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The pony express created a route from st.Joseph ,Missouri to Sacramento, California.

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Pony Express Trail 50 and 100 Mile Endurance Run

Friday October 19, 2018, 5:00-8:00 a.m. staggered start times.
Registration is open for 2018. Register with ultrasignup.com Splits tracking for the 2017 race
Visit our Facebook Group for the latest race news and get questions answered

Here's your chance to run in the wild west on the historic Pony Express Trail in western Utah. This is a 100 mile and 50 mile run. The course is VERY remote and a support crew is required to provide support along the way. The course is 100% dirt road and only has about 3,000 feet elevation gain/loss.

This race is ideal for first-time 50 and 100-milers. Among all the 100-mile races held in 2010, this race had the highest age finishing average, so this race is also elderly friendly for those of us getting on in years who want to finish another 100-miler before the grim reaper arrives. There were lots of Personal Records in 2013. 100-milers, 18 finishers: 15 PRs (including 9 first-timers) 50-milers, 33 finishers: 28 PRs (including 20 first-timers) This is a fast course.

Course

The course for both races will start at Lookout Campground west of Faust, UT. The 100-mile race will go out 58.2 miles to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge and then head back, finishing at Simpson Springs (16 miles west of the start).

The 50-mile course heads the same direction but finishes at Blackrock Pony Express station site.

The course is remote, but the roads are good if you don't drive too fast. Crews are required! You must have a crew or share a crew with another runner. Your crew drives along and "leap-frogs" you, stopping every few miles for you to catch up and provides you food and drink. (For the 2018 100-mile race we will have a no-crew option for a very limited number of experienced 100-mile runners. They must be pre-approved by the race director before registering. See below for details). The course is easy to follow and always stays on the main Pony Express dirt road. In general it is: "head west." There are signs that point the way for the Pony Express Trail at major intersections. Pacers are allowed to join in and run with you at any point. Bicycles may ride along.

For the 50-mile race. A crew is still required. The 50-mile race also starts Friday morning.

For more information see: detailed course description. Take a visual tour of the course.

Register

Registration is open for 2018. Register with ultrasignup.com
Start Time
To reduce the congestion of crew cars, we will have a staggered start. The start times are assigned by the race director and posted on the entrants list. You are not able to choose you start time, they are assigned. Slower runners earlier and faster runners later. The start times are a hour apart starting at 5:00 a.m. with the last group at 8:00 a.m. One benefit of an earlier start is a greater likelihood of seeing wildlife in the early morning and watching a spectacular sunrise from the desert floor. There will be a 30-hour cutoff for 100-mile finishers. 30 hours from your start time. (The 100-mile course is probably about six hours easier than Wasatch 100. The 50 is about 2-3 hours easier than Squaw Peak 50).
Runner and Crew Handbook
Download here Everything you need to know.
Pacers
Pacers are allowed at any point. Share the experience with your friends and family.
Caution
This year the race will start on the day before the Utah deer hunt. This means we will share the dirt road with speeding trucks heading west hauling ATV trailers for the first 35 miles. They don't slow down for runners. There are usually less than 20 that go by, but you must use caution. Some reflective gear is required for early starters and 100-milers overnight. Be careful using headphones for the first 16 miles. Crews stop on the right side of the road. Runners try to keep to the left.

Crews

What really makes this race different from others, is the ability to involve crews. Your family and friends can watch you and help you for the entire race. They are welcome to drive along and give aid along the way.

Crews, please make sure you have a good jack, wrench, and spare tire. There are no gas stations directly along the course, so start with a full take before you leave civilization. There are gas stations at these points. Cedar Fort (30 miles before the start), Vernon (10 miles southeast of start). You can drive the course with a regular car taking care in a few spots with pot holes. Using a high clearance vehicle will be easier to get around. Please also take it easy driving between Government Creek and Simpson Springs. The crushed rock road can have small sharp rocks on it. I've gotten two flat tires along that stretch. Be mindful of kicking up dust with your vehicle around the runners. Be especially cautious and watchful for runners on the steep, narrow climb to Dugway Pass. Do not crew your runner on the steep road up to the pass. Crew your runner at the top of the pass where there is plenty of room.

Water: Bring plenty for you and your runner. Water is only available at mile 16.4 (Simpson Springs).

Sharing crews with another runner is possible, however we have strict safety rules. Runners sharing crews must stay together or within four miles of each other. If that distance is exceeded, or if the crew driver is driving back and forth on the road to provide support to the seperated runners, the runner in front will be disqualified from the race. Also, any runner who switches crews "on the fly" during the race without approval of the race staff will be disqualified from the race.
No-Crew Option
For the 2018 100-mile race a very limited number of experienced 100-mile runners will be allowed to run without a crew and provide drop bags. They must have long experience doing self-supported runs that involve stretches of more than 15 miles without water refills in desert conditions. Before registering, these runners must be pre-approved by the race director at ultracrockett@gmail.com. On the course drop bags and water will be available at each check point for refills. Drop bags must be brought to the start on Thursday afternoon/evening. Drop bags might not be returned to the finish until 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. No begging food or water from other crews unless in dire need. In the case of DNF, runner may ask a crew for a ride to the next check point, but they may have to wait for many hours to return to the start. Experience is manditory and DNFs for these runners should be unlikely. At the finish, if the runner's car was not brought to the finish by someone, they may hitch a ride from a crew or race staff back to the start.
Cell Coverage
Cell coverage is spotty. There are good signals at the start for some reason. Some signals near Simpson Springs and Fish Springs. We will have Satellite phones for rent and checkpoints have ham radios and internet connections.

Timing Checkpoints

You must check in with the timer at: Simpson Springs, Dugway Topaz Well, Blackrock, and Fish Springs. There are cut-offs for the checkpoints but they are very generous. 50-milers must finish by 12:30 a.m. regardless of start time (that is 19.5 hours for a 5:00 a.m. start). 100-milers must reach Fish Springs turnaround by 10:00 p.m. and return to Blackrock by 12:30 p.m. regardless of start time. 100-mile runners must return to Dugway Topaz Well by 6:00 a.m. The cutoff for an official 100-mile finish is 30 hours from your start time.

Aid Stations

We will have an aid station at the 50-mile finish with a big barbeque with hot food to help 50-milers recover. 100-milers can use it as an aid station to and from Fish Springs. Crews are welcome to partake, we should have enough food for everyone. There are bathrooms (no running water) at Simpson Springs. We will have porta-potties at the start and at Blackrock. All crews should consider getting a Luggable Loo (bucket toilet).

Awards

Finisher awards include belt buckles for 100-mile finishers and medallions for the 50-mile finishers.

100-mile entrants are not eligible to recieve medallions if they go 50-miles, nor will they be listed as 50-mile finishers. They need to complete the entire 100-mile course to receive their finish time or prize.

Why the Friday Start?

This race is scheduled on a day when the kids in Utah don't have school. This makes it much more practical for families to participate in the crewing experience which is a major feature of this race. Wasatch 100 and Bear 100 also have Friday starts, making it easier in Utah to attract volunteers and runners who make Sundays a day of rest.

Lodging

The closest lodging to the start is either in Tooele or Lehi, Utah, 50-60 miles from the start. For those coming from the South, Delta or Nephi would be an option. Camping in encouraged at the start area. Usually about half of the runners with their crews camp out and we have a good time around camp fires on Thusday evening. No fee or reservation needed. Will will have porto-potties there. This is BLM land.

Weather

Weather is typically ideal for running. Highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s. We have yet to have any rain or snow during this event. Every year we have had clear skies at night. However, each year there was bad weather within a few days of the race.

Questions

Contact the race director, Davy Crockett at ultracrockett@gmail.com

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Registration is open for 2018. Register with ultrasignup.com Splits tracking for the 2017 race Here's your chance to run in the wild west on the historic Pony Express Trail in western Utah. This is a 100 mile and 50 mile run. The course is VERY remote and a support crew is required to provide support along the way.

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Relay stations were built every 10-15 miles.

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Written by Paul Katzeff. Posted in Announcements, Coffee 101, Featured, From the Roastery, Paul's Stories, Roastmaster Recommendations

Back in 1978 (that's thirty eight years ago) I was just beginning to learn about coffee. I spent the first six years getting comfortable with the fire and heat it took to convert it from a tasteless seed into a toasted reddish brown carrier of comforting flavor.

Then I turned my focus to understanding the botany and chemistry of this magical "bean." One of the first things I wanted to know was what made my coffee so much better then every canned coffee on the shelf.

Back then, a one pound can of Folgers or Martinson's cost one dollar. My coffee, packed in a clear bag, closed with a twist tie at the top, was $3.50 per pound. I wondered, how could those big coffee companies turn out coffee at such a low price?

Back then there was not a lot of intellectual conversation about coffee in print or on the web. (There was no web, the closest thing to it was The Encyclopedia Britannica.) Coffee was an unsophisticated cup of Joe and not much more. There were no "to go" cups. You didn't see people walking in the streets, or driving cars with cups of coffee in there hand. Cars didn't have cup holders yet. Cane sugar found its greatest use in coffee and there was no such thing as corn syrup in packaged foods. It was a simpler time, a time before craft beer, and when people smoked in restaurants.

My investigation led me to Robusta coffee vs. Arabica Coffee.

Back then Every coffee company said their coffee was "Mountain Grown," an indication that it was High Quality with "Deep, Rich" flavor. But it was pretty much a lie. The canned coffee was basically the lowest grades of coffee they could put into the mouths of unsuspecting and gullible American consumers. The truth was that the major portion of the canned coffee blends was coffee from a variety called Robusta, and Robusta was really cheap coffee with a rough, leathery flavor with wood notes and an ashy dry finish. But it had a heavy body and packed a punch that my coffee did not come close to.

So what was going on here? I was roasting Arabicas, and they were blending in Robustas with their Arabica's to lower their cost. Robusta was all about volume and price. Arabica was all about flavor. The difference between Specialty Coffee and the 300 year history of coffee leading up to 1978 was the focus on Arabica varieties and the disdain for the Robusta variety.

The botany of these two varieties was very different. Although a raw coffee bean is known to have over 1600 chemical compounds, we tend to define coffee by its caffeine content. (Did you know coffee is 20% coffee oil by weight?) I learned that Robusta varieties have 2.5 -3 times the caffeine as Arabica varieties. I learned that caffeine is a waste product of photosynthesis and is stored in the plant only because the plant, unlike the animal kingdom, can not get rid of its waste. So there it is. And being water soluble, it is not destroyed by the high heat of roasting, and comes out into the cup when coffee is brewed.

So why do these two varieties produce such different levels of Caffeine?

To get to the answer you need to know that the two varieties do best in different environments. The Robusta variety likes the lowlands where the sun is hot, the air is heavy and moist, and the ground is rich in alluvial soils. The Arabica variety loves the cool dryer climates of the high country between 3,000-6,000 ft above sea level. Here the soils are young, with a very thin layer of topsoil, the ground is cool and the forest shade trees are essential for the light sensitive leaves of the Arabica tree.

Photosynthesis is the process by which the plant takes in sunlight (energy) and along with the soils nutrients and water, converts these assets into food. In this case, into coffee berries which contain two seeds and a whole lot of sweet juicy pulp that surrounds them. The seeds are the way the plants reproduces itself, and in the two different environments that these varieties call home, the seeds wind up with different amounts of Carbohydrates (food) and Caffeine (waste). Why?

Germination risk is the reason. The tree evolved to maximize its chances for survival.

When a coffee tree drops its berries at the end of a growing season, it wants the seeds to have a high success rate, meaning it wants its seeds to germinate. In the case of the Arabica variety, high up the mountainside, the conditions for germination and young seedling survival are slim. The soil is dry and cool , and the rainy season is six months after the seeds are ripe and fall from the tree to the ground. The tree knows that it might be a while for the conditions to become perfect. So it prepares the seed by being very efficient with its photosynthesis.

It produces more food and less waste for each seed. High carbs for the long wait and for energy for sprouting under difficult conditions. The Robusta tree does not waste its energy on producing a lot of carbs for the seed's germination energy because it knows that the soil is warm and moist, and that the nutrients are there in the soil to feed the plant in its sprouting stage. Why waste energy on producing long chain, complex carbohydrates? So the energy goes into the production of Caffeine.

I like to think of the Robusta as a Buick that will operate without being highly tuned and the Arabica tree as a Ferrari that will not run unless it is highly tuned.

Hardy Robusta - Fragile Arabica. Arabicas taste better because they have the need to put food in the seed. That food is a complex starch that under high heat, breaks down into simple sugars which caramelize and produce the flavor of coffee. Robusta has starch to convert to sugar in the roasting process and thus, it is less sweet. Now, caffeine being one of nature's most bitter substances, adds a distinguishing bitterness to coffee- and 3 times more in Robusta. Arabica coffees have less caffeine, and more carbohydrates so it is sweeter and less bitter. The major negative in Robusta, Caffeine, becomes a positive when you forget the flavor and use it for the speedy pick-up that its caffeine gives the drinker.

In 1978 Thanksgiving Coffee Company introduced Pony Express, "The Jackhammer of Coffee," the start your day with a "Blastoff" drink.

It is natures natural five-hour power shot. It will make your heart race, it will keep you on your toes, and if you want to stay awake, you will stay awake!

Today, Robusta coffees are quite a bit more flavorful, mostly because the way coffee has evolved over the past 35 years. Flavor counts for value, and value means higher price. When I first created Pony Express, the flavor was metallic with a petroleum aftertaste. It was rough and not to satisfying. Today, our Robusta comes from places like Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. It is clean and has a flavor that will take you back to a time when coffee was "Just a cup of Joe", but this time, you might just develop a taste for it and never look back.
- Paul Katzeff
Pony Express

DARK ROAST * HIGH CAFFEINE

$13.50

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The story of Pony Express: Thanksgiving Coffee's high caffeine coffee - Thanksgiving Coffee

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Written by Paul Katzeff. Posted in Announcements, Coffee 101, Featured, From the Roastery, Paul's Stories, Roastmaster Recommendations Back in 1978 (that's thirty eight years ago) I was just beginning to learn about coffee. I spent the first six years getting comfortable with the fire and heat it took to convert it from a tasteless seed into a toasted reddish brown carrier of comforting flavor.

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Pony express riders had to be lightweight so the horses could run fast.

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Woodfords, Calif. - Some may think that the mail traveling by horseback across seven states covering 1,943 miles is quite a feat.

Those numbers don't hold a candle to the more than 6,000 miles a Czech Republic native has been traveling for nearly the last two decades to take part in the annual Pony Express Re-Ride.

"Two years ago I rode for the Nevada Chapter for the 10th time," Peter Binhack said. "People like me like the spirit and the authenticity of the re-ride. That is what keeps me coming back."

While Binhack didn't spend time in the saddle this year, he still made the journey to the states to be a part of the event yet again.

Living oceans away doesn't keep Binhack from celebrating the milestone and historic tradition that is the Pony Express.

"There is a Pony Express in Europe," he said. "The Czech Republic chapter was established in 1985. This continues growing and growing in Europe. We try to find inspiration in the American Pony Express. We follow it as much as we can."

The European version covers more than 2,000 miles and touches three seas, the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea.

Of the seven state chapters Binhack could have joined, Nevada was his choice and something he is very proud of.

"I really appreciate the atmosphere, the mood, and beauty of the Nevada countryside," he said. "My German friend introduced me to his friend in Carson City and I am very happy I am apart of the Nevada chapter. Nevada is my second home."

Binhack hopes to get back in the saddle next year for his 11th ride to commemorate his 20th year as a Nevada Chapter member.

For one California Chapter member the re-ride family is a way for her to reconnect with her roots.

"There are a lot of different horse groups out there," Susan LaFrance said. "I grew up in the country riding in the hills almost as soon as I could. This was a perfect fit for me. I get to get out into the country."

LaFrance and two other women thundered into Woodfords Station, LaFrance carrying the traditional mochila full of commemorative letters.

Seeing the Pony Express gallop into Woodfords was a first for Woodfords Station owners Linda Merrill and LaVerne VanConant.

The Station being open as the riders finished the California leg of the re-ride was much like sending the area back in time, when the story was opened by Merrill's family and operated as a station stop for the original Pony Express while it ran for 19 months in 1860.

"It is so exciting to have the store open again," Merrill said. "The horses and mail coming through here really bring history back to life."

Talking to the more than 30 Pony Express California and Nevada Chapter members before the mail arrived nearly 45 minutes early reminded Merril of what her grandparents accomplished centuries ago.

Riders spent time in their hotel as well as took a load off and rest their horses at their store.

"This is awakening the whole history of my family," Merrill said. "It is so exciting. It brings back memories of my family when they started it all and what they created and the evolution of this all and us being able to carry it forward."

More than 500 riders will be a part of the re-ride as it makes its way to St. Joseph, Missouri.

For Binack, no matter where he is celebrating the historic staple of the Pony Express, he is reminded why he became a member and rider in the first place.

"There are three things that make the Pony Express what it is," he said. "Those are carrying the mail, the friendship of the people and the fun that comes with each and every re-ride. We always have a good time."

The rider left Mormon Station State Historic Park at noon. The ride will continue across Carson City and out into the Nevada desert.

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Woodfords, Calif. - Some may think that the mail traveling by horseback across seven states covering 1,943 miles is quite a feat. Those numbers don't hold a candle to the more than 6,000 miles a Czech Republic native has been traveling for nearly the last two decades to take part in the annual Pony Express Re-Ride.

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Home stations were built every 75-100 miles.

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Pony Express Trail | Utah Road Trip 2011

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Northern Comb Ridge Lewis Lodge Ruin Middle Comb Ridge Southern Comb Ridge Moab & Arches Pony Express Trail Salt Lake City Area

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By 1860, 380,000 people lived in California.

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The trip from Missouri to California was 2,000 miles.

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people wanted faster mail service.

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The California gold rush caused thousands of people to move west.

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They used 400 horses and 120 riders.

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The pony express started in April of 1860 and ended in October 1861.

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The pony express remides them that nothing is posible.