AZTR Enduro

Once I got south of Flagstaff it became pretty apparent that this route was much bigger than I expected.  The trail was also quite a bit more primitive and slower going than I expected. I had planned to night ride 2-4 hours most nights but it ended up being more like 4-7 hours EVERY night to keep a level of progress that could even give me a chance of finishing. While I would have really liked to make it to Mexico, in talking with other racers the zone south of Tucson was still slow going with tons of elevation change. Once I got to the Gila river I realized that best case scenario I would be riding until the day before we flew back and would basically jump straight back into work on top of having to get my bike packed up. I adjusted my expectations and accepted that Tucson would be the destination. The trail was so epic, I kept thinking about how much singletrack there was in AZ and how much variety of terrain there was. Gear: I had no mechanical issues or major gear failures but here

 Its not a bike packing blog without a gear post!   We are living in the golden age of mountain bikes. 10 years ago I never would have believed you could ride the original rampage site on the same bike as 100 mile xc races or go bike packing on.   One bike to do it all: Freeride, XC, Bikepacking I'll be riding my 2021 Santa Cruz Hightower C XT Build.  The bike has E13 TRS+ hoops I laced to Hadley Racing hubs, Fox DPX2 PE rear boinger, e13 cassette. I'm running a WTB Koda saddle (recently converted from a long relationship with the WTB Deva), ESI chunky grips, Cane Creek bar ends, Tag Metals 30mm rise bar + 45mm stem in 31.8, Tag T3 pedals, Pirelli Scorpion R 2.4 w/ cushcore xc rear, Michelin Force AM 2.4 front. Bike all loaded up All my gear including shipped drop I'm running my trusty Thule Pak n Pedal rear rack with a dry bag on the back to hold my sleeping bag and a few layers. I'm using a Salsa EXP anything cradle to hold a dry bag on my bars.  In the bar bag I'

 In 2014 I rode the Colorado Trail and wrote about it here .  As soon as I finished I started looking for other similar bicycle legal national scenic trails.  I quickly found the Arizona Trail Race which is claimed to be the hardest in the world and set my sights on it.  I had a series of knee overuse issues from riding with no right ACL from 2013-2018 that we're a frequent setback on top of work responsibilities, prioritizing other types of riding and trips, wildfires & other assorted excuses over the past 8 years.   In 2021 I had planned to end the year with this race but was focused on the Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit where I won the open A class and 9th in the series. The amount of bike work during the week to make that happen ate up all my training time so I opted to not even attempt it. This year I set my priorities on 3 races: Vapor Trail 125 , Marji Gesick 100 , and the Arizona Trail 800 .    Me 13 hours into the V125 at    Monarch Pass. 22:02 race time        At the f