Usery Mountains Tonto

 After Last week,

I thought I would go exploring and see if I could find a loop that did not use the sand box that is FS(Fire Service Road) 3554.  

I started with "Lone Mountain Loop South" section.  That way if it was a bust I would just go fight the congestion at Hawes.  It was steep at first and had some techy spots through out.  Enough to peak my interest.  Then I took that to the "Lone Mountain to Bush" trail.   Which was sandy and in and out of a wash.  The wash must have moved because the trail diverged significantly from the Trailforks map.  I found following motorcycle tracks was the best bet.  It is mostly a slight downhill, so that helped overcome the sand a bit.  A fat bike would have been more at home here, I did struggle at times on my 3.0s. Oddly enough a decent single track opened up for the last mile or so to Bush Highway.  I went West a bit to see if a the trail I was trying to ride, came out near the GPS track, the answer was maybe.  But I had to save that for another, day as I was a long way from done.  Partly because I wanted to try the "Salty Basin Loop", you know its cause it's black diamond.  Yea right! For a gravel bike maybe.  Sure there were a few steep rocky climbs and descents, but for the most part it was jeep trail.  The South end even was graded, poorly!  Probably with a front-loader bucket blade.  And actual grader would would have been too long to navigate all the hills and dales and just the general non-straightness of it all.  I found FS 10 AZT/Bypass more technical and challenging than Salty Basin.  If I do it again I will probably skip the "Salty Basin Loop" or find my way along the nearby ridges.  I did little of that at the start of the trail.

I found the North/South part of "Deer Tanks Loop (South) fun and challenging in either direction.  Its a bit techy between wash canyon and FS 10.  I was getting pretty gassed and I new I what I was in for on the "Gold Link Trail" so I popped off the trail to navigate a maze of a neighborhood.  And made my way to Usery park and filled my bottles at the horse trailer trailhead.  I was happy to be on the flats of Blevins, Chain Fruit and Talon, but I knew Talon turned upwards and I was ever so glad to take Talon back to my trail head.  Even the DH with flat turns was fun, Yes George, after 27 miles many of sand I was never happier to be going down Talon form Pass Mountain intersection. 

 https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/110263773/

I left My Heart On Mt Elden

So after the iPhone Search and Rescue extended my Tuesdays ride, I was more tired than I planned to be for this ride. But there were some trails that I wanted to try again and they looped nicely with a couple I hadn't.  It'll probably be next summer before I get another ride in this neck of the woods.

The first time I did Rocky Ridge was in 2016, when we stayed in my cousin Rick's driveway in our motorhome, while we were full timing it.  I revisited RR four weeks ago, twenty miles into a 27 mile ride.  

I was hoping that by doing it early in the ride, this time, that I would have more energy for all that tech that RR delivers.  And while the numbers show me getting within a few seconds of my 2016 total time (my moving time was a few minutes slower, per Strava), I was not fully recovered from Tuesdays extracurricular shenanigans and while I normally don't feel like I need much of a warm up, I think there is something about being at elevation that I have to figure out, maybe a couple short  anaerobic intervals to get that system primed.  Because with less oxygen in the air, the body goes anaerobic at a lower intensity.  But that tank is limited.  Prescription, more LSD rides to increase the output with less oxygen, me thinks, although boring.  Railbeds and canal paths, here I come!

Regardless, RR is a fun challenging trail, better than any game you see advertised for your phone on TV, and gets you to the good part of Oldham.  Other than Elden Lookout road, this is the most direct route to heights of Sunset trail, by bike.  I cleaned more than I did a month ago and was a few minutes faster.  But I am running 3.0 tires now and boy do they make a difference from the 2.6" tires I was running, before.  There was a huge crew doing trail maintenance.  I told them all thanks, one by one as I passed them!

While I did not enjoy any of lower Oldham, four weeks ago, I did like Middle and Upper.  But it is up, up, up.  Not a lot of obstacles to overcome except for the incline and lack of oxygen.  Starts out with little tree cover, but switchbacks it's way upward until you are in the tall pines for some shade from the sun's radiation.  It's a fine line, an edge let's say, staying near the top of your VO2 max, while negotiating the many switchbacks and intermittent obstacles, obstacles that might not be obstacles at lower elevations or on flatter terrain, two different things I assure you!  I passed four riders that stopped to take care of some sort of business.  Looked like they where coming off of Down Under.  A few switchbacks later one of them caught up to me and I let him pass on a hairpin (I should have moved to the inside).  I saw another one later on switchback below, but lost site of both of them. 

Eventually, you cross Elden Lookout road and hop on to Sunset for some more exposure.  The billy goat that passed me earlier, was waiting for his posse on Sunset.  I had it in my head that, if I had energy, I would turn right on Sunset to see how that was and get over 9000'.  It was pretty tough coming down four weeks ago.  Moot point, cause I hadn't any energy to spare.  So down I went, plenty of tech go go along with that side of exposure and I got to with in ten feet of 9K according to my Garmin, before a bit a a knarly descent to Heart.

Going down Heart you get fun speed. That’s why I prefer it over Little Bear.

Heart starts out fairly old school for a more modern trail. It is commingled with the El Viejo hiking trail. So use your GPS. The middle is obviously bench cut, through the red dirt, but that doesn’t take away from the flow of the trail. Not to be confused with a FLOW trail. Red dirt turns to red rocks and you might think you’re in Sedona for a second, the you realize your not and thank the mountain bike gods!  

Connect up to Little Elden at the bottom for a mix of terrain, on your way to the fire roady Christmas Tree trail, to a nasty short Hike-A-Bike on Fat mans trail up to Forces of Nature.  Jeff Lenosky could probably have made it, but not this Jeff.  I have hiked all of Fatman's.  Maybe it would be better, albeit longer and still quite tecnical, to get on Fat man's earlier and come down to this section and miss most of it altogether.  Another time maybe.

Force of nature is always tough and I was tired.  Even so, I made more stuff and hit my pedals less.  Both probably due to the 29plus tires.  The bigger tires raise the bottom bracket to reduce pedal strikes and the larger diameter tires have a better breakover angle.  The larger tires also have more conformity, due to the combination of more volume and lower air pressure.

I finally managed to get in the tail end of FON that, previously I somehow either mapped incorrectly or took a wrong turn and was back on my course before I knew it.  The part of FON that parallels Middle Tier is not ridden much, judging from the condition of the trail and it is tough going at least from East to West.  It is also hard to follow even with a GPS course loaded into a Garmin, as it so splintered that it resembles a spiders web.  I am sure that I did not exactly follow Trailforks GPS of FON, but I could at least see where I was off by yards at the next intersection after it had splintered off.  I rode a lot of it but but I was tired and there was a fair amount of Hike-A-Bike at least in this direction.  

I'll try West to East someday.

I routed Night Ranger instead of Lower Oldham (did I mention that it's not my favorite trail?).  NR is fairly tame and leads to a series of "Connector" trails, to get  you to Elden Lookout road, which I thought would be dirt.  Trailforks, on my Garmin, got confused after the last connector and kept saying left turn in Zero feet.  It would be hard to get lost from here lol.  I saw Quintana trail flash in and out as well.  I couldn't find it later on Trailforks, but it did show on the Trailforks map on my Garmin.  Anywho, I was fine rolling down the pavement, then I noticed a single track on the side of the road and hopped on forthwith.  I wonder if I could have got on it sooner.  Nothing special, but my mental space changed immediately.  The map confuse Social with this Quintana, but like I said very hard to get lost at this point.

The End

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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.  Even got a thankyou for the bell, from Mountain Bikers. Then 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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Prescott Land of Epics?

Back when I started this blog apps like Trailforks did not even exist! Pinkbike launched Trailforks in October of 2014 in th US, with the mobile app almost a year later. I wish it was sooner, cause it sure would have made The Quest easier.  Outside acquired Trailforks alongside Pinkbike in July of 2021 and I just missed getting in at the legacy price October of 2024.  I guess I had been out of the game for too long and hadn't realized what was going down.  I guess I used Singletracks trail edition for some of it but they closed the app on 2020, but you can still access their trail maps for free.  They say the memory is the first to go!

Back in the day, I would search for GPS files for the IMBA Epic and other trails that I was looking to do. Getting them off of race sites and local club blogs or hooking up with locals virtually or in person to get the skinny on the trails.  

It took hours!

But now thanks to Garmin and Trailforks, you can make or save an existing Route to MY Wishlist and bam its on Garmin Connect and it's on your Garmin next time you sync up.  It's that easy!

You may have to hit the save to Garmin button.

I was still learning the scale of things on the Edge 540 vs the website on my phone, but It made for so much less stopping, pulling out the phone at intersection (hoping the GPS had caught up, guessing when it didn't...)  and course corrections!

This was second my ride in Prescott Arizona, felt like a sampler of everything Mountain Biking. Hell it’s an all you can eat smorgasbord! 

Rocks, rollers, roots with several tech features thrown in for good measure. 
I wanted to start on the car Dealership Bypass, but only found after going through the dealer lol.  The bypass is shown as a dotted green line on Trailforks Website, but but not at all on my Garmin Trailforks map, as intimated above, my phone has a terrible GPS latency on Trailforks, Oh well. You get to go through a tunnel this way at least.

 That gets you to Badger Mountain. This rolls up and down and up. Very nice single track, with a fun mix of rocky and smooth. You turn off of Badger Mountain on to Turley. Turly has some raw old scoolness to it, fine silty sand somehow, which complement the rocks and roots.  One good steep switchback that caught me out.

It ends through a gate into a neighborhood. While dirt is usually more desirable than pavement, this stretch on this ride is mostly in a back woods neighborhood. But the next is on Senator highway, with only one lane open for construction. That actually was better as the cars were going pretty slow. There was a rideable dirt shoulder for part of the Senator stretch. Then sharp right turn at a gated fire road (the trail is outside the gate on the right side) onto Lower Feldmeir #330 which drops you down so you can climb back up to a short climb on route 89, but not before twisting and turning through some old school feeling trails with rocks and roots and even a pretty cool long pipe section. 
You turn off of 89 into the state forest trailhead and get on the Goldwater Lakes trail (upper back end of the parking area) which climbs above 6000’ for the first time up to 6500’. You get a view of the lakes from up above through the trees. You cross Senator Highway into a trailhead, go left on to Ranch trail. Not #299 Watershed. This is where the Trailforks course actually starts. I started from the bottom. You’ll keep rolling between like 6300’ and 6500’. Then it shares some of Ranch from Tuesday’s intended ride, but in the opposite direction. Turning off onto the Badger Mountain connector. Man is this fast and furious with a little climbing. I went down on this one when a big boulder jumped out me, (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) I made it around the boulder but pushed the front wheel trying to get back on line and not go off the cliff. lol. Back to Badger Mountain and back the way I came except I went out the Dealership bypass to the road to my hotel. 
I should have done this one first. You are riding a lot more between 5600’ and 6000’. 
Which I attribute to being able to get more oxygen. That a lighter breakfast and a more gradual warm up than Tuesday. Maybe a little acclimation too! 
I actually felt better Tuesday once I got lower. Today’s ride only went to 6550’ or so it was late in the ride even that felt better than Tuesday. I felt like I spent a lot of time in the 6700’-7000’ foot range Tuesday. So there is that. 
Sticks did I mention sticks? While not a ton, I am not used to looking for them like when I lived in Jersey. 

Prescott Epic?

Well I have ridden many IMBA epics.  I took a few years off and damn, there are epics out the door of the hotel!  The two rides I did in Prescott where on par with any of the Epics I have ridden in the past and that is just the tip of the iceberg!

Prescott is a friendly town, with a very clean historic town center. With lots to do for any noncyclist amongst you, from the flight of mead at the Superstition Meadery, to wash down one of their several tapas (AKA snacks if you are like me or an excuse to drink mead) I had the moderately sized Italian sandwich and half of my wife's charcuterie board.  Not my usual fare by any means, but delicious none the less.  There are a few different scavenger hunts to try.  The Rodeo was coming in as we left.  I find Prescott more similar to Durango than Sedona, and that is all right by me!  Less traffic than Sedona, even with the construction on route 69.  There is plenty of civilization on the east side of town for anything you might need and Prescott National Forest all around that to escape from it.  If you live in the valley in Arizona the temps are a welcome break in June.

Now onto the ride:

IDK where Trailforks got 9 miles of flat lol. Look at that profile!

So I set out to do a 20 mile 2400’ climb loop I found on Trailforks. I ended up with 3800 per my Garmin, not the 4500' that Trailforks says after the fact. There were several intersections that were not clear TO ME and I added 7 miles, but no way did that add 1-2k’ of climbing.  (I am new to having Trailforks maps on my Garmin) Maybe that’s where Trailforks got some of those flat miles lol. (They were not flat miles either, by the way), I figured out how to get a course off of Trailforks for my next ride  Ha Ha Ha

#62 Ranch was a smooth climb, only about 200’ climbing per mile. But I was in my 32/50 most of it as the 42 was busting this transplanted Minnesota/New Jersey/Arizona valley boys lungs lol. Watershed was another story(when final got the turn right 3rd times the charm). Watershed had several steep loose sections to test your skills and stamina. On the entire ride I probably HAB 200’ climbing total, at least 2x50’ where on Watershed. But if you make everything all the time it is time to find another challenge or turn pro. Lol. 

The fire road, well at least it was short. Because those flies had me surrounded on a couple steep climbs which also get to the high point of almost 7k’.

So all down hill from here, yeah right. Not a chance. 

At about three and a half hours, Smith Ravine, was the first place I saw another human on the trail.

Its black diamond and while more down than up was definitely not as smooth as Ranch, which is good. It was a little rough almost knar, almost. There were several techy features to keep things interesting. As I got to the the trail head for #305 Homestead, I saw the only other humans of the day on the trail. There is a green trail option on the trailhead side of the road, but you cross South Walker Road to find Homestead did cross many roads, main roads only a few times, mainly camp roads going to Lynx lake. Homestead also passed through several trail heads. I had to ride around a few times find where 305 exited. All in all  good time. I wonder how it is in reverse. 

Spluge, Donkey Semen, Call it what you will

My Buddy George asked me to write this post, because he feels it’s an internet myth, but here it goes; Sealant wants to seal holes, it is its job after all. And we need to put air in the tires and if your like me, that is every ride so the pressure is just right for the given atmospherics and how fat I am at the time. Some of you may be less fussy, but even riding suspension, I was pretty particular. Even more so on a rigid bike. Unfortunately, that requires a hole (see what I did there?) So, Every ride is an opportunity for sealant to come out the valve during these adjustments. I've taken to pumping first to help push it back in before putting my low-pressure gauge on the valve. I can't remember when I started storing the wheels with the valve down but saw it on the internet recently and mentioned it to my buddy and here we are.

 

When we got home from our ride today, he had this up on the PC.
 

Search that again and get:

Thanks AI

Before pumping I lean the bike next to a wall with the valves at the bottom and give them a few light bounces to knock any sealant out and let it sit for a few minutes while getting other gear ready.

Then turn the wheel to about 30-45 degrees and bounce a little again and let it sit again before pumping.

So, there you have it, Myth or reasonable actions, you be the judge.

Rock Lake Cable Wisconsin IMBA Epic Plus

Honestly this was a long time ago and I guess I meant to write a post. Something must have come up.

But Many, MANY years before this I came to the area for my first MTB race.  Thinking shorter was better for me, being pretty green and all.  You see I lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota and MTBing was in its infancy.  You heard about races from word of mouth, from other riders, bike shops, but mostly from reading about them in the magazines.

The Chequamegon 40 in Hayward Wisconsin, was a biggy in my neck of the woods, but still a haul.  Silly Green me drove all the way out there to do the first day of short track on the bunny hill and got smoked in the grass.  Dejected, but some how still wanted to pursue racing.  

My second race wasn't much better....

That one was in Redwing Minnesota, Nothing close to the Twin Cities of course. It had rained the night before and the clay was making bricks on my narrow seat stays and power cam brakes on my Cannondale Mountain Bike.  So much so, it forced the bike to stop and me to dig out the clay bricks.  LOL  It took so long to complete my pre ride that I missed the start.  The clay had dried enough that they started the race.  Crazy.  So dejection number 2 was in the books.  But I did learn the importance of seat and chain stay clearance.  Oh the memories.

Some years after that, my friend Steve (he was born and raised in Wisconsin) and we managed the resources to get to the Chequamegon 40.  That was a big deal for us at the time.

Having no Strava or Garmin files from that era, just memories.  No camera phones back then and I can't remember when I last knew where the photographs were. 

So it is nice that I rode the IMBA Epic that would all these years later jog my memory and let me recall those early early days of mountain biking for better or worse....

Strava File:

BCT Back Canyon Trail North of Black Canyon City

 

AGUA FRIA!     

  

I exclaim every time I go near that....THAT CURSED river!   Why? you ask.

Well let me tell ya a story;

To tell the truth 90% of the ride was fine and dandy.  Uneventful lets say.  

If you're like me, you like loops as opposed to out and backs.  So I started in Black Canyon City and took the Maggie Mine gravel road to Crown King Gravel road, Past Bumble Bee almost to Cordes before pointing south off of Antelope Creek road onto the BCT, the Black Canyon Trail.  Now a gravel road is well, a gravel road and not that damn interesting and 25 miles of it gets old, so maybe an out and back would be better.  The BCT itself was mostly fun well executed single track and miles and miles of it so it was very nice.  Not too polished or buff, not to gnarly.  I have to say, that I am also not a fan of shuttles, I believe you should earn your descents, but this trail is a definite candidate for shuttling.

Now all would have been well and good, except for one almost fatal flaw in my judgement.  This trail had been so well built for 25 miles I assumed it would continue that way back to the trail head and I would make it back before dark. If only I had ended at Soap creak and took the road back to the trail head (insert shaking my head emoji) 

The first 50 miles took like 6 and a half hours (6 rolling) that last 8 miles extricating myself in the failing light took almost 3 hours (only 1.5 rolling). 

So I continue on, in my ignorant bliss.  The trail gets a little less buff, less well marked and more fire roadie.  "Did I miss that last marker?" Lets check my down loaded track. "Glad I down loaded this area before losing cell coverage."  "Looks like I'm still on course." I come to a fork and it seems I should go left, but there is no marker, "What's the harm in a little adventuring, Right?"  So down the hill I go, to wide area along the river. With no discernable trail. The river is raging.  I see a house on the other side of the river, it's lights pointing out that dusk is settling in.  No bridge across and no way out but the way I came down.  Check the GPS again.  I am off the purple line.  Must have been the right at the fork.

Now I should have turned back then and there....

No not me, I carry on, even find a bit of trail and a marker, all be it ambiguous.  It leads back to the river Further upstream, I think, I see MTB tire and cycling shoe tracks Heading up what may sometimes be a water fall.  And I am dead on the purple line, man.  I climb up and see some down trees across a raging river.  There was no way I was risking that in the near dark, with not guarantee that I would have to come back across in even less light!

I had to turn back and make the most of what twilight was left.

I was making my way back at a reasonable clip when total darkness fell.  I pulled out my phone and rode by its flash light, at a much reduces pace.  That only lasted so long before I was in the dark again and almost going off the trail in a not so forgiving spot.  

So Hike-A-Bike it would be... 

...At long last I emerged onto the last fire road that I had crossed.  I could see a very bright light, perhaps over a school athletic field or municipal building.  I plipped back in and started down the fire road, navigating as if by Braille, butt further off the back than probably necessary, keeping the front wheel light in case of an unforeseen pothole.  The whole time ready to react to whatever force that was transmitted from the front wheel, up the fork through the stem into the handlebars.

Then a sigh of relief as I glide onto a concrete wash crossing now visible in alternating shadow and dim light.  Wait what's that ahead Head lights.  Great! meet at an intersection, they turn left in front of me and I scurry to get behind and use their beams to help me scan the road for trouble.  Soon I was back in civilization and back to the car.  

Pressed the I'm OK button on my Spot tracking device, letting the wife know I was alive, if not long over due.  Plugged in the phone and got into dry clothes.  Started home the 2 hour drive.  Another one in the books.

Failure list.

Not starting at the crack-O-dawn.

No light for the night portion of the ride, unexpected though it may have been.

Assuming that the trail was stayed as nice as beginning.

Not researching that water crossing. 

 

Black Oval chainring, Crank Breaker?

    So, eight years ago, when my 3x9 was wearing out and 1 bys were becoming all the rage, I opted for the Shimano XT 42-11 cassette and needing a no drop chainring I got a 32t from Black Oval. 

See hear for the install:

https://www.mtbepicrides.com/2016/06/one-by-eleven.html

Yes, I kept the package for Eight years!

My First ride on this set up was May 24th, 2016.  And While I did not ride much after May 2017 Strava says I logged 212 rides on that set up since.  I am not prepared to do the data mining yet for the miles and elevation gain, LOL!  Needless to say, it was a lot. I did replace the chain in October of 2019, when I got back on the horse to ready myself for some friends that were visiting in February.

So, as I was JRA anticipating getting my single speed together going up a short steepish climb in the 32/21 I believe and bang, I thought I broke the chain, not so lucky, while the chain did get twisted a bit, I looked down to see a mangled mess of twisted chainring.  Thinking to myself that’s odd, but I have more at home.  But before I could contemplate the walk out to the road, I realized a much bigger shock, three of the ears that held the chainring on the crank had completely snapped off!!!! and the 4th was ripped open?  This is an XT crankset and yes, I have put umpteen miles on it and I tipped the scale at 240+ pounds and my legs were getting strong after a few months on the bike (After 4 years off) and lifting many kegs at work, but jumping Jehoshaphat!  Me and My buddy just stood there not quite comprehending what had happened.  My friend, who worked in a bike shop for quite some time said, "That's a new one" and between us we thought we had seen broken or broken ourselves, everything on a bike.  I also worked at a bike shop for several years and one of my friends wife use to call me "everything is broken Man"  

But I digress.  So was it metal fatigue, was I too fat.  While my friend rode to get the car and I walked to the nearest trail head, (we were halfway through a 14-mile ride) I had time to ponder and wonder if the Black Oval chainring, which was light weight (maybe too light) and the material around the bold holes got nowhere near the lands on the crank was the culprit.  All the bolts were still tight in the threaded chainring holding on the three ears from the crank, suggesting that the chainring fold/twisted under the load and twisted off the ears of the crank.

There was a silver lining though, we thrashed that evening and converted My Lynskey with a Black Sheep fork, back to its single best destiny... a 

Single Speed

I'M BACK!

  I have been gone for a while and oh so much has changed  I pulled a Forrest Gump about 7 years ago and just stopped riding.  Yea no one saw that coming not even me.  About 4 years ago My Friend TK was doing a training camp at Mc Dowell MT Park in February so I did Ride for a few months so I would not completely blow.  But then Covid hit and I did the opposite of everybody else and stopped riding.  Besides I hadn't adapted to summers in the Valley here in Arizona yet anyway Yada Yada Yada.  Fast forward To November 2023 when my buddy George came to visit.  We had no plans to ride.  But my seeing him was the spark I needed.  I proceed to break my Powertap hub at the gate, so we hiked.  I had  laced up a wheel several year ago, so I tensioned it and we were off to the races..... Whoa slow down, man did I blow Ha, Ha, Ha.  After of course setting up 7 year old new tubeless tires.  Boy was I out of practice!

Colorado Trail Durango Segment 28

Well the description on MTBProject.com says "Drive (or ride) approximately 18 miles up Junction Creek Road to the junction with FS 171N. This intersection is well marked with a sign to the Colorado Trail."  Well challenge accepted!  I had been going a little further up FS 204 (Junction Creek Rd) each week or so, at least up to where the snow hadn't melted yet.  Then I put it off another week, as a visitor from Thailand, of all places, came to Durango to ride Kenebec pass, which he was told was still snowed in.  Looking at the map, I was not sure which section of the Colorado trail that was on.  I did some killer rides up at Hermosa creek in the mean time.

I hit the Forest Service road for a little threshold training at the beginning of the couple hour HC climb.  I keep riding up past the upper trail crossing of Log Chutes 2, (last ride this is all I had), gaining 2000 feet in about an hour, past the Animas overlook, ( a common drop into unnamed single track for me).  I continued up past Log Chutes 3 and Downhill trail head, past Rand's Point and Cape Horn.  I caught a glimpse of Kenebec pass, (as pointed out bu a local I meat on the Extended ridge trail over looking Durango) and if I understood him correctly, it still looked snow locked to me.  But I never seemed to get above it and actually started to descend a fair ways to 171,

which climbed a little to the Colorado trail Crossing.


While the Strava file shows mainly a descent (Lower Kenebec, not the pass) for some time it seemed like there was a lot of up and down even before the last brutal climb to high point.

There is a beautiful waterfall about 2 miles down:


Followed by a smaller falls that you rode right along, about 3 miles down:

one by eleven

While I have original flavor SRAM Red on my road bike now, I am mainly a Shimano guy.  XT is my "Go To" on a mountain bike, I have used 105 on a road bike and drool over DI2 for either.  Even so I covet that SRAM 10 to 42 tooth cog.  My 9 speed is getting a little long in the tooth sic, the last chain I put on had to be "Ridden in" some before all the gears worked.  I recently tried to repeat this feat and she was just not having it.  Well it has been two years (I have ridden my single speed and road bike a fair amount of that time).  I have ridden my 9 speed straight through the existence of 10 speed.  The last chain that rode in was around when XTR released 11 speed and SRAM was introducing a second level, all boo koo bucks.  Fast forward to today,,, Finally durable, affordable, raceable XT was came along and now that I need it, it is high demand of course.

I am concerned that 32/42 will not be low enough in the the long High mountains of Durango,  I have been practicing using a similar low gear, which showed promise.  On the flip side I am wondering if I will miss that high gear inch that the 42/11 rolled out.  I am from the old school when the standard CR was 48-38-28 with at 12-28 6 speed cassette, but I never road that in the actual mountains.

I finally sourced all the parts, but had to get an XTR shifter, due to availability.  I hope the pretty carbon parts hold up to my abuse.  First ride tomorrow, here are some pics of the parts old and new.

Out with the Old

In with the New and Uncluttered

Trio of Shimano goodies

Add in the Ablolute Black Oval Chain Ring

Shifter

Derailleur, Good in a clutch!

Big as my 160 brake rotor

The Oval Office

Hope it makes up for that low gear I will not have

All Shiny and ready to Rock

Doing this on the cheap meant using my perfectly good old 104 BCD XT 175mm crank.

I am running a SRAM 1190 chain, until it wares out, then will probably switch to KMC as they seem to take for ever to stretch out.

Dialed in the chain length and B tension and everything seems ready for a real world test.

I like the threaded chain ring bosses on the Absolute Black, time will tell if it holds up.  But I got to go back to steel bolts.  I used the long ones from the old granny ring.  I was using aluminum CR bolts and nuts so I could use an Allen wrench on both sides.  Mute point now.

The Derailleur cage is stiff with that clutch on, I have been drooling over that since I got my 9 speed shadow derailleur just before the clutch came out.  We will see if the clutch and the Narrow Wide CR actually keep the chain and reduce chain stay slap, on in the conditions that I ride in, rough and rigid.  That 11t is still really close to the chain stay.

I am so looking forward to not having a front derailleur.  I can now move up my rear wheel in the sliders and not drag rocks across a derailleur.  And of course you loose the weight, the shifting and the shifter. 

I took this opportunity to use a lock in to limit the inward movement of my grips.  Even wire tied they migrate in, I hope this solves this problem.  Lock ons are to thin in the cushion department and not work on my bars anyway.