I can’t believe that it’s Interbike time again… My badge came in the mail this week. Less than a month away and I’m counting the days. The Outdoor Demo is the best place in the world to be. Thousands of bikes, power bars and gels, along with endless trail, turn Bootleg Canyon into a mountain biker’s dream world.
As working media I get to go ride and review all the gear I want. Which is awesome to say the least. As an independent blogger, I have no agenda, no sponsors to please, no one paying me to say anything. I ride whatever I feel like and write about the gear that I enjoy most. I’ll be there with my long time riding buddy and fellow blogger Rico Suave. Between the two of us we should be able to give plenty of the 2009 models a shake.
Last year we rode, Trek, Titus, Santa Cruz, Specialized, Rocky Mountain, and Ellsworth. This year I’ve got my sights set on riding singlespeeds and 29ers.
The first few weren’t bad, but the last few dozen or so were a bit much. The Monsoons last night pushed out the heat, but brought in humidity and bugs. They hit my body like a hail storm, a constant peppering throughout the trail. Sticking to my wet skin then squirming as they struggle to fly free.
Aside from the bug action, the trails were just a few hours away from perfect. Just a bit soft in only a few spots. Tomorrow will be bwetter.
The Leadville 100 is tomorrow. I like to kid myself and think that I could do this race if I tried. But then I think I’d better have more than one 56 mile ride under my wheels before I even think about racing 100.
That said, I really admire all the racers who do enter the Leadville. For whatever reasons they have, one thing is the same: 100 miles of high altitude mountain biking with a chance to be passed by Lance Armstrong.
Last year Floyd Landis took second to Dave Wiens by less than 2 minutes. Dave has won the overall every year since 2003. If Landis got within two minutes of Wiens, Armstrong can surely do better than that even if he’s not in Tour de France shape. I wish I could get live updates…
Good luck to all 40 Arizonans headed to Colorado this weekend to compete. I wish for you oxygen in your lungs. Also good luck to Fatty, who’s riding this year on his WaltWorks singlespeed.
I rode Hawes this week for my early morning ride. I set out on a loop I’ve never ridden before…I thought I’d ridden Hawes every which way but loose, but come to find out, there’s more to Hawes than meets the eye… There’s a section of singletrack east of Hawes proper that cuts south and traverses along the east mountains. It’s cut pretty high on the mountain and is loaded with steep pitches and switchbacks.
They call it Upper Hawes. I found it while searching Motion Based and came across whitefish’s tracks from 2006.
Upper Hawes has been around for more than 3 years now. There was an MTBR thread about the new trail back then…What I’m asking myself is where have I been the past three years?
I started at Walgreens (which I’ve never done before either) and rode the cool trail that runs parallel Power just to the East (I’m sure it has a name, I just don’t know it). It makes for a nice warm up and even has one short steep climb to spice it up. I opted for a climb fest and rode the Ridge trail to Granite, up the Mine Trail to Saddleback to Hawes. East up Hawes is a nice climb in itself, then tack on this “new” upper section and you’ve got a workout, Total of 4000 feet of climbing.
Next time I’ll ride it CCW from the new TH or loop into it from the Diamond Point access. This addition to the system is a gem. There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but now there are 101 ways to ride Hawes.
A local rider and reader of my blog named Dave sent me his hand drawn map of the trails inside the Sonoran Preserve. Maps like this are cool. They represent someone with passion, who creates a work of art. That’s what maps are to me. Art meets adventure. It’s so much more than just how to get from here to there. It’s all the visualization - imagination or memories that go through my mind as I picture riding the lines…
He sent it to me because I don’t have much info on my site about these trails. Which is sadly all too true. All I’ve ridden in the Sonoran Preserve are Sunrise, Lost Dog, and Ringtail. And I only rode those because I was already in Scottsdale for something else… Living in the Southeast Valley I’m closer to Casa Grande than the preserve. I bet I’m even closer to Tucson than Cave Creek.
I love to read on the MTBR forum of all the studs who ride the quadruple bypass epic… this winter I declare that I will finish the the quadruple bypass or bonk trying. So next time u2metoochollaball and waltaz get together with the rest of the gang to ride the infamous quad, invite me to feast on your dust. I’d love to give it a go.
It was a gorgeous sunrise at 5:30 AM. Yesterday afternoon the park was hit with a deluge of rain. While there was no standing water on the trail, you could feel the moisture rising up from the ground. It was as humid as Houston out there. I was practically dripping beads before I even started pedaling!
I opted to take Goldmine to the San Tan loop ccw around Hedgehog then cw up the wash to the southern trails and then back with an out-to-the-saddle-n-back on Malpais before descending Moonlight to the trailhead. It was 10 miles of rigid singlespeed bliss and three miles of “I need stronger legs.” The great part about recent rains in San Tan Park is that the sand washes are rideable. Woo Whoooo!
The trails were in decent shape, washed out and rutted a bit from the rain plus a little sandy in non-wash areas. I’ve ridden in better conditions out there. I talked to Dave the park manager and he’s still hopeful of new trails being cut in the future. A nice ridge trail and some winding singletrack in the foothills at the north end of the park would be nice. It might be ten years but at least there’s a chance. I still love to ride the San Tans. To me the solitude and views are worth the horse tracks and sandy spots.
With the new 202 open from University to Power, Hawes is no longer a 30 minute drive on surface streets. If I can shave 10 minutes off that commute, Hawes will be seeing a lot more of me this summer. Can’t wait to drive there.
I spent last week out in California vacationing with the family at the Beach. Good times. I could get used to living on the beach. I’d have to take up surfing though and that would leave little time for mountain biking. I saw a dude riding to the beach with a makeshift surf rack and board rigged to the side of his mountain bike. That was almost as cool as the guy I saw a few years ago riding a Harley with a custom mountain bike tail rack and his sweet bike hanging off the end.
So I didn’t bring the bike to SoCal, but I did meet up with a riding buddy of mine from college. I brought my pedals, shoes and helmet along just in case we could squeeze an early morning ride in. The stars aligned (negotiated with our wives) and he took me to the San Juan trail in the Cleveland National Forest. He said it was the gem trail of Orange County.
I rode his old Intense since he just got a new 5.5. Loved the bike. We set out early and hit the switchbacks up, up, up. We climbed for just over six miles till we hit the Cocktail Rock rest stop. I counted 33 total switchbacks up. The trail was beautiful. Climbing at 6 AM in the fog and then breaking free into the blue sky a few miles up was amazing. My crummy cell phone pictures do no justice to the views we had that morning. See Mountain Bike Bill’s San Juan Trail ride report for details and better pictures.
The San Juan trail continues up another few miles but we opted to cash in on our climbing stock and hit the descent. Six miles went by in a flash. Trying to keep up with Tony on the downhill is like trying to catch a skydiver. I tried to stay close to him because he is so fun to watch and listen to as he hollers down the mountain. I had a few close calls on some choice corners that kept me in check with the trail and out of his rear view.
I grew up in Southern California but never did any mountain biking. It was all BMX in the mid 80s. I was way impressed with San Juan, and II only rode the lower half. In the words of the Govenator, when it comes to biking in Southern California, I’ll be Back!
Out at Hawes last weekend with my brother-in-law. It was his first time riding the loops. He was demoing a 2008 Fuel EX8. The trails were nice and tacky from the rains on Thursday night, but some sections were a bit chewed up from all the flooding…The great part about Saturday was the canal was running water down through the trail system. It was a cool sight to see Hawes river flowing. We made it through the first crossing up on top, but down below the water was too wide and too fast to cross.
I’d been warned by five or so bikers coming back up that they couldn’t cross…but I still had to check it out for myself…not too often you get to see that much water on your backyard trail. So I went down, scouted for a safe crossing but found nothing.
It was a great day of riding, so many bikes out early. We hit the trail at 5:10 AM. Perfect conditions. No hikers, bikers, or bugs for about an hour. By 6 am the trails were swarmed with group rides, group hikes and large quantities of gnats. Yummy. I saw plenty of sweet bikes out on the trail… lots of Santa Cruz, a Turner, and plenty of Trek. Good times on the Hawes River.
I eased back into summer Arizona riding by hitting the Rim Country over the weekend. Temps in the low 80s up on the rim were perfect for fishing, lounging outside, and riding…
I only had a couple of hours so I bit off a small piece of the Highline Trail. My favorite stretch, the climb from the See Canyon trailhead up, up, up, to the Drew 291 junction. It’s only a short 2+ mile climb. The first mile merely a warm-up to the second mile of 11 percent incline. This short stint on the Highline is beautiful. You surely earn your descent.
The lower segment of the trail was in pretty bad shape. Horse divots and flood debris made the already technical ascent even tougher. Normally I would be trash talking the equestrians who tore up the trail, but instead I blew it off and relished in the extra challenge the hoofed up terrain offered. There was only one downed Ponderosa on this short stretch.
I love this climb because it always challenges. I haven’t cleaned it completely yet and probably never will, but each new root or rock I glide over is a point for me. The Mogollon Rim always puts up a good fight. But I always come back down the trail victorious and ready for the next match. Fourth of July weekend, game on.
I can’t believe that it’s Interbike time again… My badge came in the mail this week. Less than a month away and I’m counting the days. The Outdoor Demo is the best place in the world to be. Thousands of bikes, power bars and gels, along with endless trail, turn Bootleg Canyon into a mountain biker’s dream world. 
