My Most Favoritest Flagstaff Loop Yet!

Getting to Flagstaff to escape the Valley heat for a second time this year. I put a couple loops together. The first one on Tuesday was supposed to be easier to be able to recover for round two on Thursday. Keep it under four hours unlike the last four rides in cooler climes. And keep Tuesday under 8700’ elevation and like 2400’ of climbing. That was the plan.

That mission was accomplished, until I had to go rescue my phone.

This is probably my favorite Flagstaff loop to date. Starting at about 7200’ at the Shultz Creek Trailhead on the easy/green rated trail of the same name . It still felt hard. But I was at the Sunset trailhead before I knew it. What a difference a year makes and not coming off an illness! Shultz Creek is plenty fun and saves some energy for the real climbing later. But first after a short bit on Lower Sunset, take Little Elden trail just past the exit of Full Sail. I’ve ridden this the other way a couple times, once recently. But boy am I glad I put this in section, in this direction . It is an old school trail maintained with modern methods. It’s a super cool woods trail with speed and rough terrain to negotiate. Absolutely a gem. I stopped at the top of Little Bear and conversed with a rider hanging with his buddy. He said it was redone in the last few months. My hats of to the crew and mastermind that did it. While Full Sail is nice and all, that section of Little Elden is just my cup O tea!

After weird set of switchback through an open field you’re back in the woods to start the Little Bear climb. It starts out shaded with a dirt, rock and root trail and climbs out of the tree cover onto a dusty shale covered track with plenty of exposure, with some of that coming at a techy sections. I walked one I probably would make, but the risk reward ratio was a little skewed for my 61 year old bones. There are couple welcome let offs on the climb, to catch your breath a little. You finally climb back into the woods you’re done with the climb. I actually like climbing Little Bear better than going down. I was constantly on the brakes. It wasn’t really fun speed to me. That rider asked where I was going. “Big Bang” I said. “You like to earn it” he said. I said yes. 

But thought I was at the top, not so quick fella, you have more climbing to do up Upper BrookBank. Nice mix of rocks and roots again to keep things spicy, with a nice downhill continuing along Brookbank to Big Bang. It’s nice, because while I wouldn’t call it rolling it’s not all downhill even on Big Bang, it just gets knarlier. It’s knarly on down hill enough that it will pump you out. I walked one drop that was really doable, but I stopped because I wasn’t feeling it. Some really nice slow, medium and fast tech features requiring constant line adjustment. Big Bang dumps you out on Orbit for a nice cool down along with Social back to the trailhead.

Plus this of course! 😳

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Siri Search and Rescue

Big Bang was too much for the pocket of my new jersey. My phone bounced out on an up and over with a right hip check to get the rear tire in line.

That was the short story. So I’m having a great time on probably my favorite Flagstaff loop yet, I get to the trailhead and wonder if my wife’s phone number on my Road ID is current. So I go for my phone and wait what. I had taken off my helmet and gloves. Did I airheadedly put my phone somewhere. I called out for Siri, no response. Ah, OK I’ll start a ride and see if a Garmin Live Track starts. Damn, no luck that means my phone is at least 40’ away. So not likely a trailhead event. I turned on spot so my wife would know I was ok.

As I stood there pondering my next step. A nice older couple, that reminded me of our friends Bruce And Lois, pulled up to park in the shade of the big Ponderosa pine I was under. I asked if I could use their phone to call my wife. She said the mileage on the live track was 16.25. My ride ended at 19.55. Now I had been riding for three and a half hours and was very happy with that and my phone was almost paid for and I have insurance, so for a fleeting moment I considered leaving it. But it would take longer at the Verizon store than to go up and back, never mind the set up. Also I thought I remembered looking at my Garmin around 16.25 miles and seeing that I was at 7400’. The trailhead was at about 7200”. I thought , great only a couple hundred feet of climbing and a little over 3 miles up, no problem. So I head happily along the easy green trails I ended on for recovery to Orbit for some moderate climbing to Big Bang and I was already at 300’. I had wondered how it would be to climb Big Bang, figuring it was too knarly. I walked one steep, I was kinda tired, but good the rest of it was quite fun and challenging. But it was getting increasingly steeper by the time I got to the three and a quarter mark. I was going to say I slowed down, but I was already going pretty slow, to watch go see if my Garmin connected to my phone. Not yet. I got off, not to go slower really but to not fall down the mountain, while I focused on the Garmin and searching for my phone. No guarantee that it was still on. But only a few steps later and “Phone Connected” popped up on my Garmin. Phew! I later learned my wife danced at this point. I didn’t get there a moment too soon as the sun had found a hole in the shade and the overheating warming was on!

I threw it in my Camelback, in the compartment next to the bladder. Which was still cool, as it starts out filled with Ice.

Then just a re-ride back down to the trailhead just 6.15 miles and 764’ latter according to Strava.

BELLS! We Don't Need No Stinkin' Bells! or I Think We Need More Cowbell

My friend George sent me one of these Timber Bells. At first I was very annoyed anytime I had it switched on. It is a great feature to be able to turn it on and off. So I had it off a lot, I thought to myself, "That's why George's other friend took it off of HIS bike" LOL. I have a regular bell as well and am pretty good about using it. Even so, when the trails get busy, riders can sometimes sneak up on me on blind corners and such. So I started using it for high traffic situation. I started to get used to it and am hardly annoyed by it at all, until I am, after a long while.  Then I can just turn it off until things get fast and/or twisty or the traffic picks up.  Then something unexpected happened, hikers would often thank me for having a bell.  Bells can be more audible in some conditions than just saying "on your left", like wind or if the group is talking.  If you are coming up on somebody with earbuds in, then it's a crapshoot.  Which is pet peeve of mine, I mean really, we are out there to enjoy nature.  To me that means hearing the knobbies as they surf the dirt and allows me to hear things that need my attention, like the way the chain is meshing with the gears, other riders or cars when you are on the road.  Reserve the headphones for the gym or the indoor trainer, when you need to placate your brain while doing mind numbing things like pedaling and going nowhere!  On the trail my brain turns on the tunes when I get into a rhythm, it always seems to pick the right song, usually from Tool.  

OK back to the Timber Bell.  At first I did not think the Timber Bell was loud enough, but along with the hikers comments and George saying it was plenty loud, when he came out for a visit, I have change my opinion and conclude that the Timber Bell must throw more sound out wards than toward the rider.  This is a good thing as I can't imagine how annoying it would be if I heard the full blast. 

Along with on and off it has a shmedium setting.  I'm kind of an all or nothing kinda guy, but in really rough terrain, it calms down the cacophony.  The least obtrusive place is next to the stem, however this requires you to take your hand off the bar to flip the switch on wide bars.  Fortunately my bars on my Single Speed are narrow and I can still reach it with my thumb. , for my thumb to reach it.  I had to adjust it forward to prevent my knee from smashing into it on some steep stand up sections.  You can adjust the output quantity somewhat from straight down for the most on flatter terrain or tilt it fore or aft to varying degrees to calm it down on flats, with forward allowing the most clapper action going down hill and less going up, while tilting this mini cowbell rearward, it is more active going uphill.  You can set it for your personal preference, with straight down covering most situations.  As mention before, I had to tilt mine, forward just a bit, for the health of my knee as well as the bell.  

Sometimes the clapper sticks in the off position, when turning it on, usually frees up after a few bumps.  If the trail is too smooth, I just bounce the front wheel a couple times or give it a tap.

I believe I will buy at another one more for the Unit!

Gnome Dragging a Sack

Second ride on 3.0s front and rear.

The umpteenth attempt on the random orange rim failed sitting in the living room, a few days after the first and only ride. But the blue ratchet strap gave me an idea.

So I re-set the up the front wheel. I ditched the Surly nylon rim strip all together and got some inch and a quarter nylon strap. It is very smooth and shinny. It really looks sharp in the orange rim.

The blue strap is a bit thin.  I elected to use almost the whole 10 meters, with four wraps. Yeah, Yeah, yeah it weighs more than a tube, but no tube will hold up to cactus spines and goat heads!  I used some fabric glue on the first and last wrap. I got a kit with a bunch of different shaped punches. For the valve cutout, I used an oval to start and customized the hole with a soldering iron, using the side of dies to smooth out the edges like an iron. This melted the 4 layers of straps together as well. This got me thinking, so I melted two holes, on the start, which is opposite the valve hole, with the soldering iron, to help the glue lock the straps together. Then clear Gorilla tape. A wrap overlapping the bead on one side then one on the other. And a wrap down the middle.  After first inflation attempt with a floor pump, I add another hoping I could set it up with floor pump. That didn’t work. Maybe another wrap of tape or nylon strap would have done that, but I got impatient. Got the strap out barely tight and the compressor seated the beads so quick it surprised me. After all the trouble I had with other iterations. It was still holding air an hour later so I added sealant.

The slow handling I experience when I was tired, was more just me being tired. While not quick like my steeper head angled bikes it's not really much slower than the 2.6 inch tires the Unit came to me with. But the traction was still great climbing and cornering. I cleaned the climb up the Hawes DH without the Bypass. And crawled right up. And continued up Cactus Garden to Lower Gidro. Which my first time cleaning Lower Gidro, because of the confidence the 29+ tires gave me. Now some of the traction may have been due to having new WTB Ranger tires.  As the Maxxis Recons weren't long for this world.  The tread was dry rotted but still holding up somehow.  Oddly enough the knobs were still bigger than on the Rangers.  LOL  After looking at some Strava segments, the Rangers sure don't roll slow.

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CLOUDS! The 29erPlus gods were Smiling on me from the CLOUDS!

One of the main things that concerned me going to 29+ was that I did not want it to handle like a truck.  That is one of the reasons George and I choose the 2021 Kona Unit X, he found for me.  The Unit's 68, is a bit slacker head angle than I normally like, but not as slack as is the trend these day and putting 3.0s lengthens the trail even more.  But fortunately for me, Kona, in their infinite wisdom also gave the Unit a 50mm fork Offset.  Which, I was still concerned that 3.0s would stretch the trail too far.  Initially I felt no truck like handling and only when on the edge, during a couple tricky spot and when I was tired, did I encounter any slow handling. So not bad for my first ride on 29+ front and back.  I think I'll keep the wider, for me, handlebars on.  This way, maybe my body will say hey , with such and such hand position the bike will handle this way.  Cause I am not a gifted savant or anything.

Oddly it felt one gear easier, not one tooth. One gear, weird. But to check traction, in places I would normally have to shift up one gear to drop the torque, to prevent spinning out (which I would routinely do in certain spots), I stayed in the 32/52. Traction was definitely better. Originally I wasn’t going to do Cactus Garden, I’m a bit leery of the random orange rim set up tubeless and wanted to stay closer to car, but after a dozen miles it seemed to be holding up and it was cloudy, so the CG granny gear test was a go and having like a 1000’ in my legs already. Being tired made the test even better. The 29+  is definitely is mo better.  Making the steep gravely transitions, with nary a slip.  On the Hawes DH climb, before CG, I was able to start a line to the left, and got further on it than ever.  Even though I did spin out twice.  But I did make the next transition, that I have only made once before.  SO yea, mo better!

The 29+ also sucked up brake chatter bumps unexpectedly well. I wasn’t running super low pressures either, just 15/12.6 R/F.  My injured thumb, from went I went off in Prescott, certainly appreciated that and complained a lot less.

The chain slightly grazed a few knobs in 1st gear. Tire had a slight deviation. Added just a little tension to the opposite side in that area. Will see next ride.

All in all Great Success!

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Flagstaff to the top of Mt Elden

Flagstaff, second ride. Like the last few rides I started out of a hotel room. It's nice to have a hot shower, some recovery food waiting in the fridge and a bed for a nap waiting. Having my pick of restaurants, just down the street doesn't hurt either. Tonights fare was mexican at Salsa Brava, sister restaurant to Fat Olives, which we had yesterday. I couldn’t recommend them enough, both are excellent. 

 Starting out on Winifred Ranch again, up to Forces of Nature, went West this time. I Mapped out all of Forces of Nature but somehow got on Middle Tier again, so I am missing a big chunk. Next time I guess. I swear I was following the purple line on my Garmin. Oh well. I don't think it affected Forces of Nature, but going up Oldham my garmin wanted to send me up the old defunct fall line trail. I think because of Climb Pro. Then the course just went away and I had to choose it again. Or maybe I just went off course on Middle Tier, but I thought I got back on the purple line. Well, both were fun in this direction. 

 Oldham was super tough in places and at one point my garmin said I had two miles left and 1000'. Thats why I think it was trying to send me up the very old fall line trail. There were spots early that were obvious short reroutes out of eroded sections. But this time Garmin wanted me to continue on a climb just before Scarlet Begonias. Then it did not match at all. That was fine cause I wasn't looking forward to a 500' per mile climb. In contrast to the beginning of Lower Oldham, the rest was less old school and well conceived. I even passed a guy cutting out a small stump out of the trail. Many switch backs and the occasional techy spot to keep it interesting. The trail goes through fields, shady forests and exposed ridges. Upper Oldham ends at Elden Look out road. 

 Cross it and take Sunset from there. Unless, like me you just have to go to the top. I took the road up, which was super steep, but was a nice break for the upper body and mentally. Oh and I could actually enjoy the Scenery. Then the HAB the hiking trail down to Upper Sunset, which I was fully aware of. What I wasn't prepared for was that this section of Upper Sunset was more up hill than down and at 9000' I was struggling with it. Plenty of knar, if you got the goods. Rock drops, rocky ups, rocky switchbacks, you get the idea. Add to that plenty of exposure.

I considered going down Heart, but I wanted to make sure I got pictures of the ancient beach, that I missed the other day. Turns out I could have and shortened my ride. But Little Bear has been on my list too. It has its ups and downs, mostly down. Some fast, some slow tech with some tricky shale sections, with plenty of exposure. 

It seemed like forever but I finally got to Little Elden. I got to go down what I went up on Tuesday and visa versa. It was a nice break from Little Bear. Whether you are loving or hating it, give it ten minutes and get the other. 

Back on Christmas Tree, almost done, but not before a little more of Forces of Nature techy tech. Complete with plenty of pedal strikes. And this:

Before getting on to Winifred Ranch and home. In the end, I ended up following the exact course I made on Trailforks, except for that Middle Tier diversion

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Flagstaff Riding on Ancient Beaches

In the theme of My last two Prescott rides, I started this one right out the hotel. I won’t use the word Epic, but….

My wife and I are getting older and Hotel/Motels have a lot of advantages. I’ve camped, as a ride jump off point, my fair share. More than most and less than many hardy souls.

Unlike Prescott, I saw 3 other riders and one was heading out on a different trail from a trailhead. As I get rolling after a stop, about 2 miles up a five mile climb, one rider, younger than me (seems like most of them are these days) appears to be rolling up quickly, while I didn’t try to hold him off, I did pick up the pace a bit - he caught me anyway. I was in my 50t, he had a 50t in the rear too, but was in 3rd gear, pedaling faster than me too lol. Wearing gym shorts, a backpack, and sneakers on flat pedals! As I write this, I don’t think it was an E-bike, but I can be E-bike blind at times. Hmm

Probably just younger and altitude acclimated…

I saw three groups of hikers, all human sitings were near trailheads.

I went by two campgrounds.

Had LTE most of the time. My wife said she only lost me briefly on Garmin Live Track, when I was nearly done.

Anyway, with a short jaunt from the motel, on one of Flagstaff’s ubiquitous bike paths to a gravely path, I was traveling through a small neighborhood and heading up the mountain on the Winifred Ranch trail. I was already noticeably at a slower pace than normal in the valley. My starting point in Flagstaff was nearly as high as the high riding at Prescott and went up from there. Winifred Ranch intersects Forces of Nature in a particularly knarly spot, doable by Jeff Lenosky, but this Jeff hiked several sections. Some I probably could do, if less winded. I did similar ones shortly after. But some might take some more work on my part. But much better than a year ago When I just got over Pityriasis Rosea that comes with a rash that has been described as a Christmas tree pattern. So it is fitting that the next trail was Christmas Tree trail😉.  Fed in by a particularly nasty downhill, that is part of Fatman’s loop. A parting gift from Forces of Nature, according to Trailforks.  Completely rideable of course!

On to Little Elden and the main climb of the day. According to my Garmin it was 4.72 miles and 1657’of the climbing. This included Lower Sunset and to the top of Secret.

While steep at times, the Elden climb wasn’t just up. Flats and downhills gave welcome breaks and kept things interesting.

On Lower Sunset a bit to the trailhead to start Secret. Which was some awesome slow tech. Surprisingly, over a thousand feet higher and many more in my legs and I was making more stuff. I could have done without the thwacking my shins took from the flora from time to time, but it was a fair exchange in the end.

According to Trailforks, I was on a trail called Twisted Sister (what am I at Hawes Secret? Twisted Sister?) but I never saw a sign for Twisted Sister. I saw signs for Moto and Newman (which looked like it could some help, from the little bit I saw)

That being said, the last part of Secret/Twisted Sister, what I saw was a sign for Rocky Moto, which, as I was descending this twisty speed garden of rocks and roots, felt spot on.

Lower Moto into Easter Island gave a welcome breaks from the relentless shake, rattle and roll of Rocky Moto. No suspension here folks.

Chimney even more of a break, as Rocky Ridge really brought back the slow tech. Did I make it all? No. Was I on the on the verge of failure most of the time? Yes! I was having a blast.

Forces of Nature was tame in comparison overall, but had its really tough features and some spectacular geology.

As I got back closer to Winifred Ranch, the features in Forces of Nature started to ramp up.  

I’ve been riding 165mm cranks and thought pedal strikes were nearly extinct.  But I had plenty up here. Aside from the lower bottom bracket, I think the longer wheelbase had me high centering more than my old school bikes.

THE END

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