"You wanted to play the game, can't cry when the game plays you." This is my story of racing in the 2012 Gold Rush Motherlode

Last years video of the GRML (me on a trekking decent)

Team Sole / GRML 2012
Nathalie Long, Aaron Boatman, Karen Lundgren, Paul Romero

Just getting off a 72 hour shift from Fire and I'm driving to meet the team 170 miles away in Boulder City, jumping on the Team Jordan Rig and then driving the rest of the 600 miles, together, into Bear Valley, CA (the host city of the event, located in the Sierra Nevada's).  

JordanRomero.com NOW Van

Really excited about racing with two of my newest friends and motivational coaches Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren who have just returned from the North American Outfitters EXPO.  I feel a little history about Paul and Karen (AKA PK) is required for you to understand what I got myself in to.  PK have spent most of there lives in competition and exploration around the world.  Both have summited the tallest peak on every continent and made professional careers out of endurance racing.  Ever heard of the 13 year old boy who conquered Everest... Yeah thats their son, Jordan Romero.  So in short these people are the real deal they are not your weekend warriors they are true professional athletes.  It's an amazing opportunity and thrill to be chosen to race along side them.  Our 4th teammate is Nathalie Long from Quebec, Canada, at this time I really don't know much about her except she is an incredible paddler and is just returning from an 12 hour flight from Australia where she just competed in an 18 Hour long Kayak race and placed 3rd.  Just to state the obvious this is the first time this team has ever met in person or raced together.

Driving up we got acquainted, Paul made some friends at McCarran Airport and we all did some zumba dancing in Tonopah among other things.  We arrived about 11PM and quickly setup camp in a parking lot and grabbed some zzzzzzz before the pre-race check-in the following day.  Morning came early and another crappy sleep for me.  As the day progressed we prepped a ton of gear, patched up some broken stuff, fixed Nathalie's bike that customs beat the crap out of, made a plan of attack for the race, tested out a few things and did all of our pre race check-in requirements.  

Nathalie and I testing our boat skills in the pool.

Rope Safety check

At dinner we grabbed all of our 7 - 36"x36" Nat Geo maps and plotted our initial course so we could pack accordingly for the upcoming Transitions.  The race panned out like this... 28mile paddle, 145 mile mountain bike, 103 trek, 7mi packraft orienteering section almost 300 miles broken up in to 5 sections.  Did a little last minute gear and map things and were in bed by 1230AM.

Day 1

Chaos at the start

Directions were simple... Get a kayak and paddle as fast as you can to each of the 5 CP's (Checkpoint) and oh yeah don't forget to hydrate its 104 degrees out today.  

So here I am paddling with Nathalie, in the top 4, trying to get in to a good rhythm and stay with PK who have probably only logged about 2,500 hours in a kayak together.  Nathalie and I bickered at each other for about the first 2 hours of the race until it was decided neither of us wanted to fight and when we actually worked together it was obvious to me we were the fastest boat on the water.  By CP3 the lead team, Team Columbia, had made an incredible mistake and lost their passport (which in this sport is your punchcard that proves you reached each CP).  This was sad for them and bitter sweet for us as we now moved up into 3rd place.  For a piece of paper to determine a teams performance is ridiculous.  Did they not hear in pre-race meeting that if you loose your passport to punch the map?  The language barrier was definitely not in there favor as they were a Spanish team from Spain.  

As we paddled on it became evident the heat was a huge factor.  My stupidity left me without my normal PFD with built in hydration so a quick access water source wasn't available and my pack was in my drybag in the front of the boat.  I drank every bit of the 2 bottles, I brought, over the 5 1/2 hours it took us to complete the 28mi paddle.  I could see other teams gulping water as they paddled and I was worried how this would play out on me later.  Nathalie shared a bar or two with me so I felt I would be ok.  

I can't fully explain the nerves and intensity that comes along with racing an adventure race.  Racing solo its up to you, racing on a team I, personally, feel added stress to do more and become a "team player."  For this race I was trying so hard to be on point.  I was trying to go above and beyond and push for my team and I sacrificed my own hydration / nutrition and it was about to bite me in the ass.  

Almost to TA1, Kayak finish

As we hit TA1 and transitioned from paddle to Trek I was excited we were in the front with two of the biggest teams on the west coast Technu and Yogaslackers.  We heard a rumor Team Columbia recovered their passport and were right behind us.  Back in to race pace we crossed a river and started a huge, HOT, uphill slope that put everyone in the hurt box.  Race pace is a term I use when you are moving as fast as fucking possible, seriously if you can run, then run, no excuses in race pace.   

Back to the front of the pack it was 1,2,3 neck and neck.  Within an hour or two a member of the Yogaslackers was throwing up and a member of Technu was getting heat exhaustion.  Little by little our uphill strategy of quick burst and then 2 minute recover sessions, paid off and we were in first place pulling away.  Salt Stick Electrolytes, Hammer Nutrition Vitamins, omegas, fish oils, SFH protein, FRS, NOW bars were being consumed on a level that rivaled a cake eating contest.  I felt my body tell me numerous times your hot stop, your hot stop!!  Here I am, the guy from Arizona, who lives in the hottest part of the United States is getting heat exhaustion.  It's real I'm fading fast.  Extremely embarrassed to tell my team, my mentors and my friends of my situation and I'm struggling to hold pace.  Leaving the feelings of excitement I now find myself questioning my own abilities and if I can keep racing at this pace.  I suck up my pride and share my news and within the first 24 hours of the race my teammates are carrying my pack and offering me water.  Swallowing my pride we continue to move forward as a team.  Up and down hills through brush, ponds, river canyons, poison oak, miners camps, over rocks so slippery golf shoes wouldn't help, we moved at a race pace.   

Nathalie had a broken light in the canyon and how the hell she got through those bastard 10 miles with such crappy light is beyond me.   

Day 2 

Imagine this terrain at night.

At about midnight we transferred into day two.  One down 4 to go.  While in the canyon our team came across two different groups of yellow jackets which stung PK and myself.  As I receipted a reference to Dane Cook about punching a bee in the face the laughter didn't take the pain away.  Little bastards hurt.  I took about 10 stingers in all my encounters

I soon realized unless you were dead the race goes on suffer in silence and lets go "Team Columbia is right behind us..."  So we continued to move forward slamming our shins, ankles, knees, hips, hands, elbows and feet for another 6 hours as we endured through Trek 1's canyon river section.  

The rest of the night was kind of a blur, I know I was there but cant recall all my activities and often asked my team what CP we were on as I guess I forgot one somewhere along the way.  At about 5Am Team Columbia who were... "moving like gazelles through the canyon" caught up to us.  It gave us hope for a minute to stay with them but our team was struggling and we got separated too quickly and lost them in the final 2 miles of the canyon.  They worked the way a team should, never more than 4 feet apart, helping everyone along, synergy, it was obvious they were not amateurs and they were here to win.  

We made a risky team decision and bush whacked up a 1500 ft slope with hopes of a ridge clearing and better terrain on top.  By this time just the thought of leaving the canyon was great at any expense.  Well we got what we asked for, oh yeah this is also where we encountered yellow jacket hive #2.  The ridge had a super long almost impenetrable brush, but 2 hours later we were on a fire road and hopes were high as we hit TA2 now in 3rd place.  

Arriving at TA2

I was over joyed to finally get on my bike and make some head way in this race.  TA2 was hot, made a quick mechanical fix on Karens Seatpost, hit the much needed Technu (poison oak remover) shower and everything else went smooth.  Body was feeling 8/10 as we hopped on the bikes.   The bike section started just before noon towards the peak heat of the day.  We quickly snapped two CP's and were headed for a Campground (CG) Watersource where we would slow down our pace until sunset.  We sat and hydrated up at a CG bathroom while Paul changed his 3rd flat.  Drank a ton of cold water and sat in a self made puddle until I had goosebumps, very relaxing body was feeling great.  

Nathalie on Bike 1 after TA2

From CG we made it to a huge descent down to the Tulamoe (??) River which felt like HOT blow dryers in our face but was worth every droplet of sweat as the river temp was well in the low 60's.  We decided it was time to grab some shut eye.  We had been racing for almost 36 hours at race pace without sleep, which in this heat is pushing the limit, but we were doing it and I trusted the Captains direction.  We found some shade and called out a 2 1/2 hour nap session.  Super excited I passed out hard for about an hour and then woke up covered in ants, they seemed to like my puddle of water that I was attempting to sleep in, dammit.  I went back up to be by the team where I tried to close my eyes in a couple different spots but just couldn't get comfortable in the 100 plus degree temps.  Still got in some relax time but not sleep which was needed.  

The alarm went off and I was already up.  I filled some bottles for the team and we were off on to a big fire road ascent.  We had gotten passed by 2 teams during our rest, but they looked like they were still in the hurt box with the hot weather.  Back on the bikes we passed the two teams back within an hour and were off on our own again making smart decisions and moving at race pace for Team Columbia.  The night went on and on and on and on and on.  Fire road after fire road, up and down and up and up.  We never saw lights of Team Columbia which was kind of discouraging.  I was having a hard time towards the end keeping up and wasn't communicating much with the team as I was starting to bonk pretty hard about 3AM.  Initially, I was hanging back to stay with Nathalie then all of a sudden I was in the back and couldn't recover my muscles to keep up the pace of the team.  Nathalie sprouted some legs from, I don't know where and was at the front of every climb we faced.  A few arguments came from the separation gap between the faster riders and myself.  It may have been induced by being tired, hungry, thirsty or the lack of communication...whatever, I didn't enjoy being the weakest link on the team and expected more help where as my team expected me to be faster.  I understand both sides.  I sold myself as a much better athlete than showed up on race day and I also understand on a team you take the good with the bad.  Getting kicked while your down mentally and physically makes you question your teammates loyalty to you and is extremely frustrating but that is a little of the PK style, nothing soft and gentle about it suck it up and pedal princess.  For my personality the para-military approach works most of the time and although at times it feels like a cattle-prod I pedaled on as hard as I could.  I said all of about 10 words over the next 5 hours.  

Thoughts in my head were simple.  I was no longer on a team where just mere standard performance was acceptable.  I was not on a team that stopped for 3 hours of sleep every 20 hours.  I was on a team that raced for one thing only, to win.  Where I had always made jokes saying I'd like to know what its like to be the weakest link on the team these past couple days have humbled me to that quote.  So I pedaled on and took it one crank revolution at a time.  

Map error on the bike leg.  For each section we would only grab the maps that we needed.  As we reached CP16 we realized we did not have the next map which would lead us to TA3.  Oppsie...  Luckily CP16 was on a distinctive single track where tire tracks were obvious.  With a little tire knowledge we were able to make out 3 obvious tire brands and the team followed the Maxxis Crossmark, Panaracer Fire and Specialized Fasttrak for the next some 8 miles on dirt and asphalt to the TA.  It's pretty awesome to think back to this part of the race, it was almost like stars where aligning for our team to keep pushing the pace.

Arriving at TA3

Arriving at TA3

As we reached TA3 I was wrecked.  My head was messed up.  I could barely talk as I was so frustrated and fatigued.  I told Paul I needed to have a team discussion.  We asked everyone to leave our site and we chatted for a bit.  I said I feel like crap, I can't pull my weight and I feel like I'm slowing the entire team down and I don't belong here.  Words can't describe what its like for me personally to feel when I let someone down, I pride my self on helping others and this race I've needed help to move forward more than not.  I told them something is wrong and I feel like a bobble head doll.  What was the cause?
Histamine flush from 10 yellow jacket stingers, lack of sleep, lack of good food, lack of water, heavy pack, lack of confidence, lack of fitness, nerves from trying to impress my friends... right now it felt like it was all of the above.  The conversation made my team more aware of the weak link but really didn't change how I felt physically.  I packed up my stuff, walked around in circles all over the place and then it was time to get back to racing so we did.  

Due to the excessive heat and so many teams being short coursed the course directors removed some CP's from the course.  At this time only Team Columbia, Team Sole/GRML and Team Technu were on the full course.  My goal was to keep pace and jog when I could.  Paul was off running ahead like a bird dog on a mission and I just didn't have it in me and would tach out trying to stay up.  Super frustrated the entire team stops and again I have everyone's attention.  I'm not joking here guys I'm fucked up, I need help.  

The Gazelles

I gave Paul my pack and I start walking down the trail towards the CP.  The team divides all my gear and we get back to racing.  Within an hour its Nathalie's turn to suffer and she starts getting cooked from the heat too.  PK initiate a new team strategy and I think it starts to sink in that the team can't maintain this pace.  As we push on a discussion takes place and it was decided PK needed to guide Nathalie and myself more closely with our nutrition, supplement and water intake.  School was officially in session.  I reply i'll do whatever it takes to move forward I just need some energy in the tank and a pace where I can recover.  Race pace was kicking my ass.  At this point I'm eating team food, drinking team water and about 2-3 hours in I'm feeling back to race normal which is 8/10.

Its amazing how responsive the body is, during a race we tweak and push ourselves to unusual limits that our body rarely sees.  The food or fuel is so important.  I listen when PK talk about certain types of food yielding certain types of energy for certain types of temperatures, conditions and activities but to be honest it doesn't stick, especially when I'm already in the hurt box.  Being told I'm heavy carbs when I should be fats or vice versa....  Lets dumb it down.  Eat this and hand it to me.  Sadly that was where I was at.

Paul going light for the next section

Headed down the huge granite slabs of the Stanislaus National Park toward Pinecrest Lake I was feeling great.  I'm back carrying all my own stuff feeling great jumping in and out of pools, motivating the team, and I remember parts of this area from last years GRML so I feel like I have my bearings.  

We made friends with some kids swimming in a pool and they showed us a short cut to the shoreline trail where we then made more friends with a homeowner who filled us up on crackers, chips and rootbeer before heading out to Pine Crest Peak where I led us up the hill to the CP.  

Day 3

Headed in to TA4 I was praying for some team sleep,  Up to this point in the race I had slept a total of 2 hours with naps and eye shuts (5min breaks).  We made great time in this section.  On our way to TA4 we found a fire road short cut not on the map and reached TA4 by 3AM where we got word Team Columbia was 6+ hours ahead of us.  Dam that team is on point and I guess our short cut was more evident than I thought.  We decided to sleep and I was so incredibly thankful.  Quickly packed up all our stuff for the next bike leg, took over a huge tarp grabbed what clothes and padding we could, ate some grub and the entire team slept hard.
  

Paul, Karen and Myself on the bike and moving fast

Woke up 3 hours later to Mark telling us we were the only team still in the TA.  I  quickly asked if Technu came through and the answer was no.  The other teams were short course racers so they weren't of immediate concern.  I was feeling mint.  I felt so great it was as if I just had 10 hours of rest.  Gathering some race intel, we had to be at TA5 by 2PM so we had a bit of work ahead of us.  The TA director came over and told us our SPOT wasn't tracking.  Quick battery change and we were off racing.  I felt like my old self, with a little push from Paul to get this team rolling I was on it, legs were fresh, attitude was great.  I was helping everyone move forward, encouraging and gathering water when I could to help out.  We got to the first CP on our bike leg and realized we left our Passport back at TA4.  Ah crap...  Ok what do we do?  We just did an hour long descent and are on a time crunch.  The decision was made to use the knowledge from the pre race meeting and punch the map.  We also obtained the written clue from each CP and raced on.  We reached TA5 in no time at all passing some of the other teams along the way.  We reached TA5 about 115PM and saw they were cooking brauts, beans, and grilled cheese sandwich's.  Oh lord thank you for this meal.  I asked the TA director for our passport back and was told Mark knows about it continue what you've been doing I don't have it.  We unpacked our bikes and got our gear ready and everyone got some food.  

We caloried up for about an hour before 

This picture is showing the fire looking
 backwards, we saw it head on

we felt the pressure from Technu who we knew didn't rest at TA4 and was hot on our tail.  Heading in to the Stanislaus River Canyon we were ready for 12+ hours of hell but without the Poison Oak.  We noticed a really beautiful river with a lot of CFS flowing towards us chiseling out the granite.  Cold water to drink felt great and kept us cool, which reminds me I should talk about the fact that throughout this race we only treated water on the first Trek leg and ever since that drank straight from the water sources.  

We caught up to a few teams on the route and kept pushing on at a race pace.  We made good ground until about 330PM when we all saw the fire.  The granite kept the fire at bay but at this time in the race we were sure most normal teams wouldn't go past it like we did.  Shirts over our faces and moving fast we pushed passed the fire while fixed wings dropped retardant, helicopters dropped water buckets, there was an awkward time when we tried to radio for direction without success.  I'm certain the pilots called us every name in the book but your either racing or losing.  We continued to push up the river bank and crossed a time or two to test our luck and dodge the brush that at times was too thick to walk through.  Some really funny stories of us crossing the river, and sadly no pictures came from it as the GoPro was dead.  I would say canyoneering in this section was probably one of the wildest things I've done in a race and it felt great.  We pushed Nathalie super hard and so far out of her comfort zone I'm surprised she talked to us afterwards, she did great.  

Once nightfall hit I realized my battery in my light was almost dead and forgot I gave my spare battery's to Nathalie back at Day 1 and didn't replace them.  It's the little things sometimes.  So i made forward progress but it was slow and annoying catching your feet on small rocks and off-camber slabs.  At a 5 min rest, Paul repaired his foot and borrowed my spare Swiftwick Socks, it became evident I over pack and carry way to much stuff but sometimes its useful.  

Day 4
Making my way in the dark trying to keep up by around 1AM I was extremely difficult but determined to move forward.  Nathalie got the blunt end of it as I was arguing with her about her powerful light that was dwarfing mine and casting a nasty shadow.  Just then Karen sparks up and says her light just took a shit too.  Now we are down to 2 working lights and 1 light (mine) that is comparable to a cellphone screen.  We make it on a trail at about 115AM and start blazing some serious speed and then all of a sudden we loose trail.  Some different comments were made but we never discussed the findings in full.  The river was much smaller and did we go south for awhile???  We search around for about an hour or so to see if we can retrace the trail before we made the decision to call it and grab some shut eye.  We never found the trail again so we started a quick fire, slept and froze on and off for the next 2 1/2 hours.  Woke up about 530AM to Nathalie saying we need to get up and she was right we did.  I felt great again after the sleep and could see which was awesome.  

Rope 200ft Rappel Section

We made our way following the river and found some trail cairns and signs of campers.  Some more bushwhacking and continuing to follow the river we came across a family of campers.  We chatted and ate some of their food, applesauce, broccoli, and cheese crackers...yummy.  Thinking we finally made it to the Stanislaus CG and CP31.  I asked if one of the campers would show me on the map where we were.  They pointed WAY, WAY, WAY southeast to the Reservoir.  The entire team had a look of despair as we realized we traveled way off course by about 10K.  Ah shit.  It was about

Paul diving in to the finish line pool

830AM when we got ourselves together and started our 10K run to CP31 down an asphalt road.  Having the experience of being on your feet for 4 days and then walking on asphalt sucks, it hurts, dont know why but it hurts bad, enough said.  So we ran for about 30min before we came across a race volunteer who was following our SPOT Tracker and looking for us.  He said all the teams except 1st place had shuttled past the canyon because of the fire so we might as well take the ride and oh BTW ropes closes at 10AM.  We accepted the ride and hustled up the mountain to the ropes courses where we did a 300ft ascend, traverse and 2 rappels.  

OK so we know we have to finish the race by 4PM its roughly 1PM.  Do we go for the finish line or attempt one more CP???  We decided as a team it was better to ensure an early finish and not risk a penalty.  In typical Boatman fashion I asked if I could navigate the last 10K section back to Bear Valley and the finish line.  Why not... I find a trail that used to be a trail that is no longer a trail and yes we are back bushwhacking, lol.  But staying on my compass heading we get dropped, perfectly out next the highway where we crossed and picked up a perfectly groomed singletrack that led us all the way to Bear Valley General Store.  Nathalie bought everyone an ice cream and we ran all the way back to finish line where our last CP was to grab an item off the bottom of a pool and then cross the finish line at about 315PM in 2nd place.

Team Sole/GRML 2nd Place

Closing

I learned so much from this experience about my teammates, myself, nutrition, body, setup, pace, attitude and my part as a team member.  My team raced 102 hours on less than 7 hours of sleep through record high temps in the races 5 year history.  I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  There is no doubt in my mind that PK are some of the strongest competitors in the sport and it was priceless to grab on to their coat tails for a few days even if it cost them some time.  It was humbling to see how fast they move and there strategy to always be moving paid off as they kept us in a podium position the entire race.
  
I realize I get stuck on the negatives and most of my reflections of this experience are from when I had some sort of problem and I omit the good times when we were moving fast.  Everyone in the race had some sort of problem at one time or another.  Some pushed through them some were pulled through them.  This is only my 3rd expedition length race so I'm still fine tuning my skills and adding to my book of knowledge.  

There is a lot of controversey about Team Sole/GRML receiving 2nd place and a lot of the teams said some pretty nasty things that I was able to read when an email was forwarded to me from the race directors pending an appeal.  We raced one hell of a race and always had the most professional approach with nothing but the spirit of the rules and the race in mind.  We helped other teams througout the race giving away food, gear, nutrition and even advice.  I'm shocked no one had the courage to come talk to us in person while at the awards or post race and ask their questions, comments or concerns in a more appropiate setting. 


Til the next adventure

Aaron Boatman

Arizona Trail 750 Mile Mountain Bike Race / Tale from the Trail

This is a brief recap of my experience racing the Arizona Trail 750 Mile Mountain Race.

The Arizona Trail 750 is a self supported, wilderness mountain biking race held on a portion of the cross state Arizona Trail. The race follows the trail as closely as possible from Mexico to Utah covering some 750 miles of varied terrain (elevations range from 1600 to 9100 ft). The trail surface is primarily singletrack, but the race will detour on dirt and pavement to bypass wilderness areas the trail passes through. 

This is not an organized or sanctioned event in any way. It's simply a group of friends out to ride their bikes on the same route at the same time. We'll probably compare times afterwards, but more importantly, we'll compare experiences -- the highs and lows the trail and mountains offered us. 
All we provide is a route, a suggested start time(*) and tabulation of results. Period. There is no race organization, no checkpoints, no support system, nothing. You are completely on your own, just as you would be if you chose to ride the Arizona Trail, or any other trail, on any other day. 
(*) Anyone is welcome to ride the route at any time. We provide a suggested start date if you want others to ride with/against. ITTs (individual time trials) are encouraged and will be ranked with that year's results. 
If you want to be included in the "results" you need to follow the rules of self-supported travel set on the rules page. This means things like support crews and water caches are not allowed. This is done in order to ensure a level playing field.

Thursday Day before the start

Just making my way to Tuscon with best-friend Rich Schulenberg (Schulee) and new friend Beto Avelar (from Ensenada, Mexico) was a journey in itself.  Within the past 24 hours our entire shuttle, carpool plan had vanished due to ever changing plans and our group shortened from 5 racers to 3.  We decided to meet Beto at a gas station in Ehrenberg off the 10 FWY at the California, Arizona border about 4PM and began our 4+hr drive to Tuscon where we, last minute, asked Scott Morris (race promoter) if we could crash on his floor and make a ton of noise working on bikes til past midnight, oddly he said sure.  By the time we arrived at Scott’s we secured one of my ex-girlfriends (amazingly still talks to me) to drive us to the border in Beto’s car and then park it at Scott’s house. 

Friday Day 1

Slept like crap as Schulee and Beto snored super loud all night.  Woke up at 445AM and Angela was already at the house ready to go as she had a 10hour drive back to Big Bear that day.  In the last minutes before we left I threw a personal bag in Angela’s car to make some more room in Beto’s car not recognizing it contained my SPOT (transponder tracking device) and all my GPS bicycle mounts.  I didn’t recognize this til we were at the dirt access road were Angela helped us get ready snapped a picture or two and waved good riddens.  So here we are nearly 8AM, 90 minutes late for the mass start that took place at 630AM but we are here and its beautiful lets ride.  Less than 5 miles in we were stripping gear and I could foresee a warm day.  We lost Beto around mile 5 as he was packed super heavy and I knew he wasn’t going to be able to hold pace with us but dam did he try.  At Patagonia Lake I ran in to Scott Morris and he armed me with IRIS his personal SPOT and took this pic of us for the obituaries and we were off.  

Having lived in AZ for the past 10 years and ridden nearly every popular cycling destination I had high hopes of being able to maintain, at the very least, a 7-8mph pace.  LOL.  Having never pre-ridden any sections below Flagstaff I didn’t understand the terrain I was up against.  I underestimated the speed and terrain tremendously.  Some situations had very little to no rhythm at all and getting and maintaining speed was next to impossible without dismounting the bike and running next to it which is obviously not sustainable.  Reaching Patagonia around mile 46 I was out of water and knew my game plan needed to change.  Ate a huge meal at Velvet Elvis Italian food and grabbed some drinks from market next door and Schulee and I were off.

Hit the HWY to take advantage of the tail wind up to dirt road then single track to Kentucky Camp.  Very fast fun sections  Ended up putting in about 90 miles the first day hit the sack just after midnight.  First experience sleeping in a BIVY was a damp one.  As I didn't know that the condensation would sneak in that much. 

Saturday Day 2
Woke up freezing with moisture all inside my sleeping bag and it was only 5AM.  I could tell there was a storm brewing as clouds and sprinkles were coming down.  Sadly the AZT led us right in to the thick of the shit storm.   We pushed through and then diverted to Collosal Cave (horse stable) and stayed by the fire place from about 915AM til about 2PM.  Ate like kings and rested up with Eric Foster and a few other riders that passed through.  The sky cleared up enough for us to push forward, the three of us left and headed for a gas station along the HWY where I met other AZT racers Jill Hueckman and Eric Lord.  Eric had a broken shifter and was out of the race.  Rumors of 20 degree temps and 8" of fresh snow were rampant.

As Eric was about to leave i asked him if he wanted to sell any of his warm weather gear as i was only prepared for warmer temps.  He kindly gave me his polartec sweater and said don't sweat it.  Schulee was not in for the cold so he diverted around Oracle Ridge and we were supposed to hook up the following day and ride together to Superior.  After talking with Jill I realized she was doing the 750 too so we hooked up and headed out about 5PM towards the goal of Mt. Lemmon base campground.  About 730PM ended up breaking away and rolling solo.  Jill is an awesome person but i just wanted to roll a faster pace, nothing personal.  Awesome fast night riding single track once we got off the rocky jeep roads.  Saw a fire with a large group of racers Eric, Brad, Big Dave and a few others about a mile below the campground.  Decided to crash with this group and head out about 4AM.

Sunday Day 3
Woke up about 5AM (dam slept in) and hit the trail, tons of hike-a-bike and a super techy descent put me at the campground where I was able to get some H20 and start my accent to Summerhaven.  Little bit of single track then about 16 miles of HWY climbing up to 8800FT.  Froze my ass off and sought refuge with Big Dave at some sandwich grill off the HWY.  

Oracle ridge started with a bunch of snow passage then some really fun wet, sloshy, steep descents.  I cant explain to you in words how crazy this section was.  I knew that by riding it Dave and I were gonna gap everyone by hours behind us.  I followed Big Dave as best I could but he was super fast and the best I could do was keep him in sight.  Ended up following Dave all the way in to The Ranch just outside the town of  Oracle.  Was able to check my phone and read a text from Schulee that said he was pushing on without me and he would meet me in Superior.  Good luck.  

Cleaned up our bikes and replenished our water.  Dave wanted to go in to town but i was confident with about 1500 calories of food I could make it to Superior and ride through the night then just eat there.  This was a huge rookie mistake.  Dave opted for Oracle, I napped for about an hour and then was woke by a Donkey at the fence about 5PM and decided to start the journey towards the water cash about 40 miles away.  I made it til about 1130AM when the trails all seemed to look the same.  There were so many game and cow trails in this area that it was hard to decide which was the correct route.  The various cactus really kept you from just pushing through.  I called it a night after about a 90 minute circle.  

Monday Day 4

Woke up about 330AM and went back to it.  Trail went from poorly recognizable singletrack to huge dirt access roads.  Watched the sun come up and was pushing hard to the water cash. The water cash is an AZT users stash and is open to anyone to use its contents.  I for some reason didn't notice that it also had food.  Another rookie mistake.    The trail from the water cash towards the mountain range before the Gila River was so much fun.  Finally some trails I could really haul ass on.  Made it through some really fun technical sections leading in to the Gila River basin.  I knew i was close to something i saw a few hikers along the trail taking pics of all the blooming flowers.  Grabbed a water fill and a cold Ginger Ale from a trailer park just off route past the Gila Bridge.  I was hoping for some fun downhill fast sections along the Gila but sadly my drivetrain was acting up real bad and every time i went to crank out of the saddle it would mis-shift and derail.  Super annoying spent lots of time messing with it in the hot AZ sun.  Tried everything i could and realized i had two good gears that I could rely on so i stuck to them.  As the heat got more and more intense I made a plan to get in the river and cool down for a bit.  So i parked the bike and hiked down to the river edge about 1PM and it felt great.  Made my way back on the trail and my bike started giving me more and more grief.  I decided to slow my roll and took shade under various places as the heat of the day got super intense.  About this time i realized that not going in to the town of Oracle for food was a big mistake.  In racing terms i was starting to bonk.  

I had about 600 calories of food left and decided to take refuge from the sun and wait for it to set and then continue after sunset.  My slow pace had allowed Brad and Matt to catch up to me.  We chatted for a bit and i tried to talk them in to hiding from the sun and hitting it after dark.  

They were determined so they pushed on.  I laid in the shade til about 4PM then my mind said hell I need to get out of here.  Packed my stuff and hit the trail.  Caught back up to them in about 30 minutes.  We were all exhausted and need to get off this dam trail.  The trail hooked north towards the superstition mountains and a lil sign of hope was able to be seen.  This section of trail was fun but i was lightheaded, and seeing stars so it was more survival then anything.  I asked Brad to keep an eye on me just in case, cause I was "bonking hard."  No worries bro, here's a Power Gel.  Super nice guys.  About this time i was barely starting to get the hang of my GPS and using the zoom features to predict distances, back light so I don't have to push buttons etc etc.  While following Brad and Matt there was a lot of tight switch backs and sections that dived in and out of sandy ravens.  This is where my drive train issues were most obvious.  I dived in to a raven went to pedal and the entire chain locked up and i went rolling down the embankment.  Gosh dammit!!  WTF... I got back up and moved up, crashing is more and more prevalent when your weak and tired, just got to focus and move on its part of the game.  About 15 minutes later i realized my GPS was gone.  I panicked.  Turned around and began looking for it without telling Brad or Matt.  After a few seconds my mind shifted and it went from find GPS to don't loose Brad or Matt your out of water, food in unfamiliar terrain and you don't know where how far the trailhead is and the sun is setting.  So i ditched recovering my GPS and hauled major ass to catch and follow them.  When I  caught Brad I told him what happened and he waited for me a few times to make sure i was ok as we made our way out to the Picket Post trailhead (TH) in about an hour.  Arriving at the TH at about 6PM i was incredibly discouraged.  

My bike needed attention, I lost my GPS, I made a stupid tactical decision of not getting food.  At this time in the race i was telling everyone i was calling it quits.  Big Dave was at the finish with his family and RV.  He was super cool gave us all some snacks and water.  He even tried to help me with my bike, but i was incredibly short with him as i was super frustrated.  Told everyone it was fun and i started my 6 mile ride to Superior to grab food and a motel.  As i engulfed a huge Los Hermanos Carne Asada burritto and checked my facebook I realized the overwhelming support i was getting from friends back home and all over the country.  I went from quitting to making a plan to finish what i started.  I will finish this race no matter the cost.  Grabbed a room at  the only motel in town and started searching the internet for bike repair shops and places i could purchase a GPS, computers i could use to download my GPS file, print off new cues sheets (original ones got wet in rain), tools i could use, everything.  By 1am I had a plan A, B and C.

Tuesday Day 5
Woke up at 6AM and was ready to start my plan.  Heard some bikers come in last night a couple rooms down so i thought they might have some tools i could use.  I determined by inspecting the bike i needed a new middle chain ring, chain and cassette.  My front middle ring was actually torn, the small one appeared ok but hell if your changing one might as well do both.  The rear cassette had a ton of play in it and there were bent rings all the way done, pretty rare for an XTR cassette in my opinion but it been put through hell. I met my neighbors about 7AM, they were from Vegas and riding the AZT also but not racing it.  They had an entire Park Tool kit they said i was welcomed to, and my eyes lit up.  Ok come on PHX wake up i need some bike parts.  I called numerous bike shops and finally got one to accept my CC over the phone.  Landis Cyclery created an order and set it aside for a courier to pick up.  Also had Paula from REI set aside a GPS order.  Some $600 dollars later my gear was ready for pickup.  Motel owner let me download my GPS info and also print new ques sheets.  Things were starting to come together.  By 9AM parts were on there way to me and things were looking good.  Now the sad part.  The rules state no support crews.  And i was obviously getting support.  Got items from courier and even talked him in to giving Pawel Kudela a ride back to PHX.  By 130PM bike was repaired and I was ready to get back on the trail where i left off.  

I couldn't let the fact go that i was about to leave a $250 dollar GPS in the desert without attempting to find it.  I rode backwards on the trail passing racer Dave Goldberg and sharing a quick conversation with him.  It took me about 2 hours of searching but i did the impossible.  I found my GPS.  Battery still full and working just like i left it.  Holy crap things are meant to be.  By 330PM I was hauling ass on the road to Apache Junction (AP JX).  In hindsight now that I've ridden the road to AP JX I could of made it there with the messed up drivetrain.  I had no idea that there was such a flat easy section in to AP JX.  But i wouldn't of had my GPS and well everything works out for a reason,  I was now in 5th place as David, Matt, Brad and Kurt Sandiforth were ahead of me,  Kurt at this time was 100miles ahead of me.  I pushed on through the night all the way up to Roosevelt Lake.

Wednesday Day 6
Yesterdays section of pavement and fireroads really showed me how poorly i prepared for this race.  I thought of this as an adventure and wanted things to be introduced to me as i came upon them verus planned. I had very little to no landmark or goal strategy up to this point.  While making my way towards Tonto I stopped in and had breakfast at a lil diner and began to write my plan to catch Kurt.  If it was even possible.  I made mileage goals and rest goals to get me to the ditch by Saturday.  This section was super fast HWY miles averaging over 18mph.  Made up 50 Miles on Kurt this day.  Made sure to take in lots of calories and never run dry.  I was heavy moving up towards Payson.  I also had started to develop a horrible saddle rash from cranking so hard on the bike.
I entered Payson about 130PM with the goal of bars, chomps, chain oil and a new saddle for the rest of my ride.  I pulled in to Paysons Hike Bike & Run and met Phil Ryder and Mick Wolf who were high fiving me and telling me I could catch the leader kick ass.  Got some parts but couldn't find a good seat.  Phil gave me his personal seat off his bike and it felt like butter all the way.  Super stoked I headed out to get to Pine by sundown.  The ride to Pine was decent, fire roads mainly in the beginning til i got close to the city it has some single track.  Oh wait it had some crappy section of Oak Creek that was mainly hike-a-bike.  Crashed here a ton of times because it was on and off the bike rideable for 20ft then crappy for 20 feet.  This was a precursor for the Mongollion Rim that i didn't know about.  

Rode off route to Ponderosa Market and then ate an amazing dinner at some restaurant right as you got to town.  My plan was to sleep til 11PM then ride through the night had to get to above the rim by sunlight.  Slept in a grass field til my alarm went off.  Loaded up and hit Phil's Trail towards the AZT Mongollion Rim.  This section was the absolute pits.  17.5miles took me over 7 hours to accomplish.  I was sending Scott text messages of how shitty this section was.  Heres a video.

Thursday Day 7 

Slept for about 4 hours and yes I finally making it a top of the Mongollion Rim, things brightened up for a bit but the trail was hard to follow and some sections to steep to ride.

By this time my knees were starting to bother me more so i had started a fast walk up hills and riding only flats and down slopes.  Checking Livetracker i could see Brad and Matt were less than 40 miles in front of me and Kurt was still in Flagg.  I figured everyone was really beat.  I made sure to stay up on my supplements which were starting to run low as i only planned for 8 days of racing.   On top of the rim I got lost on a fireroad that i thought would intersect the AZT again and once i realized my GPS zoom was at 3 mile zoom not 0.3mile i was screwed.  Got cliffed out and it cost me a ton of energy and about 90 minutes of back tracking on a now empty stomach.  Made it to Moqui Park and then to the HWY.  I was sitting on the side of the HWY using my phone GPS for better idea of what was around me when a truck slowed down and asked if i was ok.  Said i sure could use some food he said hop in the back and we can drop you off at Happy Jack down the road.  Cant give you a ride back though.  No worries lets do this.
Boom grabbed a ton of food made friends with the waitress who ended up giving me a ride back Moqui where i continued on the AZT.  I couldn't recall if this was exactly legal but in my thoughts i was only gaining nutrition, loosing time and my distance never changed.  Trail magic?  The next section up to Mormon lake was a combo of Fireroads and new singletrack.  Super fast little elevation changes.  Averaged just under 10mph all the way to Mormon Lake.  Arriving at Mormon Lake I was hoping to grab some snacks, sadly everything was shit down.  I did find an unopened 20oz Pepsi, plenty of water and an ass hole kid doing donuts in a field with his parents yellow Hummer.  I put my hand out as they were passing me on the road and the lil shit tried to swerve at me as he hit the accelerator.  I was hoping he would roll it or get stuck in one of the mud puddles but god protects idiots and fools.  After laying by the ice machine (it was warm) for an hour or so, eating the last of my food, texting my supporters and my coach I pushed hard towards Lake Mary and Flagstaff.  I was within 20 miles of Brad and Matt and less than 70 to Kurt.  Goal was to reach it by 7AM.  No sleep tonight.  This section continued to be fast.  I was praying for no peanut butter mud.  It was chilly and my mind was playing tricks as it does with sleep deprivation. 

Friday Day 8

Reached Flag by morning and started to get a grip of myself.  I got some food, and put my head down on a table for about an hour.  Ate about 5000 calories of breakfast and then went to walmart to replace my SPOT batteries.  I had been having issues using Alkaline batteries in my equip as they died so fast.  Note to other races if you ask to buy batteries and then sell you ones out of a basket and they arent sealed in packaging they probably suck.  After wally's went to USPS and picked up my drop box which was full of bars, supplements, candy, shoes, trekking poles, sunscreen, change of clothes, light batteries and i forgot extra socks.   Shipped home all my extra and used stuff including the new GPS unit as i continued to use my original one that i went back and found.  Sending some phone messages Scott told me I passed Brad and Matt last night but i never remember seeing them.

I got there phone numbers and texted them both so we could ride together.  I was bored of riding solo and was just happy to see other racers if i could.  Getting back on the AZT through Buffalo Park right at the beginning of Oldham Trail I see Brad sitting on a rock and Matt dealing with a broken wheel.  I was like holy shit i found you guys.  Talked for a few minutes than started the Schultz to Snow Bowl section together.  After about 3 hours of riding together they went to back track a route off of the Fort Valley section.  I told them it was ok and it would intersect these all meet up to the new section of AZT.  This was probably the only section of AZT i was familiar with.  So this is where i lost them.  They went back about 1/4mile and i went on. The trail gained lots of speed and by the time the day of riding was over it was 1AM and I was at Russel Tank some 35 miles to South Rim where Kurt appeared to be holding over.

Saturday Day 8

I dumped the tank starting at 430AM and hitting it hard all the S. Rim where i missed Kurt by less than 90 minutes as he began his descent in to the big ditch.  I started the hike at 1PM and  I was sure i was gonna catch him.  It was hot and his pace had slowed down a ton, something must be wrong.  Making my way to the bottom of the canyon i was gathering information along the way.  I didn't preplan any water stops for this section as i figured there would be plenty.  Made my way to Phantom Ranch where i refilled and paid like $6 for a cup of lemonade WOW.  Gathered my thoughts tightened up my rig and i was off headed to Cottonwood Campground.  It was super hot and hiding in the shade and using little effort was my goal. I kept asking hikers along the way if they'd seen anyone else packing a bike and i constantly got "NO's."

Did i pass him?  Or is he speeding up?  How valid is my info.?  Arriving at Cottonwood I make some friends and start to setup to grab a catnap for 2 hours then hit the hike at night so i don't have to stress about the heat so much.  When all of a sudden i see this.  He was walking right by the campsite.  I was like hey Kurt where you going? He was like holy crap man i haven't seen another racer in 7 days, where did you come from?  Ive been chasing you for 4 days.  Kurt said he had been alone at the front for so long he had started to relax, sleeping in and resorting back to his touring ways.  

Kurt is a lifestyle cyclist he has ridden in over 35 different countries, crossed the US three times coast to coast and ridden different portions of the AZT 3 times.  He is no slouch on a bike thats for sure.  Where i had been using technology of my smartphone to plan my attack he never had that option and was truly bikepacking in solitude the way it was meant to be.  We chatted for a bit and planned to head towards the finish together.  Quick 2 hour power nap and we were off hiking up towards North Rim with our 50+lb packs.  We cleared the canyon in less than 13 hours (including a 2hour nap and multiple breaks as the packs were dam heavy).  Not to shabby.  We ended up sleeping in the restrooms at the top of the North Rim to stay out of the 30 degree temps and 20mph winds.  The entire North Rim was closed til May and the only thing open was this restroom.  Surprisingly cozy and really clean.  Kind of felt like a prison cell but with a window.  

Sunday Day 9

We slept from about 2AM to 530AM and our goal was to find water then ride down the HWY on the snow route to Jacobs Lake some 41miles away just in time for breakfast.  I woke up and my knee was killing me.  I tried to keep pace but Kurt left me in the dust and I arrived about 15minutes after him at Jacob Lake Restaurant.  Finally we got cell phone reception and I could contact everyone and let them know I made it out of the canyon.  Looking at my GPS I figured we had about 25 miles of track slowly working downhill to the finish.  Kurt had ridden the route before and we knew this section was every man for himself.  I had to break in to my pain relievers for this last section as i had a 90 minute handicap on Kurt and he was definitely capable of using it.  We rode our asses off down the single track all the way in to Utah.  We finished the race on Sunday just about 3PM some 9 Days 7 Hours.  The most amazing feeling of accomplishment from adversity.  I still cant believe its over and that it was real.  Throughout this race some of my friends from Lake Havasu City, AZ decided to drive all the way to the border some 6 hours from home to see me as i finished the race.  It was incredible to get that kind of recognition from your peers as i usually don't really even talk about what i do for adventure as it is so different from most normals in this area.  

Kurt is a super cool guy and our passion for this race brought us together.  I truly believe if Kurt had access to the same information i did he would have seen me coming and never looked back finishing this race 2 days earlier.  This race is more about the journey then stats, awards, T-Shirts, prizes or even the rules, but i also agree that the integrity of the race must be kept.  I was in a situation where i made decisions with the knowledge I had that went against the ethics of the rules and i knew it and i must pay the penalty for that.  I think riding as hard as I did to finish my initial goal cant go unnoticed and would rather see a time penalty then a full DQ but honestly i wont frown or look down either way.  With the knowledge i have now im confident this course can be done in 7 days with the right weather.  

Scott thank you for this adventure and to all the racers i met and raced with thanks for the joining me in the journey.

Ill take the friendship over the victory anyday

Aaron Boatman