Molino Trail Work

Spent the morning working on the Molino trail in the Catalinas. It was a nice contrast to most of the trailwork we do at lower elevations, which is usually just scratching and pruning. We took out flexible waterbars and installed new timbers deep in the ground. We also cleaned out some drains and benched some …. [Continue reading]

RATS Recon

Odin, Lee and I spent the day exploring the Santa Ritas. It turned out to be one of the more ridiculous rides I have ventured on in some time. But it was a worthy adventure and valuable knowledge was gained.

Post ride analysis of the GPS track indicates that we were hiking our bikes for …. [Continue reading]

Harpooned

On yesterday’s ride, I was the lucky recipient of this Harpoon/Nail/?????? :

Don’t ask me what it is, but I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to whoever is responsible for it being on Redington Road.

I was heading back through town, where Redington is paved, in big ring, pedaling above 20 …. [Continue reading]

Tremo Challenge

2 days, 220 km, 9000 feet of climbing over the Sierra de Mazatan

Photos, GPS data and stats

The adventure began at 7:00am sharp, which in Mexican time meant we didn’t roll out until about 7:35. Forty riders turned out on the highway to Guaymas, then turned east, destined for the Mazatan mountains. Among them …. [Continue reading]

Austin

1/23

Austin, TX

An exhausting couple of flights, complete with headache del diablo. This was not a good day to fly.

But we arrived at hotel acceptable, and were soon outside walking, recovering and breathing fresh air. It was foggy and damp, very fresh. We walked over to the “Gateway”, looking for calories. Calories were …. [Continue reading]

Rincon AZ trail

1/20

Our JCDL paper on Digital Trail libraries is finally done and turned in. The revisions were excessive, and I grew tired of it long ago. The deadline extension of ~5 days was an unfortunate one, this time. But in the end the paper is better for it.

1/21

Woke at 5:15a to head …. [Continue reading]

Tandum [sic] Suburban Assault

Odin and I braved our local “mountain bike” ride on the our cruiser Tandum [sic] today.

To say it was interesting would be an gross understatement. We did better and worse than I thought we would. When I was able to steer the sucker straight, it flew smooth. As soon as the front tire flailed, …. [Continue reading]

Over the Lemmon Part 2

Part one was Dec 27 and it was an arduous journey, especially getting the other participants (read fools, we all were) through it all. After finishing that ride without problems, fear and doubt for long, cold rides is incredibly lower.

This time the route was different, but the conditions much more favorable. There was …. [Continue reading]

SLC (Smog Lake City)

Back from Smog Lake City, where the air is worse than I’ve ever seen. They have had a horrible inversion for the past weeks, keeping the temperatures below freezing all day. It continued for our entire trip.

Fortunately we made numerous journey’s to the mountains, above the fog. Driving up Parley’s canyon was a surreal …. [Continue reading]

Tubac to Arivaca

Spent the day in an area new to me: the Tumacacori Mountains. I’m always eager to explore new territory and Lee had a ride he calls Tubac to Arivaca that he wanted GPS’d. A wilderness proposal is in the works that would close a portion of the ride; but there may be other options.

Odin …. [Continue reading]

(Dead) Bobby

Spent the morning checking out the dead bobby trail system out by Oracle Junction. Jerry Q was my guide to this emerging riding area. He’s responsible for trimming and naming many of the trails out there.

The trails are rough or nonexistant in places, but it is a great area to spin around in for …. [Continue reading]

Wasson

A nice hike with Hottie to the top of Wasson Peak today. She got out of work early, so I picked her up and popped over to the Camino de Oeste trailhead.

The hike takes about 4 hours, and the view from the top is awesome. I always love getting a new perspective on …. [Continue reading]

TMP

The sun shined bright today, making for a toasty ride out at Tucson Mountain Park. I spent an hour or so replacing spokes and working on my bike, then rolled out through town to the west side mountains. The temp was near perfect comfort wise, but apparently not for my knee. Before I made it …. [Continue reading]

Visit

My knee recovered quickly from all the cold of riding Over the Frozen Lemmon. It was still so cold in Tucson that I actually broke out my trainer, just to spare my knee the cold blasting of wind.

Backtracking…

[hr]

12/31 – Spent the morning building 2.3 miles of new singletrack out at the 24 …. [Continue reading]