Swarms of Grahams

We headed for the Pinalenos to test some of our new gear and because, well, it’s my favorite place on the planet. The tall trees and crisp air welcomed us as we settled in to camp at Hospital Flat. From there we did a quick ride around Grant Hill, the traditional warmup ride.

Paula’s new cleats and pedals were forcing some serious effort to disengage, which doesn’t serve to increase confidence, neither does it help for avoiding crashes. Fortunately the ground is soft on Grant Hill. And when we finished I drenched her pedals in lube to loosen them up.

The next morning a novel thing: I rode *down* Arcadia. Having climbed it, most successfully (meaning with only minimal hike-a-bike) many times, I wrongly assumed that it would be a trivial downhill. Some sections certainly are quite easy (and beautifully nice), but there is a fair amount of challenge to be had.

Another challenge comes in the form of the insectoid form: swarms of Grahams. It seems they are everpresent on Aracdia. Tiny flies that seem drawn to humans, especially sweaty, deep breathing ones. Once you have a swarm of 50 following you along the trail it’s not long before they end up in your eyes, crawling up your nose and flying into your mouth. It’s bliss, really.

Of course it’s much worse climbing Arcadia where there is no hope of escape (max speed: 4 mph), but riding downhill you can outrun them, if only briefly. However, the trail was proving too difficult to Paula, especially given her difficulty in unclipping. So, she got swarmed and it nearly drove her mad.

I was waiting at one turn, and when she approached she said “This trail is compeltely ridiculous, I want to get out of here” all while flailing her arms around her head like a lunatic. She grabbed her bike and was off down the trail, seemingly out of control. Later she threw her helmet off the trail, screaming. I was just happy she made it to the bottom OK.

I knew the bugs can be bad, and don’t particularly enjoy them, but it’s part of the price you pay for riding such an incredible trail. But I can understand how it would not be worth it to other people who don’t share exactly the same values. My obession with Mt. Graham is certainly not a normal one.

We climbed and found the highway fairly absent of bugs–the sun drives them away. At Lady Bug saddle we hopped on the trail to climb the peak. Here we found more insectoids, but this time good ones (or at least not annoying ones): Lady Bug peak was filled with its namesake: thousands of Lady Bugs congegrated on the rocks at the top. I’ve never seen so many bugs so stationary. It was cool.

Later in the evening I rode Grant Hill backwards, then started on Cunningham, but turned around after a few downed trees. I just was not in the mood for it. Which reminds me, the Forest Serivce (or perhaps volunteers) have finished the job we started on the Arcadia trail: it was compeletely clear of deadfall! Several of my expeditions have successfully cleared many dozens of trees from the mountain, but our beaver saws (and tree shoving muscle power) are only so big, so I was happy to see that chainsaws had been taken to the big suckers. It’s a national recreation trail, so maybe they receive money to actually maintain it. I also noticed a new water bar–unfortunately of the flexible crap type.

We have got a list of a million items to take care of before we head out on the Great Divide. Most should be fun, but it is not a minor undertaking and requires a certain amount of vigilence. I cannot wait to get out on the trail, making progress towards our goal with each pedal stroke and carrying all that we need with our strength and determination.