Antelope Peak Challenge

Lee and I successfully completed the Antelope Peak Challenge – to ride from Oracle to Antelope Peak, scramble to the summit, and ride back.

There is a race on Jan 27th:

http://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/antelope-peak-challenge/

I’m not going to give a full report, so as not to spoil anyone’s surprise (being in the mystery is more fun than being in the know). But here are some pics and a few important notes:

It felt like we were the first to ride the trail in months. It’s really a shame, since it’s a nice trail through a beautiful area. With pre-rides and the race itself, it’ll see a bit of use.

AZT begins – the “goal” visible in the distance. You’ll ride around Antelope Peak, and possibly stand on the summit for a time bonus.

There’s a trail in there somewhere. The trail gets vague in places, but with pre-riding and other people in the race, there should be tires to follow.

That said, this is a hard route to race. The trail is not one you can put your head down and just hammer. It’s a bit of an adventure.

It’s not getting over-used.

Antelope is visible through much of the ride, getting closer and closer. This is from the infamous Gasline, which will now hold a time bonus — for cleaning every climb!

The “no challenge” flag was up on Bloodsucker (it’s super firm/fast, with very little sand), so no time bonus.

Nice bench-cut trail.

Ditto

Getting closer…

The flat danger cannot be over-emphasized. 2 spare tube minimum. 3 is a good idea. Start with fresh slime tubes or stans in the tires. Even with that you will still probably flat. Expect it. Cholla is everywhere and pretty much unavoidable in some spots.

You have been warned.

If the sun is high enough, find a good spot to ditch your bike and make your summit bid. At the top there is a summit register in a jar. Take in the 360 degree view and sign the register for the time bonus.

The hike (there is no trail) is not too hard, but care should be taken in bike shoes. If you aren’t used to hiking off-trail in the desert, best skip the summit hike.

Both Freeman and Willow Springs roads are smooth and fast.

Riding the 24 hour course will be optional and for a time bonus. 2 miles of it (the Junebug Trail) will be required, as it’s actually a short cut on Willow Springs. We’ll have an updated GPX soon.

The ride up 77 back to Oracle kinda sucked, though the evening light and moon were beautiful. The traffic was pretty terrible. Still waiting for race director Chad’s opinion on trying to mitigate that for the race. More details on that, and actual time bonuses, to come.