Another broken piece of aluminum

I went out for a ride today on the Coconino and had a good day combining Rocky Ridge, Schultz Creek, Secret, Hot Shot and then home via Buffalo Park. Unfortunately on my way into Buffalo Park I felt a snap and that was all for my seat post. I rode home standing up with my seat and the remainder of the post in my hand. The post is not something that is very exciting to me to have to replace. As a matter of fact I can think of many other good uses for the money.

Back from Washington

We arrived back in Flag yesterday after a great 6 day trip to Washington. We planned this trip around the Wenatchee Marathon. Anne ran a PR and finished 3rd in her age group which was outstanding. I had rented a mediocre mountain bike and hit up the local single track which was named Sage Hill. It was pretty sweet with big yellow flowers all over and awesome views of the Columbia River. During the marathon I rode around and saw Anne at various places and took some photos. I snapped a photo of the bike I rented under a tree with a gigantic trunk that looked like a bunch of trees that grew together into one. We left Wenatchee on Sunday and headed to Seattle for some city time. We got lucky as it was sunny and 70+ degrees for the two full days we were there so we walked and walked checking stuff out. We went up to the top of the Space Needle and got a good look at Mt. Rainer, checked out some shops, ate some good food and drank some beer not found here in Northern Arizona. It was strange that I had to go to Seattle to find a beer that I wanted to try that is brewed in Colorado. Besides the Oskar Blues TenFidy the rest of the beers we drank were from Washington and not a single one of them was bad. We also found a cool bike shop on Bainbridge Island that had a ton of old racing bicycles names Classic Bicycles. I had to take a photo of one with a massive chainring on the front. When we woke up in Seattle yesterday and it was grey and rainy we realized that vacation must be over and that is was time to head out. It is good to be back home for a while though especially since the weather is turning so nice.

A bit of catching up

The past week has been filled with a bunch of riding, one race and and some red rock. I have been trying to get some long rides under the belt lately. I got a loop in on the Arizona Trail out to Fisher Point and down one of my favorite descents around Flagstaff. The photo that shows singletrack coming from the right side is the bottom of the descent. The photo is taken from Fisher Point which is the top. Yampa (our dog) still enjoys diving under the bed to hide or play. Apparently 65 pounds properly dispersed makes a slim and trim dog. Yesterday I hoped on the Coconino and headed out to ride to Sedona via the Old Munds Highway and Schnedbly Hill Road. It is about 49 miles from here and Anne was going for a run down there so we met up for lunch and I got a ride home. I posted some random photos from the trip. I was excited to find very little snow and mud along the route. Old Munds Highway is still closed to motor vehicles so I was not sure what I would find back there. When I got to the lower part of Schnebly Hill I found out that is was being graded and was really nasty with soft dirt and huge rocks all over the place. Apparently this is improving the road but I would tend to disagree. I was taking it pretty easy but managed to roll into the Wildflower Bakery parking lot right at 4 hours. Good stuff, next time I will leave earlier and turn around and ride home.