More of the weather….
December 2, 2007 at 5:15 am | In Pedaling, School | 1 CommentTags: A Mountain, Hidden Canyon, Mountain biking, Nite riding, Rain, Rainbows, Tires
A long day of work on the Decathlon proposal ended with this.
followed by some of this.
and got some of this which we don’t see much of
The route was a quick shot up to the Marriot trail and Hidden Canyon from campus area. Chris #1 met me at the house and we rolled out. On the way, we saw Chris #2 on his way out the door up to a quick run up A mountain. We convinced him to come with us instead. He didn’t sound too enthusiastic about Hidden Canyon but humored us, how nice. Hidden canyon was marvelous with fresh tacky trail. I cleaned a few more switchbacks with a big grin on the face. We got back down to the hotel and decided we couldn’t deny Chris #2 his original intent of going up A mountain so we headed up the back way. Not nearly as nasty as I expected on the climb up to the saddle but that is where we encountered the mud, weird, sticky crap, it grabbed onto the tires then proceeded to grab small rocks and fling them everywhere. We are spoiled. Capped the night off with a few “Racer 5″ tall beers.
Woke up in the morning and tinkered on bikes. Katie mentioned her cruiser bike riding “slow and lumpy”? I think this is what she was talking about.
La Milagrosa
November 27, 2007 at 6:29 am | In Pedaling | Leave a CommentTags: La Milagrosa, Mountain biking, Ninja training
This is always one of those anxiety rides. Thoroughly enjoying every moment as it happens but maintaining a sharp awareness of what the next move or sequence of moves is to keep the happy moments happening, the lingering though being CHOMP! I know the trail and all the lines but as most anybody who regularly rides it will tell you, there are no sure things.
Sean picked me up yesterday morning to head out for a ride. We usually head out to TMP the standard random assembly of who knows what but Sean had Millie on his mind. He eluded to it in conversation the night before and who am I to say no to the guy. We grabbed a coffee and a galette on the way out and started pedaling up the highway. The 5 mile climb went by easily and soon enough we were heading up to the saddle at Molino Basin. I recently put a standard triple crankset on the bike and I gotta say, I don’t know who I was kidding trying to slug around a 44/29 2×9 setup. When you’ve only got 1 gear, the whole style of riding changes, but if you’re gonna use gears, use the damn gears! 22t makes all the difference in the world when goating it up techy steep crap. Rather than trying to fling myself through the rock strewn lines, I was able to more smoothly thread and stay on the bike. What I’m trying to say is I took fewer dabs up to the saddle than ever before.
The view to the east at the saddle gets me every time, looking out towards Reddington and the San Pedro river valley I think of the stories of Abbey, Muir, and Shelton. The decent down to the start of La Milagrosa is a good one with tight precise lines, switchbacks and lots of potential to destroy a tire/wheel/bike/person. Sean had to pay the toll today with a cut sidewall on the way down. A full meal deal patch job (i.e. sandpaper, glue, patch) and we reduced the damage to a smallish goiter type thing, onward and upward.
Once you turn onto millie, it is not long at all before the first big move. A slabby ramp up to a notch you drop straight down into a 3′+/- wide cut with over the head height rocks on either side and a tight 90 degree turn to be made. I’ve attempted many times and got close once in the past but today was my day to get away with it.
That pretty much set the stage for the rest of the day, Sean and I rode tight and clean. After that move begins some climbing and ridge riding. Enter techy section numero dos which is a long line of big chunky stuff. It seems impossible to ride the exact same line twice. Back to some climbing and ridge line riding. This is pretty much the pattern and the anxiety doesn’t stop until you are completely off the trail and on your way home.
Yesterday was a truly amazing mix of lingering anxiety and AHHHHH moments. plenty of great dirt, rocks, good traction, views and relief. All that and back home by 1 to get a good solid day of work in on the Solar D proposal. A nice cap to a long holiday weekend.
Camera ran out of juice at the start of the trail up to Molino basin so here is a shot from some Full Moon Ninja Training on La Milagrosa with Mateo and Noe.
Sploration and Some Home Cooking
November 24, 2007 at 5:13 pm | In Pedaling, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Apples, Cactus, Mountain biking, Pie, Thanksgiving, Tucson Moutain Park
I’ve been looking forward to thanksgiving this year for some time because we were going to head out west to visit Brendan and Mary. They just got some new digs in Idyllwild, Siren just got a new shop and we’ve been scheming on some big adventure in the mountains to the desert. The past few weeks have been a bit manic at school/work putting together our team proposal for the 2009 Solar Decathlon which is due next week. For some reason, I’ve been operating for the past few weeks on some sort of other calander and I swear someone decided to chop and entire week out of the month of November? All of the sudden, the thought of leaving town for a long weekend started to scare the pants off of me. Katie has been feeling the same way with her dissertation, teaching upper division courses and Voices. So we made the decision to stay put and stay home for Thanksgiving. Sorry Brendan and Mary, we love you guys and miss you. We owe you a trip up there.
Thanksgiving is always a good time for me because it marks my anniversary into mountain biking/cycling. That first thanksgiving day 9ish years ago, I put my bike in the truck drove down to Cedar Lake with no idea where I was going or what to expect. I remember pushing through the mud, wondering where in the world I was going and sitting by the lake. I still love to ride that singletrack even if it is only 3-4 miles rountrip. Back then it might as well have been 40. Between Cedar lake and the Kinkaid trails I learned how to ride a mountain bike. I learned what it was like to ride in mud and leaves. I learned about rock gardens and slippery moss. On that trail I learned about crashing hard and stitches. Because of those trails I met two people who are hear and dear to me forever. Together we rode trail built trail, paddled across the lake in a canoe in a lightning storm in the name of the trail, parted ways and now we share each others trails.
That first day 9ish years ago was a solo effort and while I love riding with other people, there is always a little extra drive in a ride when I am by myself. This day was no different. I headed out this morning with a lot of options in my mind but one thing was for sure, I had to give the new marriot trail a go. I don’t know the actual name of this thing but it showed up late summer/early fall and the thing punches my ticket every time. The trail was built for the resort as a trail, guests could not get lost on. Apparently, over the summer, lots of folks were getting lost out in TMP and had to ask random folks for a ride back to the hotel. This trail is listed and built as a hikers trail with no intent on it being a mountain bike trail. While some disagree with the logic, I am really excited because it is perhaps the most technical trail out in TMP. 11 hearty switchbacks, all demand 100% attention and a hefty skill set to get to the top. The decent starts off mellow and turns to chop in a hurry, not nearly as many switchbacks but littered full of good sized squarish rocks. If you loose momentum, it is all over. I’ve been working through the switchbacks and on a given ride can clean half of them on the way up. I came oh so close to cleaning one of the nasty S turns today, hopped through and around the first turn, two pedal strokes up to the next, hop, hop, turn, turn, everything was going well, pushed on the pedals to exit the S and the rear tire slips, sending me down. Thanks trail, maybe next time.
After heading back down went over to the stone house and on through the wash. Did some rooting around in a side wash and found another trail which benchcuts west above a wash. High potential for good riding and some views of peaks you can’t get from other trails. Back down into the wash and up Golden Gate with good climbing legs. I was quite happy to dab only once on that climb. Here I thought about going up further, searching out another phantom trail that shows up in aerial photos but decided to enjoy some know technical descending and some fast singletrack. Came around the mountain and entered back into TMP just east of the shooting range. Back through the wash and out, take the road home. 6 hours of riding time and I was ready for dinner.
Kelly came over and the three of us made pies (apple, pumkin, and veggie pot pie), mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberries. We opened a bottle of wine leftover from the party and ate outside.
Good night!
“Rotary motion of the worm gives a rectilinear motion to the rack”
November 12, 2007 at 5:34 am | In Pedaling | 2 CommentsTags: Bars on Bikes, Bike swap, Cruiser bikes, Cyclcide, Mountain biking
from 507 Mechanical Movements by Henry T. Brown
The GABA bikes swap was Saturday and I went down with no intention to buy ANYTHING. I rode down and started trolling. Lots of crap and some good stuff if you’re into digging. A friend found a pair of Campy Sherrif Star hubs for 30 bones, such a deal. I got to fondle some of Ed’s bikes which are mighty pleasant to look at. He is really putting out some craft and it seems to be building up a head of steam around town. Ran into all the usual suspects as it usually goes in Tucson and then saw a lovely pair of townies sitting together loving the sunshine. Good old Andy had this pair of CCM Caprices in a minty turquoise. These two bikes may as well been one, everything is perfect on them, matching seats, grips, bells, and even center kickstands. When have you ever seen that on a bicycle? The real catch was the sequentially numbered and dated license plates mounted to the left side front axle, 1979_3288 and 3289 baby.
Andy was gracious enough to slap a sold sign on them and bring them back to his house for me. I picked them up this afternoon, cleaned them up and put air in the tires, good to go. Kate and I took them out for a test drive and the rode just like a cruiser should only without the normally associated rattle, shake, jiggle, jiggle, squeak. Whoever had these things really must have loved them because their condition was so great and they got hauled here from Qebec. These things are going to be great date bikes. The only thing I could dig up on the internets was some woman who has a blog in toronto that happens to have a brown CCM Caprice?
The rest of Saturday consisted of an awesome ride out at TMP featuring primo techy trails with Jeff[sans]ro, Spiker and a guest appearance by Gary the Waterboy. Great afternoon in the desert.
We all re-conveaned for an evening of Bars on Bikes that started off small and grew significantly as the night drew on. At one point I counted 32 in our crowd, not so bad. We hit the usual watering holes but stopped off at the new Rogue Cycles shop which was hosting Cyclcide which seams like a group of bicycle artists/carnies. They had some great pedal powered rides, tall bikes, jousting et al. These people are really into their work, and do a nice job of bring it out for public consumption. The night ended for me at Barrio Brewery with some curling/shuffleboard/bargame??
I missed out on riding this morning because I spent a god portion of the night up coughing, damn allergies, but I did get a lot done around the house. Painted some walls, fixed some doors, started a patio (so much for taking it easy.) Ate dinner outside, enjoying the cool evening air.
Dia De Los Muertos
November 9, 2007 at 10:58 pm | In Pedaling, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: All souls Procession, Calexico, Dia de los Muertos, Mountain biking
What an amazing weekend in the old pueblo. As usual the weather was spectacular although a bit warm. It was Homecoming weekend which comes with its own baggage but we managed. Saturday morning was busy as I had to be at the Student Showcase to show my graduate work, as it turns out I won my category and put a pile of cash in my pocket, not to shabby. Kate and I grilled and ate outside then pedaled over to Reed park to see Calexico on the lawn. Nice show, lots of great people around to share the evening with.
Sunday was a bike ride in the desert, classic TMP stuff. I threw a fresh new Reba on the front of the bike, making this my first ride on any sort of suspension in a few years. As it turns out, squishy forks have their place although I think I still prefer steep techy climbing on the Pace even if it does make the front of the bike feel like it is stabbing into the ground.
Sunday afternoon was preparations for the All Souls Procession Katie and got dressed up and made up then pedaled downtown where we gathered with friends to witness the second and formal marriage of Mateo and Mary. A small ceremony was held to commemorate their year of life as committed souls and finally sign those legal documents. Following the ceremony we all processed to 4th ave to join the rest of the souls in the parade. High energy, great performance by many and good times had by all.
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