This blog is probably getting to be a bit boring to read...yes, another epic Flag ride... PaulD reached out to me earlier in the week looking for a long ride up by Flagstaff. In his training for Leadville, he training plan called for a 8ish hour ride and I figured I had just the ticket. Up Shultz, west on AZT, up SB road, AZT north at Aspen corner, north and around Walker Lake, then back south. We took the new section of AZT till it ended then HAB'd up to the road where we climbed back up to Snow Bowl. Jumping on the Aspen nature loop trail and dodging the throngs of hikers, we hit the AZT again went south till it ended, HAB'd to the road then down the road to the AZT, east on AZT to Schultz, then bombed like madmen down Schultz...or at least in our minds we were bombing down it. The trails, albeit kinda dry and dusty, were almost deserted the further north we were. Tons of great wildflowers, ferns and single track. Always a good sign when my brake levers have remnants of ferns stuck in them.
Super day on the bike...Something about a long ride, far away from the car just has such appeal to me. Yesterdays ride fit the bill well.... 58.7 miles, 6261vft of climbing.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
"Magma....."
Something about going deep into a hole in the ground intrigues me… as it apparently does about a hundred other people that ventured to the lava tube north of Flagstaff on Saturday. We had attempted to do this a few weeks ago when we had some family visiting but lacked in a big way on adequate light sources. This time, I brought out the “big guns”... magicshines from my night riding gear. I mounted each on a helmet that my daughter and I each wore. My wife wasn’t sure she could handle the claustrophobic nature of the cave, so she came along with one of our brighter flashlights with the intent of turning around after a few hundred yards.
Showing up at the tube entrance at about 2pm on Saturday, we had plenty of company. The entrance looked like ant pile with people swarming around the entrance. Most of these people had no intent on venturing inside but merely look down into the darkness. We stood amongst them, put our helmets on, hooked up the lights and down in the hole we went.
At first, it was like rush hour on the freeway. People everywhere. Lucky for us, with our hands free, we were able to scramble past people quite easily. Within a few hundred yards, the tube levels out and we were past most of the poorly equipped people.
The tube itself is pretty amazing…many places you are walking along a solidified river of lava. The ceiling of the tube is almost a perfect semicircle in many places; seemingly man-made. At one place roughly ½ of the total 1 mile length, the ceiling height is significantly reduced such that it requires some crouched walking. The temperature in the tube is fairly brisk as well…about 40 degrees.
The helmet-mounted magicshines were perfect for the job. We ran them on Low and still had tons of light. Several people commented on how bright they were and how jealous they were! Having a helmet on was also a good thing since there were a few places where a bump to the head was likely with the low ceilings.
All three of us ended up going to the end of the cave. With the almost “daylight” conditions, my wife’s claustrophobia didn’t bother her. So, in the end, we considered the adventure a success and decided we’d do it all over again some other day.
Showing up at the tube entrance at about 2pm on Saturday, we had plenty of company. The entrance looked like ant pile with people swarming around the entrance. Most of these people had no intent on venturing inside but merely look down into the darkness. We stood amongst them, put our helmets on, hooked up the lights and down in the hole we went.
At first, it was like rush hour on the freeway. People everywhere. Lucky for us, with our hands free, we were able to scramble past people quite easily. Within a few hundred yards, the tube levels out and we were past most of the poorly equipped people.
The tube itself is pretty amazing…many places you are walking along a solidified river of lava. The ceiling of the tube is almost a perfect semicircle in many places; seemingly man-made. At one place roughly ½ of the total 1 mile length, the ceiling height is significantly reduced such that it requires some crouched walking. The temperature in the tube is fairly brisk as well…about 40 degrees.
The helmet-mounted magicshines were perfect for the job. We ran them on Low and still had tons of light. Several people commented on how bright they were and how jealous they were! Having a helmet on was also a good thing since there were a few places where a bump to the head was likely with the low ceilings.
All three of us ended up going to the end of the cave. With the almost “daylight” conditions, my wife’s claustrophobia didn’t bother her. So, in the end, we considered the adventure a success and decided we’d do it all over again some other day.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Backyard Ride
I feel very fortunate to be able to spend many weekends in Munds Park, AZ. It's cool, quiet, and relaxing. For mountain biking, the really good trails are still a 50 mile RT drive which I did almost every ride last summer. This year, I decided I'd be more conscious of the miles and subsequent cost of driving my truck 50 miles each time I wanted to ride. Although riding forest roads aren't the funnest, they are still good miles and offer some good climbs.
The AZ Trail runs N-S about 14 miles east of Munds Park. I put together a GPX file by pasting together a variety of tracks as well as drawing my own. That was enough for me to see a few of the easy to miss turns.
From Munds Park, it's about 19 miles to the AZT (CW loop). A hard right (easy to miss) turn and you're on some really great AZT singletrack. It follows the eastern contours of Mormon Mountain, eventually crossing FR240, and continuing south. Nice singletrack, a few chunky climbs to test your skill, but all-in-all, a nice cruise. Finally, jumping on FR219b heading NW back to MP completed the 43 mile ride...75% forest road, 25% single track.
The AZ Trail runs N-S about 14 miles east of Munds Park. I put together a GPX file by pasting together a variety of tracks as well as drawing my own. That was enough for me to see a few of the easy to miss turns.
From Munds Park, it's about 19 miles to the AZT (CW loop). A hard right (easy to miss) turn and you're on some really great AZT singletrack. It follows the eastern contours of Mormon Mountain, eventually crossing FR240, and continuing south. Nice singletrack, a few chunky climbs to test your skill, but all-in-all, a nice cruise. Finally, jumping on FR219b heading NW back to MP completed the 43 mile ride...75% forest road, 25% single track.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day of the (Dead) Dirt
Today(Saturday) was the first rain of the summer in Munds Park and probably the same for north of Flag...and man does the forest need it. Set out yesterday for not quite an epic, but a good 3 hour-ish ride to explore the AZT section as it crosses Snow Bowl road and heads north. Last week coming south the trail stopped and was largely unfinished. From the south, off of Snow Bowl road, it meanders up the slope before heading slightly west towards Big Leroux Spring.
A few more pics from the ride...
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Epic Flag Ride – Redoooo
A couple SS friends of mine decided to come up to and stay with my wife and I in Munds Park. We planned to do a very similar ride to what I did 2 weeks ago…the Epic Flag ride. Started at the bottom of Schultz around 7AM…a nice leisurely spin up Schultz Creek then onto the AZT heading west. It’s generally downhill to where the trail crosses Snowbowl Rd and tons of fun. We decided we’d climb the road up to Aspen corner…good decision as we’d later find out…Up the AZT going north…the ferns had grown a bunch from 2 weeks ago…handlebar height in some sections…took the AZT out past the White Horse Hills and Walker Lake almost to Kelly Tank. The wind was blowing pretty good from the south so we decided to turn around and begin the grind against the wind and back up from about 7700ft to 9000ft. At only an average of 3% grade over 8 miles, it’s not a brutal climb but one that seems just steady enough to keep your heart rate up. The scenery sure helps too…We encountered a family with some small kiddos on SS’s… What a great way to start them out. Responsible parents don’t let their kids have gears.
Back up to the connector trail junction to Aspen corner, we decided to see how far the AZT had been finished…We took it about another 1.5 miles…a very new section of trail that begins to decend some very powdery soil…super cool trail. Then the trail pretty much ends and we followed flags for a while, bushwacking our way through until my friends had a brilliant idea to check the GPS and see where the paved road was wrt our position…Thank God they did…we were only about 400yds away yet it may have been 2 miles of bush-wacking had we followed the flags.
Back on the road, down to where the AZT crosses snow bowl rd… From there, it’s a gradual ascent back to Schultz pass…not that we had to go that far east, but we wanted to enjoy the Schultz Creek decent. However, the price for that decent was an uncomfortably warm 45 minutes of riding…probably the warmest I’ve ever been riding in Flagstaff. The southern flanks of the peaks have some sparsely treed areas that offer little shade.
All in all, it was another great ride…51.3 miles, 5844 ft of ascent (per Garmin connect), 6:36 of ride time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95124569
I don’t think I’ll ever get ALL the dust off my bike.
Back up to the connector trail junction to Aspen corner, we decided to see how far the AZT had been finished…We took it about another 1.5 miles…a very new section of trail that begins to decend some very powdery soil…super cool trail. Then the trail pretty much ends and we followed flags for a while, bushwacking our way through until my friends had a brilliant idea to check the GPS and see where the paved road was wrt our position…Thank God they did…we were only about 400yds away yet it may have been 2 miles of bush-wacking had we followed the flags.
Back on the road, down to where the AZT crosses snow bowl rd… From there, it’s a gradual ascent back to Schultz pass…not that we had to go that far east, but we wanted to enjoy the Schultz Creek decent. However, the price for that decent was an uncomfortably warm 45 minutes of riding…probably the warmest I’ve ever been riding in Flagstaff. The southern flanks of the peaks have some sparsely treed areas that offer little shade.
All in all, it was another great ride…51.3 miles, 5844 ft of ascent (per Garmin connect), 6:36 of ride time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95124569
I don’t think I’ll ever get ALL the dust off my bike.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
SS Climbing Nirvana
First, let me lay a bit of groundwork…I got into mountain biking back in the late 80’s as a senior in college. Bought a Cannondale mtb which was great although the wheelbase was long and it felt like driving a yacht..a very stiff yacht. Then in the mid 90’s, I found a Specialized Stumpjumper Comp used from a kid at ASU that did nothing with it except ride it to school…major deal. Wow, what a difference; short wheelbase, steeper head tube angle...twitchy in comparison. However, after some getting used to it, it was great…did some races and had some fun. Then….took a long hiatus from riding. Fast forward to 2008, I was on a business trip back in Ohio, when a friend at the client I was visiting invited me to come riding. I figured why not? Then I caught the bug again…a couple months later and I was the proud owner of a 2008 Specialized Stumpjumper Elite…man, that bike was sweet. Living fairly near the McDowell Mountains, I frequented those trails. I routinely suffered up Windgate and Bell. My goal was to do the Quad Bypass in 2010…done.
Then, like all of us bike owners, we get the itch…simply because we spend our spare hours surfing the bike porn as my wife calls it. I kept thinking that the whole SS thing might be for me. However, I was worried that I wouldn’t ride my favorite trails in McDowells…Could I still do Windgate? Would I be stuck with SSing the flatter stuff only? Would I still ride the SJ?
I probably spent 8 months trying to decide what bike to build…steel? Low dollar or high dollar frame? Then in a moment of weakness, I decided to buy the Lynskey Ridgeline…I figured worst case, I’d put gears on it and at least I’d join the 29er world.
Spent most of the summer weekends of 2010 riding it up in Flagstaff. Geared it at 32x21 so the steeper stuff wasn’t too bad. Then it happened…the epiphany…the moment when I decided it was right…. I was riding up Mt. Elden Rd…simply standing on each turn of the pedal…no excessive pulling on the upstroke…a nice steady HR of about 150bpm… it just seemed so right to climb like that...The perfect combination of grade, gear, and guts (by guts I mean fitness) that seems to make everything else go away, even if just for that climb. People say when you ride an SS, you’re always in the wrong gear… In this case, nirvana happens, it is the right gear.
Then, like all of us bike owners, we get the itch…simply because we spend our spare hours surfing the bike porn as my wife calls it. I kept thinking that the whole SS thing might be for me. However, I was worried that I wouldn’t ride my favorite trails in McDowells…Could I still do Windgate? Would I be stuck with SSing the flatter stuff only? Would I still ride the SJ?
I probably spent 8 months trying to decide what bike to build…steel? Low dollar or high dollar frame? Then in a moment of weakness, I decided to buy the Lynskey Ridgeline…I figured worst case, I’d put gears on it and at least I’d join the 29er world.
Spent most of the summer weekends of 2010 riding it up in Flagstaff. Geared it at 32x21 so the steeper stuff wasn’t too bad. Then it happened…the epiphany…the moment when I decided it was right…. I was riding up Mt. Elden Rd…simply standing on each turn of the pedal…no excessive pulling on the upstroke…a nice steady HR of about 150bpm… it just seemed so right to climb like that...The perfect combination of grade, gear, and guts (by guts I mean fitness) that seems to make everything else go away, even if just for that climb. People say when you ride an SS, you’re always in the wrong gear… In this case, nirvana happens, it is the right gear.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Epic Ride in Flagstaff
It was a nice cool morning last Saturday so I figured it was time to do a ride that I'd been wanting to do for some time...start at the bottom of Schultz Creek and ride up and around to the west making a loop around the White Horse Hills and returning. Headed up Shultz making a left near the pass to find the new AZT that then traverses to the west. Nice flowy stuff there, some ups, some downs and generally parallel to pipeline. After it abruptly ended, I bushwacked for a few hundred yards to find Snow Bowl Rd. Headed up the road to Aspen Corner where I stopped, ate a snack then pressed on north, up the AZT. Past the Bizmark lake turnoff, and the trail starts to descend...an almost magical decent....gradual switchbacks through thick aspen and fir forests till I hit FR418 and hung a right...bit of a climb then left on the moto trail around White Horse Hills. Minutes after being on the moto track, I busted a nipple on the rear wheel...damn. Luckily the wheel was still pretty true. Onward I went, encountering some chunky ups and downs...the ups were a HAB...prolly rideable with gears. Through the saddle where some bizarre volcanic rock formation sits, then down and back to the AZT. Feeling a bit tired, I considered taking forest roads back but decided I HAD to ride the AZT back up through the aspens...super glad I did. The switchbacks seemed almost downhill as I stayed in the saddle turning a comfortable cadence with the 32x20. I would attribute this to the high I was on constantly thinking about how life could be so much worse... Back to Aspen corner I was feeling pretty torched and my lungs giving me issues (and the broken nipple), I decided I'd take the road back... Great day on the bike in Northern AZ...
Dales map of the area
My Garmin Connect data
Dales map of the area
My Garmin Connect data
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