Early Christmas trip to KC and snow upon arrival home

We arrived back in Flag the other day after a trip to KC for an early celebration with Anne's parents for Christmas. While we were there we experienced temps in the 60's until Sunday and then the temps fell like a rock. We had a few hours to check out the cyclocross nationals but only made it through the elite women's class where Katie Compton won her fifth National Championship. The wind chill was in the single digits so we bailed but it was cool to see part of. When we arrived back Monday night there was quite a bit of snow so we decided to go skiing today. It was Yampa first ski trip so we just headed up to Snowbowl and skinned up for one run down the mountain. It was pretty fun but seems like a couple feet of snow is probably still needed to open up. Yampa was going nuts in the snow and may just become a pretty good ski dog. My toe is getting better but still was a bit painful initiating turns on the skis. Oh well at least I can wear the shoes I want. Happy winter!

Trying not to puke

So I went back to the podiatrist this morning and got the results from my blood test. 8.7 on the the uric acid test which is high and pretty much proves that my foot problem is gout. So after a week of Colchicine I was prescibed another anti-inflammatory to take until the swelling goes away. This one is called Indomethicin and after reading about it I am now aware of some bad side effects after prolonged use. I took one a couple of hours ago and have felt like puking ever since so my taking of it may be short lived. I also did some investigating into dietary needs to decrease uric acid and learned some interesting facts about purines and what foods contain the most. Spinach, lentils, oats, and beans are all high in purines which elevate uric acid levels so along with beer and wine I was pretty much screwed from the beginning. I am going to try and am eat way less of these things but it will be tough as oats are in breakfast for me everyday and beans are a staple for dinner. On a different note I got a new t-shirt the other day from Bryce at AZ Bikes that apparently has been remade by popular demand. I also found Anne's Moab Marathon finishers medal which was a source of great humor this past spring. First of all the medal was given out at check in and not when people actually finished and secondly the medals are left over from 2004 and not made for the current year. Classic. Good work folks. It is a good thing that the course had amazing scenery of red rock country through the entire race course.

One of these is not like the other, Guitar Heroing it up over Thanksgiving, and Does this dog look like she can jump the 6 foot fence.

It has sure been awhile since I last blogged but not too much has been happening. My left foot is a bit less swollen than it was last week but still too big for a regular shoe. It is still a little painful in certain area around the big toe and ball of the foot but seems to be getting better. The podiatrist believes that I have gout which is odd to me. So over the next couple of week I have to skip drinking and eating red meat and cheese. The first one of the three is the only one that I am missing (not really but kinda). Over Thanksgiving Anne's mom visited and bought us Guitar Hero which we promptly had to play. I included a photo of Anne and her mom as they were getting booed off the stage during an exceptional performance. Most recently is the issue with Yampa the dog. I went outside a couple of days ago to see what she was up to and could not find her in the yard. As I got slightly worried I tried to figure out how she got out and then notice her playing with Humphrey the neighbor's dog. I went over to get her and brought her home and watched her to see where she got over the fence. She promptly attempted to jump the fence right where I figured she got over. It is amazing that she can get over a six foot fence with relative ease. Off to Home Depot I went and got chicken wire to raise the height of the fence. Unfortunately the fence is flexible enough to create little paw holds that Yampa can scamper up. Then I got about 30 feet of animal fencing that I had left and put it up on the section where she jumps and she was able to get up to about 8 feet but not all the way over. I will be off to Home Depot in the morning again to replace the chicken wire in the photo for some taller, more burley animal fencing. Maybe one of these day I will be able to ride again. My foot will probably be good enough to ride about the time it really starts snowing.

Temporarily out of commission

My foot finally got bad enough that I figured I better have it looked at. Last night we bundled up and headed to to emergency room for a bit of an under the radar visit. X-rays showed that nothing was broken but we caught the orthopedic surgeon as he was heading out and he took a look at the foot and the x-rays. Nothing was definite but there is a cyst on the big toe that is right where the toe hurts the most. He also said that my foot looked pretty abused and wondered why this might be. I will blame it on fighting fires for 10 years. Not too good on the feet. So with a super swollen foot I haven't been able to ride for over a week or do much of anything activity wise which is a bummer. The first recommended action for the foot was to get a rigid shoe and take anti-inflammatory drugs for awhile to get the swelling and pain to disperse and go from there. On a lighter note I got a photo of Yampa scanning the front yard for cats and other critters which she enjoys doing frequently.

Happy birthday Yampa and a quick trip to the Old Pueblo

I took a whirlwind trip to the Old Pueblo to go to the bike swap on 4th Ave Saturday and took the Coconino along with for the ride. I was super stoked to find a couple of new loops at Fantasy Island making a total of 23 miles within the confines of the 3 square miles that makes up Fantasy Island. The bike swap was amazingly crowded with tons and tons of bike stuff for sale. Some of the bike stuff was crap and some was new super blingy stuff. I made the drive home with a stop at the grocery store for a NY strip steak for Yampa's birthday dinner. I seared it to perfection and then laid it over a bed of IAMS puppy food for a delicious celebration of 1 year of life. Cheers Yampa it has been a fun year.

I had planned to go mountain biking until....

First day back in Flagstaff after vacation to Hawaii and a quick trip to New Mexico to see family and pick up Yampa from my parents. It sure seemed like a front was moving in while we were driving back yesterday and sure enough the snow started flying last night and we woke up to a winter wonderland. My plans for the day are now to run a bunch of overdue errands to get back into the swing of things and to ride the trainer in the garage. I took 15 days off of the bike and now will begin again in hopes to do well in some events early next year. I am going to attempt better self control and eat better over the winter. That means less of two main food groups. Beer and ice cream. I also have to start hooking up with people to ride down in Sedona. I did not find it exceptional last winter so maybe some others with more knowledge of that area can turn my opinion around. Last week was pretty interesting with the Presidential Election. I refuse to rant on about my political views or talk bad about people's views that are different than mine but I do want to say that I have always been proud to be an American and there will always be political decisions that I don't agree with no matter who is in office. This past weeks election was monumental and showed a resurgence in involvement in the political process. There is much information about how the Obama campaign was run and it is quite impressive. Impressive enough that it was very highly regarded by many Republicans. We'll see what happens when Obama takes office. Keep your fingers crossed.

Making a mockery of a perfectly good sport

The title and picture speak volumes

We're back and it's cold

We just got back from Hawaii about 1 hour ago and it is pretty cold here in Flagstaff compared to Maui. We flew out last night at 11:30 Hawaii time with was about 2:30 am AZ time so we're pretty burnt right now. As I write this Anne is busy snoring away in bed but I am going to push through today as to get back to a normal schedule. Our trip started out in Maui where we did all of the traditional tourist stuff which was pretty fun. We spent time on the beach, went deep sea fishing (and caught 3 tiny skip jacks), boogie boarded, took surfing lessons, snorkeled and went diving and drove the "Road to Hana". Anne and I then separated from her parents and went on to Kauai where we went kayaking and hiking the Na'Pali Coast which were both amazing. We also went to check out Wiamea Canyon which is like a tropical version of the Grand Canyon. Throughout our stay in Hawaii we ate a bunch of Poke which is ahi tuna sashimi but it is tossed with dried chiles, sesame oil and seeds and seaweed in some cases and it is super good. We also tried the Tako version which is Octopus and it was alright but the tuna was much better. I decided to post many different photos from along the way. I have to go hunt for some surfing pictures and when I find them they may or may not get posted. We'll just have to see.

Last ride for a couple weeks

Today was the last ride that I am going to be able to do until about November 8th or so. I will hopefully be refreshed and ready to hit it at that point but decided to ride some good stuff today. After riding as many trails as I could this summer I decided to ride my "new" favorite trail today. I am going to pretend that nobody know about this trail and keep its name a "secret". The first two pictures should be pretty easy to recognize the location it was taken and then the trails spits you out into the gigantic logging area where the temperature goes up about 10 degrees. Then I hit Ft. Valley where I connected Lower Moto to what some people call Easter Island and snapped a pic at the namesake rock section.

I just needed a quickie before the snow comes

Well before I head off to Phoenix tomorrow and come back to snow on the ground this weekend I decided I better go out for a quick ride on some sweet single track that I was told about yesterday. I actually knew of its existence but did not know exactly where to connect to it. The trail was in pretty good condition considering that it is mostly a motorcycle trail and some sections have just been torn up by those things. Mainly it is irresponsible riders that have no concept of preservation and preventing the eroding of our multi-use trails. Motorcycles are just capable of so much more damage that hiking shoes and mountain bike tires. It is amazing how awesome the trails are when people have to rely on their own power to propel themselves along. Anyway, I took a couple photos of the trail and the fall colors at the base of the San Francisco Peaks with Snow Bowl nestled in at the SW corner of the Peaks.

Better late than never...

It seems sometimes that things move at a different pace here in Flagstaff. I have recently ordered multiple items from one particular bike shop here in town and in multiple instances have been told 3 or 4 days and it has turned in to 3 weeks to receive my order. Most recently I ordered a bike rack for the truck and wanted to have it before the Pines to the Mines race/ride a couple weeks ago. I was promised that it would be here during the week before the ride. Of course it did not show up so I borrowed a rack and looked forward to the following week when I would surely get it before the Tour of the White Mountains. The White Mountains trip came and went with the borrowed rack still attached to the truck. Well yesterday I called down to the shop and the rack was actually there. I was so amazed that I installed it and threw my Coconino on it and snapped a photo. I have also included a photo of everything I pulled out of the garden this week with hopes it will ripen inside the house. It looks like the cold weather is blowing in for the weekend. I checked the forecast out and it shows 20 percent chance of snow in town on Sat. and Sun. I think I will be heading to Phoenix for the last race of my season on Saturday and then back up the hill to some hunkering down through the weekends cold weather and probably watching some football and baseball. Have a good weekend and go pedal something.

As September winds down...

The end of September has ushered in some real Fall weather and lighting but it is still really nice out in the woods. I have been trying to ride a fair amount lately and will be heading to Show Low this coming weekend for the Tour of the White Mountains which is a mountain bike race with varying distances. I, along with my neighbor Jerrod, will be competing in the 60 mile race which is the longest option but you get the most riding for the entry fee. This past Saturday was the Pines to the Mines ride that starts at the Pay'nTake in downtown Flag and goes via dirt road, FS roads and singletrack to the old mining town of Jerome. It was a great event that attracted some great participants. The Pay'nTake is a great contributor to various outdoor sports with their support in various ways. They often have free food and beer pouring out of the side of their trailer and the Pines to the Mines was no exception. Yesterday I rode up into the Inner Basin and saw the Fall colors in full effect up high. It was really amazing. It was the first time I have been up there this year that I had to throw a jacket on for the way down. It is about that time as I have been saying. Yesterday afternoon Anne and I made it to the nursery to buy bulbs for planting today and we picked out 50 bulbs of different varieties. We then ended the afternoon at Mountain Sports to get me a ski pass for the upcoming year. 399 is a good deal for the preseason price of the pass. Ski in Flag and ride in Sedona. I guess that's not so bad....

A bit of yard work and some tiny veggies

Today I got some tools out of the garage and started digging a hole. This adventurous project was to put a piece of limestone with our address on it into the ground. The stone was cut and carved by Anne's grandfather who then drove it to Pagosa Springs from Great Bend, Kansas. It stayed in Pagosa for awhile and then Anne's dad brought it the rest of the way a couple of weeks ago. It weighs about 150 pounds I would guess but was pretty easy to manuver once the hole was dug. Other excitement recently has been the ripening of some tiny tomatoes and green peppers. The tomatoes have taken a long time to start ripening but hopefully will finish ripening before the first big frost. Luckily we have about 6 quart bags full of squash from our calabacita plants in the freezer for Thanksgiving time festivities which mainly include food and drink. On a different note, as I was looking through our photos from a couple of weeks ago I came across a photo of a dead porcupine that I found inside the shack at one of the North Rim's lookout towers. This porcupine had been dead for quite awhile and yet no one had bothered to clean it out. Now I understand keeping historically valuable building protected but come on. If a building is so remote and in a state of disrepair it should just get torn down. If the Park Service can't keep it clean of dead animals and fecal matter they are probably not to concerned with its historical value either. That is about all of the ranting I've got for this fine afternoon. Get out and enjoy fall while it lasts!

Back from the North Rim

Anne and I finally got on the road Saturday after a bike rack fiasco that engulfed all of Friday. We headed for the North Rim Saturday morning to ride the Rainbow Rim trail located in the Kaibab National Forest. The Rainbow Rim trail is an 18 mile singletrack trail along the rim of the Grand Canyon that was built primarily with mountain biking in mind. When we got up there we quickly set up camp along on of the access roads located close to the middle portion of the trail and got on our bikes to head to Timp Point which is one end of the trail. At about 4 miles into the ride I managed to slice a .5 inch tear into the sidewall of my front tire. We began to think that our trip was doomed but with the help of a Clif Bar wrapper and a couple of tubes I managed to stay riding for the rest of the weekend. The second day was marked with more riding as we rode some FS roads to access Parissawampitts Point which is the other end of the trail and we took that back to our camp to make a loop out of the days ride. When we got back we decided to move camp over to an area by the Arizona Trail so we could ride a section of the AZT before heading home yesterday morning. The section of the AZT that I rode (alone because Anne decided she better study for her Board exam coming up) was along the East Rim which was amazing as the views exploded before me not to mention that the single track was pretty fun getting to the National Park boundary. On the way back we pulled over in the Warm Fire scar to snap a couple of photos because the colors contrasting was pretty impressive. It is amazing to look back at the blood, sweat and tears that went into working that fire and to think that effort will always be locked into the rebirth of that area. It is also amazing to think about how minuscule we really are in relation to the natural cycle. Weather takes so much more of a role in the suppression of these large fires (and the growth of the fires for that matter) than we give credit. As we got back to Marble Canyon we decided to stop at Navajo Bridge and have a bit of a picnic by the mouth of the Grand Canyon before b-lining it back to Flagstaff.

A sacrificial post to thwart off the winter demons

As the inevitability of winter starts to creep back into my mind (and the fact that I did not have any current photos of anything) I decided to go back into the archives of last winter and post a nasty snow picture from the front of our house in Flagstaff. I am trying an offering to the weather gods to hold off the cold and wet of winter for as long as possible this year. Here's to wishful thinking.

The past couple of days

The past couple of days have pretty much been the standard day here in Flagstaff for me. I have just been riding and doing things around the house. After Monday's stormy weather and the mysterious white stuff on the mountain I decided to see how muddy some of the trails were on Tuesday. The trails were in pretty good shape surprisingly but I did find a bunch of hail from the day before which made me nervous and thinking of the winter cold that will be coming in a couple of months. As my ride was winding down with only the descent of Schultz Creek left before heading home I snapped a photo of the Coconino and the increasing clouds over the peaks. Then I boogied to make it home before the rain and lightning. On the way down I went through the only section of Schultz Creek that I have known people to flat on and sure enough I managed to rip a hole in my rear tubeless tire. After messing with it for 15 minutes and refusing to put a tube in it I made a run for home hoping that the sealant would hold for another 20 minutes. It did and I arrived home before the rain. Yesterday afternoon I decided that my two bikes had been neglected as far as cleaning goes so they both got a bath. I also realized that my saddleless Turner has been neglected beyond the needing of a bath and will probably ride it today and will head up Elden as penance for the neglect.