Mark your calendars, the 2009 crazy 88 will be on 8-8-09!


General Description:
The Crazy 88 is an endurance mountain bike race around the San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff. It’s 88 miles of amazing riding through every kind of terrain you could care to ride in northern arizona. The course has everything from forest roads through picturesque aspen groves to swervy singletrack through high-desert. In keeping with the theme, the course is approximately 88 miles long and in configured in a big figure 8. The start/finish and midpoint of the race is the parking lot at the top of schultz pass. The course uses some well-used trails and some not-so-well used trails, and is over 50% singletrack.

This is a grassroots event and therefore has no entry fee and a rider limit of 74 people. Both of these things keep us out of trouble with the forest service, and keeps us from needing permits. If you want to make sure you have a spot on the starting line, leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Disclaimer: Although there are aid stations, this should be considered an UNSUPPORTED RIDE as you will be riding through remote areas which have many natural hazards. Be sure that you are capable of getting yourself out of whatever trouble you get into if you plan on doing this race.

Course:
The course will remain generally unchanged from 2008. You can see an overview of the course below as well as a download of the cue sheets from last year. As pre-rides start happening and the course is finalized I’ll update the cue sheets accordingly.

Cue sheets are as follows:
PDF Format (2 pages, one per loop)
Excel Format

For the so inclined, here’s a preview, click through to download the kmz file off google maps.


View Larger Map

And finally, a nice little elevation profile, about 10,000 feet of climbing, yee haw!


Other Details:
As I’m just starting to put together plans for the event, other details are tentative at best, but here’s a few talking points for everyone to mull over as I finalize everything:

  • I’m working on 2 additional aid stations to help keep some folks feeling frisky for the whole race. I understand 44 miles is a ways to go without support, so tentatively I’m working on one on the back of the peaks, and one somewhere near walnut canyon.
  • Stu from Sendero Cycles has been asked (and accepted) to come up with something in the “bad-ass trophy” department for this year. I have given him little to no restrictions on what to make other than “ninjas and bikes”, so we can all be amazed on race day when he shows us the goods.
  • As a lot of folks wanted to just do the first half last year, I’m thinking about a 44-mile option with a later start for those who know that they only want to do the first lap. This will put everyone in at the finish line closer to the same time for more widespread partying and general enjoyment. Thoughts?
  • Yes, there will be an after party. Yes, you should bring your camping gear. And yes, there will be beer. What kind of a bike race doesn’t have beer? I’m planning on doing another couple kegs of homebrew, and I’m sure we’ll scrounge up some other beer sources as well.
  • I’ve got some emails out already for prizes from some companies, and also for some more food/drink support for the race. Since I’m more on top of it this year, we should have some schwag to give away. And who doesn’t like schwag?
  • I’m looking for some volunteers to help out with the aid stations and general race support. If you’re interested or know somebody who would enjoy heckling from an aid station, let me know either via email (nathan at handlebarsandwich dot com) or via a comment below.

If you want to see results and details from 2008 check it out here.