50 with G&T

Another very fine afternoon, and another fine ride with G and T.

Check out Sprocket (the pup) watching from his perch.

A nice & juicy chain fruit cholla. Oh the wonders of the Sonoran desert.

A lap of the chutes was obligatory. Tail breezes made it supa fast and thereby supa swoopy.

Greg rolled all the steeps of the upper 50 like a pro. I don’t think he rode them last time.

So yeah, uh, he’s smiling. 🙂

And who wouldn’t be, with weather like this, and the world as it is:

It was a welcome return to challenging riding, my ‘big’ bike, and trigger happy photo geekery. There are so many aspects of riding bikes that I’m in love with, sometimes it almost seems too good to be true.

Greg gets the credit for inspiring me to try a little harder on the photo end of things, and I’m pretty happy with the result. I haven’t seen any pics he’s taken yet, but his approach and focus are hard to miss.

The past four weekends have been pretty intense. I’ve managed to push into some interesting new territory on the bike. First was the APC 115, followed by bikepacking on snow, then a “short” singlespeed race and finally 24 hour lap racing! Phew. My torch glows brightly from it all. But, I think it’s time for a weekend ‘off’ — where by off I mean still riding, but just that. No goals, no focus, just enjoying being outside and on the bike.

Sounds perfect.