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.

Gettin' a little bit higher

With company the past week or so I haven't ridden quite as much as I should have but with a 30 miler tomorrow I will be where I wanted to be. I did get out to the Arizona Trail last week on the Coconino for a good long ride and then today went to explore up Schultz Creek Road to see how much snow was up there compared to last year. There was definitely more last year but not as much as I thought I remembered. The third photo with the Turner laying in the snow was taken on April 5th last year. The bottom photo was taken today. Enjoy the Flagstaff spring wind.

A bit of this and that

Well not much new and exciting on this front. Before this last cold spell I was just trying to get out on the bike as much as possible and begin to up the mileage a tad. Flagstaff trails are clearing rapidly. I rode the AZT for a loop around the east side of Elden to I-40 to Walnut Canyon/Fisher Point and then to Lone Tree. The trails were great and it was good fun. I rolled out on the single speed with Denise and we picked up a couple of Denise's regular riding buddies on the way. It was really warm that day and it wound up at about 40 miles. Anne's dad visited over the weekend and I got to the gym a couple of times and got some workouts in among all of the eating out. I sorted through the energy bar etc. stash to load up the pack to go out tomorrow for a 40 to 50 mile ride before my brother and family get here. Lastly, unimpressed by any of this is Yampa who just winds up sleeping through the majority of my preparations.

First of many (hopefully)

Today was a good day. I headed out for a mountain bike ride from the front door. I rode a piece of pavement to the Elden Road and then up, up, up I went to the top. It was in super condition with only a couple of wet sections. The view from the top, of course, was phenomenal and I snapped a couple of photos while I was hanging out. I took a quick shot down into Flagstaff and then I decided I needed a photo of the Coconino at the beginning of the Sunset trail which looked way to snowy to attempt. I then bombed back down the road and headed home. Nice to be riding from the doorstep instead of loading the bike on the car. Here's to spring!

Down in P-town

Just returned home from Phoenix after a luxurious vacation to the valley. It was a good vacation with warm weather, beer, baseball, good food, some glass and some pedaling. I was able to get out to South Mountain for a couple of different rides. The first day I checked out the National Trail which provided awesome views down into Phoenix (glad to be up on the mountain) and the second I rode the Desert Classic trail out and back for some fast fun. Today I rode at White Tank Mountain Park which was pretty fun and fast also. One of the most impressive things we saw on vacation was at the Desert Botanical Garden which was hosting an exhibit by Dale Chihuly who is a world famous glass blower. We were also lucky to get to a couple of spring training baseball games where we say the Cubs, Giants, Brewers and Angels play. It is amazing how crowded games in Phoenix are compared to the games in Tucson when we lived there.

Just a quick post

Today we took a quick trip down to Sedona for a bit of a hike with Yampa. We decided to head up Long Canyon for a ways which was pretty nice. We were hiking with a bunch of other people today as the greater Sedona area seemed like the place to be. When we got back to the trailhead we decide to go looking for the connector trail that would lead to Dry Creek. We got down to Dry Creek (which is not dry during the spring) and let Yampa off the leash. She was loving the water and drinking and swimming without a care in the world. We discovered shortly after returning home that she was just plum tuckered out and had assumed her sleeping position. I am going to assume my sleeping position here right about now.