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