Friday, January 29, 2010

"Hmm... I don't think I'll go home just yet."

It's not very often that I get home from a ride and am wired enough to make a blog post. Tonight is an exception, I suppose.

Today was a great day for riding. Exegete had told me this when he got home from work, as well as mentioning riding in the fog this morning. I was jealous. I love riding in the fog.

Aaanyways. Met up with TC for our Friday ride, and ended up catching the Perigee full moon rise AND a sunset. At the top of the same hill, go figure. For those who don't know, a perigee full moon is some 14% larger than a typical full moon. They're fairly rare, and occur only when the moon is at it's lowest point in it's orbit around the earth. The optial effect of it being low on the horizon made it larger still:

Yeah, the picture doesn't do it justice. It looked much bigger.


And so, we continued on, past the mountains of snow along the path:

Until we found where they stopped plowing. Alas, lacking Pugsleys, we were forced to turn around and ride home at this point.

Enter the fun part. Around 11:15 when I left TC's place to head home, the clouds were hanging low in the sky. "Wouldn't it be great if they dropped on me on the way home, and I got to ride in the fog?" was the thought in my head as I rode through campus.

Well.

As I rode down near the big I-40/I-17 interchange, some of the lights were growing halos. The fog was coming in! At that point (11:30 or so) I decided to ride out towards Fort Tuthill on 89A to see if I could catch the fog.

89A and Lake Mary Road intersection... I should be turning left there. I went straight instead.

I had to take a picture of a bike on a berm.

Near Fort Tuthill. The fog is thick enough you can see the beam from my helmet light.

Freeway lights near Fort Tuthill.

There's my exit!

Near the airport.

Hangars at the airport.

I decided to turn the flash on to see what it would do in the fog. Looks like snow.

Same picture, no flash. I like this scene... it was very peaceful.

I think that was a great ride.
Mileage: 26.6

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Fooooooood!!

So, the storm is over, the sun is out, and it's FREAKING BRIGHT outside. And cold, but I'm used to that.

So, with the skies cleared, and the fridge devoid of most things tasty, Exe and I decided we were in need of food. So, after a quick scouting run to the mailboxes to check the road conditions, we got on bikes and rode to the store.

The National Guard is in town to play in the snow!

Happy bikes in snow!

Bikes loaded down with food. I think that's more stuff on Bi than I usually put on Henry.

Ingenious methods of clearing the Wal-mart roof: A crane hoisting around a big tarp/net/basket thing that the guys on the roof fill with snow. Crane swings it around and dumps it in the parking lot.

Fun stuff in the slush.
Mileage: 2.6

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Day 4 of a week of snow

This isn't so much a post about biking as it is a post about OMGSNOW!!

I went wandering around the apartment complex, taking out garbage/recycling, and checking the mail, and contemplating going for a ride. I also took my camera.


There's a Jiggady under there, somewhere.

I wonder how much more it'd take to make that collapse...

You can't tell in the picture, but his drive wheels are spinning.

Sad bike in snow.

By the time I got back, I decided to hold off on going for a ride. I'm confident that I could do it and be safe, but I'd be in people's way, and I don't really NEED to go anywhere.

I have to say, I'm a little envious of Exegete right now. He rode the Pugsley to work today.
Mileage: zip.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day three of a week of snow

I made the comment on Tuesday about my not having a car, yet hoping for many many feet of snow. Tim at work said that they expected nothing less from me.

Not as much snow fell last night as I had hoped for, but the ice on the roads was amazing. I had no traction with my rear wheel, despite the studs. No crashes though. We'll see what the weather is tomorrow. I'm not working, but I may ride around to take pictures of the storm. But, here's today's pictures.


What beast made these odd tracks? An arctic snow snake?

Ahh.... that'd do it.

Sunrise though the break between storms two and three.

Mileage: 4.2

Monday, January 18, 2010

Day one of a week of snow

This week Flagstaff is supposed to be getting hammered by a series of three storms. The forecasts I've heard are calling for anything from two feet to a snowpocalyptic 8 feet of snow. I'm hoping for lots, but not expecting much.

The outlook is promising, though:
That's the view from the top of the hill near where I work. The bike tracks aren't mine, though I added my own after taking this picture. There was about 4 inches of snow on the ground, with ice on the car lanes. Snowstorms are the only time when traffic actually slows down to my pace, most of the time.


Mileage: 4.1

Saturday, January 9, 2010

More sunset.

It seems I've fallen into the habit of posting yesterday's stuff a day late. I blame getting home after midnight.

The hill on 66 between Enterprise and 4'th street seems to be a great spot for sunsets. This is the second time TC and I have stopped there to take pictures.


And, a minute later:

A minute after that, it was almost all gone.

Mileage: none yet.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Chasing That Sunset

I have to say, as much as it stinks working 10.5 hour days at work, (6am to 4:30pm, bleahh.) It does put my rides to and from work in two of the best times of day, depending on what time of year it is. In summer, I'm riding to work at sunrise. In winter, if I take a long-ish ride home, I see the sun set. In short, I get to see colors.

It's been a few weeks since I've done more than riding the bare minimum to get to and from work. Last week I rode less than usual, due to sickness of nose drainy death, and snow. So yesterday after work, I wrapped my camera's strap around my wrist and took off to Lake Mary, snapping pictures as I rode:





Lower Lake Mary dam. If there's any water down there, it's under a few feet of snow.
When you see it...



It was at this point that I figured the sun had gone down, and I should probably turn around and head home. So I did. When I passed the dam and was near the little general store, I caught the sun shining on the top of Anderson Mesa in my mirror:

More than that, the sky was starting to light up. I figured I had a couple minutes to race ahead to a spot down the hill where the sunset wasn't as blocked by the trees. So I started spinning, and watching the sky light up as I rode down the hill, thinking "I'm gonna miss it! I'm gonna miss it!"

But I caught it. And not even 30 seconds after I took this picture, the colors faded, the sky turned gray, and I rode happily home.

Mileage: None for today... yet.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Merry new year!

Sometime around the end of 2008 (I believe the last day of December, which coincides for some reason with the end of a year) I decided to post my mileage totals for my bikes. This year shall be no exception, as it is my first year with a complete record of the miles I've pedaled. Though, instead of posting them in a "Lookit how far I rode!" mentality, now I'm posting them mainly for the sake of record keeping. Though, the fact that I'm posting them online does say "Lookit how far I rode!" I just can't win. >.<

Anyways:

Bi:.................1,414.2 miles
Henry:..........1,211.6
The B-52:.......555 - retired to build Tri.
Tri:..................79

Total: 3259.8 miles.

I think it was a pretty good year. I've learned a -lot- more about building/maintaining my bikes, and have really immersed myself into cycling in general. My posts over the past year can explain everything I've done better than I can sum up. I don't have any new years resolutions, but I do have goals for myself and my bike riding.

1: Ride a full century. This mainly is just a round about way of saying I want to build up my endurance further.
2: Do a short weekend camping tour. Pack my tent, sleeping bag, and foodstuffs on Henry, ride somewhere far-ish away, camp for a night or two, and ride home. I wanted to do this in '09, but I wasn't ready, or set on it.
3: Enter in a mountain bike race. Preferably the Crazy 88, but we'll see. This one is highly uncertain, but we'll see.

As for now... I am ashamed to say I have not ridden a single mile since last year. I got knocked out with a bad cold, and with how cold it's been, I've been content to stay inside and recuperate. Seems to be working well.. but I'll be back on two wheels tomorrow for the commute to work, with zeroed odometers all around.

Mileage: Many many inside my head.