I hope you're ready for some pictures.

Hello and welcome to this weeks edition of Flag Pedals! Tonight: I ride a bike, I wear some lycra, and I take a bunch of pictures!

It sounds funnier if you imagine Jeremy Clarkson reading the above with Top Gear enthusiasm.

Well, it sounded funny in my head.

Mooving on... Fall colors are marching down the mountains, so, Friday, rather than ride to the mountains, I hopped on Surprise, and headed in the opposite direction, where everything seems to still be green.

Nope, Fall's not here yet.

Neither is it here.

Wait, I think I see it on those distant mountains! Why did I come this way?

Oh, yeah. Surprise gave me the bike eyes.

So, Saturday was trail day, (Which I ended up coming home from with free Krispy Kremes, score!) during which I was discussing the possibilities of being able to (legally) ride up Waterline Road to the Inner Basin. The end result of said discussion was probably not this year, though we were hoping for a quiet, surprise opening of the road, as it is pretty much done being rebuilt. (Reason for the continuing closure is hazard trees.)

So, today. I set off to ride to the Inner Basin, and possibly up Upper Waterline (Which is still open and rideable, not having been affected by the Schultz Fire.) How was I going to get out there? Via Schultz Pass Road, Lockett Meadow, and either the Inner Basin Trail, or the service road from Lockett Meadow to the Inner Basin.

In other words, a crazy long ride.

Though, admittedly, this route took me past waterline, juuuust in case it did open unannounced.

Darn.

Elden in color, from Schultz Pass Road.

I've still gotta go around that.

The view north, from part way up Lockett Meadow Road.

If you look close, you can see the Painted Desert.

Towards the top of Lockett Meadow Road, some friends from Absolute passed me. I caught back up with them at the meadow, and we ended up riding to the Inner Basin together on the old service road.

Going up!

Looking up!

A golden cathedral of aspen.

Moonlandah! It's like a Pugsley, but bigger.

 

Made it to the cabins! Not much further now!

Don't see orange too often...

Getting there.... 

 

 

Contrast.

Nice fade.

Wait for it...

The view that makes the entire ride worth it, every time.

 

Nice layering.

We hung out at the Inner Basin for a bit, before heading back down to the cabins. I split off from the group, as they were heading back down, and I wanted to ride Upper Waterline. Along the way, I ran in to Anthony from Absolute and his wife. The greeting from him was "Oh, it's you again!" What, it's not my fault I keep finding him out in the middle of nowhere, in addition to the bike shop.

Ok, maybe it's partly my fault.

Interesting transitions, some yellow, some... not as yellow yet.

 

The opposite ridge.

*takkkatakkatakka* Enhance.

Woah...

Lockett Meadow from Upper Waterline.

This was a viewpoint I've simultaneously wanted and dreaded to make it to for two years. It looks a little different than it did a week before the Schultz Fire, though, not as bad as I had imagined. (Blog post from that ride is here.)

After my moment of thought and reflection, I pressed on.

 

I love these views.

 

Made it to the top of Waterline, at Abineau Canyon!

Avalanche Zones.

Cool.

Who needs red carpet when you can ride on golden aspen leaves?

 

So long Locket Meadow, and thanks for all the leaves.

Turkey!

Gooblergobbler birdskies!

The ride home was long and slow, with 50 miles behind me, at least until I got to Schultz Creek Trail. Something about the sweet sweet flow and thrill of downhill singletrack when I had done nothing but climb on roads all day just woke me up, and I felt like I floated down the trail. After that, it was the futs to town, through town and home.

I hope Waterline is open next year. That was a long ride for the leaves this year. Worth it, but a long ride. I'll probably be useless at work, and I will be relaxing, and riding a motorcycle in.

But I'd totally do it again.

Mileage: 66.1

Wait, wait! What was that about lycra?! 

 I don't wanna talk about it.

Fall riding begins...

...now.

Signs of Fall... the little yellow flowers are out in force. 

  You may recall my recent reversion back to a rigid fork for the race last month. Well, I finally got the part ordered, and it arrived on Thursday. Manitou was kind enough to comp the new rebound assembly, despite my own stupidity. All I had to pay was shipping. That made me bringing a case of beer to Absolute when I went to pick up the part an even nicer thought.

By  Thursday evening, the new rebound assembly was installed, the fork was re-assembled, and Tri had his bounce back.

A note to remind me which way to turn it next time.

That's more like it.

 I suddenly want to ride the race course and see how much faster I would have been with suspension.

 Today... I couldn't decide just where to go, so I hopped on Slide, thinking a motorcycle ride would help.

The Peaks are turning colors!

One lap around the peaks later... and I still didn't know. The first weekend of Fall, and I almost didn't turn pedals at all. What a shame.

Almost.

I ended up hopping on Tri and riding up Elden, and down Sunset and Schultz. While I didn't see much in the way of colorful leaves right where I was riding, there were some in the distance.

Colors up near the top.

Ok, some colorful leaves near me.

False sunset, from the top of Sunset.

The Peaks. 

The Loop Trail. More flowers!

It was a great ride. Not just because Tri's fork worked perfectly with the new part, not just for the scenery, but also for the downhill. Down Sunset, down Schultz, two of my favorites. Icing on the cake was catching up to two guys on full squishybikes rolling down Schultz Creek. It felt good.

Next weekend... the inner basin.

Mileage: 25.5

Seeing Stuff.

I see a lot of stuff on my rides. Take this past weeks worth of riding, for example. I saw a lot of stuff.

One day, I saw a lot of elk.

Another day, I saw a rockin' sunset.

Friday, I felt like I needed to see a different set of handlebars, and a great view.

 Saturday was the annual Pedals vs. Pistons vs. Hiking Boots vs. Horseshoes trail day. The motorcyclists won it again, but a lot of work was done, and fun was had by most. I even got Exegete to come along.

My one picture of the day, Anthony starting off the parade of speeches on a stump chair. 

Today, there was no rain in the forecast, and barely any clouds in the sky, so I took a chance and took Pretty out for a ride.  After starting off across Observatory Mesa and heading up the trail we worked on yesterday, I hooked up with the Arizona Trail and rode on one of the last new local sections that I haven't ridden on.

I got to see some nice views:

Hey there, rock.

Trail to the left, trail to the right.

The new segment goes from the Fort Valley Trail system all the way to Schultz Pass, where it ties back in to Little Elden Trail. Along the way, it branches off, with the branch heading to Schultz Creek Trail, and eventually Flagstaff.

I opted to head for the pass, and made a big loop around Flagstaff.

Just past Schultz Pass on Little Elden.

It's not that rocky...

I spy some subtle leaf changing going on on the mountain.

Pretty decided to be pretty and pick up a flower in the spokes.

And that's a lap around Flagstaff.

Mileage: 48.6

I can't think of a title.

I swear, sometimes the hardest part about writing a blog post is thinking up a title. So, until I think of one, I'll just write.

It's getting towards the end of summer, now. The monsoons are starting to wind down, (though I still can't take Pretty out without getting rained on.) and the sun is setting earlier and earlier. Consequently I'm strapping lights to my bikes, in case the after work rides keep me out longer than daylight allows for. This has already happened a couple times now.

The added consequence is the sun rising later and later in the morning, opening my twice a year sunrise windows:

Let there be light!

Soon the leaves will start changing colors, and one of the best times of year to own a mountain bike will begin. So many places to ride, so many options to go see some color, so little time. And I'll bet that I'll still get rained out if I ride Pretty.

Snowblind and I made it to the Kachina Wetlands in time to watch the sun hide behind a thundercloud.

Today I ended up riding out south of Kachina Village, on a forest road that runs across Pumphouse Wash. I'd never been in this area, and thought I might see something cool. Turns out I was right, there was a couple nice spots.

Pumphouse Wash, looking southward.

And turn, and picture.

It was a nice chill ride, though the mosquitoes from the standing water in the wash chased me half way home.

Now, where to ride tomorrow?

Mileage: 26.3

Old Fashioned Racing.

It seems to be a sort of tradition for me.

I plan months in advance on riding in the Taylor House Century every year. Maybe even a year in advance, since I'm planning on riding it again next year.

Yup, a year in advance.

The St. Mary's Food Bank Mountain Bike Race? Not so much. Not a couple months, not even a month. Heck, not even a week in advance.

I signed up for it Wednesday night. Captain Procrastination, that's me.

That left me Thursday and Friday to prepare, make sure the bike was in order, laundry, and all that stuff, Which meant that I put it off until Friday. Go me.

And of course, rather than go straight home after work on Friday, I took a detour, because I'd never ridden next to the Rio de Flag when it was actually flowing, and we had gotten a pretty good storm right before I left work.

And flowing it was.

So much green...

  Upon getting home, I started laundry, and proceeded with bike work. I signed up for the singlespeed class, which meant I'd be riding Tri. Tri's fork was getting stiff, and the chain was dry, so a fork service and chain lubing were in order.

How well did that go over?

Well, let's Tarantino this up a bit.

Here is a picture of Tri on the wall, having completed the race earlier today:

That's my bike, 29 inches, single, and rigid.

 That is not a suspension fork. 

Where is Tri's suspension fork?

Here is part of it, the lowers in the oil drain pan on the garage floor...

...And the uppers on the workbench

 Fork carnage all over the garage! What happened?

Well, in order to service the fork, I need to separate the uppers from the lowers, in order to wipe the dirt from the dust seals in the lower casting, which causes the fork to stiffen up, known as "stiction." In doing this, there is a bolt on the compression side to undo, at the bottom of the lower casting, just a regular old bolt.

On the damping side, however, it's a bit different. I take an allen key, of the 8mm breed, and use it to screw the damping rod INTO the lower casting, not out the bottom. This means I have to turn it the opposite direction of the bolt I just took out of the compression side. This is something I knew, as I'd done it before.

Apparently my hand had other ideas, and went with business as usual, turning the damping rod to the left, effectively over-torquing it against the lower casting, while my brain was going "Wow, that's really tight." This continued until I heard a pop, which flipped a switch in my hand, which started turning it the proper way while saying "I didn't do it!"

The end result of all this? I broke the threaded end of the damping rod off, essentially making the fork useless.

Well, fork you.

 Enter in a hasty fork swap to the Karate Monkey's original rigid fork, and a quick test ride up the street before calling it quits for the night. A 20 minute fork service ended up being a couple hour ordeal.

All that on the night before the race today.

Exegete was kind enough to give me a ride in and hang out during the race waiting for me to finish again. After getting my number plate and shwag, I hopped on Tri and did a quick warm up ride up Lower Moto, partly to, y'know, warm up, but also to see if I still knew how to ride technical stuff with a rigid fork.



Fortunately, my skills in riding a jackhammer have not diminished.

The general agreement with folks I talked to at the start was "Rigid? Oof, you're gonna be feeling it." This I already knew. Let's face it, I rode Tri as full rigid for a couple years before I got the suspension fork.


A fair amount of time and breeze-shooting with other folks passed, and the race started.

Now. How far did I make it before I started missing front suspension? Well, here is a map of the race course. I've marked the approximate spot where I admitted it to myself.

There. I'll admit it, I've been spoiled.

Overall, the race was pretty uneventful. I didn't crash, I didn't flat, I didn't even break anything. But I pushed hard. I'd never passed so many people, and I even conquered a climb on Pipeline that I've never been able to before. Ever. A lot of people that went by me later in the race had the same question for me, though: "Hey, man, how's that rigid fork treatin' ya?"

By the fourth or fifth person, my answer had evolved into the simple, "Like a red-headed step-child."

The best exchange of the day came on the last lap, when as I was passing a group on the side of the trail, one of the guys let out a "Singlespeeds rule!" As I rode past him, I slurred "I wish I could agree with you right now." Much laughter and a smattering of applause. (He had done this on the previous lap, too, and I responded with a hearty "Indeed they do!")

All said and done, it was a great day at the races. No crashes, no flats, no broken parts (during the actual race...) and I felt good, with the exception of my arms, which had been pummeled and pulverized into overcooked spaghetti by the end of the race. The soreness has moved up into my shoulders too, and I'm sure I'll be worse tomorrow.

But, I'll take solace in four things.

1: I had a blast! Seriously, it was fun, and I like how Anthony summed it up for me: "Kevin's riding the  Old Fashioned on an old fashioned bike!"

2: I finished twelfth out of 18 singlespeeders. I was surprised at how far up from the bottom of the list I was!

C: Had there been a full rigid category, I would have finished first in it!

And the best quote of the day, from the owner of Absolute Bikes: "Man, just looking at that fork makes me hurt."

Mileage: 33.9 warmup and race, plus 7 to and from the awards ceremony.

Don't forget Winona...

There has been riding this week. When a fair amount of that riding has been on a Pugsley with so little air in the tires that it doesn't register on the floor pump's gauge, you feel it after a while. Especially 3 days in a row. Rolling resistance on a tire that big running that low is insane.

But man, the ride was smooth, and the traction, incredible.

However... I think I'll run the tires up to 5 psi. High enough not to kill me, low enough to still be bouncy.

But zero psi did net me some great views along the Arizona Trail on Monday.

Fisher Point from the backside. Walnut Canyon looks deep and dark from here.

Fisher Point from the view everyone knows, at sunset. Makes the whole ride worth it.

  

 It was a sort of stressful week at work, so some self-inflicted torture and punishment was in order. This really just means I wanted to ride a singlespeed.  My ride of choice for the day ended up being STeve, and we ended up riding FR128, a dirt road that runs more or less from Lake Mary Road to Winona, passing south of Walnut Canyon.

Hard to believe I'm looking over a canyon and a city at the mountains, yeah?

  The ride out to Winona ended up passing quickly, despite the mud I hadn't planned on, so I tacked on a bit of historic road to my ride.

Winslow, Arizona, and don't forget Winona!

   

After a few miles of old route 66, I came to my favorite piece of the road.

Padre Canyon Bridge, the original Route 66 bridge in this area.

They don't build them like this anymore.

 I decided to try to follow the original alignment up the opposite canyon wall, but lost it at the rim, next to I-40. Darn.

Hmm, those clouds are building. I had probably start heading homeward.

Ok, one last picture.

One thing I didn't realize is that Townsend Winona Road is also a part of Route 66, as is the old metal truss bridge that runs over lower  Walnut Canyon. The bridge is even on the register of historic places. All this cool stuff, and I've been past that bridge hundreds of times, and I never stopped, nor ever thought about the fact that I was on Route 66.

Well, I'll take care of that.

And then I rode across it.

Then I beat feet home, towards the darkening thunder clouds. I didn't get rained on, but I swore I was seeing funnel clouds at the cloud line, and the lightning show I got to watch as I rode across town was spectacular. But, safely home I made it, where, after a shower, Exe decided to take Su to a lake.

I wasn't gonna miss this.

"Yep, a rock."

"Screw you guys. To the Su Cave!"

Now, I have a choice to make. Next Saturday is the annual St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance Race, about the only race I do, because it's local, smallish and fun, and for a good cause.

Also next Saturday is a loop trail day. Also fun, I learn stuff every time, and I help build something that'll be around for a while.

I don't know which one I want to do more.

Mileage: 62.2

Monsoon Greenery

We've had some good weather as of late in the Flagstaff area. Lots of rain here and there, which is good, since rain keeps the fires at bay.

But I do have a problem with it.

As much as I like the rain, it does dissuade me from my riding. And as much as I don't mind riding in the rain, I do try not to get caught in it. And most of the time (But not ALL the time...) if the weather looks questionable, the odds are that I'll hang up the bike and do something else, and miss out on a perfectly good day of riding.

But, a lot of times, I'll ride towards the dark clouds, poke a thunderstorm to make it angry, and see if I can beat it home.

That may be an exaggeration, but it's not that far off.

Friday was one of those days, but with less thunderstorm poking. I worked a half day at work. With the prospect of an entire afternoon to myself, I decided I was going to ride STeve out to, up and over Friedlein Prairie Road, which runs between Schultz Pass and Snowbowl Road. This was also where the darkest clouds were when I rolled out of work. However, when I got there, the darkest of clouds had moved on, letting me ride without the worry of getting drenched.

However... tying this back to the monsoons, I love how green everything is when it rains:

Hard to believe this is "high desert."

Ferns!

No riding today, but tomorrow I may take Pretty out for a shred.

Mileage: 0