First Blood '08

It kind of reminds me of movie titles that qualify as oxymorons, you know them as well. How about "Death Wish II"? Shouldn't "Death Wish" have been the end of it? Then there's "Final Destination II" & III. The first "Final Destination" wasn't really final, I guess.

Anyway, I was working my way up a relatively steep and very rocky side hill in the Phoenix Mtn Preserve and manages to get a little crossways. Instead of dropping my feet and starting over, I tried to ride it out. Didn't work so well, Klein went off the embankment and I went for the high side of the trail. Managed to land knee first. Took a couple of minutes to pick the rocks out from under the skin, recover the bike and continue. Unfortunately, the picture wasn't very dramatic. No blood running down to the socks, no need for stitches....

Sorry I couldn't make it more interesting.

The weather today was awesome. Topped out at 67. Other than the brown cloud over the valley, the sky was clear and it was a great day to be outside. I took a couple shots in the Preserves because the desert is very pretty right now.

Piestawa Peak from the NE

Ocotillo leafing out. I didn't know until recently that Ocotillo leafs out several times each year. When I first saw this cactus in August, it was really impressive. A month or so later every one I saw looked dead. I wasn't expecting it to green up again until summer. Fortunately, the Desert Botanical Garden answers a lot of those questions.

In all, this was one of the best weekends for riding in Phoenix since I moved here. I put in about 20 miles over the two days and enjoyed it a lot.

Sean gave me a polyester jersey for my B'day, but it hasn't been warm enough lately to try it out. Polyester - yeah, the same stuff they made leisure suits out of in the '70s. No, I never owned a leisure suit (but grandpa did and wore it well into the '90s). The jersey works great, wicks sweat and stays dry. Interstingly, I ran it through the washer and hung it to dry while all the cotton stuff tumbled. By the time the dryer stopped, the jersey was already dry. I'm sure it wouldn't have dried that quick in other places, but this is Phoenix. Thanks Sean.