I needed a long ride. My last ditch effort to prepare for the AES Tor de 50 this Saturday. Good thing I took the bike out for a beatdown. I blew a tire at four miles in and broke a spoke at 6 miles in. A slime tube took care of the tire, I’d just have to be careful on the rear wheel spinning on only 27 spokes. I wasn’t calling it due to a spoke…

The rest of the ride was uneventful mechanical wise. As for adventure…west SoMo is nothing but adventure. The twisty singletrack of Bees, light tech on the northwest corner of SoMo, a few jeep road climbs… coyotes howling…then the Highline canal flats. This is where you crank up the tunes and hammer till your legs are on fire. I topped off the ride with the East Loop back to Pima and logged 33 miles around South Mountain.

This ride didn’t hurt much. I guess it wasn’t really good enough prep for the Tortolitas. I’ll find out Saturday…

Cirque de SoMo at EveryTrail

Down West Bees Knees

All you have to do is follow the white dots and you can clean every tech move on the tech loop. I rode on Saturday with my brother in law and he said: “This is the funnest trail I have ever ridden.” And he’s ridden quite a bit of trail with me here in AZ. (I’ll agree it’s FUN, but he hasn’t ridden Gooseberry Mesa yet).

This was my third time through the Tech Loop out on K-trail in Gold Canyon, and I finally cleaned everything I saw. The trail gets better and better the more you ride it, learn it and clean it. I heard there is now a 4 foot drop out there to try…

I hit up some old trails this week after work. Old to me, anyway. I hadn’t ridden the west side of T-100 in over a decade. Time to revisit some of my stomping grounds. Let me tell you, this ride was the most fun I’ve had on the bike in a while. I had forgotten about how fun it is to ride the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Fun as in, carefree cruising through singletrack and light tech with a permagrin on my face. There are still so many other trails to ride out there, I think I have found a new post work ride…

Thank you, random mountain biker, for making this shot much better than the one I shot two seconds earlier.

My photographic abilities could not do this light justice. But I had to try. At the top of widow maker descent. I stopped halfway down to snap more pictures, winning me the last place finish on the Strava Leaderboard… there needs to be a place to add an asterisk to your time… called I’m slow because… with a drop-down menu for all the excuses… taking pictures will be he only valid one.

About 3 years ago I started up the Helipad TT to keep track of the fastest times up Helipad at South Mountain. GPS wasn’t as wide spread, mapping applications were still in their early years…well now we have Strava.

All you have to do is ride fast with your GPS (or the Strava App) upload and you can see how fast (or slow) you really are. If you don’t have a lot of spare time on your hands, don’t get into Strava. It’s all you will think about once you’ve tasted a KOM. You can find segments all over the valley and compare your times with other riders. It’s time trialing for the masses. Every ride you go on is a virtual race…

Currently the Strava segment for Helipad has only 43 riders. And the best times do not include the sub 6 minute runs by the following riders in 2009:

1 – 5:04 – Jeff Herrera – 31-Dec
2 – 5:25 – Neal Wright – 13-Sept
3 – 5:26 – Kimo Seymour – 17-Jun
4 – 5:28 – Rich Kocher 5-Jul
5 – 5:37 – Rich Weis (TASER/Kenda/Tomac) – 7-Aug
6 – 5:42 – Aaron Walker (ADub) – 2-Aug
7 – 5:45 – Rob Decot – 30-Dec
8 – 5:57 – Jay Rapson (jaybird) – 5-Aug
9 – 5:59 – Scott Adams – 17-Dec

If you have your GPS tracks from a previous Helipad TT run…sign up for a free Strava account and upload it! Good Luck!

Chatter yesterday on the MTBR Arizona Forum about a new section of trail in the Gold Canyon area got me out of a warm bed on a chilly and moist Arizona morning, to explore… I met up with ChaseCo at Apacheland, and we set out to find the “Tech Loop.”

After casually climbing cougar we picked up pace on Lost Goldmine, soaked up the views from the top of K-trail before dropping into the roller coaster ride… The Tech Loop was a bit further down K-trail than we thought, but it’s easy enough to spot as long as you stay on K.

The Tech Loop is named for the tech features that are weaved into the trail. By no means is tech trail a continuous stretch of technical terrain, but more scattered tech features along the classic K-trail flowiness. Challenging features indeed, multiple lines. A great little spot to session. I can’t wait to get back to hit a few more spots when it’s not so Bon Jovi out there.

By the end of the ride, blue sky started making its way over the Supes. This place will always amaze me.

Lost Goldmine Tech Loop at EveryTrail

Riding the Goldfields is like having my very own personal time machine. One that can only take me back to the mid 1800s. But I’m not searching for gold – I’m seeking singletrack…The hills out here are alive with history, wildlife and endless adventure. Just let the primitive horsetrail be your guide. All you have to do is follow.

My first ride out this way was more than three years ago. This place always called out to me. I had to see what was in them mountains. I’ve only been out a half dozen times or so, but each has been an adventure.

I once thought that the Goldfields could be a regular ride for mountain bikers, but now I know that only the truly adventurous will come out to soak up the Superstition views from this vantage. I saw one other set of tracks this time. An adventurer for sure. Perhaps is was the spirit of Everett Ruess? There is plenty of Beauty in the Goldfields to go around. Come out and see for yourself.

The last ride of the year…where to go? Classic Hawes? Climbing at South Mountain? Casa Grande popped into my head. I hadn’t been out that way for at least a year. There is some new trail out there that I had not ridden yet. I heard it was good.

The Ridge Trail is the sparkling new gem that was planned out by Mark Flint and built entirely by volunteers. It is beautiful bench cut trail, midway up the mountain. Moderate tech, some nice climbs and magnificent views. While riding I was reminded of the Goat Camp Loop Mesquite trail, and the FINS Grunt Trail.

There’s got to be a story behind this prop, found on the south end of the Ridge Trail Difficult…

Love my new Mirrycle Incredibell Jellibell I got for Christmas. It’s so much fun to ring I rang it constantly.

Wishing all my readers a Happy Holiday season. May your tires see plenty of dirt in the coming year.

This time of year is mountain biking heaven in Phoenix. I’ve been on some really fun rides the past few weeks, and am looking forward to sunny days ahead.

I never tire of this view. Red Mountain from Hawes.

I caught a glimpse of a cyclocross animal. I needed more cowbell.

New signage out on Lost Goldmine make it easier for first-timers to find their way around.

Homage to Cosmic Ray.

South Mountain has officially named Bees Knees, Bursera Trail. Everyone still calls it Bees…

Because it’s still the Bees Knees!

Pyramid Trail has become the official name for Gila View, aka, Marker 33, aka, 620. I still call it Olympus. Only the MTB gods can ascend it…