Two months and counting

The wind in Flagstaff has been blowing today with gusts of about 45 which is indicative of the past two months. I can remember about three days that the wind was not blowing over 20 mph in March and April and it is getting pretty ridiculous. I traveled down to the Whiskey Off Road this past weekend in Prescott and raced in the 50 Proof which was about 50 miles and 6000+ feet of climbing. I wound up in 52nd place with a time of 5:12 and finished feeling pretty worked. I snapped a photo of myself after the race and was not looking so hot. The race was tough and fun for the most part. I am figuring out some of the things that I am doing wrong on those longer rides and will hopefully be correcting them and benefiting by the corrections. The temps were about 15 degrees warmer than I was used to and that contributed to my "feeling crampy" in my legs and having to dial it back a bit and take it easy. Hamstring cramps are not a whole heck of a lot of fun when they come on in full force. I managed to stave them off but it definitely slowed my progress way down and added a bunch of time onto my day's total. I took a couple of days off and went for a long ride yesterday and found some trees and snow laid out on the Waterline road so I rode down the other side of Schultz Pass to the highway and back for about 45 miles. Today I went out for an easy ride and learned early that I was pretty worked and decided on about 10 miles and to put some more food in my system. The past few days we began to go through the remaining boxes that still exist in the garage from the move and I finally came to terms with getting rid of my of Sidi cycling shoes that I got in 1996. They served me well and saw some good times. I also found this amazing goat head in one of my tires last week and had to put new sealant into my tire because the old stuff would not seal the hole. Goat heads are amazing little devils.

More riding and more trash

Yesterday I took off on a long road ride and was giving beautiful weather (minimal wind), great scenery and a bit over 4200 feet of climbing over 66 miles. It was a tough ride but the last long, hard ride before this coming Saturday's Whiskey Off Road. Today I rode the singlespeed with Anne and saw lots of trash so I grabbed an empty can and stuffed it in my pocket. It appears that people who leave all their trash in the woods also drink crappy cheap beer. This PBR can might be the best type of beer represented by the trash out there. Later in the afternoon I picked up my Turner from Bryce at AZ Bikes where it was for a fork rebuild due to some old worn out seals. I noticed it spewing a bit of oil last week and needed to get it done before I leave on Friday. Tomorrow I will ride it for awhile and make sure everything is in order then I will try and rest until Saturday morning. I pulled out the bread pans for some vegan pumpkin bread making when I got home from the grocery store. You can't beat a little semi guilt free dessert in the evening followed by some sleepy time. Good night.

Getting ready for the Whiskey

I have been attempting to get some good riding in despite being in the windiest place on earth. On a whim last week I decided to give the singlespeed racing scene a try so I register for the novice class at the Prescott Punisher. 16.5 miles and some fun when it was over. It was a tough course for ss bikes and the advanced class boys were soooo fast that it is still amazing to me. I ended up in second place in the novice class and received a sweet medal and a 25 dollar credit towards the registration fee for the Flagstaff race in May. I rode up to Snowbowl on the road today and plan for a longer road ride tomorrow. Starting on Wednesday I will dial it back a bit and recover before the Whiskey 50 Proof on Saturday in Prescott. All of my riding now is still in preparation for the Cream Puff in June. I am not reallly concerned about where I finish this weekend, I am more concerned with how I feel and what my time is. Anne has started turning the pedals a bit in preparation for our trip to the White Rim Trail in a few weeks. I have included some photos of the medal and a bottle cap that I picked up off the ground.

Photos continued from previous post

Back from Moab

We just returned from a weekend in Moab. It was really a great trip and Anne had a good time running the Moab Marathon where she came in just over 4 hours. The weather was pretty crappy when we first got there on Thursday afternoon and on Friday so I just hung out in Moab and relaxed then on Saturday the weather got really warm and after the marathon while Anne was recovering at the hotel I took off for the Slickrock Trail from the hotel. Sunday brought even warmer weather and after breakfast and walking around to tire Yampa out a bit I took off from the hotel for a long loop up the Sand Flats access road to Porcupine Rim Trail and around back into Moab. Porcupine Rim is a sweet ride, of course Slickrock is one of a kind also, and it was not very crowded. On the Slickrock Trail it appeared that a lot of people were in a bit over their heads. I guess that people don't take the difficulty ratings very seriously because it is so famous and hell it's just smooth rock right? The views from the red rock were just amazing. The La Sal mountains with all of the fresh snow plus the contrast of the rock was incredible. I took a few pics. One from the Walnut Canyon Trailhead on the AZT before we left of trash then all pics from Moab. Some from Slickrock, some from the hotel of Anne and Yampa, some from Porcupine Rim and one of me after the ride with a little dirt on my face. Good times. I was feeling a bit of Northern Arizona pride as I was riding to the trails because of all of the Colorado license plates on the cars that were headed up to same place, after all it is about 2 miles to the Slickrock Trail from town.

Return to Bloggerville a.k.a F**k it I'm leaving my bike here and walking home

I have returned to the land of the computer and am posting and am updating my blog for once. I have been not been up to much over the past couple of weeks except for some minor landscaping, moving dirt and rock in the area of the prospective garden, riding and hanging out with Anne and Yampa and some special guests occasionally. My friends Ed and Josh were in town last week and we met up for a couple of beers and Anne's parents came individually for some quick visits. I have been riding some of the AZT, Campbell Mesa trails, Lower Oldham, Rocky Ridge, Elden Road, Ft. Valley, and an attempt at Schultz Pass Road which turned very snowy at the top. Schultz Creek Trail appears to be a long way from being ridable due to the fact that the entire upper portion is actually the creek and will probably need a lot of work when the water is lower. I signed up for the Whiskey Off Road in the 50 miles race at the end of the month which should be brutal but I am trying to put the work in now so I can finish the Cascade Cream Puff in June. I will continue to pick up trash at a one piece every ride pace with make up days of multiple pieces when I forget to grab a piece (like on some road rides). I got a new pack for riding that actually can carry a days worth of stuff so that in a month or so I will be better prepared to spend a good chunk of time on the bike. I will probably be back to posting a bit more frequently if so motivated.