So I cheated a little.

So one of my friends from work asks me if she could take pictures of me riding my bike a few months ago. "Why not?" says I.

Fast forward to today, where she picked me and Tri up, and we went to Locket Meadow on the side of the Peaks where we rode around, and she took pictures. It was fun, and a change of pace to my usual riding repertoire. I'm sure they came out great, except for the dork on his bike in them. >.>

After the picture taking, I hopped on Tri, and rode up the Inner Basin Trail from Locket Meadow to Waterline Road, which I followed all the way to the end in Abineau Canyon on the north side of the peaks, a place I've been wanting to go for quite some time. I figured since I was already on the mountain, why not make a ride out of the day?

Looking back down the mountain at Locket Meadow, with the cinder hills and Sunset Crater beyond.

It wasn't the first tree across the road, but it was the first big one.

And then I found some snow.

Almost there....

Abineau Canyon, with Humphrey's Peak above.

If you squint, you can almost see the Grand Canyon.

I briefly thought about heading down Abineau trail to the forest road that runs along the north side of the peaks, but being wilderness, I'd have to walk the bike a couple miles. (technically, carry.) ~15 miles of downhill, followed by a few miles of lovely swoopy singletrack along Schultz Creek sounded like much more fun.

Looks a little stormy. Fortunately it didn't rain.

Another big one across the road.

And right after I decided that I had enough pictures of blown over trees, I find several.

Not a bad day of riding. I feel like I cheated, because I'm so used to riding to the trail, riding on the trail, then riding home. (Sedona not included.) But I think I could get used to this being dropped off somewhere near where I want to ride to, then riding home.

...what? You were expecting pictures with me in them?

Mileage: 45

That was either madness, or brilliance.

It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide.

My bright idea this time was once again to ride to Sedona and back, but this time, taking a route I read about on Handlebar Sandwich, going out Woody Mountain Road, through the Sycamore Canyon/Secret Canyon wilderness areas along a powerline cut over Casner Mountain.

Yeah, I never heard of it either. But it was something different, and I really wanted to ride it, especially for the switchbacks dropping off Casner.

I ended up missing the turns I was shooting for, and wound up on highway 89 somewhere between Sedona and Cottonwood, and had to ride north into Sedona. I was doing fine until coming up the last big hill, when my legs started cramping up, to the point that I launched myself off the bike. At that point I decided to call Exegete for a save (again) and limped to a gas station, then to the Burger Pig for a shake while I waited.

The ranch off Woody Mountain Road. Mooooo.

The Peaks are starting to get pretty small...

Breaktime.

The Taylor Fire burn area. Josh and I saw the smoke from this when it first started when we were out riding around. I've never ridden through such a fresh wildfire area, and it was really surreal, almost like stepping into another world. In most places there was nothing on the ground but loose dust and ash. There's no shade, and not many sounds aside from the occasional bird and the wind.

But the tenacity of plants always amazes me. Not even a year on, and plants are already coming back. The green stands out so brightly in this place.

This would have looked much better green... but then I likely would not have seen the view from the road.

Looking south from the rim, with Casner Mountain on the right.

San Francisco peaks from atop Casner.

Going down....

This is where it got steep. Switchbacks all the way down.

I think this shot best displays the grade. I had to stop here to let air out of the tires because I built up enough heat from the brakes to make the air in the tubes expand that much. I've never had brake fade on a bicycle before, and the rims were too hot to touch. I think it's time to upgrade to discs.

I'm alive!

I think this qualifies as an epic ride, and the scenery, the switchbacks, and having a better idea what my endurance limits are made it all worth it.

I'd do it again. (Later in the year when it's not as hot.)

Mileage: 56.7

It was supposed to be an easy ride...

I decided earlier today to say "Damn the sickness, I'm going for a ride!" and so I did.

This is the part where you expect me to say "Yeah, that wasn't a good idea."

I ended up riding over 50 miles through town, through Doney Park, and up Highway 89 north of town towards Sunset Crater. And when all was said and done, I felt pretty good. All the riding certainly didn't help my cough, pretty much the last worst remnant of the cold, but it didn't make it any worse, either. At the end of the ride, while I was tired, and glad to be home, I wasn't sore. I made sure to stand up at regular intervals, and made it a point to put less weight on my arms, and bend my elbows often to keep them loose. All this went a long way towards keeping the last 10 miles of the ride enjoyable, not a pain-filled struggle to get home and get off the bike. Things to keep in mind while on the bike.

The view of the peaks I grew up with.

And Mt. Elden.

From the top of the pass on 89, looking back towards Timberline.

And break time at the turn around point on Sunset Crater Road.

And now I enjoy a strawberry cheesecake blizzard. Woo!

Mileage: 51.4

From Busy to Sick.

Due to a combination of keeping myself busy, work, riding, and general laziness, (you may mix and match at will) I've been very obviously silent. Unless you only check here at the first of every month, in which case you haven't missed much. I went from busy building and riding bikes to being sick enough that I probably should have been riding my motorcycle to work, not a bicycle. I'm feeling better now, and hopefully I can do some light riding this weekend. As it is now, I may go for a walk/hike later today, we'll see.

So. Despite my lack of activity on the blog, I've been busy, but I've been too lazy to post what I've been doing. So, the rest of this post is largely a photo dump with explanations. First off, HUGE BOX!

Just about 6 feet tall... what could be inside?

A Big Dummy appears! Polar Bear uses Build Bike!

It's Super Effective!

It figures that the first load the Big Dummy carries is to bring parts of itself home. I decided to build my own rack system for it, which required conduit from Home Depot. The Big Dummy frame replaces the Giant frame I had Henry the Packmule built around. So, this bike is still Henry, or to be thorough, Henry the Big Dummy, AKA Henry the Third.

I guess it's two weeks ago now, TC, Alex and I went out to Meadview to visit grandparents and spend TC's birthday there. They took the car with the bicycles in it, I took the KLR. My goal was to ride as much of Route 66 as I could, as well as cut across the desert between Kingman and Meadview using Antares Road, a 40 mile stretch of dirt, gravel and sand.

Breaktime near Valentine, AZ.

Antares Road was a blast. I think there are a total of three turns on it in 40 miles, and is all loose gravel and sand, which made it fun to blast down at 60+ miles an hour. It was so flat that I could see the rare cars coming at me from 5 or more miles away. It also cut about 30 miles out of my trip, bypassing Kingman altogether.

The sunset on the cliffs east of Meadview.

The next day, TC and I went on a ride down a canyon we had found the last time we came out. We had turned around fairly early, and this time we were determined to ride all the way to the river. However, the roadways were all sand, and was much more suited to Pugsley tires, not the skinny MTB tires we both had, even aired down, so we made slow progress and eventually turned around a lot later than we should have. Alex and Grandma Norma were riding around on quads and found us, and gave TC a lift home. I opted to finish the ride, and ended up getting back not too much after them. Despite the sand, it was a really fun ride.

See the ship?

The day after that, we headed down the road to Pierce Ferry, and did a bit of hiking. The landscape here was REALLY weird, because when the lake is full, the entire area is under water. With the lake having been below capacity for years now, the lakebed has exploded with growth, due to all the silt, sand, and minerals deposited by the lake.

The trail wound through sand, hardpack, and rocks. The plants grew upwards of 10 feet tall, and were so dense in places you'd need a chainsaw to get through.

You know how when mud dries up, it cracks and flakes? This is the same thing, on a lake scale. Those cracks are over 3 feet deep.

Peirce Ferry Rapid. That swirl has about an 8 foot drop.

TC playing with the Colorado River clay.

Sunday, it was time for me to head home. I did a lot more exploring on the way home than on the way out, and found (and rode on) some of the REALLY old alignments of Route 66, most of which dead ended where it was buried beneath I-40, or other right-of-ways. I should have taken more pictures, but I was having fun.

Breaktime at Crookton Bridge, on Rt. 66, between Ashfork and Seligman.

Crookton Bridge, the side that's closed. I really like the architecture visible on some of the old bridges on 66. They don't make them look as elegant anymore.

Mileage: -