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: