Recovery

With the AZT 300 behind me, it was time for a few easy rides.

Sleep in, compute all day, and head out for an evening spin.

And sometimes you win, big, as the sky lights up. Then go home and eat ice cream, and then more ice cream. Life is good in recovery mode.

My eyes got heavy every time the sun dropped. Sometimes I’d flashback to moments I had forgotten from the 300 — like midnight at Pistol Hill. I almost put my teeth into the gate. I had lost a cleat bolt somewhere in Colossal Cave, so instead of unclipping, I got a twisting shoe and had to catch myself on the gate. I was wide awake after that! And I had a spare bolt…

Riding big bikes isn’t most people’s idea of recovery, but it is for me. Too much time spent on the ‘little’ bike. No chances taken (except on Oracle Ridge!). Part of recovery is re-balancing, and the tech side of things has definitely been lacking.

Ooooh. Chad eyes the drop.

And with appropriate amounts of peer pressure, he nails it.

Spring, or is it summer? I think there are actually five or six seasons in the Sonoran desert.

Ha! Chad’s got a big camera now too. His blog has some nice results.

Lucky for us, we ran into Nate, who was able to push us both to ride some new stuff, or lines we normally pass on. Chances taken, bargains won.

Up to Lemmon.

photo by Aaron McCombs

Big bikes still in play.

Another in the “Essence of Chad” series.

Incinerator Ridge has new singletrack and it is muy, muy bien. At least if you’re going down. The real Climb or Die (all dirt) is now available to would be challengers. It makes me hurt just thinking about it.

photo by Aaron McCombs

There were some good moments on the new trail, where either Chad or I went for it despite it being brand new to us.

Essence II.

We pushed a fast pace, floated off everything in sight and hup-hup-hooped at many occasions. I can’t believe I don’t ride Green Mountain more often.

the essence of bummed

And then we got back to my new van and I realized I had lost the key somewhere on the trail. I don’t know how to hold onto anything that isn’t just a normal key. Mine is one of those ‘fob’ thingies, which is apparently too complicated to carry, and it was gone.

Post ride buzz evaporated pretty quickly as we descended back down the highway, trying to call girlfriends and locksmiths all the way. Thanks to a solid support crew (thanks Kendall and Jen) we were extracted, an AAA tow driver was called, and I was heading back up the mountain to pull my van back into town.

How does the saying go? The things you own end up owning you. It was near impossible to wade through the key/locksmith/anti-theft/transponder confusion, just to get back into the van (I had lost my only key & had just bought it). So before paying big bucks, I decided to do something much more sane — go for a ride. I still had the legendary Corsica, and Duncan signed on last minute for the SAR operation.

What a treat to get to ride the new trail, and Green Mountain again.

I came around a tight switchback and yelled back to Duncan, “there it is!!!”

“What? You made the switchback, big de—oh, you mean the key, no way!”

Operation successful.

Key found — time to shred. I thought we rode Green Mountain fast last time… well Duncan showed me how wrong I was. And he was on a brand new bike. Thanks for the push, Dunc.

A couple days later it was time for some Tucson big bike action.

We rode Wormhole, hit sunset on Wagonwheel, then made a mad dash to Mi Ranchito for carne asada. Yeah, I can get used to this ‘recovery’ lifestyle.

Me B-day is Cinco de Mayo. I didn’t really have anything planned, then Chad sent me a Tucson MTB thread about a Samaniego Shuttle happening…. and there were empty spots. Seemed like the perfect birthday indulgence — 7,000 feet of unearned descending. I figured the MTB gods would look the other way this time…

I love it up there. The aspens are nicely reclaiming the ’95 burn area.

And the burn areas do give some incredible views of Pusch Ridge and T-town. I wanted to stay longer, but was also on a bit of a mission to get down before things got too hot.

It was a good crew — lots of first time Sammie riders. All were loving it.

I split from the group, having heard the rumors of CDO’s complete resurrection. This is a longtime favorite trail of mine, but one I have not ridden for a long time.

The trail has indeed been brought fully back to life. And life is the key word — the canyon is teeming with it. The creek was flowing nicely and was full of such moss and plant life that it looked like someone’s indoor aquarium. I sacrificed my feet to the water early on, rather than fumble around trying to stay dry. I knew there were at least 25 more crossings.

Gobble gobble.

How does that rhyme go? Black on yellow kill a fellow? Beautiful creature in any case.

Even after the confluence (what most people think of as lower Red Ridge) the trail was in great shape — actually DEFINED in places that it never really has been. What a treat.

All of the backcountry Lemmon trails are in the best shape I have ever seen them in — including before all the fires. Get out there and enjoy our backyard mountain! Have an adventure. The time is now.

Vern gave me a pack of twizzlers for my b-day. I left the crew a message at Charouleau Gap. I knew I was likely quite a bit ahead of them.

The descending continued nicely down the gap, Cherry Tank and waaaay down into Catalina State Park, where the trails were totally empty. It was too crazy hot to be out, right?

I made a small sacrifice to the MTB gods in the form of 25mph hot headwinds on Oracle Road, coming back into town. A small appeasement, and I was smiling the whole time.

Finally, a post B-day ride with the crew (Chad, Lee and Martin), followed by a B-day dinner at Mi Nidito. My ‘hood has some good eats.

This left just a few days to rest up, sell the Corsica and get ready for Kurt Refsnider’s Coconino Challenge.