Shifting

bikepacking.net is coming right along. Still much to do to improve and flesh out the site, but it’s looking good so far.

With the site launch, added to the usual TopoFusioning, the scale tipped too far towards qwerty-izing. I still got out to ride everyday, but was pretty focused otherwise. So in the last few days I’ve sought to nudge the scale back towards being outside.

• First, a solo pavement ‘shuttle’ run on Bugs/Molino. Cold air in Bear Canyon was mighty refreshing indeed. Somehow I cleaned “the scar” climb (first time ever). The rains have washed away the sediment, and though the water bars have increased in height, traction was good. I didn’t even realize I was cleaning it until I had passed the hardest part.

  Note to self: don’t take “big” jumps with a mini-McCleod strapped to your camelbak — unless you want to get knocked in the head.

• Lee and I got together to scheme for the next GET trip. We also took a ride out in the Tucson Mountains. A young kid from Culiacan, Mexico started following us. We told him he was welcome to join (it was his first time at TMP) but that things might get “interesting” (translate: hike-a-bike). I was wondering about him, until he did the drop out of the rock house without hesitation. Still, I gave him the option of bailing when we got to the Hidden Canyon turnoff.

  He didn’t take it. For his first time riding in Tucson style terrain, he did quite well. “Awesome downhill”, he said. A rider in Tucson that enjoys Hidden Canyon is a rare thing. To meet one randomly on the trail is even rarer.

  Each time I ride Hidden Canyon I have a moment or two that requires suspension of disbelief. I always seem to roll out of it, but at a moment of hazard, I don’t know how. Then there’s a moment or two when I know exactly what is going to happen, but can’t quite believe I’m getting away with it. ((Thank you Behemoth and hydro brakes.))

• Today Tim took me on a tour of the new trails in Robles Pass (annex to TMP). Some good stuff already, though none very technical. I see some potential for alternate lines, and managed to ride a few. I wasn’t expecting a long ride, but a long ride I got. I ran out of water fairly early on. Summer is back! That cranked up the hurt factor. Fortunately Tim’s route has a nearby Circle K. Yet I still ran out of water again on the way back through town.
• I finally got a report from Shane Peltonen’s epic road tour, leaving Tucson and the road racing scene once and for all. A newspaper article, in fact. He rode home to Wisconsin and had a few mishaps along the way. Guy never seems to be able to buy a break. Only Shane could seek shelter from a storm in an abandoned building and end up falling through the floor! Sounds like the weather was pretty brutal, but he did enjoy New Mexico, and was glad I had suggested that route.