Monday, October 8, 2012

My October 2012 Record Attempt of Arizona Trail 750

Team SOLE Base Camp, Big Bear, CA
Paul, Karen, some house guest and myself
going over the course and gear list.
I'm less than two days before the start and I've been posting some information on FaceBook about the event.  With that a lot of people have been asking me why I want to do this course again?  It absolutely was painful at times and I will never forget those memories, but reflecting back on accomplishments like this are what drives me.  If anyone knows me they know I'm a competitor, its my driving force.

99% of my gear is packed aside from a couple last minute preps.  Although the moon is in its waining phase things are looking bright for this event.

I recruited Paul Romero who is also seeking some redemtion on this course from April where he was plagued with some mechanically issues and schedule conflicts that had him starting 4 days later then the rest of the field.

Paul and I will team up to get to the race but once the wheels are rolling its ever man for himself.

Mauricio, giving his home country of Brazil a video interview about the
Arizona Trail 750 and especially the 26 mile Grand Canyon portage.

Hard to explain in words the logistics that are involved in working 3 different jobs and attempting to schedule an event like this with decent weather, vacation, and money.  The timeline window is very short so everything needs to be on point.  Paul and I were lucky enough to have a great friend, Mauricio Cervenka, who is visiting the United States for 2 months accept to drive us to the race start and then pick us up at the race finish in Utah.  This alone is a huge undertaking.

Big Bear 55 mi. race weekend before
the AZT attempt on my new
29er Ellsworth Evolve SST2
So thankful everything is coming together hope you stay tuned and follow me along on another Boatman Adventure.


Special thanks to all the support from the following companies for this adventure.  Full spec gear list to be revealed soon.  
-MSR




Last picture before I go was taken by Rebecca Mitchell of Big Bear at the US Cup Endurance Championship race October 6.


Check out this cool video Mauricio made of us attempting the AZT on Ellsworth Bikes.
http://vimeo.com/52291083