Justin Dubois WINS The 2024 Arizona Trail Singlespeed Race.
Riding a custom REEB Ti Dikyelous SInglespeed, Justin Dubois finishes the grueling 806 AZTR course in 9 days, 11 hours and 25 minutes.
The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a complete non-motorized path from Mexico to Utah, stretching 806 diverse miles across Arizona to link deserts, mountains, canyons, forests, history, communities and diverse peoples. For the people who choose to do this on bike, the crux of the journey begins at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Since the Grand Canyon is a National Park, cyclists are required to disassemble their bicycles and attach them to a pack to descend 6,000 feet into the Canyon, hike across the Colorado River and climb out onto the North Rim another 7,000 feet, covering a marathon distance (26 miles). Then they rebuild their bikes and pedal the last 80+ miles to the Utah State Line gaining nearly 90,000 feet of elevation
We caught up with Justin on his drive home from the event and learned about how he got started racing ultra distance events, his motivation, dark times and more.
What made you decide to get into racing these extremely difficult events?I started racing in long distance mountain bike races in 2017 when I first raced the Colorado Trail Race, a 525-mile trail across Colorado. I first raced the Arizona Trail Race (AZTR) in 2018. That season I also raced the Tour Divide and Colorado Trail in what’s known as the Triple Crown Challenge of bikepacking--completing all of the major U.S. bikepack races in a calendar year. I've been a mountain biker most of my life, but a background in alpine climbing and backpacking made me want to combine all my outdoor skills to try more of the long distance events. The trails that some of these races tackle just seemed so epic and mystical. I liked the idea of riding single track for days and days in one direction.
How many times have you entered the Arizona Trail Race?
This was my third finish of the AZTR. In 2019 I won the overall race, also on a singlespeed, while taking an optional harder course, but that effort went largely unreported. The race used to take place in April but now it goes off in October, which adds a different element of challenge. Mainly, a less groomed trail surface and longer, colder nights.
How does this race stack up against other Ultra Endurance events you’ve entered?
The Arizona Trail race is the hardest race I’ve ever done, that’s why I’m so obsessed with it. The sheer distance and elevation doesn’t tell the story. Arizona is just a land of extremes, the terrain is so rocky, the fauna poisonous, and the flora all spiked. I would estimate the route to have more than 550 miles of singletrack total, with the remaining miles being chunky Arizona back road. It's just so much ripping trail! Plus, there's the 21 mile Grand Canyon bike portage right near the end. This sets the AZTT apart from any other bike race out there. It’s gotten harder over the years, as the Arizona Trail Association adds more single track. There's really nothing like it in the world. This year we had great weather, but there still were hot days, bone chilling nights, we experienced peak foliage up around Flagstaff, this route is insanely diverse.
What type of training is necessary to enter and win this kind of event?
My training is pretty unscientific. But I do take the preparation for these events very seriously, because performing well in them means a lot to me. I spend a lot of time riding local trails on my singlespeed to up the base fitness, but I also spend lots of time hiking and running. These things help smooth out all the hike-a-bike (HAB) required. I’ll just go out in my neighborhood and smash hill repeats for hours sometimes. I feel like you just need vert anyway you can get it. Everything else is coasting. Also, just lots of time in the hills carrying heavy loads, enduring wet or hot or cold conditions, and sleeping under the stars.
What motivates you to keep going during the dark times of the race?
When you’re racing these events, shit invariably goes to a dark place. You have to really prepare mentally for those times. There's some self hypnosis involved. You have to maintain a ruthless “no quit” attitude, or else an opportunity to quit will prevent itself multiple times a day. I meditate daily starting months before the event. Visualizing the course, and anticipating the low points I might find myself experiencing once I'm out there. Pushing through the darker times ends up being the most valuable part of these experiences. It helps that I belong to an incredibly tight knit little family of singlespeed ultra racers that show up for all the events. Alexandera Houchin is a true legend at this game, and we’ve become like family through this sport. We really push and motivate each other. It’s like we sign a contract with each other to try our absolute hardest out there, and we do our best to honor one other by trying to rip each other's hearts out. It’s really a beautiful thing. It's very Samurai. Honor amongst assassins. Motivation is easy to find when you don’t want to get caught by your little sister or your brothers. I’m the big brother dammit!
What's your diet like during the race?
Diet on these races is also ridiculous. In favor of speed and efficiency, gas station fare is preferred. Supermarkets blow my brains out when I’m super F’ed up, so I try to avoid them because there are too many choices, and often I spend time walking the aisles, stunned. I had no sit down meals for the 9 days on trail this time, we were just going too fast. You end up getting pretty sick of everything eventually. I left Gold Canyon this year with as many Jack in the Box cheeseburgers and fries as I could fit in my bag and really nothing else, to get me about 170 miles from Phoenix to Payson. The food situation was pretty gross. Gas stations these days do have lots more good stuff-- meat n' cheese, pickles, sandwiches, eggs. Junk food always sneaks into the bags, though.
How much do you sleep?
I'm always messing around with my sleep plan. Again, I try to go by feel. Some nights, you catch fire and you’re going fast, if that happens, I’ll ride the wave. But inversely, some nights you crater at 8:00 P.M. and I end up just submitting to the sleep monster. The sweet spot seems to be around 5 hours sleep a night on a race this long. Any less and I’ll start coming apart. Riding until late, and sleeping until first light is usually my goal, but can be hard to pull off, night after night.
What was the sketchiest thing that happened during the race?
I had a sketchy moment during the race that’s pretty embarrassing. I went the wrong way up the already very tough hike a bike up to gain the Mogollon Rim. I gorilla’d out and just put my bike on my back and charged up this steep trail until I got myself cliffed out, way off route. Instead of reversing, and losing all the elevation I'd just gained, I decided to contour back to the trail. The terrain up there is insane, basically vertical. I had to do some of the scariest and most physical freakout shit to get back to the route. I only survived because I’ve been a rock climber for 25 years. It was gnarly. It scared me and left me frazzled and totally exhausted. Definitely a result of being chased by Max Keegan to my breaking point.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I just want to say how much this race has affected my life. I moved to Arizona in 2021 partly because of my love of the trail and how much it made me love the whole state. I've been a little distanced from the ultra racing scene for the last four years, my wife was diagnosed with a very serious illness and our priorities shifted. She has been fighting and gratefully, she is now thriving again. Now that we find ourselves on the other side of all that darkness, it was time for me to get back to what really motivates me. Feels so good, at 46, to come back and get a clean and very close race on the trail that has filled up my life with so much good shit.
YOUR BIKE
Frame: 2019 REEB Ti Dikyelous
Fork: Fox 34 140mm
Tires: Maxxis Forekaster 2.4/Recon 2.4
Wheels: Nox Composites Teocali carbon
Stem: Custom REEB
Brakes: New SRAM code brakes (absolutely best brakes I’ve tried)
Handlebar: Enve carbon bars
Grips: Ergon paddle grips
Cranks: Cane creek ti Ewings cranks
Chainring: 32 Wolftooth oval
Pedals: Crank Bros eggbeaters
Rear cog: 22 Endless Bikes
Saddle: Brooks C17 saddle
Seatpost: Fox transfer dropper
Special touches?
Cane Creek bar ends
Klite dynamo light setup, with usb charging
Petzl NAO RL headlamp literally glued to my helmet
Bedrock seatbag
Dispersed gas tank bag
Homemade frame bag
Bar Yak bar extender
