Short but sweet

Anne and I spent five days in Tucson last week for a bit of a mini vacation. We hit up some of the old haunts and threw in a couple of new ones. The new ones of note are the new Nimbus brewery/bistro on the east side close to where we used to live, a new pizza and beer place on Speedway called 1702 with a ton of different beer on tap, and Sweetwater Preserve where there is 12 miles of Sonoran singletrack built for mountain biking. We had a great time enjoying the warm weather. When we arrived home the UPS guy came by to deliver a new addition to the stable. I rode it for the first time yesterday and it is light and fast which was the point. I got it used (once was the claim) so the price seemed right. I am heading out for another ride this morning because the forecast shows snow coming tomorrow night.

A nice week of riding

This week has been fairly nice weather wise with some nice sunny days that seem to illuminate the golden leaves of the aspen trees. I have been around the same areas I usually ride with a trip the other day to Upper Brookbank which is definitely one of my favorite trails in Flagstaff. Today I rode a hodgepodge of trails that incorporated the oasis of Drew's bus at the Sunset parking lot with tapped kegs and music playing. The odd thing was the Drew and everyone he was with were on the Waterline Road in Mexican wrestler costumes. Drew decided to have a Nacho Libre ride today that I completely forgot about. I did happen across the bus as the same time as some other folks that I know so we warmed up the camp chairs a bit and got some of the foam out of the keg. I put some Arrogant Bastard in my water bottle for the way home and it's a good thing because I had to fix a flat midway down Schultz Creek. The beer definitely made fixing a flat bearable.

Annual pilgramage

Yesterday I made it a point to get up to the Inner Basin to see the leave changing color. I wanted to enjoy the sights before the weekend as many people will make the trip up there in the next couple of days. The colors did not seem as if their peak had been reached yet but there were some spectacular sections.

Still recovering from the weekend

This past weekend I rode in the Pines to the Mines ride and it was brutally hot but otherwise a great time. The party afterward was fun as usual (maybe too fun?). I had so much "fun" that I made the safe decision to camp down at the mine in Jerome and come back Sunday morning. I got home cleaned up and relaxed for the day and watched football. Yesterday was a second recovery day which included the stucco patching project which is still ongoing. Today I got back on the bike but didn't feel too hot. The wind and the lack of moisture was messing with my allergies I believe. I just rode up to the tunnel on the Waterline Road and saw some changing leaves and turned around. This afternoon I patched some more stucco and I'm still not done.

Pines to the Mines cometh

It's that time of the year again here in Flagstaff. The time of year when 60 or so folks mount their steeds and head off the plateau. Destination Jerome about 80 miles away. Tomorrow should see the temperature push 100 down at the Verde River crossing and about 90 at Jerome. This means that for the 15 mile climb from the river to Jerome, you guessed it, will be between 90 and 100 degrees. Fun fun. Today I decided that I better clean up my Coconino and give it a good once over. I figured it was created here in Flagstaff so I better represent with a clean bike (at the beginning anyway) for this annual pilgrimage.

Arizona is not all cactus and infernal heat

I believe that Flagstaff is a pretty good place to be a cyclist.

Vacation post 2-Montana

The second leg of our vacation took us from Idaho north to Montana and Glacier National Park. We started our tour of Glacier with a drive on the Going to the Sun road which goes right through the middle of the park. The high point of the road is Logan Pass where there is a visitor center and a few starting points for some trails. We took one of them to Hidden Lake which was a pretty spectacular hike with wildlife and plenty of scenery. We continued along the road to view the Jackson Glacier and then back around to Whitefish which is where we stayed. Day 2 say a pretty good hike up to the Numa Ridge lookout tower where the lookout happily took our picture before we made our way back down to the starting point at Bowman Lake. Our 3rd and last day in Glacier we decided to hike the Garden Wall trail which was a pretty impressive cut along the cliff edge. This trail had a steep spur trail up to a view point of the Grinnell Glacier which was an incredible site. The last full day we spent in Montana was partially a travel day to Missoula but I managed to knock out a quick ride up Big Mountain in Whitefish which was pretty fun and not too demanding. Travel followed the fun but we managed some good times and dinners in Missoula, Moab and Los Alamos on the way home.