Spring is finally here

And I'm learning what all the hype surrounding Flagstaff is about. For the last month or so, as soon as the temperatures were high enough to not need a jacket, the wind picked up. No one told me about the wind in Flagstaff, but it's serious. Springtime wind is on average above 20 mph, with gusts around 40 mph. Then, yesterday it just stopped. Now that the weather is warming up, the trails are drying and it's time to ride bikes. I'm about a ten minute bike ride (on bike paths) to some amazing trails and I am feigning hard. Not being in school has freed up a lot more time for riding. Despite the fact that I'm working full time, I'm still riding more than ever. The sun comes up around 5:30 am these days and I'm starting to ride in the morning before work, and squeezin in about three rides on my days off. Yay. Here's a couple photos of those aforementioned rides.

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Thomas, a super nice dude on a summer bike tour stayed with us and we rode with him out of town

dirt road southeast of town

rad canyon wall along the Arizona Trail

AZT just south of town

the road bike rejuvenated

Superstition Wilderness Backpacking trip

This past weekend Lisa and I checked out the Superstition Wilderness which is about 45 miles east of Phoenix. It was already getting hot, but there was still a good amount of water. This place couldn't be any more different than the Humboldt Redwoods, where everything is soft and wet. Everything here wants to cut, scrape or poke you and with the exception of a few seasonal creeks is extremely hot and dry and we were very happy to be done hiking after three days. Nonetheless it was incredibly pretty and provided some amazing views. Here is a link to more photos.

Catching up.....

The last month and a half I was working for a small (one person) company that makes white water river gear. I was sewing bags of varying sizes and shapes which although wasn't extremely enjoyable, was a good learning experience. I have been wanting to improve my sewing skills and have been contemplating going into production making bicycle touring bags. I impulsively bought an industrial sewing machine and just finished my first project on it.  I made a one person, light weight (15 oz.) tent, something I've been wanting to make for quite a while. It's not the prettiest thing but it should serve me well. 

Winter is still going strong here, I'm used to the mild and short, almost non-existent California winters where you can still ride your bike on trails, or at least dirt roads. I tried going on a ride today, but came across more snow and mud than is allotted for an enjoyable ride. So it looks like we'll have to continue heading south for fun. 

In other news, next week I start my new job at Absolute Bikes. Pretty excited to be working in town (last job was 7.5 miles away), and to be working on bikes with cool folks. I took this week off, to go riding or backpacking, not sure which, but I will be sure to post some photos of whatever I do. 

photos of the recent past

most of these photos are various excursions  

made to Sedona to escape the cold and snow

view from Cathedral Rock

riding some dirt

Jakob and Lily made a visit

hard to tell from the photo but this was some massive gnarly canyon wall we hiked up

Not Sedona - Old Munds HWY passing under HWY-17

Kachina trail

home for the holidays

SF action

Tide pools in Pescadero

Jack, Tim and Lisa searching for sea critters

buddies

this guys was rad, I'm not sure what the heck it is though

Greg and I on our way to Fairfax/Tam from Santa Rosa

East Peak

one of many impressive views from Mt. Tam

Sedona Cirlce Tour

Just got back from my first bike tour since moving to Arizona. Burly would be the best word to describe it, as well as a lost of fun. The landscape (obviously much different than what I'm used to having grown up in coastal northern California) on this tour was very new to me. Even after four days of riding I am still excited to see cactus and yucca. The Sedona area itself has an amazing and interesting geology. On day four we started in white chalky limestone and within 30 miles ended up in iron rich red rock. The climate is insanely dry (although we had a little rain our last day) and warm which allowed me to ride in a t-shirt for most of the trip. The whole time I had to keep telling myself that it was the middle of December and not July. Our focus on this trip was to explore the area but to try to avoid riding on paved roads, or busy roads at least. About one half of the miles were on dirt roads of varying conditions. The second day we rode Perkinsville Rd. which I would definitely rank as one of the top 3 roads I've ever pedaled. For having gone into it completely naive and for the most part relying on google maps (not recommended) we did pretty well. There were some hike-a-bike sections for sure, but only one instance when we abandoned our planned route for an alternative which was recommended to us by a USFS employee. Having only brought one forest service map (non-topo) I realize the usefullness of good maps and GPS units. But nevertheless we had no issues and had a blast. Here is a link to the route and below are some photos.

One of several rad canyons to rode through on Perkinsville Road

This rock formation reminds me of Turkey Tail mushrooms

one of the hike-a-bike sections

Perkinsville Road carved out of the hillside

more photos

Put some fat tires on the bike and went for a ride today. Instead of being a hassle, the snow and mud were fun to ride through. Checked out a little park just a few blocks from the house that has exercise stations, yeah that's right I was that weird guy doing sit ups in public.

Greetings from Arizona

Elk season is in full swing

Well it's been a week since I arrived in Arizona. The first couple of days I was here the temperature dropped down to single digits and snow fell rather relentlessly from the sky. A good break in time in my adjusting to another climate and landscape. It wasn't too bad, and I've heard that it shouldn't get too much colder than that. Either way I'm happy to have picked up a balaclava before heading out here, cold mountain air stings the face when you're riding your bike. Speaking of which I've been able to do a little of. Although there is still too much snow for any kind of dirt riding in Flagstaff, as I learned the hard way. On Friday I headed north to do some dirt road riding when I stumbled upon a section of the Arizona Trail, eager to ride some of it, I decided to ride it back into town. Well a few miles later and I was hiking more than biking so I headed back. Saturday Lisa and I headed down to a county park just south of town where we found more snow.

 Flagstaff urban trail system

Lisa and her new Rawland

 So today we drove 30 miles south to Sedona where you could ride in a t-shirt (as I did) in December. We rode the Bell Rock Pathway, a nice easy trail that wraps around some incredible red rock mountains. The terrain is so different than the Pacific Northwest, and the mountain biking is insane. Riding atop massive red rocks, blazing by huge cactus, you can't help but be in awe of the incredible surroundings. Whatever may be said about the spiritual energy of the place, there is something definitely special about Sedona. Here are some photos (hopefully enticing enough to make you come visit!).