. This moto game is not like mountain biking where you can pick the bike up and carry on over something too difficult to ride. I need to build moto skills!

This day is the serious training day. Have a plan for this day! For those of us doing long events in the next month like 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo solo or Iditarod, the full route is perfect. For those coming out of the winter closet not so much.

• Sunrise is 7:45, sunset is 5:50. This gives 10 hours of light with the 8AM start time. Expect to take about 8-10 hours moving fast with few stops. If you think you may take over 12 hours a pre-dawn start is recommended.
• Lights are recommended for anyone planning the full route.
• If riding SS 32x18 (29er) is the minimum gearing recommendation.
• We will be in some remote spots. Be ready. There is no cell service in some areas.
• Coyote spring is at mile 55. It's reliable and piped but needs treated (probably). Lynda thinks it tastes bad though and shuts her gut down so be wary.
• After Starvation Point the route takes a figure-8 course out on the Arizona Strip. Click on the map below for the route visual and directional arrows. On the first part of the figure-8 choose the north side. In the middle of the figure-8 there is a 0.7 mile section of road you will ride twice, both times through and in the same direction both times through. First time through (mile 41) choose the left turn to sweep south to Joe Blake Hill. Second time through (mile 76) choose the right fork to sweep south again and back over to Starvation Point. In 2009 a group rode the second loop in reverse. I think it is harder/slower that way but they had fun!

Shortcut options:

• Shortest option is to do an out-and-back ride to Starvation Point. Starvation Point is 20 miles from the start. 15 easy fast miles plus a 5 mile climb up to the point. The view at the top is big.
• River Road bisects the first part of the "figure 8" twice. River road makes a beeline N for town, this gives 2 points, one at mile 34, the other at 83, where you can exit the route and get back to town pretty quick.
• Another option is when you exit Warner valley at mile 72. Turn right/north here into town instead of left/south to stay on route. It's all pavement to town from here, about 10 miles. Here's a link to the Warner valley to town track and the River Road waypoints: Camp Lynda Day 3 shortcut from Warner valley to town

Click this for the visual.  The orange route is the full course. The red route is the Warner valley exit.

We did this route in 2009. Finisher list here Dave Harris has the male record for this route 7:47, SS 34x15 (26er), Lynda has the female record for this route 8:35, SS 32x18 (29er). Some others got an early pre-dawn start and took 12+ hours.

I initially preferred the concept of the ITT (non-stop race format) over the stage race format (official stopping points on course for the night where the race clock stops ticking). I hadn't raced a bikepacking stage race before and by experiencing new things I learn things from the athlete perspective which makes me a better coach. The stage race format is flexible and each day you start when you decide. I put a few thoughts about the stage race format on bikepacking.net.

I am taking a motorcycle repair class at the local college. I didn't want to miss my Thursday evening class so I decided to drive to Flagstaff on Friday morning and start late on day 1. In retrospect I would make a bigger effort to make it to the recommended start time. I missed out on meeting and visiting with everybody before the start.

Stage 1, finish time 6:35. The 5 hour drive from home to the start plus the riding felt like a long day. About 5 hours into the stage I finally admitted I was feeling really bad. I felt like I had a fever and no power. I couldn't eat. The only calories I got in were some unflavored Tailwind sports drink I was testing. That stuff got me 5 hours in before I cracked. I got off my bike, sat down and quit the race. I was sick - bleh. DH had been sick most of the week and I hadn't been feeling well all the day before but was in denial. I was low on water so I got back on my bike and rode up still on course to the ADOT water spigot. I lay down there for a while contemplating my options. I could hitch hike back to Flagstaff and get a motel - bleh. I could ride up to camp 1 and sleep there as it wasn't far. I did that. I felt awful but was stoked to get to camp before sunset as it was tremendous.

Here is me feeling like I have the flu.

It was quite the view and I was so happy to be standing there in the fresh air feeling like crap looking at that fab view rather than in a motel in Flagstaff

The sun set over Mingus mountain which was the end destination for stage 2.

Stage 2, finish time 11:00: I slept hard all night and woke up after the sun had risen in the morning. I was really hungry and had a good chow down. I hadn't eaten much the day before and had a lot of food left. I felt pretty decent so decided to continue on with the race. I hadn't strayed off course so my quitting and unquitting was all in my head!

I bombed down to Sedona and skipped all the resupply points because I still had so much food left! Keps' Balls are my magic ride fuel.

Sedona was going to be a challenging day as my GPS was not working and I had been confident enough in it that I had not printed out any cue sheets - oops - lesson learned. I was slightly familiar with the route from prior riding in Sedona. I caught up to Michael Braun and had a blast riding with him for a couple of hours. Up to that point I had been riding lazily as I wasn't feeling very well. Michael was rocking the technical trails, he has skills! I picked up my pace to follow him. It was much faster than I had been riding, woke me up and was very fun.

We parted ways on the Lime Kiln trail when Michael decided to stop for a snack and I decided to hightail it to Cottonwood to find a bike shop before my rear tire exploded. I noticed in Sedona a missing knobby and a slash in the sidewall. This race was turning out to be a comedy of errors on my part! I had been riding this tire since early May and I raced Grand Loop on this very tire. Lesson learned - get some new tires before a 250 mile race - that was a lazy/cheap/dumb move for me to race on an old tire. At least I had refreshed the Stans and I made it to the bike shop without a hiccup.

However the bike shop was closed. Drats... I pondered my next move when a guy rolled up in a truck with a bike. He was a friend of the owner and called him - no answer. Then another gentleman rolled up on a bike. He had keys to the shop Sultana Cycles. He let me in and I helped myself to a new tire, stans, and their air compressor. I was stoked to get a WTB TCS tire which I have had good luck with in the past. I gave him all the cash I had and an IOU note to the owner. They were so nice to let me bust into their shop and help myself to what I needed!! Thanks Sultana Cycles.

Next up I hit Safeway, bought way too much food cause I was still hungry and rolled out of town with happy new rubber on my rear wheel.

The ride up Mingus mountain road was super and I looked forward to the single track part. The single track was unrideable and a stupid place to be with a bike. It was a drag. It was hard to hike even. Loose footing and big ledges led to my only crash of the race - a hiking crash! I heaved my front end up a ledge but the bike didn't stick on the ledge and rolled back down again. The momentum of catching my bike pushed me backwards down the trail. As I tried to stop it, my left foot slipped into the air, off the edge of the mountain, my ass quickly followed along with my head and bike. We tumbled down about 20 feet off the edge. I came to a stop sitting up looking down at a nice view of Cottonwood in the valley with my bike on top of me. I was grumpy getting my loaded bike and myself up out of that mess of scratchy bushes and back on to the trail. No real damage sustained other than a significant dent to my friendly demeanor.

I arrived at camp 2 at the top of Mingus mountain as the sun was in the tops of the trees and the air was starting to cool. Ray had a nice fire going already and it was very welcoming. I liked that a lot and the suffer of the hike-a-bike faded. I had a ton of food still with me so I decided to eat as much of it as I could because I was tired of carrying it. I think I ate 2 dinners before sleeping that night.

Stage 3, finish time 10:12. I felt the best of the race so far. No flu and good legs. I started after most everybody else so I had lots of tracks to follow. I was having fun following tracks and navigating using the "force" seeing as I didn't have maps, a working gps or cue sheets (that would be a triple dumb...). I missed out Coyote spring because of this however this turned out to be a dumb luck move as the spring was yuk green with a dead rat floating in it I was told later. I got a few Stans showers off my front wheel as it shed goat heads. I was glad I put in a double dose before the race and some extra at the bike shop in Cottonwood too. Stans is amazing stuff and it plugged up everything. Never ever ride in Arizona without it.

I filtered a full load of water at Verde River, visited with Jay, Keith, Les and Jill and left with a belly so full I was burping for an hour. I felt great on the climb out of the Verde river valley. I love to climb and it was hot - just how I like it. I went back and forth with with Keith a few times, then for a while our pace matched and it was nice to chat and ride. Keith stopped and I didn't. I only stopped one more time that day for a little sit down and snack before the finish. The trail up and down Bill Williams mountain was surprisingly rideable and enjoyable.

I rolled into Williams and ran into Dave See, Ernesto, Dave and Michael all checking into the hotel opposite Safeway. I did the same. Safeway deli served up a very nice dinner.

Stage 4, finish time 8:11. I thought staying in a hotel would make getting going the next day easier but it was quite the opposite. I was less efficient with my stuff spread all over the room and the bed was warm and comfy! I started out much later than I had planned. My GPS had started working again after I dropped it on the bathroom floor in the hotel. I put the cues on my iPhone and I had a map and track on there too. Things were looking up for me to actually finish this event!

After some flat roads out of Williams stage 4 hit Sycamore Canyon. Wow! This was the race highlight for me. So pretty.

Any remote semblance to racing vanished and I turned full tourist. I took photos and hiked out to every view point to look down into the canyon. The trail was super fun too. Tech enough to be interesting and easy enough to stay on the bike. Perfect.

On some flat roads after Sycamore canyon I caught up with the California crew of single speeders, Ernesto, Dave and Dave. We had a casual stop at the Texaco with Jay sitting in the shade chatting for a while. Jay set out then shortly after I rolled off while the CA boys were still relaxing. Then my GPS stopped working again and I rode off course again - gah. I made lots of wrong turns but figured most of them out thanks to a nice set of Specialized Captain tracks. When I couldn't see the Captains I knew I was off course. Having the cues this day helped a lot too.

Just before the final descent was a crew of Coco racers who had dropped out of the race for various reasons cheering - that was pretty cool. Rich Wolf took this great photo of me and caught me in my happy place. Just 5 miles of super sweet descending on the Arizona Trail and a few wrong turns were between me and the finish-line. I was actually going to finish this one despite my far from perfect execution.

Race results are here. I set a new female course record of 35 hours and 57 minutes.

I do recommend this route and race even though the hike-a-bike up Mingus mountain is ridiculous. Beautiful scenery the whole way and the final descent is such an incredible grand finale it is the best finish prize I could ask for.

I have not owned a motorbike before. One of friends mentioned my mountain bike riding skills should show up when I hit the dirt on the motorbike...well I'm still waiting for that to happen! I'm a huge chicken on the motorbike so far.

I am excited to learn all about it. Not only how to ride it but also how it works and how to fix it. I have never changed the oil in my car and when I work on my mountain bike it is usually like an episode of the amateur mechanics show.

So far I have changed the oil, cleaned the oil filter and the air filter on my moto all by myself. I'm pretty excited about that.

Next Tuesday I start a short term intensive training evening course at the local college called Motorcycle/ATV Repair/Maintence. Mucho learning will be done. I hope I am not totally in over my head. I suspect there won't be too many other 43 year old ladies in the class.

Late afternoon DH and I threw duffle bags on the back of our motos and took off camping for the night. So much easier to pack a moto for camping than a mountain bike!

We headed west of Gunlock and hit some sandy roads

Riding the sand on the main road was fun! I was excited to be able to do it. We turned off the main road onto a smaller road looking for a camp site which was narrower, twistier, rockier and sandier. I ran out of skills, went too slow in the sand and fell over. DH was ahead. I managed to pick up my bike but was super squirelly getting started in the sand and almost immediately fell over again. On this second fall my leg landed on the bikes exhaust pipe. BIG lesson of the day - motorbikes have very hot parts that will burn you.

Branded. This time my bike landed differently and I couldn't pick it up. It's a wee bit heavier than a mountain bike...My leg was beeping where it got burned and I couldn't pick up my bike and I was kinda pissed about that!

DH came back to find me. He asked if I was ok and I pouted and said no :-(  DH ended up riding my bike up to the campsite and I walked. What a newbie.

We slept late and lazily started the next day.

In the morning we did a nice hike and played with the new Panorama app on DH's iPhone.

These pic's are a 360 view. Pretty cool. On the left horizon is West Mountain and the big one on the right is Square Top with Jackson Peak behind and to the right.

This one I moved around while DH was taking the photo. Weirdness!!!

My owie

Then we buzzed home getting back less than 24 hours after we left. Sub-24's are a fun way to get out without giving up the entire weekend. I'd like to do more.

Colorado Trail Day 1: Notes From a Daydream Come True

Spring Creek Pass - Cataract Lake

Colorado Trail Day 2: Notes on Happiness

Cataract Lake - Silverton

Colorado Trail Day 3: Notes on riding into foreverland

Silverton to Bolam Pass.

Colorado Trail Day 4: Notes on Humility, Honor and Heart

Day 4: Bolam Pass to Durango

The rest of the weekend was spent roaming around on the southern end of the Paunsaugunt plateau. It has been a while since I have pedaled around up there and I was awestruck and wowed multiple times - so beautiful. By desert standards there was water everywhere so the course checks out nicely. OK maybe not RIGHT on the course but most are short easy detours off course. If you plan carefully you won't be thirsty in Dixie 200.

Here are a random batch of pics of the Paunsaugunt to feed stoke for Dixie 200 racers:

First stop was Robinson Guzzler. I'd call this desperation water. Even filtered I would guess it will taste skanky - I didn't try it. This one is 350 yards off course.

Next stop Robinson Canyon trailhead. There are great maps at most of the trailheads and clear signage on most of the Paunsaugunt plateau. It is an easy place to navigate.

The dust on the ground at Robinson Canyon trailhead is littered with these Paunsaugunt paw prints.

On top of the Paunsaugunt sunset cliffs looking at the Markagunt plateau. For Dixie 200 racers this is looking back over the 90 miles ridden.

More sunset cliffs.

Straight Canyon trailhead. The Dixie 200 comes through here.

Looking down on Grandview trail from Straight Canyon trailhead. Dixie 200 comes up this trail.

Tasty flowing water in Swapp Canyon 1.4 miles off course (from Straight Canyon trailhead take upper Straight canyon to Swapp Canyon).

Rubbly decent on Paunsaugunt trail 003 to Mill Creek Canyon has beauty views for miles to the east.

More tasty looking water in Mill Creek Canyon. At Mill Creek canyon turn left (north-west) on the single-track for 0.4 miles off course.

Crawford pass trail takes you under those awesome pink cliffs. There has been a Herculean amount of chainsawing done on this trail since last year. Some parts are a dead-fall cut-out corridor. Not a single tree was left blocking the trail - nice.

Tropic spring is cold and tasty. Worth a visit being less than 0.3 miles off course. It is at the south end of Tropic Reservoir on FR087 (the main road).

It even has a spigot (look around the back of the rock)

All this cruising around the Paunsaugunt has made me want to pack up my bags and ride the Dixie 200 now :-o It is such an awesome route.

Cat Morrison and I raced the 360 mile Grand Loop route, self-supported in 3 days, 11 hours and 33 mins finishing at 3:39am on Sunday June 2^nd to set a joint female ultra record. We are super-stoked!!!

Neither Cat or I carried a camera so all pics are borrowed from DH.

THE PREAMBLE

My big plan for 2012 was to race AZT 750 but my right knee was a road block, it hurt when I pedaled…um that’s a training problem! I spent all winter figuring out what was wrong with my knee trying madly to rehab it instead of training. When AZT rolled around in April my knee still hurt and was still an undiagnosed mystery despite thousands of $$$$ spent on several Drs, physical therapy, an MRI and x-rays. Thousands…uuugh…

Burned out on the medical bills I took a break from the medical establishment but kept on listening to any and all advice sent my way. Thank-you to everybody who shared their stories and knowledge with me. I learned a lot on this journey that will make me a better coach. Maybe that is why I was forced to take it.

I gave up my AZT dream and started doing any movement that didn’t hurt which included running and Crossfit. I joined Crossfit St George. The owners of Crossfit St George are far from gym meatheads but are savvy educated individuals. They told me to do the entirely opposite movements to the physical therapy I had spent thousands of dollars and many hours on over the winter. Cycling legend Bart Gillespie also very kindly looked at my knee and his advice fell in line with Crossfit St George owners. After 2 weeks of cutting out physical therapy and following Bart’s and Crossfit St George’s advice my knee pain diminished then disappeared. My race dreams reappeared and Grand Loop was coming up!!

As I was making my Grand Loop plan and researching the terrain one of my athletes, Cat Morrison, asked if we could fit a Grand Loop race into her training plan. He, he…I replied by telling her it would fit really nicely if she did it with me...and so plan was hatched.

THE GAMBLE

My bike was loaded, car packed and I was on the way out the door to meet Cat for the planned Dewey Bridge start. Just before shutting down my computer I peeked at the Grand Loop thread on bikepacking. Bryan K posted there was a fire and fire closure on the route – whaaaat??  Yikes. Some research and frantic calls revealed this was serious business. It foiled our current plan of starting at Dewey Bridge.  Plan B was made and we decided to take a gamble and start the loop just ahead of the fire hoping it would be contained and the area closure lifted by the time we got back around to it some 3 days later. This involved a longer drive for me, last minute logistics changes, scrambling and a late night.

THE RAMBLE

WEDNESDAY: We got on course 10am, Wednesday May 30^th where the Paradox Trail segment of the Grand Loop crosses Hwy 141 near Uravan. Pedaling was so easy compared to packing, planning and logistics wrangling. Pedaling felt so good.

We pedaled all day and stopped in a nice sheltered place in the trees at 9,500 feet to bivy. I was stoked the altitude was not bothering me and that the sleeping bag I borrowed was a lot cozier than I had expected. I slept soundly.

THURSDAY: We got a lazy start by bikepack racing standards and it was full daylight when we got rolling. Our first segment was the famed Roubideau section. We were elated to be hitting this notoriously hard section first thing in the morning after a good night sleep.  It was as remote, rugged and wild as expected. The trees emitted screeching noises I'm convinced were from monkeys. Cat started counting drainage crossings. There are supposed to be 15. We lost count after 8.

I eagerly anticipated the Potter Creek drainage as I had seen photos and reports of how beautiful this canyon was. It did not disappoint. At the bottom of the drainage were two ranchers working on fences. We cruised passed them without a word from either party. After we snickered at what the ranchers might have said to each other at the sight of 2 gals on bikes riding by. It felt like we cruised through Roubideau fairly easily.

Next up, lots of climbing took us back over 9.6k to the Divide road. Now the altitude was killing me! I had to ask Cat to stop for a break up on the Divide road to gather myself as I was cracking – gah. Once off the Divide road and back under 8k I rallied and we ripped almost 5k of descending down to Whitewater and bivvied at a comfortable 4.7k.

FRIDAY: We got up early and motored over No Mas hill into Grand Junction. At Albertsons we called to see if the fire closure had been lifted. No word but there was a BLM meeting at 1pm to make a decision. It was noon. We hung around Albertsons snacking and cleaning up a bit. Cat was sure we were being mistaken for homeless people as we were sitting outside Albertsons with bare feet, looking very dirty and had bikes with stuff hanging all over them – funny. After the 1pm meeting we were told the fire was 85% contained and there was going to be a multi-agency meeting at 4:30pm to make a decision – hmph…what to do… We packed up and rode to Fruita and waited for the 4:30pm decision. At 4:30pm still no word...Finally, too antcy to stick around, we switched off our phones and went for it. We had a fire detour route planned out if the fire closure was still in place.

By 5:30pm we were back on course and churned out as many of the low elevation Kokopelli Trail miles as we could before we bivvied at 2am. In the Bittercreek section I was motivated and we were motoring. We caught up to 4 guys riding Kokopelli Trail and stopped for a wee chat. One dude said “you girls are moving” and I blurted out loudly “oh yeah” later Cat pointed out that was crack talk – oops - LOL. We motored off and left them behind. Later we stopped to refresh our Tailwind and they passed us again. The last chap mentioned we had bruised some egos – LOL.

We both carried ziplok bags full of Tailwind Sports Drink. I carried about 5,000 calories worth of it. It was refreshing to drink and went down more easily than plain water over the long haul. I didn’t carry any extra electrolyte capsules with me relying on the Tailwind for all my electrolytes. I never cramped or felt dehydrated and am very pleased how that worked out.

Kep's Balls were my other magic fuel for the trip. I had them squished into 800 calorie logs in ziplock bags and gnawed on them continuously. They still tasted like treats to me at the end. Mmmm. They are gluten free and raw and kept my GI very happy.

SATURDAY: We got an early start to try and beat the heat up the Shandies. At Dewey bridge bathrooms a man was curious with our set-up. He was Mesa county search and rescue and told us we wouldn't have any problem getting through as the fire had been contained. Good news.

Despite our early start we were still baked pretty good climbing the Shandies. Cat had her only crack of the trip at the top of the Shandies in the heat and we lay on our backs under a tree for a while. She rallied quickly and absolutely railed the Rose Garden Hill section on her 29er Voodoo FS. I had wheel size envy as I was on my 26er.

Near  the top of north Beaver Mesa a rancher on a moto stopped us to tell us not to ride down "his" bikepack trail (still have no clue where that trail is) as he had just sent 100 cows down it and it was closed! He told us that the Buckeye road had been re-opened.  Good news again.

Turning left off Kokopelli Trail onto Paradox Trail was so exciting. The ecosystem instantly changed from desert to lush Alpine in yards. I saw a black bear run across the road minutes after the turn. It was like we transported into a new world. Surreal…and then the climbing began. Up, up…and the altitude started to get me. We went down a little and up twice as much then down and up more. At 8,800 feet I had a category 1 crack. It was dark and cold, I had no power and I was falling asleep. I ended up on all fours in the middle of the road in a pathetic groveling state, struggling to open a packet of Via. I didn’t hold back and Cat got to witness the full-on beauty of my crack – LOL. No tears were involved. Earlier I had declared there were to be no tears until the finish. After packet of Via and a 1,000 ft descent I rallied and all was good and happy again.

When we got to Taylor Flat where the fire closure had started it was dark. I saw a barricade lying face down in the grass off to the side of the road and assumed it was moved when the area opened and was waiting to be picked up. It had rained up there most of the day and the ground was wet. We were relieved the area was open and we didn’t have to ride the longer fire detour route we had as a backup plan. We never did see any flames or even embers. It was eerie riding through the burned area in the dark.

Carpenter Ridge to the finish was all downhill. Cat smelled the finish. She motored and I suffered some to keep her within sight, recycling 24 different reasons in my head why I should stop for a break. I kept my mouth shut and we didn’t stop. The last few miles flew by yet took forever. With the Dolores River pumping on our left, surrounded by moonshine bouncing off the tall redrock walls of the river canyon it felt suffery yet serene all at the same time. I alternated between seconds of everything hurts to a euphoric nothing hurts and back again. Smile, grimace, smile. And then we were finished. We did it. First female finishers of Grand Loop. 3 days 11 hours and 33 mins. 360 miles. Self-supported. Giddiness and euphoria was shared. That was so cool. Cat is one badass mountain bike chica.

Thanks Cat for sharing one of the best rides of my life. That loop is truly an epic one in length and beauty.

Cat Morrison and I are doing an ITT on The Grand Loop starting 5am on Wednesday. We hope to ride and finish it together but will be self supported and will finish it out solo if it comes to that!

The Grand Loop is 360 miles linking up Kokopelli Trail, Paradox and Tabeguache. We have elected to start at Dewey Bridge and ride it counter-clockwize. This puts our first resupply some 3 days down the road at Grand Junction. I have packed a lot of food including some bacon Mmmm...

Here is our tracker

After Scott posted this pic I had to go there to see and smell for myself...our spring break bikepack destination was sealed. The new Antelope Peak section trail that bypasses the gas line and Gila River Canyons sections needed my tracks. Click on the links for photos because Scott's pics are far, far better than any of mine.

We parked at Picket Post, rode 65 miles on the road to the trailhead at Tiger Mine Road, then 100 miles of sweet AZT back to the car. We took 4 days - very casual pace :-)

I was lucky to have my fave ride partner DH come along too. The flowers were wowzers!

Carpets of flowers.

We camped at Freeman Rd water cache and were treated to a spectacular Sonoran sunset

Riding the Boulders section the next day I had intense flashbacks to racing through there at sunrise/moon-set in the AZT300 race last year. It is such a flowy section.

Then onto Ripsey. Thumbs up from DH as we both had a perfect score on the big hill switchbacks.

The flowers were busting out on Ripsey too.

We camped that night near Kelvin Bridge. Unfortunately DH's rear tire was in the process of decomposing and he made the wise but disappointing decision to bail on the AZT and ride the road back to Picket Post. He nicely took my sleep kit and I got to ride the Gila River Canyons section from Kelvin Bridge to Picket Post only partially loaded.

The first thing I ran into was a trail crew turning a jeep road into a trail - how cool is that ?!?!

Brand new trail made from a jeep road

Trail slightly more mature trail with a few landscaping touches. It was like a bike path for a while!

The section along the Gila river on the "bike path" was fast and fun. Then the trail heads north and climbs skirting the border of the spectacular White Canyon wilderness area. So beautiful.

I was back at Picket Post before I knew it and before I was ready to be over with my ride. I'm hungry for more bikepack adventures now.

How much awesome is in this pic? I could write an entire blog on the awesome in this pic.

Camp for me was very different this year. I have been dealing with a knee issue and do not have the ability to hammer right now (I'll be back ;-) All previous camps for me have all been about going big and going fast. It was definitely tough short-cutting the routes taking photos instead of being up in the pack sweating.

Saturday we pre-rode TrueGrit 50 race course. Hammering and smiling were both witnessed.

I do however have the ability to ride all day now (which I couldn't do 4 months ago) which is awesome!! I had a whole different camp experience and it was still overflowing with awesome.

I saw Jared do the whole True Grit course on his squishy which was pretty awesome.

I had time to stop and session rocks on Jem instead of drilling it non-stop.

I had time to learn new things from other campers. Such a great group of people with a huge knowledge base come to camp.

Camp Lynda V4 last year was the year of the ladies. This year Camp Lynda V5 was the year of the couples. Lots of hubby and wife teams.

Dad and son.

Bros.

Camp was awesome this year because we had non-stop bluebird, ride perfect weather.

BUT what makes Camp so superbly awesome every year is the people that come and give camp heart.

Thanks everybody for coming and bringing your AWESOME to camp to share with me and everybody else.

To download the gpx of this file plug this http://app.strava.com/rides/3379510 into this handy tool http://cosmocatalano.com/strava-gpx-export/ and click export

Here is the route visual:

Church Rocks

Prospector Trail

Leeds Reef Trail looking at Red Cliffs

This is not a recommended way to see a mine shaft

This is a recommended way to see the view at the top. It was nice out!

All smiles on the road section to the top of Icehouse single-track

All whoops and yippees on the Icehouse descent

Then on to Dino Cliffs Trail

A few challenges near the end to keep us honest

The "L" cairn. I liked this cairn. I didn't make it.

It was snowing on me as I pedalled along West Mesa (on the east side of Seegmillar mountain). It was windy and wild feeling. I hear a rumbling sound behind me and turn my head to see five wild horses galloping up towards me. Still moving, I whip my camera out of its holster like the Sundance Kid.

DH and I watched the original True Grit then Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last week! I was so there with the sound of the galloping hoofs thundering on the dirt and the wild feel of the mesa!

They galloped ahead of me, rounded around in front of me then slowed up.

I stopped and they stopped too. The dark faced horse was clearly the boss and in charge. The other horses followed Boss Hoss.

After a moment checking me out from a distance they walked towards me led by Boss Hoss. At this point I wasn't sure if they were curious, wanted a snack or wanted to eat me. I was by myself.

They stopped about 30 feet from me and we stared at each other for a while. Then Boss Hoss started pawing the ground and snorting at me! I don't speak horsey language but got the vibe that boss hoss wasn't feeling friendly today! Google search later at home said:

Dominance - A horse will often paw when showing dominance. This is different from striking out. The horse will strike the ground with his front hoof. The leg will usually be straight and the neck will usually be arched. Sometimes they may vocalize or snort while exhibiting this behavior.

We had a bit of a stand off until the white faced horse moved out of the road to stand behind the other horses and I pedaled on past with them watching and Boss Hoss snorting and pawing.

Then they started galloping beside me again and ran beside me for a few minutes before veering away and thundering off with their hoofs rumbling on the dirt.

So cool. Made my day.

Here is a map of my ride:

I saw Big Birds face

The boyz demo what they saw.

Lucky #6: I got the last campsite at Stateline campground. I was surprised it was nearly full. I have never seen more than one other group there!

Lucky #7: My neighbor camper invited me over to his camp fire already roaring away! Many people reached out to me on this trip, maybe because I was solo. He had driven all the way from Texas to hike The Wave but had not been able to secure a permit. He told me 10 permits to hike The Wave are given out online 4 months in advance and are scooped up immediately. 10 walk in permits are given out each morning in a lottery!

The lottery draw for The Wave sounded like something to witness so the next morning I attended! There were 101 people there for 10 slots!!

Lucky #8: My name was pulled and I got TWO permits for The Wave the following day!!

Lucky #9: I had plans to meet DH that day. We went to Grovesnor Arch. Another place I have seen on magazine covers and never been.

The next day we hiked to The Wave and it was everything hyped up to be and then a bit more amazing than that. Lucky me.

Due to my last minute change of plans I had no permits or reservations anywhere. I threw a bunch of maps and a variety of gear in my car and rolled solo with my fingers crossed.

Grand Canyon National Park North Rim was the first place I aimed for. There was an inch of snow on the ground, the sign on the entrance station said "north rim campground full" and the entrance station ranger was Mr Grumpy! Not a great start.

Lucky #1: 4pm at the back-country office I got the last back country permit for the following night at Cottonwood and the night after at Phantom Ranch. Super lucky to walk up and get those!! The ranger in the back-country office was Mrs Jolly.

Lucky #2: Mrs Jolly ranger at the back-country office called over to her buddy ranger at the "full" campground and hooked me up with a spot in the group site - score!! That saved me about 50 miles of driving.

Lucky #3: I was invited to join a roaring fire at the group site and had a great evening chatting with the group.

North Kaibab Trail down into the Grand Canyon is pretty much a highway. I think next time I am on this trail I will have a bicycle with me (if I am lucky enough).

Lucky #4: I hiked into the inner canyon. It has been a long time since I have done that. I love the Grand Canyon. It is perhaps my most favorite place in the whole world. Lucky me to be there.

Lucky #5: No wind, beautiful day. In fact weather was absent from my entire trip.

Cottonwood campground. The tarp was mostly to keep the full moonlight out of my eyes! Beautiful night.

Ribbon Falls is a side trip off the main Kaibab trail and worth it. I got wet taking this pic.

Cute cabins at Phantom Ranch. To sleep in a cabin here you need to apply 13 months in advance on the 1st of the month and be really lucky. Sounds like getting in to some bike races...

Black suspension bridge on Kaibab Trail crossing the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Self portrait pic to prove I was there!

I loved the hike out of the canyon the next day. Stowed my camera and motored up in a sweat. That felt great. My knee has hurt too much on a bike this year to build up much of a sweat but hiking seems fine for it - frustrating as riding my bike is really what I want to do most days and all day. I really like to ride my bike.

Lots more lucky ensued the rest of my week - more picslater.

My tag line for 11 years now (Wesley is 11) has been mom, coach, racer - not always in that order. Summertime mom and coach have had top billing and racer takes a back seat. With my athletes in their peak races I prefer to spend June and July focusing on their peaks and successes. Summer is kids out of school time and I prefer playing with them rather than spending my time out training. The final  nail in the summer fitness here in St George is the fact it is too darn hot to pedal hard in July and August, effectively shelving quality training right there. I really enjoy my coach/mom mode in the summer except that I land in late August pretty much out of race shape when the really cool fall races are scheduled.

This year a new race series, The Utah State Championship series was established in Utah. It was a 4 race series and I missed the first 3 races while I was in mom/coach mode. I wanted to show and support at least one of their races as I think it is a really great new series. The final race was on August 20th. Yep I was not in race shape but August 20th is my birthday and I decided for my birthday I wanted to race, so I did :-) Not only was I out of race shape I had never ridden the course or the trails before - totally unprepared :-) No pressure, just a birthday race. A small but fast pro women field had me off the back, sucking wind immediately - gosh these ladies are fast!!! On lap 2 I was in last place!! Last place...and I was still giggling and having a good time :-) I was also pedaling as hard as I could! I managed to pull back one place by the end and finish not quite last.

I was psyched to support the last race of the USCS series. I experienced clock work registration, a fun course so well marked I was able to ride it at race speed sight unseen.

I was surprised how much fun I had racing. I had missed racing. I hadn't raced since April. It felt good to ride fast even though my fast was not as fast as most everybody else's. I looked at the calendar and next weekend was Mt Ogden 100k -ooooohhh. Another course I had not ridden and another race I would like to experience. I hooked up a ride with Bill and a place to stay with Sarah, entered and it was a go!!

It was hot and dusty

My legs were a little happier at race pace at Mt Ogden 100k and race pace was a little slower being a longer race. I don't have race speed but I still have my diesel engine. I finished in 6:55, 3rd place,clocking 62 miles, 9100ft of elev gain and 400 TSS. Climby!! Also descendy!! ALL of the descending was on singletrack and there were some fun trails out there. Super awesome fun course.  I deffo will go back and do that race again.

Great organization, really fun course and good vibes. The aid station volunteers were full of energy rushing to fill my camelback and getting everything I needed. Other stations I didn't stop at I was cheered on or had shirtless cute guys running alongside me pouring icy water on my back. That made me giggle :-) Bill won his category in the 100k (congrats Bill!) so success for us!

...and then last week unfortunately one of my athletes pulled out of Park City Point to Point which was disappointing for Coach Lynda BUT not quite so disappointing for racer Lynda cause I got her slot (thanks MB ;-) !! There are 17 Pro women registered for Park City Point to Point!! I squeaked in on the last day to transfer. It is the biggest pro women field I have ever seen at an endurance race and it is also deep. I'm very excited to toe the line with these ladies continuing my surprise unplanned race into shape binge.

If you know me, you know I am (an over?) planner and ending up on a spontaneous race binge of this size is, well....making me giggle. The unplanned and unpreparedness of it all seems to have released any sort of performance expectations I had and allowed me just to relax and experience all the things I really enjoy about racing...and I do really like racing my mountain bike, tee hee hee :-)

It was maybe the most amazing 2 days I have spent on a bike. The flowers were exploding, vistas eye popping, trails perfect, weather bluebird.

Altitude + flowers + blue sky + big vistas + bikes + sweet trail + DH = giddy Lynda :-) I'm still giddy.

I took 300 photos! Here is a slideshow of the best 30. Photos describe everything better than my words.

and on Strava

Left to right: Eszter, Ken, Sara, Taylor, Aaron.

Since I had to be back in St George Sat evening I chose different ride for the day - one that put me on top of Powell Point when the leaders arrived.

Aaron was first up:

Followed shortly by Eszter.

They were carrying spots - with bluedot I knew when they'd be up there, and who was coming next. It appeared nobody - so I rode the route to Tropic with Ez. What a blast! Super fun 2 hour descent, it throws a little of everything at you.

Ken and Sara on the way up Powell Point looking snappy (they don't have a spot):

Ez on the Henderson Canyon descent

Looking the other direction on the trail...I finally discovered my droid was set on blue tint, doh!

Aaron about ready to roll south of Tropic

They are in the thick of the hardest part of the route. Very remote and the southern exposure can make it feel warmer than it actually is. It is gorgeous down there tho! We'll see what the day brings, but I don't think we'll see any finishers before dark.

Got crack?

Follow the race progress at http://trackleaders.com/dixie200

The Virgin River Rim trail is at the top of that ridge - and as far as we could tell it was covered in 4-8 feet of snow. The area is saturated with runoff, the snow is still deep, and the downed trees are worse than ever. A ranger said 200 trees were cut out of a 1/4 stretch of a local trail.

That turned out to be a pretty big deal. I had anticipated several snow detours, but the VRRT via Woods ranch is the entrance to the Markagunt. With that access currently unavailable, it was time for some thinking.

I have so many GPS files for the region from scouring out the best routes for Trans Utah - thousands of miles of tracks in fact - I was confident of coming up with a good alternative, one that did not even include the Markagunt at all. C'est la vie...

Looking at paper maps for about an hour I came up with an idea. It did require some scouting for a key connector, and it panned out nicely. Great Western Trail to the rescue!

The new route gets more singletrack in the Red Canyon area, finishes with Thunder Mountain(!), has an optional out and back to Powell Point, a fantastic descent into Tropic, completely circumnavigates Bryce Canyon NP, and still maintains the Paunsaugunt as its core. Beyond Tropic it gets quite remote - it will be committing for riders leaving Tropic. There are no bailouts until the other side of the Paunsaugunt.

It doesn't quite hit the 200 mile mark, but I guarantee you won't feel cheated on distance by the end ;)

One of my favorite areas on the route is Henderson Canyon beneath Powell Point. The ride to Powell Point is optional since it could be a bit wet up there, and it makes refueling in Tropic problematic. 10 hour time bonus and the best view going for those that do it!

From the top southern Utah is in view, including Bryce in this pic.

The Paunsaugunt is wild and remote. There is awesome singletrack, steep atv track, and some forgotten trail. It's slow going and the route's crux. Plan water carefully leaving Tropic.

There's a good hard core group making the trip. I'm really looking forward to meeting folks in Red Canyon for the start. Sadly, I can't do the ride this year but will ride a good bit with folks on Saturday before I make my exit.

Event site is here. Chatter on bikepacking.net is here.

Short answer: it will go regardless of snow conditions. If there is significant snow remaining the week prior I will re-route to dryer ground.

Long answer: the Paunsaugunt is snow-free. The real problem area is from the Spruce trail to Navajo, a roughly 30 mile segment. The Virgin River Rim trail is melting out nicely and I think it will be fine.

The Midway Valley SNOTEL site is very close to the route. The snowpack right now up there is the highest on record for this date.

I've added a snow model layer to the maps. It's a bit of a kluge but you get the idea...the maps on BlueDot are a lot nicer ;) Keep in mind this is a model, not actual...and I'll tweak the course in the final week based on conditions on the ground.

The course additions I was thinking of earlier? Those are still in the deep purple areas, 100+ inches still there in June!

Click the image to go to the live map. Check out the new route file with waypoints on the Dixie 200 page.

This snow has everyone scrambling! The next one to be scrambling in the area is the Crusher ;)

There is a contingent starting in the south this year.  They are clearly in the minority (90 vs 15?) but that is likely to change.

I've put together a KML file that can be viewed in Google Earth.  The file contains the Tour Divide route and snowpack image overlays from Northern NM to Banff.  Got Google Earth?  Download the KML file here (right click ->save as) and check it out for yourself.  The snowpack graphics should refresh automatically on your computer so you have the latest.

The latest as of 5/26 is um, wintry. It looks white as soon as you leave Banff.

From TourDivide

The northern Montana looks a bit better, well sort of:

From TourDivide

Wyoming was the real shocker. That snow is DEEP. No wonder Dave Byers has been talking about snow so much...

From TourDivide

Colorado, not nearly so bad:

From TourDivide

Northern NM, a walk in the park. In terms of snow, anyway. I think they have a bit of drought right now.

From TourDivide

So there ya go. Now you can make a slightly more informed decision. I think JayP has nailed it - it's a great year for an August start.

We went on our second backpacking trip last weekend. This time we had a more ambitious plan to go further someplace more remote.

I want the kids to learn how to move and be safe in the back-country, not lambs following their mommy ewe. What if I get hurt and they need to rescue me or what if they get lost?

Emma and I (Wes wasn't interested...) brainstormed about what should be in a survival kit. She was fascinated by it and the concept of survival and self rescue. We spent time with each item talking about what it did and how to use it in different situations. We ended up with a map and compass, an emergency blanket, water purification tabs, waterproof matches, whistle, signal mirror, multi tool and flashlight. Both kids carried their own personal survival kit along with water, food and clothes.

They learned how to use the map and compass

We found a spring and filtered water. The spring was not an easy find so that added to the adventure and a little tension too as we needed water!! The tank where we thought we would get water was dry. We found a second tank also dry. Then we hiked and searched further up a side canyon and found a concrete tank with a beautiful dripping spring above it.

Wesley is already a master of fire making

Then the kids proceeded to ask loads of questions I didn't have the answer to!!  Hey mom, what if you were dropped out of a helicopter with nothing, what would you ____fill in the blank here___? What plants are edible? How do you build a shelter? What would you drink? Good questions. Guess I am not a survival expert!!

We had the pleasure of DH's company on this trip.

Whaley and dolphiny made the trip again

We went down Snake Gulch which has one of the largest rock art sites in the area. The pictographs and petroglyphs were amazing!!!

Emma got tired at the end. We hiked about 14 miles in total. Wes does not get tired, ever...EVER... He carried a pack only a little lighter than mine and did not complain once about it (I complained about mine a few times). He is 11 years old and a beast already!

The short story is I had the race of my life, absolutely loved it and not only achieved my #1 goal of  finishing but was the first racer across the finish line to take the overall win in 3 days, 4 hours and 5 minutes. It was always about me and myself and doing the best I could at any given time on the course to ensure I finished. Every decision I made out there was based on the goal to finish, not the goal to win. This year on AZT the conditions were tougher than ever. We had the highest attrition rate in the history of the event with 22 starters, 4 finishers and 18 DNF's. Finishing turned out to be a winning strategy this year.

Now for the blow-by-blow long version:

In true Dave and Lynda fashion we were late to the start!! We arrived in time to see everyone else start and wave them off - oops. We got a ride to the start with Kurt and Caroline. Kurt somehow cruised out with the main group on time! Being a 2 time winner and course record holder he clearly had it together. I was feeling super nervous, not all that together and a little crazy before the start. My head was buzzing...did I have everything I needed...did I have too much stuff...all these little bits and pieces...did I really need waterproof pants...should I take my knife...do I have the track on my gps...is my head still attached...will my legs work...are my fingers really broken... I'd crashed hard 11 days prior and thought I might have 2 broken fingers on my right hand. I hadn't had them x-rayed as I really wanted to do AZT...they didn't work quite right...

(After the race I went to the Dr, nothing was broken but 2 fingers, right middle and pinkie, were dislocated, which explains why they were not working. They were ok riding for the most part. The hard part was stuffing my sleeping bag in a tight little bag).

Pic is of me checking over everything before we start and leave the "safe" parking lot. My full set up details are on Bikepacking.net

Big thanks to Caroline Soong for these start photos. I didn't pack a camera.

DH was ready to start before me. He waited for me and humored my pre-race frenetics. He has seen it 100 times and says the success of my race is directly proportional to how wound up I am before the start!! He smiles and pats my shoulder and says I'll be fine.

We rolled out together 18 mins late. It was perfect for me to start behind the main group so I had space to calm down and get in my ride groove.

I let DH ride on ahead and took about 30 very mellow minutes to get a feel for riding with the weight on my bike, calm my nerves and settle down into my happy place. I passed DH sitting under a tree with Marshall. Marshall looked flushed and hot. Not good so early in... I thought DH was just visiting with Marshall but later found out that was the start of his DNF causing blisters. Marshall pulled out with the start of heat stroke not long after. It was hot!!

Marshall snapped this shot of me as I cruised by his shady spot

I'd pre-ridden the Canello Hills with bigger gears and less fitness in December so they seemed much easier this time around. I started to catch and pass racers. I asked peoples names. I wanted to know who everyone was as I expected to be riding for 3-4 days with them, seeing them again and maybe camping with them. It was fun to check out all the bike set-ups as I went by.

Patagonia seemed to come up in a flash and I filled up my 29oz bottle with coke and ice for the ride in to Sonoita...mmm that was a treat after the heat in the Canello Hills. Before Sonoita at mile 43 my period started...bleh...what timing...stupid girl parts...I had to take extra time at Sonoita to change into my spare shorts, wash my old pair, wash me, buy tampons etc. I was annoyed to have another thing to manage while I was trying to keep it all as simple as possible. It was nice so early in the race to have a clean pair of shorts and a clean me tho!! Eric Foster was taking what looked to be a siesta in the shade outside the store. I was back on the road asap with another 29oz of ice cold coke in my bottle.

Next up was some easy cruising up to the Kentucky Camp mile 60 water refill spot where I visited with Brad Mattingly. The race seemed very social up to this point and I enjoyed meeting and chatting with folks. I filled up my 100 oz bladder, stuffed it in my pack and ripped the tube off the bladder. The water spurted out of the bladder and soaked everything. No tragedy as I was still at the sink to get more water and it was hot enough to dry everything out quickly. It was a big red flag for me. I had better be careful with that. If I spill water away from a water source in this heat it would be a costly mistake. It was a lesson I paid attention to.

I cruised off out of Kentucky Camp with Brad sure I'd be seeing lots more of him on course. I wondered where DH was. I was sure he would have caught and passed me by now. We had both planned to be independent for this race and ride together lots if it worked out and we were really lucky. DH is my favorite person to ride with.

After dark I passed where the 2011 course rejoined the old course above Box Canyon, climbed to the high point and stopped for dinner. Sweet n sour pork n rice...mmm. I sat for a while looking back on the course hoping to see DH's lights coming but never did so trucked on. Sometime later I started to see a set of lights catching me and was excited it was DH. I didn't stop but did slow down a little, just a little...The lights never did catch me but disappeared. I looked forward.

Under the I-10 culvert I got chilly enough to put on arm warmers, knee warmers and my jacket. I coasted down towards Three Bridges. There was a car there with lights on and people inside. I looked at my watch 12:26am. That's weird I thought. It looked like some kids partying late at night and I had to ride right passed them...red alert...As I got nearer someone ran out of the car towards me screaming....WTF...turns out it was Deanna Adams and her mom cheering for racers :-) ha, ha...I scare easy...they took some photos, gave me a couple of bananas and waved me off.

My goal was to ride until 1:30am or stop at La Sevilla picnic area for the night - whichever came first. When I got to La Sevilla it was a party zone! I backtracked up the course a little ways to a nice flat spot I'd seen and camped out there.

Next morning was a refuel in Tucson and haul up Reddington Rd with rallying  jeeps, motos and semi automatic guns firing off - just my scene. I hammered out of the saddle as fast as I could to get out of the redneck zone. The next 7 hours were hot and hard. The hike-a-bike up over Molino was a bitch. I struggled getting my heavy bike up some of the ledges. I was relieved to cross the Catalina Hwy only to be faced with another stretch of hike-a-bike that I had expected to be rideable. I got grumpy and started calling it Arizona hoof race.

Once on the pavement it got much easier and I spun up to Oracle Ridge. I had expected Oracle Ridge to be really hard. Everyone says it is hard and part of it is called the Traverse of Death. It was hard but not as hard as Molino hike-a-bike had been earlier in the day. I reckon it was the heat factor as Molino was late afternoon in full sun and Oracle Ridge was in the dark.

I bivvied up earlier than the night before because I knew the next day was forecast to be the hottest of all and we were headed for the lower Gila desert terrain. I wanted to bank some rest. I bivvied right next to the trail so if DH came down he would see me. I was still wondering where he was. I didn't carry a cell phone so had no coms. During the night a rider came by. It was Brad Kee. I asked if he had seen DH and was told about some ugly looking blisters. Brad thought DH would have had to quit by now....hmph... Brad motored on and I went back to sleep. That was the last time I saw another racer on course.

The next morning I zoomed down into Oracle, ate so much at the store I was burping it up and headed out to the big hot desert oven for the day with as much water as I could carry. I had Elete Tablytes with me. The label says take up to 12 Tablytes per day as needed - I needed a lot more than that!!! They were great.

Today was all about heat management. I moved slowly so my head didn't boil, hiked rideable hills, drank lots and chowed on Tablytes. In the heat of the day I had no power. It was like riding in molasses or like a man on the moon in a space suit, or like you see these guys at the top of Mount Everest!! I had all these visuals. I moved in slow motion and sang silly shark songs to my gummy sharks. 30 miles took me a never ending 7 hours!!

I started studying the ground on the gasline and could make out only one set of tracks. No way I thought - there were a bunch of guys in front of me. I knew for sure Brad was in front of me as I had seen him the night before and the gal at the Oracle store said he left an hour before I did. I double checked I was on course - all good.

The gasline road in the heat of the day was a place humans shouldn't have been that day on bikes - nutty hot. On the way down Bloodsucker wash with a tailwind I started hallucinating there were spiders crawling on the back of my hands...intense...I felt ok and was sure I was hydrated...just a little warped.... Wow this was right on the edge. I'd asked for some intense living and here it was for me.

There was a big tank of green water at Beehive Well with a thousand bees buzzing over it. I dipped my arm coolers in it and threw water over my head and got out of the bee zone asap. I was glad I had enough water and didn't have to drink from Beehive Well - plentiful but not appealing. My warped head feeling left after I cooled off at Beehive well and the spiders went home. The tracks in front of me were weaving around on the road. I wondered if I was doing that too?? I got off my bike and looked back and my tracks were straight - uh oh I thought...

A little while later I struggle to open and close a tight barbed wire gate on the road and ride on. Then I see I am off course and the gps route drops off the jeep road to the right. I go back bugged I am going to have to fight with the gate again but the gps track drops down before the gate (about mile 214). There is no trail visible and I wonder where to go. I zoom in my GPS and am right on top the gps route. I was aware my head was still too hot and my brain was processing slowly - things were not adding up. A little confused I push off the road into the untracked desert staying on top of the gps line.  A trail slowly appears and improves. As the trail improves I feel confident I am going the right way. Without a gps I would never have found that turn. It was tricky. A short while later I become aware there are no tire tracks on the trail! I look at my watch and it is 4:14pm. Oh no Brad I say, you only had one more hour until it cools off. I was watching and biding my time until 5pm when I thought the intense heat would abate some. Post race I found out these were Joe's tracks as I passed Brad earlier without knowing while he was riding some bonus miles off route.

I rode what felt like 3/4 of the way around Antelope Peak. It was soft desert trail with no tire tracks...no tire tracks...I felt vulnerable out there with no tire tracks in front of me. I was still moving in molasses...so slow. I kept saying to myself, it doesn't matter how slow you go you just have to finish. I was moving in slow motion. I was a deep sea diver.

I reach the water cache and notice tire tracks again. They confuse me but I don't pay them much attention. I rest, eat, water up and roll onto the Boulders section. Finally it had cooled off. The molasses had gone and my legs felt rockstar. I felt like I was flying through the Boulders after the slow motion day of molasses. Big fun. Whoohoo!! There were no tire tracks again.

The sun set and simultaneously the moon rose. I had a moment when there was exactly half a sun on the west horizon and half a moon on the east horizon. The low sun was deep orange and turned the air an orange/pink color and the full moon coming up was pure white and the biggest horizon moon I had ever seen. I stopped and absorbed that magical moment and breathed deep and slow like I could ingest it. The next 30 mins of twilight riding were effortless and fast and I flew.

We (me, my bike and my imagination) flew through the night  Ripsey - Gila River - Hwy 177 - Battle Axe Rd -Artisian Well - Walnut Canyon with the full moon echoing off cliffs and canyons. At 3:30am feeling a bit loopy I decided to lie down and sleep until dawn.

I'd been hoarding my last sweet n' sour pork n' rice and it made a delicious breakfast. Fueling up was a good thing as the Martinez canyons were complete ass kickers, one after another steep and bumpy. Box Canyon was kind and mild after the Martinez canyons.

The AZT300 ends with an 8 mile single track descent. I wanted to relish it so I stopped at the top to freshen up, ate some, drank some, relaxed some, lubed my chain and took a long break, about 45 mins I think (which drove my BlueDot watching and waiting DH batty!!). The last 8 miles were a screaming blast...giddy...euphoric...I was finishing AZT!!! Wow! Awesome!!! I was psyched.

DH was there at the end of the trail. My one man cheering squad and the man who is the most important to me in the world was there for me, to share my finish. Having DH cheering at the finish was the icing on a very big cake for me. I was giddy with glee and he laughed at my craziness while I told him all my race stories in a tangled endorphin hazed blurb. I was so amped it took me a while to be able to sit down and at least 3 days to metabolize my endorphins!!

DH took some pics of me finishing but it was so hot out there his camera overheated and lost the pics! It was blazing hot out there. He put his camera in the cooler and got pics later while I was still giddy.

Those arm coolers were white at the start!

I probably ate about 3,ooo calories worth of these sharks. That might have been why my tongue swelled up post race...

I'm tired now. But still thinking what might be next ;-)

Naturally I have my own ideas. In my experience, the #1 prerequisite to finishing these events is stoke. Passion for a route and the experiences that await precede the start by half a year (or more) for the best rides I have had, and have seen others do. It is not so much about natural ability, it is all about positive projection, preparedness, and having the *finish* as the number one goal. Having stoke for an event well in advance of the start fuels a ton of research into the route, equipment required, conditions expected - consideration of thousands of little details that go into a great ride.

So, off we rolled last week for the AZT 300. Lynda carrying a huge bag of well-aged stoke, myself looking forward to a long ride in new terrain with the primary goal of testing my new BlueDot app. We both got what we went for and in the end it worked out to perfection.

The truth is I stopped racing in 2009. After the 24 hours of Moab I walked away with a "what now??" sort of sensation, and it never went away. So, "racing", when I partake these days, is some combination of a social outlet, or means to see new terrain, or to enjoy the work that others have done to create some interesting route. The thing that has really lit the passion fire for me this spring is Bluedot - and writing code is not particularly a fitness builder or foot toughening activity, doh!

Getting to the start is always an adventure...and usually involves some help from others. We stayed with Chad at his new place, and then met Kurt & Caroline in Superior for the final shuttle detail. It was a lot of fun driving to the start with the 2-time race winner/record setter. Of course we started talking race strategy...more amusing for me as I had no real race objective, and LW wanted nothing to do with it. Her clear goal was the finish.

LW and I left the start fashionably late at 9:18. LW started as the lanterne rouge, an unfamiliar spot for her but it wouldn't last long.

LW and DH start ATZ 300, photo by Caroline Soong

LW tells me to go first and says she'll see me at the finish. She had no intention of going fast and fully expected to be well behind me. "We can come back and race it next year!" Hmmm wonder what that looks like... I never believed that for a second, knowing how my fitness (and stoke!) compared to hers on this day...but I amused her anyway by leading out. A few minutes later I hear a "girl scream". Oh no, what is going on? Just a bobble on loose terrain...in the rush to get going we had forgot an important pre-race ritual: the HUG. I stop and grab her off her bike and give a good long squeeze. OK, time to get going....

The early riding has a good bit of hike a bike, especially for me on my singlespeed and in the heat. About 20 minutes in I come up to Marshal Bird in the shade of a tree and stop to chat and have a look at a developing hotspot on my left heel. To my huge surprise it was not a hotspot at all, but a blister that had developed, popped, and the skin was blown off. Inside of 20 minutes my ride was doomed....Marshal knew I was in trouble, moreso than I was willing to concede at the time.

Gorilla tape applied to heels, check. Onward. LW was in front of me know, and I eventually caught her - she pulled to the side to let me go by. A few minutes later I caught up with a big train of riders all hiking a section of marginally rideable trail. Walking was my speed here too and I settled in. LW rode it all and passed ~ 10 riders on that hike a bike, just like I've seen her do in Trans Rockies. I gave her a good shove as she went by and that's the last I saw of her until I picked her up at the finish. She had found her flow, settled down, and I knew she was going to have a great ride. I was so stoked for her at that point!

Shortly thereafter, the trail become much more rideable and Canelo hills more fun. I did some bonus miles, but for the most part enjoyed the rest of the ride to Patagonia. Prior to the last bit of hike a bike I started applying super glue to the gorilla tape on the heels to better hold it in place, and that made hiking a bit more bearable. But I had serious doubts about my ability to go beyond Tucson. There was at least 10 hours of hike a bike in that section by most accounts...

In Sonoita I took my first look at BlueDot. I have put more work into BlueDot this spring than I ever have put into riding in the same time period - so to have the first look at it mid-race was oh so cool! I could see that Kurt was off the front as expected, see where LW was, and a few other riders not far up the road towards Kentucky camp. And, it actually motivated me to see if I could catch LW so we could ride together a bit. It took awhile, but nearly worked. The Kentucky camp area was my favorite part of what I rode, and good for my SS gearing. LW came into sight shortly after sunset, but then when we hit a section of rugged terrain with many short hikes my heels did me in. I just couldn't make any headway with my heel situation.

I caved to the pain and rolled out the bivy for a few hours. Later when I got rolling again I was amused to learn I was right at the end of the hike a bike stuff anyway...and the trail turned instantly into a ripping, nicely carved, SS optimized super fun trail!!! Woohoo! And it stayed that way pretty much all the way to X9 road that led into Tucson.

The gal at the Rincon store said LW left about 30 minutes before I got there, and that briefly gave me some motivation to hustle on up the road. But my heels were screwed by then. Raw to the point I could not walk uphill. A bit of a problem when faced with 10k' vert in the next 30 miles...what good is a single speeder that can't walk? Exactly.

Brad Kee and Matt Fusco showed up at the store and Brad shared some moleskin. In return for the moleskin I put my droid in his hand with BlueDot running....and that was my favorite moment of the race. He was amazed at what he held in his hand and was deeply interested in the current state of the race. According to BlueDot only Kurt and LW were up the trail, but of course we knew Joe was also up ahead. Aaron Gulley we also expected was up ahead, thinking there was probably an issue with his SPOT (we later learned his GPS failed before Tucson). In any case, Brad's excitement over BlueDot in the middle of a race was tall validation for my idea and vision to bring real-time race info into the hands of racers.

The moleskin gave me a touch of confidence I might be able to get'r done, but 30 minutes after being on the bike (and not even doing any hiking yet) and the feet had said no go. So off to Scott Morris' house I rolled...I can see why it is so hard for a Tucson resident to finish this event.

Have I mentioned the heat yet? It was hot. Stupid hot. I hadn't really been overly aware of the heat until I rolled off course and through Tucson. What a gawd-awful experience to go from awesome trails to the noisy, diesel belching stench of busy super-heated Tucson roads. From highs to lows in a moment. The coolness of Scott's carport concrete was wonderful and I layed there for an hour until Paula came to the rescue...

From that time forward it was all about LW and BlueDot. BlueDot glued to my hand, staring at LWs dot. It moved oh so painfully slow all the way to Oracle. Meanwhile, the race was unraveling on all fronts. Kurt crashed and hurt his knee just before Oracle, ending his ride. News of Aaron's demise surfaced. Then, in a surprising twist of events, news that Joe Meiser (thought to be the current leader but his poorly reporting SPOT left plenty to the imagination) had to backtrack to Oracle due to lack of calories came from Facebook. Holy crap, that put LW in the lead! Although Brad Kee was very close to her, and at one point in front of her - so there was a race for the win. He rode all through the night after leaving Rincon to arrive at Oracle before LW.

I don't think either rider realized they were first and second...it had to be a confusing set of tracks out there. LW never passed anyone, the tracks just kept getting thinner, until finally disappearing altogether. She "passed" Brad Kee while riding the gasline section of the route while Brad rode a new section of dead end singletrack AZT. He said it was awesome trail but the dead-end was sub optimal ;)

Facebook to the rescue! LW's car was at the trailhead in Superior while I was stuck in Tucson. This new droid partner of mine, it is well connected. Via FB I learned Slyfox was in town. One quick email and I had a ride lined up to the trailhead with superstar Slyfox Gillie. That night was a beautiful night for riding. Full moon at the trailhead over picketpost really made me wish I was riding instead of waiting.

By the next morning most everyone's fate was sealed. The 2011 AZT 300 was a trail of tears with only 4 of the 22 starters making it to the finish. This BlueDot snapshot with last reported point for each rider tells the story:

While the 18 of us DNFs were still licking our wounds, the fab 4 soldiered on through yet another warm day in the desert with LW leading the charge. I could see that she had stopped for only ~ 2 hours that last night, and knew she only stopped because she cracked. That is the only thing that stops me on the last night of these things ;) But I also knew she was rolling with about 6 hours of sleep in 3 days. That is a helluva deficit for someone used to a steady 9-10 hours/night. I had all sorts of concerns about the reliability of the Freeman road water cache and nearly went out there to restock it...and then was convinced I should meet riders at the Gila with water. It is hard to be on the sidelines! In the end I didn't want to mess with anyone's experience out there and sat tight...

Finally...FINALLY...LW rolled down the trail to the finish. And, she was positively giddy! One of the first things out of her mouth was more a question than statement: "I don't see any tracks on the ground?!?" "It's all your's babe, roll on down to the finish, I'll meet you at the car". Ironically, I took some great pictures of her riding the last bit of trail, and shot a video of her giddiness, but they were all lost due to my phone overheating in the midday desert heat...

Smiling, happy, giddy, amazingly untouched by the sun, and probably under 100 lbs - the 2011 AZT 300 winner and first ever female finisher.

Part of the giddiness: fueling on seafood (sharks) in the desert.

We headed to town for a shower then came back out to meet Brad at his finish.

Somewhere on Mt Lemmon Brad's left shoe exploded.

Post event I could not be more stoked for how it turned out. BlueDot was generally a success, and I learned a few things I need to do to improve it. Racing is the best testbed. But the real story is LW. She has been planning, scheming, dreaming, breathing AZT for months. It has dominated her training since about September or October. When faced with what is undoubtedly the most difficult conditions ever for this event, she embraced the challenge, adapted to the conditions, and rode her own ride, paying little attention to others. A brilliant ride with few mistakes, in my opinion it is the most impressive ride she has put down (and there have been a few!). So good, in fact, that it resulted in the first (to my knowledge, anyway) time a woman has won the overall in a self-supported multi-day. I am so proud of her!

You can track us on your phone using Dave's app BlueDot

Or on the web at Arizona Trail Race 300 Tracker. It will be active starting 9am April 15th when we take off from Parker Lake.

Wes carried a for real backpack filled with 100 oz water, food, 2 sleeping bags, clothes and a stove! Ems carried an Osprey Talon 22 with 80 oz water, candy, clothes, a whale and a dolphin. Me - I carried what seemed like a lot but only weighed in at 19lbs at the trail-head (yes I took a scale).

There are some old tunnels in Cottonwood Canyon. Emma went down this one into the darkness. She woke up a bat and it flew out but she kept on going!! Clearly she didn't get my claustrophobia gene.

Headed into the darkness

She popped out on the other side of a cliff. Wes and I walked around the cliff!

Camp was a tent for kinders and a yellow tarp for me. Wes was the fire bender, single handedly collecting all the wood and lighting it with one match - a feat he repeated nicely in the morning.

Whales and dolphins in the desert wilderness

Wesley fulfilled one of his big brother tasks and taught Emma how to light matches. No homes were burned down during the lesson :-)

We ended the trip with kinders begging to go again = success!!

While we were getting ready I discovered my camera was broken. I was a little sad about this as I was looking forward to taking lots of pics (and it was a gift from DH so had some sentimental value to me). All pics on this blog are from DH's Droid. FYI: Black Canyon Trail has full 3G service!

The trail is non-stop fun. As I didn't have a camera we rode non-stop more too. I saw a lot of things I would have had to stop to snap a shot of!

Water was everywhere with multiple creek crossings, Bumblebee Creek, Black Canyon Creek and the Agua Fria which we crossed at least six times. Doe spring, windmills and tanks. Made staying hydrated easy.

Breakfast might look like puke but it tasted good. Dried eggs and some unidentified mush.

Saguaros were the cartoon characters this weekend. So many shapes and sizes and so big! A pair of bald eagles flying overhead side by side and a gila monster sighting made for a real Sonoran experience. DH didn't get a pic of the Gila monster!!!

The goofy pics from this weekend are of me this time and not DH as he had the camera. I had a batch of super yummy Keps Balls wrapped in gold foil, which made me think I was eating these or these instead of a healthy natural energy food.

This evening I took my camera apart. It sort of detonated and springs popped out and off when I unscrewed the cover. I cleaned it and put all the tiny springs back with tweezers and a lot of patience and it works!! I am pretty impressed with myself and happy I have my camera back too.

Now the plan from here to AZT is to ride a LOT at my happy smile pace :-) Pack up my bike and head off into the desert for a few days. I did just that last weekend.

I had the pleasure of DH's company too which made me very happy. An adventure with DH is always a good time. We explored the Woodbury desert area and camped in the Joshua tree forest. Joshua trees make crazy shadows near sunrise and sunset.

The silhouettes of the Joshua trees against the night sky turned into dinosaurs and cartoon characters

It is amazing how much stuff you can pack with you on a bike! Unpacked it kinda pukes out into a yard sale

We found some tasty water out there. This one made happy noises, blurp, sqwoosh, blop, splash, blub-blub.

This one had four goldfish swimming around in. Kurt had already been there a couple of weeks ago but didn't tell us exactly where it was so we were checking every tank we saw. DH riding ahead found it first "the fish" he squealed out as I rode up. Giddy :-)

DH was single speeding and he would crank on ahead and wait for me at waiting places. This one was beautiful. Indian Spring. So much clear beautiful water in such a dry place.

Cartoon characters were out in force this weekend

This year Rampage was all about Wallenfels vs Binghams. Let me tell you this aint little league anymore this is big time ;-)

Joel flying the Bingham colors gives Emma a pre-race strategy talk on the start line

First off were the boys 10-12 yrs age group. Already stalking each other are Bryn Bingham #648 and Wesley #655

Go!! Bryn hammers off the start and Wes keeps an eye on him

Next up are the 9 and unders. #220 Lauren Bingham looks relaxed and confident smiling on the front row. Emma is staged in the second row.

Joel must have told Ems to start fast as she hammers off out of the saddle!!

The boys come through and go out for their second and last lap. Bryn and Wes are flying and have a massive gap on the rest of the field - no other boys are in sight when they come through. They are working it AND working together!! Strategy in the 10-12yr field - you bet there is.

Lauren Bingham takes the 9 and unders win AND she beats all the boys too!! Awesome ride from Lauren.

Ems rode hard and finished with the biggest smile I saw from any racer all day.

Flushed cheeks and finish elation

Bryn makes it into the finish chute chicane with a bike length lead on Wes and takes the win by 1 second in a sprint to the line

Two wins for the Binghams!!

I raced too! We had a strong Pro women's field who started FAST. Too fast for me for the first 10 minutes and I had to pedal hard to keep up! Then everybody slowed a little or my body kicked in and I pulled ahead to finish first. I am an endurance gal!

For Byrn and Wes their 18 minute race was a teeny tiny warm up for the next 24 hours of non-stop-play-sleepover-play more. They hyped it out relentlessly. It was amazing to watch. Those two boyz are a force when they get together!!

Kids were all the talk at this race. 17yr old Keegan Swenson and 15yr old Noah Talley raced with the PRO men finishing 2nd and 6th respectively - WOW!! We have young talent here in Utah!

There was much talk and activity too this weekend about Utahs bid for a High School Mountain Bike League being spearheaded by Lauren and Bryn's dad Chris Bingham, Lori &Dave Harward and Justin Thomas. They were at Rampage taking names and drumming up support. E mail loriharward@comcast.net if you can help on any level from sponsorship, logistics to coaching.

It feels good to see all these kids having fun with bikes!

After the "real" ride we messed around on Wes' new 24" wheel dirt jump bike. Lacking some good jumps we made the best of what the curb had to offer - but plenty action for me. It is a fun little bike. Makes me want a pump track! Is there one in St George?

Thanks Joel and Skylere for the bike - I love it, err I mean Wesley loves it ;-) Emma is very very very very jealous and wants one too.

I've raced at Old Pueblo solo geared twice, solo single speed and duo. This year I went for 5 person open co-ed and joined the infamous Jack Mormon Militia team. Matt Harding, Joshe Wolfe, Kenny Jones, Chucky Gibson and me.

I was a bit out of my element racing on a 5 person team - just a bit. More people to let down with a bad lap and more people to go do a slow lap themselves... More team members, less control. However the weather was mega challenging this year and made me say thanks I wasn't solo. We had wind/dust/wind/rain/wind and more wind.

Josh took the first lap and the running of the bulls - which was as crazy as ever

I went out on the 3rd lap and was blown off the trail a few times. It was WINDY. At one point I was blown into a huge barrel cacti and my foot, still in the pedal, got stapled to it! I yanked myself off it and pulled out a few spines back in the pit.

Our pit set up rocked. We had a huge tent with a 125,000 BTU/hour space heater. Luxury!

Overhead lights, a microwave which I used in anger and much banter. I don't know if having a lady in their midst mellowed out the JMM banter - probably a just a bit?

The weather got ugly for a while. My 1st lap was about 7 mins slower than I expected - ouch. The wind blew me all over the place and I was glad I had little wheels with me. I was the slowest team member. We were in second place after 5 laps but it was close - we had a race on our hands. The team in first place sent their fastest guy, Ben Sontag, out for 2 laps right away and we were chasing. We talked a little strategy. I offered to sit out a rotation. I didn't really want to sit out a rotation but the fact it was dark, pissing with rain and blowing a gale made it kinda attractive at the time!! That and I wanted to be a team player.

We agreed I would sit out a rotation to let the team catch up. Then Josh came in off his lap soaking wet and amped from killing it. We told him the strategy that I was going to sit out one rotation. He said - "I've never heard of that before" and called bullshit on the whole idea - so I was back in :-) :-)

Every one of us rode brilliantly with no mechanicals, mishaps or bad laps among us - we pulled into first place sometime in the morning and finished on the top of the podium. I got to take one of those cool OP bike trophy's home again -  Thanks JMM's  :-)

My duo partner from last year Scott Morris repeated his win with a new team mate Eszter Horanyi. At first I was jealous of their luxury pit set up until my team mates unpacked the microwave. Good stuff.

Another awesome 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in the books. I do like that race and will be back again next year. Team, duo, solo, gears, SS?? I just don't know yet...

I made Wes ride behind for a photo. Other than that he rode like a sheepdog

Emma has finally grown into her 24" wheel bike with a recent spurt

On the way home Wesley inhaled a Domino's pizza. That boy is an eating and growing maniac right now!

Zion seemed to loom larger than life above. Somewhat surreal.

We rode out to the point on the North Rim trail with a nuclear tailwind.

At the point the wind died and it was strangely/beautifully calm.

Then the wind flipped direction and we had a tailwind all the way back to the car. Whoohoo!!!

DH and I often bring surprise snacks on the trail for each other. I made this mashed yam, rice and secret spicy sauce mixture that was super yummy.

I had a total blast creating a huge fatigue monster in my body which has currently swallowed my blogging skills. I'm reduced to a bulleted list in the void of flowing coherent prose.

• As always, Camp Lynda wasn't about me (whew ;-) . All the people who came, made Camp Lynda a very special event to be at. Mountain bikers are some of the finest characters on the planet.
• I rode with some old friends and made some new ones as did everybody else.
• We had a few awards this year given out at dinner on Saturday evening for impressive feats at camp.
• I don't think anybody bled, bonked or broke a frame! At least I didn't hear of it while accepting award nominations at dinner on Saturday evening. Only 1 broken pedal was reported later.
• Zeke passed a kidney stone which made him late for the Day 2 start, but won him a bag of Carborocket.
• Carey nose wheelied down a rock drop in front of a gasping crowd but pulled it out with her ninja bike skills to win the socks and can of CR333.
• JK caught Carey's ninja bike skills on yet another tech section on video
• This post camp e mail I received sums it up  "I met a lot of really cool people this weekend! It was a great opportunity for me to ride with experts and pros in a non-competitive atmosphere, it was totally inspiring, thanks again!"
• We had ladies at camp this year. Lots of them! About a third of the campers were chickas. Strong, talented and motivated ladies with impressive race resumes, big goals for 2011 and great stories to share. They were fun to ride with and inspiring to listen to. I regret not rounding ALL the ladies up for a group shot so here is one of Carey, me, Eszter and Kat. We are girls and we like bikes, a lot :-)
• We had more ladies finish the complete 75 mile route on Sunday than men. Go girls!!!

• DH missed out on most rides cause he had to work (shock/gasp/bummer). Instead he sat at his desk and watched our Spots move about the desert with the new mobile app he made http://bluedot.mobi/ It was the first real live test of his app and he declared it a success.
• A select group of us ended up at Golden Corral for dinner on Saturday AND Sunday - that is an endurance feat right there!!!
• I saw more pink bottles of CarboRocket on bikes than anything else this weekend. I think Brad has some magic in there.
• I was pathetic at taking photos all weekend but Facebook has hundreds!
• Adam has fantastic pics and words about camp as always
• Marshall took lots of photos and shared them Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.
• We had more Brads at this camp than Daves which is a first
• Another Brad suggested making Camp Lynda 2012 into a fundraiser for St George trail maintenance. I think that is a splendiferous idea and will make it happen in some format.
• Camp Lynda in 2012 will remain self-supported. It is the self-supported philosophy that draws the kick-ass people that make Camp Lynda great.
• Dave and Michelle Byers gave me a thank-you gift of a pound of dark chocolate and a bag of Peets coffee (and some other goodies - thank-you).
• I would publicly like to state I am happy to accept gifts in the form of dark chocolate and coffee.
• I am currently using dark chocolate and coffee to assist with post camp withdrawals and taming the fatigue monster I have with me today.

JK brought his camera to camp this year instead of his usual monsoon contribution which was most appreciated and put together a daily show for us. I totally dig his vids so here is our daily camp flow. Big thanks for making and sharing your movies Jeff!!

Last and definitely not least I want to give a BIG thanks to the other half of 2-Epic, DH (a.k.a Dave Harris). Camp Lynda is as much his child as mine even tho' it has my name. We created it together and DH puts in at least half, if not more, of the behind the scenes work. We called it Camp Lynda as a joke the first year cause we thought it was a girly name for a hard camp! Brad mentioned the first year he was expecting punch and cookies and to maybe play lawn darts. The second year we tried changing it to Camp 2-Epic but the moniker Camp Lynda had stuck and nobody called it Camp 2-Epic anyway.

DH's personal camp experience this year was cut short by too much work and a torn tire. He is half of Camp Lynda... Love ya DH :-) XXX

Philosophy

Camp motto is SELF SUPPORTED. Come ready to be independent and self sufficient in every aspect. Everyone is invited provided you come self supported; have your gps with the route (we provide) loaded, ride at your own pace, shortcut/bail when you have reached your fun threshold. Fitness and ability level are non-issues, you set your own pace, make your own decisions, fix your own flats, bring your own food/fluids. Know your limits and when to choose a short cut home. Bring lotsa mojo :-)

Camp Lynda is a training mission. A three day training binge. It is a training camp about fitness on the bike and not so much a guided tour of the sweetest single-track StG has to offer. Rides will be in the 4-7 hour range per day.

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Schedule

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Day 1 Fri Jan 28th

Ride starts at 9:30am in the Starbucks parking lot 1091 N Bluff St, St George.

Dinner is at 6:00pm at Bajio 1091 N Bluff St # 103, St George, UT. Friends, family and non-campers are welcome at dinner. Do pre-warn them that bikes are the only dinner conversation topic...

Day 2 Sat Jan 29th

There is NO group start time for Saturday!!! We do NOT have a start time for this ride today. The goal is to spread riders out by avoiding a mass start. Suggested start time is in the 9 - 10 am time frame but you are welcome to start earlier or later than that. Ride will start in the Albertsons (they have a Starbucks inside ;-) parking lot 745 North Dixie Drive, St. George, UT.

Dinner is at 5:30pm at Golden Corral 42 S River Rd # 10, St George, UT. We have a group seating area reserved under Lynda Wallenfels/Camp Lynda. Friends, family and non-campers are welcome at dinner. Do pre-warn them that bikes are the only dinner conversation topic...

Day 3 Sun Jan 30th

Ride starts at 9:30 am in the Albertsons parking lot  745 North Dixie Drive, St. George, UT

No dinner plans.
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GPS Files

Download the GPS files HERE.  This download includes the NEW Day 2 route. If you downloaded the routes before noon on Jan 26th you have the OLD route. Please update your files.  They are provided as 500 point tracks so will fit on most GPS units with no editing. We recommend using Topofusion to put the routes on your GPS unit. Here is a link to the Topofusion  tutorial on uploading tracks to GPS units http://topofusion.com/tutorials/uploading-tracks.php If you need more help, contact support at Topofusion or ask below.

A visual map for each day for web browsers is here and for smartphones is on http://bluedot.mobi/ On a smart phone this map is interactive and you can use it on the trail. This is a new web app Dave is making. It is in alpha-testing mode so you can't rely on it as your sole source of navigation for camp. It is really super cool tho!! Check the help section on bluedot.mobi for features. It will work as a map/gps without a data connection, ie, in the bush! This is also a mobile Spot tracker. During camp it will be tracking me (Lynda), Carey Lowery and Jeff Kerkove. Anyone with a Spot unit and a Spot tracking service plan can be added. You don't need a smartphone to be tracked. Send us your public spot page link if you want to be a player. Your friends and family will be able to see where you are on their phone or on the web.

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Daily Route Details

There are no resupply points for food or water Day 1 and Day 2. Start the ride with everything you need for the day. On Day 3 we pass Bloomington Park at mile 6.9 and 66 which has bathrooms and a water fountain but no food available.

Day 1 Full route is 38 miles.

The route is an out and back. Turn back at anytime you like. The end point is at mile 19. Completing the entire out and back route is about 38 miles.

Day 2 Full route is 46.4 miles.

Day 2 route has been changed. The new file is now available for download HERE. If you downloaded the Day 2 file before noon on Jan 26th you have the OLD route.

There are multiple loops on this route. Each loop can be skipped as a short cut. All loops are ridden counter clockwise except for the first one, Barrel Roll which is ridden clockwise. The loops are ridden in this order and direction: Barrel Roll/clockwise, Rim Rock/counter clockwise, then up Cove Wash, down Stucki, up Three Fingers, down the road to the race course start, Green Valley Race course Barrel Cacti/counter clockwise, Zen/counter clockwise. If you mix up the order and direction that is ok!! All loops are fun both directions and you don't add any extra mileage.

Day 3 Full route is 75.8 miles. This is the queen stage!

It is a long dirt road loop with minimal single track. The short cut option is to ride to Starvation Point at mile 19 then retrace your tracks back home again for a 38 mile day. You have 8.5 hours of daylight from our 9:30am start time to sunset. Bring lights if you think you may need them or get an earlier start than the main group.

At mile 61 you turn right off the paved highway and lift your bike over a fence. There is no gate. It doesn't look right but it is. There are some private no access signs which are for the land behind the signs but the signs are crooked so it can be confusing. The route stays in front of the signs.

Mile 6.6 to 7.9 overlaps with mile 64.5 to 66.2  as we ride through Bloomington. To stay on course on the way out at mile 7.9 turn right on Pioneer Rd. On the way back at mile 66.2 turn left at Bloomington circle. We pass Bloomington Park at mile 6.9 and 66 which has bathrooms and a water fountain.

The big climb of the day is Joe Blake Hill. The view from the top is worth stopping a few moments for.

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Other Details

Weather forecast is partly cloudy to sunny with temps 36 - 61F.

Goatheads are EVERYWHERE here. You will not survive an hour at Camp unless you have tubeless tires filled with fresh Stans sealant or slime tubes. Carry 2 tubes with you too! Be warned, they are everywhere… Stans disappears so crack open your tires and pour some fresh stuff in there before Camp.

Best hotel locations? Anything on St George Blvd or Bluff St is good.

What else? Post questions here.

Archive

Here are some of the beautiful desert features you will see on Day 3

Rest stop!

Pristine desert

All the trails are steadily drying out and Dave emerged from his winter hibernation to sample the dirt.

I tossed my chain off my SS cranking through a dip and sampled the dirt more intimately than I wanted with a full body ground slam. It was one of those fast falls where you are on the ground before you know it thinking WTF. I stood up and declared I'm selling this bike. It's time with me is over!! Luckily no damage to me or the bike.

Dave took his turn about an hour later. Light damage.

We laid some gps tracks down on Dino trail to include it in the Camp Lynda Day 1 route. Dino trail was in prime shape with the sandy bits nicely packed down.

I love winter late afternoon orange glow and long shadows

Unfortunately a good portion of the proposed (permits pending) race course was off-limits today. Saturated clay so dastardly that you can't even walk in/on it.

We did ride the tasty slick rock areas. This race course will be very technical in areas. Pre-riding and learning a few lines before the race would be helpful.

Nice day for riding here. The temps got up to 52F but everything that is not solid rock is still saturated and soft.

The big night came. There was nervous excitement in spades (mostly mine).

Finally they go.

Wes' car is far left. It went a little faster 3 runs in a row as the graphite wore in.

Nothing like notching up one in the 'W' column only 4 days into the new year!

St George had a really wet December. This is what happened when some real cold was added on to the wet.

I've never ever seen ice like this in Green Valley. I was slipping around pushing my bike over it. Cleats and ice no es  bueno.

On Sunday Jan 2nd I went hunting all over the county and into the next state for some rideable dirt. Even the reliable roads out on the Arizona strip were too mucky for me. I've never been 100% shut out of dirt in St George before. That is a first after living here for 15 years!

Monday morning looked like this.

The pavement dropped into non-rideable status.

Yes I did break out the trainer!!

Brrrr.

The timing proved to be most excellent. The sun shone while we were in Arizona while St George experienced the storm of the century and flooding. The timing proved to be most awful...Dave came down with the flu on the drive south and was in no condition to ride or bikepack :--(  :-(

My last minute 2010 OP duo teammate , Scott Morris, known henceforth as my Southern Arizona wingman stepped in to be my ride partner for the day.

Dave, weak and coughing, unable to ride, was able to drive and shuttled us so we could cherry pick a sweet point-to-point ride on the Cienega section of the AZT. It was a big cheesy grinner of a trail - yummy!! Scott took the beauty pic of me below. He can ride and take awesome pics at the same time - good talent to have.

Scott had to head home and Dave and I moved into the amusing and historic Old Stage Coach Inn in Patagonia, Arizona.

Dave continued to hack, cough, take flu meds and be my shuttle bunny for the next few days as I rode a total of 135 miles, point-to-point unloaded on the Arizona Trail. He watched my Spot from his Droid, streamed Netflix to amuse himself and even picked me up one day a few miles early before an intense storm cell hit me! Elite service!! It certainly wasn't as fun as bikepacking with Dave would have been, but it was still pretty darn ok to be in AZ riding big miles in the sun on the AZT. I plan to ride the 300 mile AZT race in April (and have another week offline then) so it was all good scoping time too.

On the 3rd day of the above shuttling/not riding/being sick in a hotel room, Dave announced he was "over it" and we drove home early. I finished out my week offline (mostly) at home. Christmas was a non-event at home and it made me realize that I really like Christmas and missed it and the non-event of it all this year isn't how I want to do it again. Expect more Christmas celebration in 2011 :-)

So after the Park City shindig we cooked up a plan to race the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow on a 4 person SS with Heather and Lynda.

And then Heather stepped it up a notch.

"Let's go as missionaries of the Blue Dome!"

It all spun wildly out of control from there.  Name tags were made.

Deseret Industries received visits to acquire the proper kit.

Racing 25 hours in a tie?  Really?

As it turned out, everyone received the power of the Blue Dome with open arms and spinning legs.  It was such an easy sell at this crowd.  I think it was about a 50/50 split between folks that thought we were actual missionaries, and folks that got our little pun - but regardless, all seemed to love it.

The night is long in November - be prepared.

The days were warm which also took special preparation.

Appropriately, Zion was our constant backdrop.

The race was fantastic. The course was perfect: mixed dirt road/singletrack/wash climbs, down the rippin' Jem trail, then a few minutes of techy ledges on Hurricane Rim just to keep you honest. There was a new snack surprise every time I got off the bike in the timing tent. If you missed it this year don't miss it next year! Super fun, good vibe.

Post race meal rocked!

Oh, and we did make great bike race.

Kenny drilled it on his second lap trying to shake a persistent guy from the Idaho team and in the process nailed the fastest SS lap of all time on the course. Lynda drilled her first lap and got both the fastest female SS lap and fastest female overall lap (and only 2 min off Kenny's ripping lap to boot!).

Heather killed it on every lap. I went out after her...she told me she would be doing 1:15 laps and then turned a 1:02...guess who wasn't there in time? Doh! Didn't make that mistake again.

My last lap was nearly my fastest. I was locked an a duel with a geared rider and we were both loving it. It's been a loooooong time since I've had that much fun on a bike.

Lynda rode a lap inches off Greg Martin's wheel. She came in giggling about it, said it was sooo much easier cause it was a windy lap and Greg pushed it all out of the way for her (and also had some very kind things to say about his bike handling). Then Kenny came in off his lap was pissed that some dude wouldn't get off his wheel (it was the same team). LW and I busted into hysterics immediately ;)

In the end the Idaho boys opted to drink beer instead of get wrapped up in a drag race. They appropriately received beer mugs for their prize. Jon from Sabrosa captain'd a strong team for 2nd.

Look out for the Blue dome tour in 2011.