Geocaching, and photo dump.

The weather this past week has been beautiful, with the nicest (warmest) days since November. So I've been going on after work rides. Wednesday, I wound up out near the junction of Route 66 and I-40, where the Walnut Canyon access road is. I stopped at an old water tank to take some pictures of the Peaks:
It's amazing to me how much snow has melted. This ride was intended to hit the trailheads to see if they were rideable yet. The answer being no, it turned into a cruise to enjoy the weather. As I was getting ready to leave the company of the water tank, I spotted an ammo can. I picked it up, not having any idea what it was. It was filled with small toys and knicknacks, some with tags, most with none. I ended up taking it home to figure out what it was.

That was a mistake.

So later, as I was rummaging through it, I found a slip of paper identifying it as a Geocache. Something that I was supposed to leave in place for others to find, as well as trade items between different caches. There's more than 500 just in the Flagstaff area, quite a few I've ridden right past. I'd never heard of this before, and now I'd just stolen one named "Old Yeller."

Oops.

So Thursday, I rode back out with the Geocache, and placed it back where I found it, after adding an item of my own, and taking Skins the Frog to give him a little boost further south the next time I go to Sedona. Old Yeller has a story to tell people now, and introduced me to the sport of Geocaching, something I'll be adding to my rides, after I get a GPS.

But, after over 55 miles on Bi in two days right off of winter... Surprisingly, today being the day after, I'm feeling pretty good.

Which brings us to the second part of todays post; The photo dump. I've been snapping pictures on my rides, and have been forgetting to make posts out of them, but I still want to share some of them. So, here you go:

The spring thaw is in full swing, it appears. This was half way up Cedar Hill on the edge of McMillian Mesa, on Wednesday.

A few weeks ago I rode up Highway 180 between snowstorms. The Peaks looked nice from Fort Valley.

I think this was a few days later, TC and I rode out before another storm, when the Peaks had a nice hat.

Due to the really big snowstorm, Lake Mary Road was closed near Mormon Lake, while plows dug out the road. This was on a motorcycle ride.

There was between 2 and 3 feet of snow on the ground at Mormon Lake... Those are fence posts.

The plow berms at Mormon Lake were taller than I am, so I didn't have to kneel to take this picture of the Peaks in the distance.

Not a sunset picture, but I liked the way the clouds looked, sort of like an inverse Aurora Borealis.

Mileage: 23 (yesterday)

My pannier is like your car's center console.

I have one pannier (a bag that attaches to the side of a bicycle cargo rack, for those who aren't as into bike lingo) that stays with whichever bike I'm riding that has a rack, this being limited to Bi and Henry, for now. So, if I'm on either of those two bikes, I've got at least this pannier.(sometimes more, depending on what I'm up to, what time of year it is, and the alignment of the planets.) It's where I toss my wallet, my glasses/sunglasses, camera, phone, the deck of playing cards, and whatever else I happen to be carrying.

Much like a car's center console.

It's also nice in the fact that if I have something I'd prefer to keep flat, I can toss it down the pocket where the stiffening board is. I put a lot of stuff down that pocket. Some of which I forget about. Like two paycheck stubs. A Christmas card. Three empty envelopes. A Windows XP install CD.

Yeah, I just cleaned out my pannier, and had the strong impression I was cleaning out a car's center console. Minus that nasty goo that builds up from sloshing sodas in cup holders, I didn't have that. Nor did I find any loose change, either. Darn.

Mileage: ~3 so far.

So I almost didn't make it home tonight.

I've got a long long rant in my head, but I'm going to save it until I can organize my thoughts enough so that it is an actual informative rant, instead of coming off as an attack.

But, the events of the ride home:

So, there I was at the light at the intersection of Beaver Street and Rt. 66. I was in the straight traffic lane, aimed south, waiting for a train to pass so the light would turn green. (There is a bike lane there, but the light doesn't pick up cyclists if I'm in it.) The only other car was an SUV in the far left turn lane. Train is nearly done, and the SUV gets his left turn arrow. He takes off through the intersection, as a police car zips eastward through the intersection, lights blazing. (heading east.) Police car slowed enough so that the SUV was able to pass in front, and the officer made a left turn across 66 into a business parking lot, where there were a few more police vehicles, also with lights going. I don't know what was going on, but I guess it required 4 police cars.

Now, granted I wasn't paying attention to the traffic on 66 yet, so I didn't see the police car until after it was most of the way through the intersection. I assumed the officer had turned the cars lights on before the intersection, and that the SUV should have yielded. What happened next throws that into doubt, at least in my mind.

So, at this point, the train has passed, and I now have the green light to proceed south on Beaver. (Rt.66 is now red in both directions.) So, I check traffic, and begin rolling through the intersection, having only seen one set of lights heading east on 66. Well, this one set isn't slowing, and isn't going to stop, it seems. So, halfway through the intersection, I grab my brakes, just as car lays on his, and he nearly stops a full car length in the intersection, in front of me. Had I not seen him and slowed in advance, he would have hit me. As I was reaching to squeeze the horn that wasn't there, (I was on Henry, and I've gotten used to honking at cars with the big bad horn on Bi) the officer inside THAT car flipped on his lights and took off through the intersection to join his buddies.

That's right, I was almost hit by a police car.

Now, I understand emergencies, and the need to get there fast. I also know that a lot of officers abuse the lights and sirens on their cars to get to the drive thru. (I've witnessed this more than a few times.)

All I ask is if they're going to run red lights and stop signs, it'd be nice of them to hit the lights and sirens to let everyone in the intersection know they're going to break basic traffic laws to get somewhere.

Mileage: 22 or so.

Wheel building adventures

Yeah, the title of this post is actually a little misleading.

So, I got parts to build a new rear wheel for Bi, since the hub in the old wheel wasn't the best to begin with, and since bending the axle a while ago, it's been having little niggling issues keeping the bearings in adjustment. So I sprang for a Surly fixed/free mountain hub, a WTB Dual Duty FR rim, and spokes and nipples, to build the wheel from the ground up myself.

That does not look like a bike wheel.

But first, I needed a truing stand. So I went to Home Depot, after designing my stand at work.

That does not look like a truing stand.

I successfully constructed my truing stand yesterday, and then took off on a bike ride with TC, where we encountered a big pile of snow about 15 feet tall where we usually stop for a break at the very end of Butler Avenue.

We were not deterred, and climbed to the top to take our break.

Naptime!

After catching some Z's, I woke up this morning and set about building my new wheel. With Sheldon Brown's wheel building guide open on my laptop, I went to town. Amazingly, I got everything right on the first try, and after a total of 3 hours, this was the finished result:

Wheel stand and wheel!

I was surprised at how quickly it went, how close to true the wheel stayed the entire time, and how much fun it was overall. I think I'll be building my own wheels from now on. It takes a little more time than just buying a pre-built wheel, but it's stronger than a wheel built on a machine, it'll likely last longer, and it's a part on my bike (among many) that I can point at and say "I built that."

Mileage: None today.

Cold Windy Rides

Overall, my goal for the day was to see if Lake Mary would be a viable destination for a ride in the wintertime, since the road out now has nice wide shoulders. There were a number of secondary goals as well, such as to put in a decent long-ish ride, really try out the H-bars on Henry, and just have fun.

I managed to accomplish all three. Four. Who's counting?

I left a little later than I had planned, which gave the sun a little more time to warm the air up. (by a whole one degree!) It didn't matter much, as it was a breezy 40 degree ride with sporadic sun and clouds. The weather report called for a chance of rain and snow, so I figured I was safe for the ride. The shoulders on the road were cleared nearly to the edges of the road for the most part along the entire distance I rode, which made me a happy rider.

Lower Lake Mary picnic area. It looks to still be a few feet deep there.

At the dam between lower and upper Lake Mary. Henry illustrates the depth of the plow berm.

This little guy crossed the road in front of me, hopped on the snowbank, and started digging. I think he was looking for lunch. He didn't even realize I was there.

So, I made it to the far end of the lake, and realized I couldn't see the peaks. Woops, this might get interesting.

It certainly did get interesting. It started sprinkling rain around the lower dam, with about 7 miles to go to get home. By the time I was 2 miles away, it had graduated to really wet snow, and fairly thick at that. I was pretty well soaked by the time I got home, grimy from road spray, and pretty well chilled. But miserable I was not. Lake Mary is now on the short list of wintery rides, and I had fun.

But I definitely need to stop putting off getting fenders for Henry.

Mileage: 31.6

"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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.