Black Canyon 100K/60K Double

It's been almost two months now, but I stopped in Phoenix on my way home from DC in February and ran the Black Canyon double. The Black Canyon 100K has become a competitive early season race (it's a Western States Golden Ticket race). It's a net downhill course, and it seems like a relatively reliable way to get decent race weather in February, since it's at lower elevations not too far north of Phoenix.

I flew to Phoenix after work on Friday the 17th. I am a cheapskate and airfare and race entry fees were already expensive enough, so I rented a Prius so I could crash in the back and not pay for a hotel room. Due to the battery configuration in a Prius, the rear seats fold down perfectly flat. This seems more common in SUVs, but SUVs are bad. For fellow hikers who don't want to kill pedestrians, here's a good discussion of other vehicles that may fit the fold-flat-seats bill. You can use Turo to rent the exact model of car you're looking for. Another perk of the Prius--a thermostat that'll run heat/AC as necessary.

Anyway, after getting my luggage and car it was already late, and my body was used to East Coast time so it felt even later and I was really regretting my decision to fly out so late on Friday. Another 45 minutes of driving across the automobile hellscape of Phoenix didn't help, but everything worked out. I pulled into the empty outlet mall parking lot where the point-to-point race's shuttle bus would pick me up early the next morning, laid the seats flat, blew up an air mattress, and was asleep within minutes. There was even a gas station yards away for last-minute toiletries. There were a couple vanlifers in the parking lot and nobody bothered us.

In the morning I moved the car onto the gravel lot a few feet away and hopped on the shuttle bus. I sat in the first seat because I get motion sick easily, but the drive was 95% on the Interstate so it probably wouldn't have mattered. Sitting toward the front did make unloading faster, which was convenient because there was not a lot of time between arrival and the start of my wave. The race has a large field, and the land managers require a staggered start. I actually think this was great--it let me sleep in a little bit longer, and it thins out the field so singletrack sections get backed up less.

One thing to note about check-in: Aravaipa was doing a lot electronically--you had to have your bib number to board the shuttle, and if you hadn't paid for that you couldn't pay cash you had to buy it online on the spot. To check-in the morning of you had to scan a QR code, find your name, and open a link. I couldn't get reception to work, but thanks to my being the second person off the bus the volunteers easily assisted me. (I think that was my $50 phone and Mint Mobile's fault; there's generally decent reception at the start line.) Also, given my just-in-time travel plans, thank God there was race-morning check-in.

Enough with my boring personal logistics, what's the actual race like? After a lap around a muddy gravel high school track, there's a paved mile or two through town, then some dirt roads, and then on to nice singletrack, and a potentially fast downhill section. Not particularly fast for me, since I'm old and out of shape, but a nice runnable section. The race was a healthy mix of trail and dirt roads, and for a non-Arizonan, there were a really fun amount of Saguaros to look at. There were a few creek crossings in pretty canyons in the latter half. 

Saguaro

 

 

 

I finished the 100K in 15:37. I tried to fill up a little on finish line food, then rode the shuttle bus back to my car, and was asleep within minutes again. In the morning I drove to the finish line of the 60K, and got on another shuttle bus, again sitting directly behind the driver. "Hi Garret!" said the guy sitting next to me "It's M_." (In my groggy state I hadn't recognized him yet.) Two Berkeley-trained PhD economists sitting directly behind the driver for maximum unloading efficiency! I also had a nice pre-race chat with a race-photographer I know. 

Anyway, then I ran the first 60K of the same course again. I finished in 10:23. I didn't feel particularly sore or even slow, since there were still runners around me and I didn't feel like I was getting passed left and right, but I did finish in the bottom 20% of runners. 

Great Morning Views

Saguaro

Those pretty canyons I was talking about

 

At the finish line I was told the special reward for running the double was not yet available (I still haven't received anything). I availed myself of as many vegan hot dogs as possible, and then drove up to J's house in Flagstaff for some fun conversation about dogs, motorcycles, non-tenure track research jobs, thru-hiking, and all the good stuff. I joked that basically you could swap the mountain adventure-based wall decorations and books on the shelves between J and my houses and you could barely tell the difference. Holy crap, Flagstaff gets a real amount of snow, I also learned.

After hanging out in Flag a bit Monday morning (President's Day), I drove down to Sedona. Halfway into a hike I realized, wait, I've been here before--on my post CDT yo-yo roadtrip home with Marcus.

Canyon in 2023

Canyon with MD in 2007

So overall it was a good trip. I didn't set and landspeed records with my times, but I did feel solid for the first time since Tor, which is a big deal to me. Let real training for Western States commence!