Old Fat & Slow

24 hours in the Old Pueblo

2012-02-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not planning to ride a 24 hour race.

On Saturday afternoon, I and a couple of my riding buddies went to the course where the 24 hour race is held and rode it to see what its like. The course is a really enjoyable 16.3 mile which is mostly beautiful single track with a few areas of old jeep roads thrown in. Since we got confused a couple of times, we ended up riding 17 miles. It took us 2 hours to complete a lap, a truly un-competitive time.

Before we started, we talked a bit with a guy who is probably 75-80 years old. He had just finished a lap on a single speed in 1:25. His tale, if true, solidified my resolve not to enter the race.

The drive from Phoenix actually takes you south of the track quite a way, then north on a gravel/dirt road to the course area, about 2.5 hours from Phoenix. It seems like a round about way to get there, but that's what the directions say.

When we finished up and were ready to head back to Phoenix, a guy we know said his GPS said there was a short cut back to Hwy 79 that would cut a good 25 miles off the return trip. I had mapped directions on Google Earth the day before and it showed a route across the valley, but when I zoomed in and followed the directions given, there were areas where the line across didn't appear to actually follow a road. Anyway, it was the weekend, so what the hell. We followed the guy west for about 30 minutes while the road became a jeep trail, then a set of tire tracks, then a barbed wire fence with nothing but mesquite, prickly pear, and no gate. By the time we got back to the race course, it was already dark, but no problem backtracking.

In all, we spent almost 6 hours travelling to get in a 2 hour bike ride. It was a nice way to delay the chores I would have done at home.

Wheels

2012-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Back in October, I bought a Vuelta Zerolite wheelset and put them on my Klein hardtail (still my only mtn bike). I had some reservations because the hubs looked kind of cheap, the 24 spoke seemed a bit odd, and mounting the tires on the rims was easier than any I have ever done. After a few rides, I figured they'll probably be ok.

A few weeks ago, I was descending a long, fairly steep trail at Deem hills and flatted without hitting anything. When I pulled the tube, I found that the tube had separated right at the stem. I tried cutting a hole in a patch and sliding it over the stem in holes that it would seal up and hold everything in place. I held everything except air in place. Since I didn't have a spare tube, I shouldered the bike and walked back to the truck, about a 2 mile hike.

Back home, I blamed the problem on a faulty tube and replaced it. All seemed ok until last weekend. While descending the same hill I flatted on previously, I experienced the same thing. The new tube separated right at the stem. This time I had a spare and was able to continue the ride. Back home, I started puzzling this one and decided that the tube and tire must have been slipping around the rim. Never had evidence of that problem before in aout 55 years of cycling, so in typical troubleshooting procedure, I settled in on blaming the only thing I had changed before the problem started - the rims, which may have been slightly smaller in diameter than normal (I'll have to measure them and see if that's true), or maybe the painted aluminum surface was too slippery. Either way, the result sucked and I didn't want to fight it.

On Monday morning I ordered two new wheels from BlueSkyCycling.com. If you haven't figured it out yet, Old Fat & Slow is a cheapskate. My bike is 15 years old and still in service. In its life, I replaced the rims once, and the hubs were still the originals, until I bought the Vueltes. One great thing about classic bikes (read: old and obsolete) is the availability of obsolete parts that no one else wants. BlueSkyCycling.com had the perfect wheels at really good prices. So ordered a front wheel with Mavic 221 rim and Shimano LX hub, and a rear wheel with a Mavic 117 rim and Shimano XT hub. The cool part is, I ordered on Monday and received shipment on Thursday. I also ordered a Butt Holder (saddle) by WTB.

Yesterday I took off work a little to put it all together and get out for a ride with the buddies. The only thing I found wrong was the rear wheel was out of true by about 1 mm. That took a few tweaks with a spoke wrench and I was good to go.

On the trail, it was like riding a different bike. Over the years, my old wheelset must have gotten somewhat flexible. The Vuelta Zerolite wheelset didn't seem much different than the old wheels because they must be pretty flexible with only 24 spokes. The new wheels are much stiffer and the ride is dramatically different. The one thing that actually took some getting used to was the difference in steering. The stiffness of the wheels made steering response much tighter, with the result that I started out cutting to the inside of some twists and turns in the trail, and almost bounced off a large boulder that would have left a mark. After a few minutes, I was re-calibrated and it was all good.

The new butt holder, a WTB Pure V Race FR (don't know what that all means) was similar to my old one, but just enough different that its going to take some getting used to. It will probably be ok and just needs some breaking in. May be a few rides before I'm willing to spend more than a couple hours with my fat butt being held by that one.

The moral of this story is, don't buy the cheapest stuff you can get. Shop around a bit and find better components that can still be a bargain. And, take a look at BlueSkyCycling.com since they seem like a good business.

Sonoran Preserve Trails

2011-12-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

Sonoran Preserve is located east of I-17 at the Jomax exit. It is a nice set of trails. If you are from somewhere other than Phoenix, I-17 heads north out of central Phoenix and goes to Flagstaff. Jomax is one of the last exits before you rise out of the Sonoran Desert. The trails were built in 2010, but since there are many other places to ride, I hadn't been there until today. I would have to say, they are probably the smoothest trails in the general area. Immediately upon leaving the parking lot, you encounter a climb that get the heart rate up higher than a geezer like me would appreciate. I'm one of those folks who like to gradually get the heart, lungs and legs in sync gradually, but darn near every trail in the area starts with an uphill that prevents easy synchronization. By the way, I forgot to turn on the GPS until I was a few hundred feet up the trail. After the big climb, the smooth trail surface made for some fast downhills. The full suspension folks probably don't notice that much difference, but as an old fat guy on an aluminum hardtail, I found nirvana.

The route I took today went from the southwest corner of the picture, up to the northeast to the second intersection, then around counter clockwise, then back down the entrance spur to the other intersection and around to meet the first loop, then back down to the parking lot. Good ride that took about an hour and a half. Definitely a do again.

Advertising Rant

2011-11-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've seen the recent TV ads for Viagra (I'm not a user, by the way) unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years. The theme appears to be, you're older now and know how to get things done. Their depiction of older guy wisdom is about as lame as it can get. Consider the three ads I've seen so far.

In the first ad, a guy is driving through the desert in his '67 Camaro. It overheats, so he pulls into an ancient roadside gas station and comes out with a bottle of water, which he pours into his overheateed radiator. In a moment he continues his journey and arrives at an invitingly lit up house where, I guess, he gets laid.

In the second ad, a cowboy in his pickup with a horse trailer gets stuck in the mud. He steps out of the cab, hitches up his team and pulls the truck and trailer out of the mudhole. The final scene shows him pulling up to an invitingly lit up farmhouse where, I assume, he gets laid.

In the third ad, a guy is sailing along with his sails improperly set, in a light breeze. Judging from the wave action, the wind isn't more than 5 knots. Suddenly, a midboom mainsheet clevis breaks and his boom swings away. Leaping into action, he points to windward and disables a life vest by removing the waist strap. He feeds the strap through the block, wraps it around the boom, and replaces the clevis. He then sails away and returns to the dock, apparently to get laid.

These guys are supposedly at an age where they know how to get things done. Problem is, none of them seem to have a clue. Let's take these problems one at a time.

Guys with classic Camaros should have some basic concept about maintenance and emergency repair. They know not to head out into the desert without having checked a few things like oil and coolant levels, condition of hoses, belts, etc. Guys with classic Camaros also know that when the beast overheats, they don't grab a bottle of cold water and dump it into a hot radiator. They also know that a liter of water ain't gonna fix the trouble. Maybe he dumped his little blue pills in the radiator and the cooling system hardened up. If so, he must have made it home in less than four hours.

The cowboy might know how to ride horses, but he sure doesn't know how to drive the backroads, of which we are led to believe he is most familiar. Having spent several years as a microwave radio technician, I am a bit familiar with driving in less than ideal conditions. If the cowboy knew a damned thing about backroad driving he would have either gone around the mudhole or maintained enough speed to allow his momentum to carry him through the mud without spinning his wheels. That's something that might also improve his performance in bed.

The sailor, ah yes. This guy should be drummed out of the Horatio Hornblower fan club. First problem. That clevis had to be at least 1/4 inch stainless steel with a rating in excess of a ton. If that sucker snapped in such a light breeze, he allowed it to wear out, never looking at it during the life of the boat, or the ten other boats it outlived. Those things don't wear out fast. How many other parts are in similar condition? Did Mrs. Hornblower sabotage his yacht? I'd be uneasy about sailing that boat in dead calm. Next problem, he disables an essential, and required, piece of safety equipment instead of grabbing one of the many chunks of line that are always readily at hand. What the hell?!! If the clevis pin can't hold, what makes him think that a 1 inch nylon strap is the right answer? Of course, being a TV ad, he successfully completes the repair with a spare clevis and, next problem, continues on with his sails improperly set. As he's walking the dock in the final scene, one has to wonder, is that sail bag his Viagra dosage? Maybe he can loan some to the guy with the Camaro.

You have to admit these are true guys. They don't properly prepare for what they intend to do, then, when they face a self inflicted woe, they come up with a lame solution. These guys are the ultimate teenagers. Dumb mistakes, followed by dumb fixes. All in hopes of getting laid.

New Wheels

2011-10-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

The new wheels arrived yesterday, so in the evening I put them on the old Klein.

They are Vuelta Zerolite wheels from Nashbar and generally look ok. The hubs look kind of cheap, so it will be interesting to see how well they do in the dusty desert environment. The other oddity is the 24 spoke configuration. Seems to me the more spokes the better, given that I am not what one would consider as svelte. Tomorrow morning will be the first test. If they make it through the morning, maybe they'll be ok.

New trails in N Phoenix

2011-10-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning about 9, the temps were in the 80s, so I took of on my mtn bike for a little exploring. I hadn't been on the bike for about 3 weeks and needed the exercise. I left the house and followed the CAP canal east to Deem Hills. I haven't been over there since over a year ago when I found a few new trails. Since then, they seem to have added a pretty good network. The temps were getting up there by the time I had ridden anly about 1.5 miles of trail, so I turned around and headed back to the barn. Next time, with cooler temps coming I will spend a bit more time and take along my GPS.

I did a little maintenance on the old Klein today. After cleaning the bike off I noticed a little grinding in the front hub. When I get it apart and cleaned up, I could see some excessive wear in the bearing races. Hit the Nashbar page looking for a new set of hubs since these are apparently on thier last legs after 14 years and many 110s of miles of dirt. They had a wheel set regularly $199 for $79. The blessing of an old bike with rim brakes is that parts can be really cheap. We' see how it goes when the new wheels arrive...

Port Angeles

2011-10-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

We visited Port Angeles last week for a few days and had a chance to ride part of the Discovery Trail west of town. Having ridden for the last 4 years in Phoenix, It was a real pleasure to ride something different. With the temp around 50 and rain threatening, we headed out, Sean on his Salsa El Mariachi and me on Michele's Jamis Dakar. The El M is a 29er 1x9, all rigid and the Jamis is a full suspension 3x9 26er. The ride consisted of an out and back, climbing about 600 ft over 3 miles. Our stopping point was in a clear cut overlooking the Elwha River Valley.

The climb was relatively easy, with a pretty smooth trail surface. It was one of those climbs that could go a long time without real suffering. The ride back down was joyful, smooth, fast and fun for a geezer like me. As usual, Sean bombed down while I maintained a bit of caution. It reminded me of our days in Spokane when Sean would tear ass down a steep rocky descent, while I would stop, figure out the line, then descend without much drama. Meeting at the bottom, Sean would wax eloquently about almost crashing on that rock, bouncing off this tree, etc. while I didn't have any good tails to tell. The age difference is still there.

Anyway, its alway great getting out on the trails with Sean. Maybe next time we hit that trail, we'll take it all the way to Crescent Lake. It will be an all day ride that should be awesome.

Email offers

2011-09-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

I got an email the other day complimenting me on my blog, which seemed very nice. Then a read down a few lines telling me that I should add a link to some job search site. I could then make money buy getting readers to click on the link.

With an average of 3.2 visitors per day, I'm sure the clicks would really add up fast. No doubt I could quit my day job and spend my time biking, sailing and blogging in the lap of luxury. I might even have time to write a book, "How to Live Gracefully on .0002 Cents Per Day."

GeoManGear Recall

2011-08-31T08:24:00.001-07:00

I picked up the mail yesterday, and golly gee, there was my replacement battery from the GeoManGear recall! Mid-April to Late-August, not very quick, but they were true to their word. Will shop their site in the future.

In Defense of GeoManGear

2011-08-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Like everyone who received and responded to GeoManGear's Magicshine battery recall, I have been increasingly skeptical about ever seeing a replacement battery (I'm not over that yet). I filled out the online form, recycled my battery at the local Home Depot and sent in the form. Since I expected the recal to take a while, I ordered a new light set just like the original one.The new light set arrived in a few days and I was off and riding. After about 2 months, the battery failed on the new light set. It would not take a charge, nor would it power the light. I worked up a 7.4 volt source and attached it to the light head and it worked ok. When I plugged the battery into the charger and energized the charger, the charge light was green, indicating that the battery was fully charged. With the charger plugged in to AC, and no load from the battery, the light is green, which indicated to me that there was an open in the battery circuit.

Not having seen or heard anything from GeoManGear regarding the recall, I was reluctant to send off the new set for warranty repair, fearing that I would never see the light again.

Since its so damn hot in Phoenix in the daylight, I was pretty well finished riding for the summer, since before dawn is the only relatively cool time of day, and its too dark to ride without a light. I finally decided to take a chance and send the set back for warranty.

I filled out the contact form on GeoManGear's website last Friday and received an RMA number shortly after. On Saturday, I boxed up the set and express mailed it to a PO box in Oro Valley, AZ. On Monday, I received an email indicating that the package was received and the lightset repaired and shipped. Tuesday evening, the repaired set was in my mailbox. Same Magicshine box, same light, new battery. I could tell it was the same light because in SOS mode it still codes dot dot dot dash dash dash dash dot dot dot, which isn't actually SOS, given that O in Morse Code is only 3 dashes.

GeoManGear restored much of my faith in them in making the repair trun around so quickly. I have never seen a warranty repair come back as fast as that. Kudos.

On the recall, I received an email this week that gave a timeline for the recall, and I do hope GeoManGear lives up to that letter.

In the meantime, I have them back on my list of folks I am willing to buy stuff from.

A Cautionary Tale

2011-07-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

The battery pack died on my bike light and I was left in the dark, so I decided to go the cheap route. I went to Batteries Plus and bought 4 AA size Lithium batteries. Each cell was 3.6 volts. I strung them together in series parallel to make a 7.2 volt battery pack. Then I grabbed the charger from my light set and chared the batteries for a couple of hours. The next morning, I hooked up the makeshift light set and went for a road ride. Everyghing seemed to work fine.

Yesterday evening, I put the batteries on the charger in anticipation of a morning ride. Set the whole thing on the garage floorand went into the house to read. About an hour later, I heard a very loud gunshot out in front of the house. I ran to the window, but didn't see anybody. I went outside and opened the garage door. The garage was filled with smoke. The battery pack was in pieces.

Sometimes creativity is rewarding, sometimes, not so much.

Lasik revisited

2011-05-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

It has now been about 4 months since I had my eyeballs zapped and things are pretty good. In reality, I traded nearsightedness for farsightedness. I have great distance vision, beyond about 3 feet, but I need reading glasses for anything close.

I used to be able to read the smallest writing imaginable by taking off my glasses and sticking the writing about 2 inches from my eyes. Now I need reading glasses and sometimes a magnifying glass to read anything close or small.

Tradeoffs?

Reading glasses are a heck of a lot cheaper than prescription bifocals. I now have about a dozen pairs of reading glasses at a total cost of about 50 bucks. A couple pairs of sunglasses at 20 bucks each. Prescription glasses were over $400 a pair. Prescription sunglasses were even more.

I am still having to modify my behavior. Since early childhood, if I couldn't focus on something I pulled it closer. Now I have to do the opposite, and the retraining is going slowly. Old dog, new tricks.

I read somewhere that very nearsighted people don't have the level of depth perception that 20/20 people have. Not sure I bought that idea, but I do now. Mountain biking made me a believer. The first times jumping up a step and descending a steep trail was vastly different. Step-ups looked higher than they did before and descents looked steeper. My timing was way off as obstacles approached at a different rate than they seemed to before. It took a few rides to get used to it, not quite as hard as learning to trail ride, but still unsettling. Its all good now.

Would I do it again? Yes. Even with the need for reading glasses and the loss of being able to read the itty bitty writing on the edge of my watch face, I'd do it again. Besides, I already know the watch was made in Japan.

My Mercedes Did

2011-04-23T17:47:00.001-07:00

To begin, I don't own a Mercedes, never have, probably never will. Its just time for a rant, which I don't often do.

If you watch TV, you've probably seen the ad with three people relating tales of negligent driving who didn't realize something, but "Thankfully my Mercedes did." This ad is dumber than the ads of people driving like idiots on city streets, Lexus, Infinity, Volvo, you know who you are.

This ad basically says that its ok to drive tired, distracted, texting, or whatever else you might do instead of actually driving while behind the wheel. C'mon advertisers, there is no substitute for attentive driving. If a drivers actually trust systems that stop the car, warn of lane drifting, etc. they ought not be on the road, or they need a chauffeur.

We're coming up to the time when an ad shows some drunk explaining how his blood alcohol level was 2.5% and he drove home and didn't kill anyone, but his Mercedes did.

Lasik

2011-01-23T13:05:00.001-08:00

As of 2011, my health insurance fully covers the cost of vision correction surgery. Its something I have been considering for a long time, but the cost made a cheapskate like me put it off, and off, and off. Since cost suddenly became a non-issue, I made the appointment and had it done.

This wasn't a vanity thing. If you've seen me, you pretty well know that vanity doesn't much enter into stuff like this. The real reason for Lasik was the activities I really enjoy, mountain biking and sailing. In both cases, there are always a pretty good chance of losing my glasses, or at least a lens. Without my specs, I couldn't ride a bike, so if I was 10 miles from the trailhead, its a 10 mile walk with a lot of stumbling along. Then, when I'd get back to the truck, I couldn't drive. In the sailboat, if the glasses went in the water, it was a pretty good bet I would not be able to find the landing, let alone the truck and trailer.

So, into the surgery I went. The whole thing was pretty quick, not more than 20 minutes, and surprisingly painless. I came out being able to see well, but a bit fuzzy. Its now 2 days after and I am seeing 20/20 at distance, but close in definitely requires reading glasses, at 3 pairs for $20.

I won't be doing any riding or sailing until next weekend. Looking forward to it though!

Total Awesomeness!

2010-12-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Like most people not born on February 29th, I have a birthday every year. This year I had one very recently, and something came in the mail that made it one of the best, if not the best birthday ever. Before you watch the video, a little explanation is in order.

My 2 year old Grand daughter, Naomi, is potty training, She is doing so well that she earned a coaster bike (future mtn biking partner for Boppa?!). Given that all is going well, Naomi's focus in life is, you guessed it, the toilet, and of course, potty humor is very high on her list. When my daughter, Sarah took her to the store to find a birthday card for Boppa, she naturally chose one that could not have been more appropriate.

Some credit goes to American Greetings, but the true master is Naomi.

Sailing in AZ

2010-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

I dropped the boat in Lake Pleasant this morning about 11:00am . Paddled out of the harbor and sat for about 30 minutes, just ghosting along without enough wind to fill the sales. Then, about 11:30, I could see some riffle on the surface off in the distance. It took about 10 minutes to reach me, but then picked up to about 5 mph. I got in about 2 hours of sailing with light but steady wind. Pretty much died by 2:00pm.

The main thing I wanted to see was how well I fixed the leaks that were pretty bad 2 weeks ago, mainly around the centerboard trunk. It looks like I fixed about 95% of the leaks. In the time I sailed today, I don't think I took on more than 2 or 3 cups of water.

Arizona is not a very good place to sail, not only because there isn't much water, but because I have a wood boat, and the extremely low humidity is hard on it. Out of the water, the wood shrinks and opens seams. In the water, the seams don't really want to close up. In the next few days, I will be carving the seams a bit, then pouring epoxy into them to close them up.

As hobbies go, small boats aren't too costly, but the ongoing work can be a bit time consuming.

America's Obesity Epidemic

2010-08-27T15:26:00.001-07:00

It seems we continually hear about the obesity epidemic in America, and there is no apparent solution. Well, last weekend we were in Kansas, nevermind why, and I came across what has to be the cause of widespread obesity.

All this time, farmers have been fertilizing their fields with ASGROW!! No wonder we're all chubby!

So here's the solution; get the farmers to stop using ASGROW and start using something healthier. Do you suppose there's a product out there with a name like ASSHRINK?

WTF?!!

2010-08-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

On NPR's Morning Edition Thursday, there was a report of a group of concerned folks in St. Louis who raised $15K in donations and headed off to the Gulf to "Stimulate the Economy." I was absolutely amazed by what I heard. Essentially, they went on vacation to the Gulf, spending the money on meals, motels and souvenirs. I don't know about other folks, but to me it sounds like a group went on vacation at other people's expense. Mt first thought was that if I had donated money to their "cause," I might just be on my down there to get my donation back, thus further stimulating the economy as I attempted to track down these scam artists.

Then it occurred to me, its brilliant. I should also be stimulating the economy in much the same way. My concerns are of course, a bit different. I am concerned about the yacht builders and all of their suppliers. I am also concerned about the ecomomies of many of the pacific islands, who have suffered downturns from the worldwide recession. So here's the deal; send me money, enough to buy an ocean capable sailboat, provisions for at least a year, and enough to stimulate the economies of Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, and any other islands I can reach. In return, I will quit my job, leaving an opening for someone else in the Poenix area, and take delivery on the yacht. Since I have no experience with ocean sailing or navigation, I will stimulate someone's economy as they teach me the ropes. Then I will head to the Pacific and do all I can to stimulate the economies of as many islands as you can afford to have me visit.

Remember, its for a noble cause!

Too Darn Hot

2010-07-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

OK, I get it. Its mid July in the Valley of the sun and now officially too hot for Mtn biking or sailing. Today's high 110. Last night's low 92. We're looking at 114/94 tomorrow and over 110 for the weekend.

These are the days of getting out before dawn and being back home cooling off by 6:00 am.

Over the weekend, we were in Seattle and Portland. I hauled one of my brother's boats to Olympia, where he and my brother-in-law are going sailing for several days. When we launched the boats it was sunny, 65 and light winds. I'm soooo jealous.

Sailing

2010-06-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

After working all night last Friday, then taking a nap, we dragged the sailboat up to Lake Pleasant and got in a couple of hours on the water. We launched at the north boat ramp and sailed into a pretty strong breeze blowing out of the southeast. As we made our way out into the lake, the breeze gradually decreased to a point where we were almost becalmed. As we returned back to the west side of the lake, the breeze picked back up. Its a bit weird to have 25 mph winds in one part of the lake and almost nothing on the other side. Anyway, I took along the GPS and tracked most of the run. We averaged 4.8 knots and had a peak speed of 8 knots. I thought the result was interesting because the theoretical boat speed for an Enterprise class boat is 4.83 Knots, given a 13ft waterline.

The other interesting thing was the course we sailed when overlaid on Google Earth:

I really had no idea we actually crossed land 6 times. It didn't seem at all rough like you would expect when a boat slides across the ground. The lake is pretty high right now and certainly higher than it was in the last Google image. Looking at the track overlaid on a topo map, we only touched the water once and spent the rest of the time on dry land.

As a side note, the boat is fifty years old this year. It was built in Santa Barbara, CA back in 1960. It was purchased by my Dad in about 1966. I bought it from him in 1972 and have had it ever since. Dad dubbed it the "Hari Kiri", or "Hairy Carry", depending on how you want to spell it, which still seems a bit overstated. Although it is a lively boat in a good breeze, I wouldn't exactly call it living on the edge.

GPS - Cool

2010-06-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it would be cool if I knew then what I know now.

I picked up a Garmin E Trex Venture HC from Amazon last week, partly for work, but mostly for play.

So, on Saturday I loaded up and headed down to the 32nd Street trailhead. It was a little over 80 and a really nice morning. Set up the GPS and stuffed it in my camelback, and off I went. Every time I hit an uphill, I was reminded that I should have eaten breakfast. Anyway, I did a nice ride of about 8 miles.

When I got back to the truck, I pulled out the GPS to see its results. Dead battery. I learned that a track is not saved in non-volatile memory until you actually save it. All the data was gone. New batteeries and a restart didn't recover anything.

Dammit.

Last Afternoon Ride unitl Fall

2010-05-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today was an unusually cool (80) and windy day, probably the last until November. I managed a ride in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve on one of my favorite loops. Starting out at 4:30, I only saw two other riders and two hikers. Since I have been working a lot of hours over the last 6 months, my pace was pretty slow, averaging about 5 mph. Not long ago, everything was as green as the desert can get, but today it was obvious that summer is coming, flowers have almost finished blossoming and the flora is settling in for a long hot spell.

Speaking of that, when its 115 in the shade and you come across a wild burro, they show absolutely no inclination to move, no matter what. Its like they are catatonic. "Please leave me alone" is what they seem to be saying. Its really a wonder they survive the heat.

I hit the road yesterday in the late morning and cranked out 30 miles, which isn't a lot for most cyclists, but for an old guy with a bad back, being hunkered over a road bike for that long sure stiffens up the joints. Getting out on the MTB and working over and around the rock loosens it all up again. Good therapy.

2010-03-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

For a little change of pace from Phoenix, we took a vacation to Ashland Oregon, which is usually pretty springlike in late March. This week, it has been dropping below freezing at night and reaching highs in the low 40s. In spite of the weather, Sean and I decided to ride some of the trails above town. It was snowing when we unloaded the bikes and started out. The trail we took started out at about 2500ft and climbed to around 3400ft in 2 miles. Both of us being in winter condition, we pushed the bikes a good portion of that distance. Being slippery added to the charm. Once at the top of the climb, we had an enjoyable run across some sidehills, then down a trail that was reminiscent of Little Bear at Flagstaff. The snow depth got to about 3 inches and the temp hovered around 32.

Given our poor level of condition, we had no problem keeping warm in spite of being wet and muddy. Good times

New Road Loop

2009-11-26T11:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Valley Rod just opened up between 83rd Ave and Lake Pleasant Blvd. It actually has a bike lane. I decided to do a different loop today on the road bike, So I left the house in Sonoran Mtn Ranch and took 67th down to Happy valley, west to Lake Pleasant Blvd, up to Westwing Parkway, east to Jomax, east to 67th and back home.

It was a bit windy today and I took adantage as much as possible, averaging 22+ mph to Lake Pleasant Parkway. Unfortunately, the wind was out of the northeast and most of the way home is slightly uphill. Having a rather ample frontal area did not help. Overall the distance was 16.2 miles, and the average speed was 16.2. I'll let the math lovers figure out the average for the return trip.

Other than the wind, it was a beautiful morning for a ride, but it left me wishing I had chosen to go sailing instead.

Here we are battling the elements on Lake Pleasant a couple of weeks ago. Picture courtesy of Sean.

Good Bike Light Buy

2009-11-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

Since there aren't a lot of good trails near my house, I have been mostly road riding just to stay in shape for the weekend MTB rides. The road riding is 5:00am, which means that its now dark when I leave and dark when I get back. I've been running a dual halogen setup with a bottle cage battery. It was cheap and continues to work well, even though it's a bit heavy.

Somewhere along the way, I saw a web page at GeoManGear.com for an LED light at $84.99. Hard to pass up, so I placed an order a week ago. I added a helmet mount for another $9.99, so with shipping it came to about $103. It arrived on Thursday and turned out to be a really good deal. I am generally impressed.

My box did not say Magicshine. It simply said "Bicycle Light." I must have received the generic version.

It was neatly packaged, just like the picture. The battery is only about 3 inches long and weighs 205 grams. The light comes in at 120 grams, so in all the setup is way lighter than my halogen set.

Note that the power cord exits toward the front instead of the back. Not sure why. I'd have taken it out toward the back. Note the mounting clip. This set uses a rubber o-ring (2 sizes included) that wraps around the handlebar or helmet mount. My first impression of that was "cheap!" Then I thought about it and two things came to mind. First, I only paid $85 for an LED light set, so it is cheap. Second, the o-ring is actually pretty heavy duty and replacements can be found at hardware and auto parts stores for almost nothing. The o-ring actually holds the light pretty firmly. Kudos to the folks who came up with that idea. It tracks well with my theory that if you can't fix something with duct tape, baling wire and rubber bands, it ain't worth owning.

The helmet mount has two velcro straps, each about a foot long. They allow you to strap it down just about any way you want. The mount stays in place. With the light, is seems a little heavy, just because it's noticeable, but it isn't a real distraction.

Performance of this set is, dollar for dollar, the best around. It puts out 900 lumens for 3 hours on a single charge. At lower levels, 500 and 200 lumens, it should be good for at least 6 hours.

Since lumens don't really make sense to anyone without a physics degree, 900 lumens doesn't seem too far off from an automobile low beam headlight. Like laser warnings, don't look into the light with your remaining good eye. This sucker will make you wish you hadn't done that. With this light mounted on your helmet, when you meet people on the trail, make it a point not to shine the light in their eyes. They'll be seeing spots for a week.

The light has 5 modes, 900, 500, 200, flashing, and SOS. Flashing is a very rapid and should get the attention of drivers. SOS mode is interesting, mainly because it doesn't spell out SOS. It actually spells out 37. It flashes 3 dots, 4 dashes, 3 dots. Close, but no cigar. Frankly, if I get into a situation where I need the SOS function, I will probably have broken the light in the crash.

FYI: SOS is ...---... 37 is ...----...

I'm not one for making recommendations, but this is an exception. If you want an LED light that works great at low cost, check it out at www.GeoManGear.com. Its well worth the price.

Not so bad after all

2009-08-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

The final results are in from last weekend's race and I wasn't dead last. Among all beginner men, I finished 43rd out of 49. In the age appropriate category, I finished 12th out of 16. Probably the most interesting statistic (interisting statistic, isn't that an oxymoron?) was that if I finished 10 minutes faster like last year, I would have had the same place finish in my age group and would have only moved up 1 place overall. Weird.

Well, at least I finished

2009-08-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I knew that 17.2 average speed on the road bike wasn't enough. I did finish the race in Flagstaff, but I was a full 10 minutes off my time from last year. And, from the posted results, I finished dead last in the over 40 beginner class. maybe next year.

Trained and as ready as I'll ever be

2009-08-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

So I've done all the training I can do before the Absolute Bikes St. Mary's Food Bank race in Flagstaff this weekend. I was hoping beyond hope to be a little stronger than I seem to be. As noted before, my out of shape average speed on my road bike is about 15mph. Last week it was right at 16. I managed to get it up to 17.2 this morning. Tomorrow is a rest day. We're going up to Flag tomorrow afternoon so we can star gaze at Lowell Observatory tomorrow night, then race in the morning. Last year I finished the lap in 1:26:36. Probably won't beat that this time. We'll see.

Racing Next Weekend

2009-08-14T15:17:00.001-07:00

The annual St. Mary's food bank race is coming up in Flagstaff next weekend and my only preparation for it has been registering for the race. I've fully recovered from the kidney stone incident, and since then have been out on my road bike twice, for a total of 27 miles. That means I have seven days to get back the lungs and legs.

We live at 1300 ft elevation. Its hotter than hell here in Phoenix this time of year, but at least there's oxygen.

Flagstaff is at 7000 ft and the course consists of about 1000 ft of climbing, up to about 8000 ft. It isn't a steep or particularly hard climb, but the elevation lets you know that oxygen deprivation is a real condition. With any luck, the temperatures will be in the 60s and humidity will be low. Otherwise, ... I don't think I want to talk about it.

I'm going to hit the road bike hard starting tomorrow morning and every morning until Friday, when I'll sleep in until 6.

When I've been off the road bike for a while, I struggle to average 15 mph for an hour. To be halfway decent in the race, I need to be at an average speed between 19 and 20 mph. Given the time to train, I may have some trouble achieving that. That means race day could be somewhat worse than last year.

I'm not exactly the sort of rider who will set fire to the course. I ride in the older than 40 beginner class, and expect to be relegated to that status as long as I'm willing to race, since mid- pack is where I'll end up.

The real objective is to finish the course without getting run over by some elite or sport rider. They're a bunch of animals!

If we can land a man on the moon...

2009-07-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I heard a radio report about the lack of water donations for homeless folks, citing that 2 people had already died of heat related causes. I thought, WTF? and went down to Costco, picked up several cases of water, then headed to the north Glendale library to drop them at a donation center. In the parking lot of the driveway sat one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. See for yourself;

It made me wonder if maybe it was children's reading hour.

Then I realized that the only addition needed to make it perfect would be a bike rack and an extension ladder. The perfect shuttle vehicle...

No. Still stupid.

MTB Complications

2009-07-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

I never would have believed it, but it happenedto me so it must be true.

Got in a great ride in Prescott, Granite Basin with some good buddies and had a ball. The trails were in beautiful shape, not too sandy and pretty smooth. We had lunch in Prescott then a leisurely drive back to Phoenix.

Monday morning, I got to work at my usual time feeling great. At 8:30 am almost to the minute, I felt a stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. It reached the stage of cold sweats, doubled over, ow ow ow ow. Thinking maybe some kind of abdomenal flu or something (I'm no doctor), I went home and moaned the day away on the couch.

No better Tuesday. Went to the doctor and we're thinking appendix, infection, kind of strange, and painful I might add. Prescriptions and go home.

Wednesday, seems a little better, but still pretty bad.

Thursday, Doc says head to the ER. We do xrays and CT scan with some kind of contrast injection. About 30 minutes later the Doc brings in a urologist. He says Kidney stones and progressing kidney failure because the tube is blocked from the kidney to the bladder. Turns out that the contrast agent is hard on the kidneys and one that's in trouble can fail with that stuff in there.

I have to hand it to John C. Lincoln. When they decide an emergency surgery is in order, they don't mess around. About 30 minutes later everything goes dark.

I woke up little while later feeling pretty good, except in the one orifice that can be used to grant access to the bladder and kidneys.

The urologist inserted a laser gun through that orifice and took out the death star with a few proton torpedoes. Then up went a stent to keep everything flowing in the right direction. His final words were something to the effect that I am expected in his office in about 2 weeks when he is going to reach back up there with a grappling hook and yank out the stent. Just thinking about it, I cringe. I really hope he whacks me over the head with a rubber mallet to distract me first.

For those who don't know which orifice I'm referring to, go to Wikipedia and look up Laser Lithotripsy. If you have any imagination at all, you will understand why you don't want to be awake for this one.

Apparently, the jarring from Sunday's ride worked loose to stones, which caused the drama. I'm on the mend now, But If you can prevent this from happening, I highly recommend you do so. Drink lots of water.

All that said, I'm off the bike for 2-3 weeks. Still hoping to race in Flagstaff August 22nd, but I may trail the pack by quite a bit.

Buy a House then redo the whole darn thing

2009-03-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

Back in November we bought a house in Peoria AZ. Since then, I've been on my bike maybe a half dozen times. The house was a foreclosure that had been vacant for about a year. Apparently it was originally purchased as a rental/investment. When the housing market went poof, the owner stopped making payments to the bank and the renter got evicted by Sheriff Joe's boys. I don't know anything about the renter, but judging from the condition of the house, he/she was rebuilding engines in the living room, or something like that.

After 3 months of work, we are down to rebuilding the kitchen and family room, and hoe to have that done in 2 or 3 weeks., then we start on the outside. Here's a shot of the powder room sink arrangement:

The countertop is pine, and temporary, until the bamboo countertop Sean is going to make arrives. The layout is basically what it will look like.

For some reason, we seem to like the look of bamboo. Here are a couple of shots of the upstairs floor.

And, just to make this a bike related post, here's where the bike sat while the garage was being used as a paint booth.

Off the bike for a month

2008-11-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Until yesterday morning, I had not been on my bike since Oct 2nd. We spent about 10 days in Oregon, visiting family, then heading to Ashland OR for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Instead of renting a bike and getting in some rides, we spent the time eating, drinking, and attending the theater. The plays were great, as usual, with the most memorable being "A Comedy of Errors" set in the old west.

After Ashland, we were off to Kansas to close the sale on our house, pack up and hit the road. We didn't do too badly on the house, lost a few shirts, but kept the ones on our backs. We made a mini-vacation of the trip. Instead of bombing across the country as fast as possible, we made side trips to Sante Fe, Window Rock, Canyon de Chelly, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. Interesting sites.

Window Rock AZ

Veterns Memorial at Window Rock

Spider Point at Canyon de Chelly

Painted Desert

Petrified Forest

We arrived back in Phoenix Sunday night, and did a lot of running around until finally, Friday morning was the first opportunity to ride. PMP, only about 6 miles, but enough to know how much conditioning was lost during the month. It felt like riding in Flagstaff at 8000ft. You know the feeling, just can't get enough oxygen.

Its going to take a few rides to get back in shape.

The Year of Riding Dangerously

2008-09-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Phoenix last year, in August. The day Judy and I unloaded the rental truck and set up my apartment it was 114 degrees. Judy stayed a few days, then flew back to Kansas to keep the house from falling apart while we had it up for sale. She also continued to serve in her position as city council member of the small town we lived in for about 4 years. After a year, we finally accepted an offer on our house that wasn't a big loss. It was contingent on the sale of the buyers house, and the buyer of that house had a contingency on his. It was like a line of dominoes waiting to fall. Finally, the dominoes are falling and with any luck we'll be making the final move in late October.

We've moved several times over the years, and it has usually meant that I lived in an apartment while Judy stayed behind to mop up. This time has been by far the longest time we have spent apart, and we are both looking forward to being together again. Its amazing that she's put up with me for 34 years.

Being a bicyclist since I was about 4, getting out and riding has long been my activity of choice. This year, its been an escape from boredom of living alone. Its great exercise. Its fun, and for me at least, its cheap. Yes I'm a cheapskate. My Klein hardtail, bought used in Kansas City in 2000, is about 12 years old and has taken a beating this year. A few mornings ago, we met a guy on the trail who was riding a titanium Edison that had to cost 6 grand. We asked a few questions about it, and when my buddy Karl asked how much it weighed. When he responded 27.1 lbs, I commented, "That's only about 3 pounds heavier than my bike." The momentary flash across his face was priceless. He glanced at my bike dismissively, and was suddenly befuddled, not able to come up with a way of calling Mr. Klein a piece of shit without insulting the old, fat and slow geezer leaning on it.

Through this year in Phoenix, mountain biking has been almost a life saver. Without the Mountain Preserve a mile away, and a small group of friends to ride with, I would have done little other than work and sleep. Karl has been a regular riding partner for about 6 months. We have been up at 0 dark early about 5 times a week, meeting at the 32nd St trailhead at 5 and riding until 6. Sometimes we've pushed it hard and improved skills and fitness, other times we ride a couple of miles, solve some of the world's problems, ride a couple more, solve more problems, etc. until the hour is gone and we're both looking at being late starting our days. We both resolved that we hate riding in the early morning, but we keep at it because, "It's good for us." Eat your vegetables.

Now that the love of my life and I are going to be together again, biking will take a back seat to the many opportunities the Phoenix area will open up to us. I'll still get out a couple times a week. After all, it is still my exercise of choice, but Judy deserves to be treated like the sweetheart she is.

More Interesting Weather

2008-09-12T10:08:00.001-07:00

One of those microburst columns happened in the west valley Wednesday evening. I got a call from my consulting engineer who has a construction trailer out near Festival Ranch. Seems the microburst knocked the trailer over on its side. Unfortunately, the trailer, 40 ft long and 8 ft wide, fell over on a water tank which exploded and threw water over all the engineering drawings. Uh oh.

Stormy Weather

2008-09-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

With Gustav visiting the Gulf Coast, it seems timely that we had a bit of a storm here in Phoenix last Thursday night. Lots of lightning, rain, and winds up to about 100 mph. Pretty impressive. Apparently, three storm cells converged in the area and pretty well hammered the area. Roofs were blown off, trees knocked down, and widespread power outages.

The most interesting thing about this storm wasn't that it happened, but where the damage occurred. 40th St between Shea and Cactus had downed power lines and was still closed on Sunday. I made a work related run out to the west valley and noticed that trees all through the Festival Ranch development were leaning or knocked over. I'd bet half the trees, mostly desert willows, were ruined. In a lot of neighborhoods around Phoenix, trees, cacti and bushes were damaged.

It struck me this morning while riding in the preserve, that there was virtually no damage to any of the native vegetation. A limb torn from an occasional Palo Verde, but that was about it. Quite a variation from the extensive damage thru the rest of the city. My guess is that all the non-native and replanted vegetation isn't native for a reason. That, and most people over water whatever they plant, making the ground around the plants a bit softer than naturally occurring plants.

The apartment complex where I live was hard hit. Limbs are all over the ground. Here in the desert, we have pine trees(!?) palms, etc. Not exactly the best choice in a place that gets almost no rain.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 10 - Spokes

2008-08-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ever spent much time thinking about bicycle spokes? If so, then you really need to get a life. Spokes are nothing more than a piece of wire, mashed and bent on one end and threaded on the other.

I was out riding yesterday morning when I started noticing a toink, toink, toink sound coming from the rear wheel. Apparently, I had kicked a rock up and broke a spoke on the non-drive side of the wheel. That evening I stopped in at REI, with my broken spoke and asked for a couple of new spokes. What I got in response was, "If you're breaking a lot of spokes, you really should have that wheel looked at." I said in return, "I'm not breaking a lot of spokes, in fact I think this may be the first spoke I've broken in 40 years." I didn't feel like I needed an upsell of wheel maintenance, since I do all my own wrenching, and wheel truing is something I do pretty well. Anyway, I got out of there with 2 new spokes and my broken one for 2 bucks plus tax.

Since the broke spoke was on the non drive side of the wheel, I was able to thread the new one in and tension it without even removing the wheel from the bike. To do that, it's necessary to bend the spoke (hey, its just a hunk of wire!) into a gradual arc and feed it through the hub. The bend allows the spoke to slide in without interfering with the cassette. A little straightening and feed it into the nipple. Tighten, check for true and off you go.

I don't have a tension gauge for truing. I use the harp tuning method; pluck each spoke as you work and try to keep all the spokes on each side at about the same note. B flat above middle C works well. On the front wheel, both sides will come out the same. On the rear wheel, drive side spokes are shorter, so the tune you play will generally be a little higher. Transpose it to a key of A.

Basic rules of thumb - If the wheel flops around the spokes are too loose. If the tune you play on your spokes sounds like anything above a mezzo-soprano, they're too tight. If you have carbon fiber wheels and the spokes are large enough to have decals, you spent waaay too much money.

Racing in Flagstaff

2008-08-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

One immutable difference between Phoenix and Flagstaff is elevation. Most of my riding is in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, with elevations between 1430 ft and 1730 ft. Rides usually include 700-900 ft of climbing. The course in Flagstaff at the Absolute Bikes, St. Mary's Food Bank Race ranged from about 7300 to 8000 ft and included about 850 feet of climbing over a 10 mile loop.

The setup for the race was expert/pro men starting at 9:05, followed at 5 minute intervals by expert/pro women, sport men, sport women, then unwashed masses, including me. The pros would ride 3 laps, sport 2, unwashed masses 1. Since I have never been in a mountain bike race, and I am old, fat & slow, I signed up as a beginner, meaning 1 lap. Thank god I didn't sign up for sport, 'cause I'm pretty sure I would have been a dnf.

Once all the skinny folks got out of the way, the unwashed masses started out. The course began with a gradual climb up a forest service road. Not too bad. After a half mile or so of easy pedalling to get warmed up, I cranked up the pace a bit until I was wheezing like an asthmatic bear. Ok, now I'm in the zone.

After about 3 miles of steady climbing, the road leveled and even dropped a bit. Then, it was off on a singletrack. Chugging along for the first mile, middle chainring, 2 and 3 on the rear, sometimes 4th, until the trail led into a rock garden that reminded me so much of Riverside State Park in Spokane that it was almost deja-vu, without the benefit of actually having oxygen to breathe. Mind you, we're now at 7800 ft and I am definitely a lowlands rider. Got tied up in some traffic for a bit, then continued on up through the rock garden and on up to the top for a half mile or so of fire road. A little ways before hitting the singletrack back down, there was a steep section on the road that everybody ahead was walking their bikes up. Being pretty good at short steep stuff, I cranked up the thing, then gasped my way the next 100 yds to the downhill singletrack.

Understanding relative speed and endurance might put things in perspective. By the time I was 3/4 of the way up the singletrack, I was being passed by skinny folks on their second time around. Granted, they had a 25 minute head start, but I was at maybe 6 miles, and they were at 16. I had ridden maybe 50 minutes and they were at 1:15. Guess I would be in the next Olympics. Might as well scratch that off my to do list.

Whew, now I'm at the turn and on the downhill singletrack. I think they refer to this trail as "Moto" but I'm not sure. Anyway, its a delightful drop with sweeping turns, no serious rocky stuff, and a joy to cruise on. Never having been on this trail, and not really wanting to spend a lot of time on the side of it going, "OW OW OW OW!" I did use my brakes a bit more than most. I got passed by as many people going down as I had going up. Even people I passed on the climb were whizzing by me like I was going backward. Next time I need to pre-ride a course before racing, just to figure out where the hell I am.

I dropped in to the finish line a little before 11:00 for a time of 1:26:35. In the unwashed masses class, I finished 30th out of 41. In the old unwashed masses class (beginners over 40) I finished 12th out of 18. My buddy, Karl cranked in a few minutes later, having had a bit of difficulty adjusting to the altitude. We both enjoyed it and are looking forward to another race.

After the race we met up with some great folks, friends of Karl and enjoyed a lunch of burgers, salads, beer, and conversation. Back to the 110 temps of Phoenix by 5:00. You know, after a day like that, a cool shower feels pretty good!

More Pics from Flagstaff

2008-08-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots from the recent Flagstaff ride, taken by my riding buddy Karl. He has one of those cameras that takes 40 gazillion megabyte photos, so I did some cropping and compressing to get them down to usable sizes. The first is a shot of Dave, the energizer bunny of our group. Dave is a guy who is willing to try anything, and has a sense of humor that could best be described as "outlandish." Since my camera has no auto shutter feature and Karl's does, this is an update of the 3 Amigos shot with the 4th.
Here's the Old, Fat & Slow guy on Little Bear
Still one of the best rides of the year.

Could have been better

2008-08-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

So, last night, temp about 100, I took off for an evening ride. Way off in the distance a couple of thunderstorms were brewing, and made for a good light show. I was feeling pretty chipper, so I decided to do my benchmark loop, Zipper and around to 100 to 8, up to the east end of 1A, around 1A to conversation point, then down Zipper and back home. Heading up out of a wash on 8, I managed to smack into a rock harder than expected and down I went, leading with my right arm. Nothing broken, but I received a pretty good gash on my lower arm, maybe 2 inches long and fairly deep. Bled like a stuck hog. I cleaned it up with water from my camelback and headed for home.

On the way back, had a goddamn flat on the front. Slow leak. Pumped it up and made it home before it went completely down again. While airing it up, I managed to leave a few spots of blood on the trail. I imagine a good hunter could have figured out where I augered in and found where I live.

After getting home, I cleaned up the cut, inspected it, and figured it might be a good idea to find an urgency center and have it looked at. This was about 8:30 pm. Turns out, urgency centers stay open until 8 on weekdays and 4 on weekends. Note to self; only get hurt during business hours.

Made it in this morning, too many hours after the injury to stitch up, so its butterflied and bandaged. Oh, yeah, tetanus shot and antibiotics.

So tonight, I'll make another attempt at my benchmark loop and try for a better result.

Decline to Slugdom

2008-08-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

The old part of Old Fat & Slow took over for a few days. We celebrated our 34th anniversary this last weekend with a trip to Prescott. It was a weekend of eating, strolling around, eating, checking out art shows, eating, hiking, eating....

The upshot is, virtually no exercise for 6 days.

I definitely felt it this morning. sections of trail that were relatively easy last week are now hard. Sections that were hard are now impossible. It usually takes about 3 days to get back in the groove, and I hope that's the case this time, because I'm going racing in a week and a half.

Up in Flagstaff, there's a MTB race on Saturday the 23rd. Since I've never entered a MTB race before, I signed up as a beginner. That will be a single 10 mile lap with about 850 ft of climbing. I fully expect to live up to my pseudonym od OFS. I figure, if I can make it around once before the sport and expert riders run over me, I'll be doing great. The sport and expert riders' main concern should be not running into me, because with my low center of gravity, the last one standing goes to the fat guy.

Benchmark

2008-07-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

I went out for a morning ride yesterday without my usual riding buddy. The humidity was down and temperature about 85, perfect riding conditions for Summer in Phoenix. I was feeling pretty good, so I figured it was time to set a benchmark to gauge my fitness. One of my favorite loops from 32nd St. is to go clockwise, down Zipper, loop around to catch a piece of 100, up 8 toward the AW house, drop through the gully, loop around and work up to the pass just east of Piestawa Pk, then 1A across to Conversation Point and down Zipper to 32nd St. This works out to 5.9 miles and makes a challenging loop for a geezer like me. I usually stop and catch my breath 3 or 4 times. This time I stopped twice and rested for not more than 30 seconds each time. Made the loop in 56 minutes. It's not fast enough to set any records, but I only race against myself anyway. In a week or two, I'll take another crack at it and see if I can beat that time.

It will also be a good test for an evening ride after the Summer ends, sometime in November. One thing I notice is that riding in the morning, at least for the first mile or so, I feel like a slug, and get better as I warm up. In the evenings, I take off and go, usually feeing pretty good from start to finish.

Getting out on the bike 5-6 times a week really has made a difference. Last weekend in Flagstaff, we started riding at 8000 ft. and rode up from there. We probably climbed more than 2000 ft. overall, and after 6 hours of riding, I still felt like I could do a few more miles. A year ago, that would have left me panting at the trailside.

Flagstaff Ride

2008-07-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

4 of us left Phoenix Saturday afternoon looking for a little adventure in the cooler climate of Flagstaff. Had dinner, visited some folks and generally had an enjoyable evening.

Sunday dawned, cool and beautiful. We loaded up and headed up Schultz Creek to a parking lot at about 8000 ft elevation. These were the three amigos I rode with. Jeff, on the right, led us up a trail that looked like an abandoned forest service road, rutted from recent rains and a pretty good climb. Within about an hour...

We came across some guys with local knowledge and a map! Turned out, we had been climbing an unmarked trail that may lead to the Sunset Trail, or maybe not. Eventually we found the top of Little Bear Trail and a fantastic descent that probably dropped 1500ft in about 3 miles.

Very cool views and a nice semi-technical trail.
Looking out over Northeast Flagstaff from Little Bear Trail.
Got a bit of rain, but worked back up to the truck at the top of schultz Creek Trail.The descent down Schultz Creek was very cool, probably a drop of 1000 ft over 3.5 miles. one of our crew had done it many times before, had a broken chain, and was willing to drive the truck down. Beat the heck out of riding back up.
We started our ride at about 9:00 am and finished about 3:00 pm. Great day for a ride, with temps in the 60s and 70s. Much better than the Phoenix heat and monsoon humidity!

Referring back to Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 5

2008-07-25T08:25:00.001-07:00

Tires. Yeah, those round things we put on wheels to keep from chewing up the rims. I'm sure that's the only reason they exist.

Up until about 3 weeks ago, all was right with the world. I was running Panaracer Fire XC tires front and rear, riding at least 50 miles a week in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. In almost a year, I had maybe 2 flats. I was living large and feeling pretty smug.

Then the world turned upside down. My rear tire was getting pretty thin, so I swapped it with a Panaracer Smoke Classic. Since then I'll bet its flatted at least 6 times. Thorn dammit, thorn dammit, thorn dammit, thorn dammit, thorn dammit, pinch oh crap. The pinch was probably because I took another thorn and lost some air. When I finally get the rear to stay inflated and last a few rides, what do I find? Last night the front is flat. Pull it apart and sure enough, thorn. Fix it, pump it up, go to bed. This morning, 4:50am, ready to go. Front's flat. I pumped it up and it held air long enough to get in a ride, but there's still a problem.

I tried a Slime instant patch on the tube last night. maybe that's the culprit. I'll check it out tonight.

I don't know what the deal is with all the thorns lately. Maybe the recent rains have washed loose thorns in to the trails, or maybe its just Karma. Maybe the desert is ganging up on me. If the heat and humidity of the early morning rides couldn't keep me off the trails, it was time for the desert to throw a bunch of cactus bits around and see if that will keep me in bed until time to go to work.

The Unexpected

2008-07-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Up until the last few weeks would I ever have dreamt of using the words "Humid" and "Phoenix" in the same sentence. The popular cenception of Phoenix is, "Its a dry heat." Yeah, sure. When I moved here last August, it was a dry heat, melt your eyeballs dry heat. I never would have believed that humidity in Phoenix could compete with Saigon. With daytime temperatures in the 100s and 110s, I've been out on the trails in the early mornings instead of evenings. Trouble with that logic is that mornings are more humid. This morning was a great example. It rained last night until about 4:00am and by 6:00 when we started out, humidity had to be near 90%. Stepping outside is enough to induce sweat. Riding ain't too bad as long as you keep moving. Stop for a minute and its bring on the waterworks.

Yesterday, I spent about an hour cleaning my bike, lubing everything, and getting it all nice and shiny. This because last week we got in a wet ride and the dried muck was getting on my nerves. Naturely, just like washing the car, washing my bike caused last night's rain. now its all mucked up again, but at least its new muck!

Desert Critter Wuss

2008-07-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

When it comes to critters that live in the desert, I am a confirmed wuss. I proved it last night. One thing I know about desert critters is that a whole bunch of them are venomous. What I don't know is how many are venomous and which ones they are. Of course there are the obvious ones, like rattlesnakes, scorpions, gila monsters, but what about all those other creepy crawly things?

So there I was, out riding around last night up in the PMP. I swung my leg over and hopped off my bike to carry it across a section I'm too old and wimpy to ride. Something bumped into my inner calf. Didn't think too much about it until I crossed the section and started to get back on the bike. I looked down and, in the dark, saw some furry thing about the size of a vole attached to my leg. Wuss that I am, my immediate reaction was to panic and swat the thing away. As soon as I hit it, I realized just how stupid that was. My leg had bumped into a Cholla and taken away a pretty good chunk of it (cholla, not leg). If I had realized what it was, I may have handled it differently.

For the those not familiar with Cholla cactus, here's a pic I took last fall at White Tank Mtns:

All those little spiny things are an inch or so long, sharp as surgical needles, and scaled so they go in a lot easier than they come out.

I do not recommend that you swat these things away, even with gloves, let alone fingerless gloves like I was wearing. The chunk of cholla came off my leg, leaving only a few spines behind, since it was mostly attached to my sock rather than my leg. Unfortunately, I managed to embed a bunch of spines in my fingers. Out came the multi-tool and I spent maybe 10 minutes yanking those devil spines out of my fingers and leg. I can tell you from experience that pulling them out of my leg didn't hurt much, in comparison to my fingers.

Later in the ride, I came across my second gila monster. This one was about 14 inches long and probably a lot younger than the one I saw a few weeks ago. I took a couple pictures, but neither came out very good.

Even in the heat, I like night riding better than early mornings. First thing out of bed, it seems to take a lot to get going and my energy level never cranks up to make me feel good on the trail. In the evenings, I get energized just thinking about it. Hills that are nothing but struggle in the morning rides are actually enjoyable in the evenings. Last night was a couple degrees below 100, and humidity was pretty high, but even with those conditions, the ride was great. I'm going to ride again this evening, but its back to early AM during the week.

Hot and Wet

2008-07-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

No, its not a sexual reference. Its the monsoon season here in Phoenix. It peaked out at about 106 yesterday and humidity was pretty impressive. The rains came around 8:30pm and lasted until the early morning hours.

I hit the trail at 5:00am with temp around 80, and humidity must have been at least that. As long as we kept moving, it wasn't too bad, but stopping brought on the sweat. I may not be a good rider, but one thing I do very well is sweat. When its dry out, it evaporates and things don't seem too bad. When its humid, the story is very different.

There is one thing to look forward to during the monsoon season in Phoenix, and that is the end of the monsoon season.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol.9 - Handlebars

2008-06-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

I've been riding flat bars for a long time now, and have generally accepted numbness in the hands as part of the game. So I never really planned to do anything about it, but last night I was at REI getting a replacement for my itty bitty swiss army knife that didn'tmake it through airport security, when I came across an Easton riser bar for $18. Being a cheapskate and knowing that I'd probably never see a price like that again, I grabbed it. I installed it last night, having to replace only the front brake cable housing. Hit the trail this morning and was in for a big surprise. The new bar is at least 6 inches wider than the old one and the rise is about 1.5 inches. My first impression was that it felt like driving a school bus with a giant steering wheel. Every steering motion took way more input than with the old bar. The riding position feels much more upright even though its only a small change, and the whole balance makes Mr Klein feel like a completely different bike. I don't know if I like it or not.

Out on the trail, it seems like the change in riding position causes the front wheel to have less bite and the front fork seems stiffer, since my substantial weight is shifted back. I feel like I have to steer the bike around obstacles rather than just flow along and make little tweaks as needed.The jury will be out for a while on this one.

I think the bar is probably too wide, about 6 inches wider than the old flat bar, but I'm going to ride it as is for a few weeks and see whether I get used to it. If not, I'll start by cutting about an inch off each end. I could just cut 2 inches off one end, but it might look a little funny.

On my trip to the hellhole of the southwest (Las Vegas) I took a few pictures of Hoover Dam.

Now, I realize that Hoover is one of the great engineering feats of the early 20th century, but being used to the dams on the Columbia River, this one seems kind of small. The other striking thing is the water level, 100 feet below normal and never expected to be full again. Wonder if that has anything to do with Los Angeles and the 5 million people in phoenix?

Las Vegas, Prescott, Phoenix

2008-06-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

I went to Las Vegas on Wednesday to attend a telecom trade show. Two days of looking at geek stuff was enough to last me for a year. I'm not a fan of the gambling meccas of Reno, Las Vegas, etc. so going there was not something I look forward to. When I arrived at the hotel and parked the truck, a bicycle renta-cop asked my why I didn't park in valet parking with my bike in the back. I told him I wasn't leaving it there, so he shrugged and rode off. I shoved Mr. Klein into the cab, locked everything up and went off to chase the elusive metro ethernet technologies.
On Friday morning, I hopped in the truck and headed for Prescott, glad to be leaving a town with the worst drivers I've ever seen. And that includes Southeast Asia. Made it to Prescott in time for my noon meeting. Afterward, I drove over to Lynx Lake and looked around a bit before hitting Granite Basin. The plan was to ride the Basin area, then find a place to park and sleep in the back of the truck, and ride Lynx Lake in the morning. As it turned out, Prescott was close to 100F, making the Granite Basin loop tougher than it should have been. By the time I finished, I was pretty dragged out and bug bitten. The thought of an uncomfortable night in the bed of a pickup truck lost its appeal, so I headed back to Phoenix.
Now, I'm new to Phoenix, having been here for 10 months, so I thought it was humorous having one of my riding buddies call me and ask for directions. Two of the guys were doing an evening ride on the PMP loop I've been using as a training ride, and were having some trouble finding their way in the dark. So what do these Phoenix natives do? Call the new guy and ask how to get where they want to go. Poor man's GPS.

Getting Hot!

2008-06-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

The last few days in Phoenix have been really warming up. The temperature hit 112F (44.5C) today and the low was 85 (29.5C). The monsoon season has officially started as of 6/15. It used to be that the season officially started when the dew point hit 55F (12.8C) for three consecutive days. I haven't been through a full summer in Phoenix yet, but getting here in mid August last year gave me a sample of what to expect. I haven't started riding in the early mornings yet, but if this keeps up I'll have to change my habits.

I am making a loop this week, first to Las Vegas for a trade show, then to Prescott for a meeting, and back to Phoenix. The meeting in Prescott ends at 3:00pm, so I'm loading up my bike and a sleeping bag so I can spend some time riding in cooler weather. I got a kick out of Granite Basin last fall, so that will be my first ride. I haven't given much thought to Saturday's ride, but I'll figure something out.

Tomorrow night, another hot ride in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, then an early morning start on Wednesday so I can make it to sin city by noon.

Gila Monster

2008-06-09T08:05:00.001-07:00

The desert has its surprises. This isn't a great shot, but I only had my cell phone with me. I headed out to the trails about 7:00pm with the temperature around 100F. I kind of expected to see a snake or two, but I never expected to see a Gila Monster. This guy (gal?) was about 18 inches long and looked to be pretty healthy. He was in the middle of the trail when I rode up and moved to the edge, where he appears in this picture. I stopped and watched him watching me for about 5 minutes. Took a few shots and none came out very well. This one was lit by my headlamp, handlebar light and camera flash. Eventually we got tired of staring at each other and I rode off. This was on 1A in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

Critters on the Trail

2008-06-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

I was up on 1A in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve this evening and trying to thread my bike around a rock that I've cleared dozens of times. For those who are familiar with the trail, there are two spots where you have to thread the needle while making a right hand turn (westbound). I say trying, because tonight, I didn't quite make the second one, caught my chain stay on the rock and took a pretty good tumble. The bike flipped over and ended up about 20 feet below the trail. I only fell about down about 10 feet. Man, there's a lot of dry stickery little things that attach to anything and everything! Recovered the bike (minor ding) and searched for the headlight that came off. Found it about 6 feet below the bike's resting spot.

Anyway, being from the Pacific Northwest, going off trail may cause you to pick up a bramble or two, but any critters you encounter are pretty benign. Here in Phoenix, I'm not so sure about that and it got me thinking. There seem to be all sorts of critters that can do some kind of damage.

About 1/2 hour before my crash, I encountered my second rattlesnake in a week. Both snakes were about 2 feet long. I ran over the first one in the dark, hitting it with both tires almost before realizing what it was. It was in the middle of the trail, stretched out and slithering across. It really should have used the pedestrian crossing. Tonight's snake was about the same size and had just gotten off the trail when I arrived at the snake crosswalk (crosscrawl? crossslither?).

Scorpions seem to be scurrying about quite a bit, and I've spotted a few centipedes that can have a nasty bite.

On the less threatening side, there are lots of little lizards that startle and take off like a shot, spraying little scoops of sand as they go.

Seems there are a couple breeds of rabbits, several specimens I've seen are small, not particularly long legged, and a lot like wild rabbits all over the country. The other ones are probably jackalopes. I can't be sure, because every one I've sighted has apparently been a doe. Haven't seen a single one with antlers, but I understand that the bucks laze about in the rocks like male lions and only come out after the female has made the kill.

Lots of coyotes roam the preserve, and I spot at least one each week.

Birds include owls, doves and quail. I've only seen one owl in flight, when it coasted about 10 feet over my head a while after sunset. Doves are abundant and seem to like to sit in the middle of trails, and take off when startled. In the daytime, doves take off at an angle and start putting distance between themselves and the intruder as quickly as possible. At night, they seem to take off and fly straight up at least 6 feet before they angle off and away. I'd guess their night vision isn't too good and they launch straight up to avoid hitting anything. Quail are downright funny. They run away when startled and move so fast you can hardly see their legs move. Its like they have no sense of where they want to run to, changing direction seemingly a dozen times every second. I came upon a pair of adults and at least 10 chicks one evening. The chicks made the ground seem almost alive as they scurried in a hundred directions at once. Reminded me of a kindergarten playground.

So, there I was, contemplating the myriad desert species as I recovered my bike and headlight. The critters are interesting, but I doubt I've seen them all. For a moment, I had to decide if I was going to recover the bike and light, or just leave them as toys for the critters and walk home.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol.8 - Helmets

2008-05-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

Anyone who survived their childhood and now understands that they aren't invincible also knows that some simple preventative items can extend extend their lives significantly. In the world of cycling, one of those simple things is head protection. Nothing like a brain bucket to keep the skull intact. When I started bicycle commuting to downtown Portland Oregon back in the mid 1970s, I bought my first helmet. It was an MSR (Mountain Safety Research) consisting of orange lexan with dense foam lining. It had 3 vent holes in the front and 3 in the back. I actually used the helmet for its intended purpose once when a dog tried to attack my front wheel. I went over the bar and rolled a couple of times, bouncing my helmet off the pavement on each rotation. I figure MSR saved my life that time. I was able to get up, sorta straighten the front wheel and wobble on in to work. I had a stiff neck for a few days and the helmet had some deep scratches. Since then, I won't ride across the street without donning a helmet.

My most recent helmets include a Giro Gila (the red one) that I used for probably too long (Its probably a good idea to replace a helmet every 3 or 4 years). It was reasonably comfortable, but in spite of the Roc loc strap sytem, it didn't stay put as well as I would have liked. That became obvious when I started riding in Phoenix, where the trails are enough to rattle your teeth out. I know, riding a stiff aluminum hardtail might be part of the problem, but a new helmet is cheaper than a new bike.

I finally decided to replace the Giro with a new bucket, and searched around the local stores until I found one that fit. The box advertised that it had a GPS system! Turns out it had a little thumbwheel on the back that tightens and loosens its grip on the head. They even had the gall to call it a "Global Positioning System." Now, I know I have a somewhat large hat size, but refering to my head as a globe is a bit much. They even put this system on smaller sizes. I had to wonder if they have one that fits Pluto, which isn't even a planet any more. I would have expected that having GPS would help me figure out where I am, but no, all it does is keep the thing in one place. Its no competition for Garmin. A nice feature with this Bell Influx is that it has lots of big vents, which is a good thing in the hot times of Phoenix. I don't recommend it for a long day in the saddle though, because you'll end up with an interesting sunburn design on your globe. I could slather SPF 45 on my bald spot (most of my noggin), but lotion melting and running down into my eyes really sucks.

Urban Assault Seattle - Highly Recommended

2008-05-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sean tells a better story than I do, so for an update of the Urban Assault Bike Ride, I recommend his blog. I thought I'd just add a few pictures.

This ride had a Le Mans start, so here we are setting up our bikes so we can make that flawless grab and hop on. I'm old, fat and I don't believe in running. Sean's heal was sore from an opops at Collonade the day before, so we didn't exactly get out of the gate first.

Sean and Michele took most of the pictures, except this one that I cribbed off someone else's blog. I didn't ask for permission, but the photographer didn't ask for mine before publishing this very compromising shot.

The real culmination of the day was the two laps we took on the "adult sized" big wheels. Ever since the big wheel was invented, I have believed they were completely wasted on children. Now, I know that kids had a lot of fun with them, but kids can have fun with a rock. Big wheels should have been made for the people who bought them, not the rugrats that got to ride them. Finally, my life is complete!

The miniature bicycle, however, is a toy that should never have seen the light of day.

I'm not sure that, until this day, Michele truly understood the mystique of big wheels. Now look closely at this shot. Notice the calm intensity, the angle of the wrists, the leaned back - head forward, hair blowing in the wind created by the awesome power of the machine. I think we've got another convert!

Urban Assault - Seattle

2008-05-16T16:35:00.001-07:00

This evening will be my last chance for a training ride before the Urban Assault Bike Ride this Sunday in Seattle. I'm going to do about 10 miles of trails tonight with as much climbing as possible. Tomorrow, I'll be on the morning flight to Seattle, followed by goofing off and getting ready for the race.

So far it looks like Sunday's ride will be about 20 miles, interspersed with a bunch of checkpoints. The weather is expected to be mostly cloudy and temps in the 60s, perfect for this kind of race. This one will be a new experience for me.

Piestawa Peak (aka Squaw Peak)

2008-05-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Since I am kind of in training for the Urban Assault Bike Ride next weekend in Seattle, I have been out on my bike every evening for the last week. I started out about 7 pm and rode the trails for about 2 hours. It seemed like I should probably take a rest day, so this morning I figured a good change of pace would be to climb Piestewa Peak. Its about 1200 ft vertical climb over a distance of probably less than 2 miles, and the trail is more like a badly designed staircase than a mountain trail. It is also claimed to be one of the most climbed mountains in the world, probably true since its one of the smallest. Anyway, it is a pretty good hike to the top and back. I didn't time the hike, but it was probably about an hour and a half. On the way down, a lady who had passed me going up and down was climbing slowly back up again, looking all over the trail. I asked her if she'd lost something, and sure enough, she lost her car keys. I said I'd keep an eye out and continued on down. When I got to the bottom, there was a fire truck and crew sitting at one of the Ramadas, so I asked if they knew about lost keys. They said that a young couple had just walked away and had the keys. We got them to come back and told them that the owner was heading back up the mountain looking for them. I described her and the guy took off running up the hill. I hung around and talked with his wife(?) and another person while he gave chase. Now this guy couldn't have been more than 110lbs and 22 years old, but it was still amazing to watch as he ran up the hill after having just finished hiking it. He caught the lady of the lost keys about half way up and brought her back. While he was gone, I found out that they recently moved from Israel to Phoenix. We had an enjoyable talk and hearty congratulations for the runner when he returned.

One thing I have wanted to get a picture of this spring is a Saguaro bloom. Of course, Saguaros bloom at their tops and its really hard to get a shot of the blooms unless you are in a steep place and get above them. Great thing about Piestewa Peak is that its really steep and you can get above the flowers. I took a couple of shots, but without a good telephoto lens, they didn't come out as well as I hoped. It is now something of a quest for me to get a decent picture.

Another great thing about getting up on top of the peak is that you can see most of the trails in the Phoenix Mtn Preserve. I picked out a few that I didn't know existed and figured out how to get to them. Tomorrow's ride could make for an interesting morning.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol.7 - Lights

2008-05-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here in Phoenix, riding in the dark season is arriving. Riding in the dark season is the local answer to keeping up the riding skills in spite of the heat. We are seeing temps in the 90s most days now, and while the low humidity (It’s a dry heat) makes a 90 degree day bearable, the sun is still pretty intense. The solution to the heat is evening riding as the sun sets and finishing up in the dark. Later this summer when lows will be in the 90s, it will be riding at 0-dark-early and finishing up at the butt crack of dawn.

The alternative to night riding is an occasional run up to Prescott or Flagstaff, where the cooler temps make for great summer riding. Gas prices put a damper on too many of those trips, so for Phoenicians night riding is the answer.

Of course, night riding can be a real challenge unless we rely on Thomas Edison and some later inventors. Probably the best theory about night riding is simply, the more light you can throw out in front of your bike, the better. As a cheap rider, there is something to be said for economic balance in the equation. It’s possible to spend $600 to $1000 to get the latest in LED lights and long life batteries that are truly amazing. Some folks I ride with have done exactly that. However, some of the “obsolete” systems work really well for an OFS rider like me.

My first Phoenix light system is a Light & Motion single halogen unit of probably 10w and a strap-on battery pack, loaned to me by Sean. I added to it when I found a Cygolight Night Rover system at REI with a closeout $75 price tag. Having a 20% discount available brought it down to $60. It has 2 bulbs, a 6w and a 10w, and a water bottle battery. Both systems are good for about 2 hours, which is great for me. And, yes, they are heavier than the latest LED systems, but I can take care of that problem by eating fewer Bratwursts at the ballgame.

I started out with the first system on top of my helmet. I found that I did not like that setup because the rocks, ledges and drops all looked two dimensional. The light, being so close to my eyes, eliminated shadows and gave everything a flat appearance. I moved the light to my handlebars, which restored shadows, but limited my field of view to the area the front wheel pointed at. That worked pretty well until I did an endo up on 1A in the preserve. The mount broke and proved to be irreplaceable. Light & Motion had a substitute that I bought. It was while I was at REI trying to get a new mount that I found the Cygolight. At $60, it was a great price. It does look a bit cheesy with a hard shiny plastic case, but it has worked so far. With both lights on, it lays down a good pattern and plenty of light.

I recently started riding with the Light & Motion on my helmet and the Cygolight on the handlebars. Great combination, plenty of light and enough shadowing to keep the terrain in 3D.

Not Riding

2008-04-27T09:54:00.001-07:00

I haven't been on the bike since last Sunday and its making me sluggish. On Monday, after 3 days of dirt and road, I decided to take Monday as a rest day. About 9:30 that night I realized I wasn't going to get on the bike until I get back to Phoenix. If I'd realized that at 7 or 8, I would have knocked out some miles that night. Tuesday night was a Diamondbacks game. Wednesday was blood donation. Thursday I was on the plane to Portland. I get back to Phoenix on Tuesday and drive to Laughlin NV for a conference. Next ride will be Thursday night. Unless I can get away for a while in Nevada.

Last Wednesday, a riding buddy called and asked if I wanted to ride. I told him I couldn't because I had just given blood. He said, "Yeah, that's what we're gonna do!" I responded that I really had donated blood and I wasn't going to ride. He said, "I was just gonna donate a few scratches."

So here I sit in Ashland OR. We saw three plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this weekend, "Fences" by August Wilson, "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" by Julie Marie Myatt, and "Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. All three were amazing performances and well worth the trip. Today we're going to the "Taste of Ashland," grazing our way through the art galleries with food and wine from the general area. We've been attending the Festival for many years and plant to come back again in October.

I loaded Mr. Klein in my truck and left him at the Phoenix airport. When I get to Laughlin on Tuesday, I'm going to look for anything that resembles a trail and try to get some riding in.

The Urban Assault Bike Ride is coming up in Seattle May 18th. Sean and I are entered. That means I have about two weeks to sluff off the lethargy of vacation and be ready for the challenge. Looks like a lot of fun.

Roadie Day

2008-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've been in Phoenix for 9 months now and have only been on my road bike 3 times before today. I decided to crank out some miles today since its good training for mountain biking. First thing I had to do was pump up the tires, which were a flaccid 20 psi. I normally run these 700x23 tires at 105 psi. It takes a lot of ignoring to have them that far down. Prepped and ready, I left the apartment and caught the bike path that leads past Dreamy Draw and down the bike route to the canal. Since I've been west on the canal from there, I headed east through Scottsdale to a bike path that follows some golf courses and waterways until I figured I was pretty close to Shea, than worked my way west, hitting a few dead ends and backtracking. In all it turned out to be a 30 mile loop, mostly flat. Finished it in a reasonable 2 hours.

I thought it was interesting that when I started out, folks along the way nodded, smiled, and responded to my greetings. By the time I reached Scottsdale, folks rarely acknowledged my existence. Heading back west, folks started responding again. I guess that in Scottsdale, the high fashion area of the Valley of the Sun, the faux pas of mountain biking shoes on a road bike was just too much for them.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 6 - Pedals

2008-04-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Remember your first pedals? If so, you're probably a bike nerd. I don't recall mine, but back in my early days of cycling, over fifty years ago, the only kind I remember were the pressed steel frames with rubber blocks bolted to them. They had ball bearings and probably weighed a quarter pound each. That was all I knew until my first 10 speed, which hac steel traps that aren't much different from the platform pedals available today. Somewhere around that time, I added toe clips and straps. Being a commuter and riding my bike to high school in the '60s (true nerd status), I kept the straps loose enough to pull out easily and put a foot down. Toe clips were a big improvement, a fact I came to realize one day when I was riding without them in the rain. My foot slipped off the pedal while standing and I made unforgettable contact with the top tube. The toe clips and straps returned to the bike as soon as I got home.

About 15 years ago, I rode clipless pedals for the first time. I still don't understand why clipless pedals are defined by something they lack instead of what they are. First ride, lean against the garage wall and practice the heel out twist. Take off down the street. Stop at the corner. Fail to clip out. Fall over. On my road bike, I probably fell twice before really getting the hang of it. On my mountain bike, I probably fell 30 times because I couldn't make the action quickly enough. It usually happened while climbing a steep section and losing momentum. Crank, crank, c r a n k, c r a... Crash. Now I almost never ride without clipless pedals.

Regardless of whether I am on my road bike or mountain bike, I use the same kind of pedal. That saves me from having to have 2 pairs of shoes, although the more snobby roadies sniff when they see my utter lack of sensitivity to their culture. Of course, at 56 years, 5'8" and 212lbs, (I think that's like 2.5 stones) my mere presence on the road disturbs their sensibilities. The look of mtn shoes and double sided pedals is just too much for some folks.

I am an SPD guy, simply because its possible to get knockoff SPD pedals for around 20 bucks. When some of the other pedals get that cheap, maybe I'll try them. At that price, the pedals aren't terribly light, and they don't have such niceties as titanium axles. But, they also hang together pretty well. In fifteen years, I've broken only one pedal, and that was part of the clip mechanism.

Maintenance? an occasional shot of WD-40 and a rare dismantling, cleaning and greasing.

The desert is drying out now that its April, but there are some interesting blooms open now.
The first is an Ocotilla bloom, fiery red.

The second is a Prickly Pear bloom. I had never seen either bloom until this Spring. Both are absolutely striking in this desert environment.

To Red Bull or not to Red Bull

2008-04-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

I thought seriously about drinking the complementary can of Red Bull I received at the Lake Pleasant Dam Good Run/Walk/Hike, figuring that maybe I could crank through a couple spots where I usually die out. Then I thought, what if I don't get it to wear off before bedtime? It was 7pm and I rode until about 9, planning to hit the hay by 10:30. I've never drank an energy drink, other than Gatorade. I have also quit drinking coffee in the evening, since it started affecting my sleep. Then I thought, maybe I could clear some of those hills. Then I thought, maybe I'll just get the shakes from it and gain nothing. Then I thought, what the hell...

Then I rode off, leaving the dreaded can of unknown substances in the fridge. I might try it later, or it might sit there until the aluminum corrodes and spills the contents all through the vegetable crisper.

Wonder what its like to clean that stuff up?

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 5 - Tires

2008-04-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

Or, for those of you who speak the King's english, Tyres. Actually, I intended to talk about rims this time, but in my last post, I said just about all that needs to be said. Round, smooth, strong, light weight. Beyond that, a rim is a rim.

Tires (tyres) on the other hand, actually make a difference. And the biggest difference is whether or not they go flat. Maybe its really how often they go flat, since all of them seem to do that. I look at the catalogs, peruse the magazines, and search the web pages, and there isn't really much said about that.

I run with tubes, mainly because I'm cheap and tubeless is one of those things that would lead me to replacing the whole bike, but also because tubeless tires seem to flat a lot more than tube tires. On group rides here in Phoenix, it seems like the flats are almost always tubeless. Folks use gooey stuff like Stans (whatever that is) or Slime, but the flats keep coming. I've had pretty good luck with tubes, only flatting 3 or 4 times since I moved here in August. Since having fun on a bike depends on air in the tires, I'm good with that.

In the world of mountain biking, there is a vast array of tires to choose from. There are compounds, tread patterns, threads per inch, kevlar and wire beads... Its all too confusing. I like to keep it simple. I look for kind of a blocky tread and a price tag at or below $14. Right now I am riding a set of Panaracer Fire XC Smoke Something or Others that I found for $12.95 each. They wear pretty well and the traction is good. The only drawback is that when gravel on the trail is a certain size, these tires pick up rocks and throw them all over the place.

Rolling resistance is one of those criteria bandied about in tire reviews. In my case, the largest cause of rolling resistance has something to do with the 212 pounds I carry around, and probably a lot less to to with the way tires are made. I cut rolling resistance by putting a whole lot of air in the tires, like 40 psi front and 45 psi rear. Although it makes the bike skittish, it also makes it roll easy. High pressure also seems to minimize flats, which goes back to one of the most important things about any tire, keeping air on the inside and foreign objects on the outside.

Its looking like a great evening for a ride, temp will be 75 in another hour or so, and I'm rested up from this morning's "Dam Good Run/Walk/Hike" up at Lake Pleasant. One of the give-aways at the event was a can of Red Bull, something I've never even tasted before. I'm debating whether to drink it before the ride. Could be like turbocharging a '62 Ford Falcon without fixing the brakes.

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol.4 - Hubs

2008-03-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Went out for an afternoon ride today, temp 85 and the trails were deserted. There's a trail I've ridden before in the Preserve that climbs up to a point near the A&W house. Once I get there I saw a cactus flower on up the hill to the west. I hadn't been that way before, so up I went, carrying Mr. K up the steep and rocky trail. After getting this shot of the flower, I contimued up to the top of the trail where there was a stone bench. My first thought seeing the bench was, great, there must be a reasonable trail down the other side. Not so. I toted Mr. K up and over a ridge, traversed a steep sidehill, over another ridge, then down a steep rocky switchback descent that only a really stupid rider would actually attempt on a bike. I picked up a familiar trail after about a half mile and continued my pedaling. While carrying Mr. K, I had the opportunity to gaze upon his hubs and contemplate their purpose.

So, what is it that we ask of hubs? Not much. We want them to rotate around an axle and do it with as little friction as possible. We also want them to do it for a long, long time. Mr. K's hubs have been doing exactly that for as long as I've owned the bike. They are the originals. The front is a Trek System 2. Trek used to do this thing where components were sold as System 1, 2 or 3. I don't remember whether 1 or 3 was best, but I do know that 2 was not. Anyway, I tear it down about twice a year, clean, regrease and reassemble it, and it seams to be just fine. Glad I didn't spend extra to get the 1 or the 3.

The rear hub is a Shimano STX RC. I have no idea what that means, but I do know that, just like the front hub, the rear has held up since 1997 with a semi-annual cleaning, regreasing and reassembly. I really can't complain. There's no significant friction, it doesn't get sloppy after a few rides, and has never needed adjustments between maintenance sessions. Back in the last century when I was a regular bike commuter, I used to go through a set of hubs about every 2 years. That rate destruction included both steel hubs, which were total crap, as well as alloy hubs, which were better, but still didn't have much of a life span.

I wasn't going to discuss other components in this session, but I can't help it. I've been through several rims in my life and, other than the major preference for aliminum over steel, any well constructed rim is fine for me. So I bought my current set of rims from Nashbar because they were double wall and pretty cheap. The thing I like best about them is that they are Sun "MACH IV"!!! Keeping in mind that I am old fat & slow, what in the hell am I doing with rims that say "MACH IV" on them? I estimate that the fasted I have ever ridden this bike is Mach 0.0267, or about 20 mph, 32 kph for the rest of the world. Isn't Mach I something like 750 mph at sea level. If that's true, these rims ought to be good for 3000 mph. Aparently I still have a lot of conditioning to do before I am able to squeeze the maximum performance out of these rims. I could be like Anthony Hopkins in "The World's Fastest Indian."

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 3 - Brakes

2008-03-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Subtitled, "Oh my god, how do I stop this thing?"

When it comes to stopping a bike, I am a bit of a luddite. I have ridden two bikes with disc brakes, one was a Jamis Dakar, borrowed from Dr. Michele for a coupe rides in Phoenix, and the other was a Salsa El Mariachi, belonging to my son, Sean, which I rode about 100 yards. I've used center and side pull road brakes, cantelever brakes and a few kinds of V brakes. The absolute worst were center pull road brakes on steel rims in the rain. Commuting rain or shine in Portland, okay rain or cloudy, I had a morning descent down a hill on Portland's Interstate hill. With that setup, the only way to stop when wet was to begin braking at the top of the hill, keep full pressure all the way down, then drag feet at the bottom, ala Fred Flintstone. The alternative was to say a few Hail Mary's and hope to god the light would be green at the bottom. It was an experience designed to maintain high blood pressure for the rest of the day.

Everything beyond that brake setup was an improvement. I eventually evolved to V brakes and even put a Shimano XTR brake on the front of Mr K. I used the XTR for a couple of years, but never got rid of squeal or a nasty scraping sound that told me I was chewing through the front rim. Somewhere along the way, I read something that said the XTR pads were designed for ceramic coated rims. Knowing that ceramics are used for plates and bowls, I couldn't imagine riding around on a dinner plate. So I backslid and put the original STX brake back on the Mr. K. It squealed no matter how I adjusted it, so I used that noise as my bike bell. Coming up behind a pedestrian? Hit the brake, EERRRCH. Enough noise to scare anyone.

A few months ago, I bought some brake pads at a mini-mall bike shop at 67th Ave and Deer Valley in Glendale AZ. At $7 a pair, I thought they were pretty reasonable. They turned out to be the best pads I've ever had. They never squeal and they have great stopping power and modulation. I need to go buy a bunch of them, 'cause with my luck, they'll be discontinued just before I need another set.

I thought about going to discs once, and started to add up what it would take; in addition to the brake sets, new hubs, new fork with attachment points, new frame with attachment points... Wait a minute, that sounds like a whole new bike! Maybe when Mr. K gives up the ghost.

An intriguing feature of the brake levers on Mr. K are the little stickers that say Servo-Action and the little bolt that fits in 3 positions, kind of like a pair of channel lock pliers. Having been around the block a few times, I know what a Servo is, and I understand the concept of Action as oposed to stasis, so I experimented with the positions and absolutely could not tell a difference between them. Being a middle of the road kind of guy, I set the bolt in the middle position and there it stays. Servo-Action. Damn marketing geeks can't leave anything alone!

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 2 - Forks

2008-03-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

No, this isn’t a discussion of Forks Washington, a logging community in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Remember, this is a biking blog. We’re talking suspension forks. My experience with them consists of 2 forks in the last 15 years. The first was an original Rock Shox air sprung fork that fit a 1 inch threaded headset. A friend in Spokane gave it to my son, Sean, but it didn’t fit his bike. We stuck it on my first mtn bike, eliminating the original rigid fork. Having ridden motorcycles in the early days, I kind of understood the value of suspension, but didn’t really think it would make much difference on a bicycle. Willing to give it a try, and knowing the cost was $0, what I found out was a revelation. Forks are worth the fiddling and the cost, at least they used to be until they got to be more expensive than the bike itself. I rode on that fork for about 7 years, until it blew a seal. Rebuild kit on a 7 year old fork? Forget it!

My second fork is the one pictured. It’s a Rock Shox Indy XC, and came with my Klein Hardtail. I haven’t pulled it apart since a few days after I bought the bike, but if I remember correctly, it has a metal spring and some neoprene spacers. The first thing I noticed was that the sag with me on the bike took up about half the travel, which was only about 80mm, if that. I started checking around to see if there was some kind of spring kit or spacers that could compensate for my weight. The fork was about 3 years old by then. Kits for a 3 year old fork? Forget it!

This called for a trip to the basement. I found a wooden dowel with a diameter that fit well into the shock tube. I cut two pieces about 1 inch long and dropped one in each tube, then reassembled the fork. Yeah, it reduced overall travel, but it reduced sag to less than ¼ of the overall travel and still seemed to work ok.

One thing to worry about with suspension forks is cracks and breakage. Losing a fork during some hairy descent result in a pretty ugly situation, and being ugly enough already, I don’t need to add to the image. I inspect the fork regularly, especially around the steerer tube, saddle, and fork tube tops. So far, there is no bending, cracking or wear that would warn me of potential failure. So far so good.

I got together with some guys for a full moon ride last night in the preserve. We made up a group of 7, me being the geezer, 4 guys in their early 40s and two who were 9 or 10. The two little guys dropped out after about 45 minutes and their dads escorted them home, joining us a short time later for another hour of riding. It never got bright enough to kill the lights, but it was a beautiful, warm evening with some guys who turned out to be a lot of fun. It was definitely my kind of ride, intermediate difficulty with a bunch of guys who weren’t out to impress anyone. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Old Fat & Slow Gear Vol. 1

2008-03-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

As promised, product review #1 looks at a 1997 Klein Pulse RACE. Back in the days before Klein got busted for an EPA violation, closed up shop and sold out, they made some pretty cool bikes. Of course, their price tags were not something that a cheapskate family guy like me could choke down. Even so, Klein was the holy grail of mountain bikes. As Klein tried to increase market share, they did an Elliot Spitzer and hopped in bed with Trek. (Spitzer is Governor of NY. Check your current events)

The progeny of this unholy alliance was the Pulse, and Pulse Race. It's really kind of like the deal Porsche made with VW in introducing the 914 to an unsuspecting American public. OK, I owned one of those too, a long time ago.

In spite of this inbreeding, the red-framed step child Pulse Race is a pretty good bike. It consists of an incredibly stiff aluminum frame with the fattest chainstays I've ever seen on a hardtail. They're so fat... How fat are they?... It also has a wheel in front, a wheel in back, a Shimano STX gruppo (note the Italian?) with a bunch of gears, a Rock Shox Indy XC fork and a seat I came up with somewhere else because I didn't like the seat that came with it. Mr. K weighs about 24 lbs, let's see, standing on the scale with the bike 236. Without the bike 212. 6-2=4, 3-1=2, 2-2=0, yep 24 lbs. Did I say this bike is stiff? I'll tell you, this bike is stiffer than a fundamentalist preacher in a house of ill repute. In the rocky terrain of Phoenix, it allows every rock, whether pebble or boulder, full opportunity for expression. This bike teaches its victim, er rider to adopt a butt off the seat, hands loose on the bars riding style. It's more fidgety than a 2nd grader in singing class.

Over the years, I've worn out a few chains, a couple of cassettes, shifters, pedals, and brake pads, but the core bike just keeps on going.

Mr. K meets by criterion for quality, just like a car or truck, you don't really know about its true quality until its passed well beyond 100,000 miles, a bike's quality reveals itself as it enters its second decade.

I bought the bike from Midwest Cyclery in Kansas City MO in 2000. It had suffered through an ignominious existance as a rental bike until I took it home. In fact, I was the last person to rent it. My daughter's then boyfriend (last name Klein) was going to join Sean and me at the local fat tire festival at Landahl Park but had no bike. Sean Flew in from Spokane sans bike, so I rented a carbon fiber Gary Fisher and the Klein. Klein rode the Klein and Sean rode the GF. After the first lap, Klein gave up, so I took the Klein and did a second lap. I liked the responsiveness and handling, and decided that the Klein must be mine. Fortunately, Klein and my daughter broke up and she found a great guy who is way too smart to go mountain biking with Sean and me. I ended up with the Klein a couple months later after haggling with Bob at Midwest Cyclery. It might have been my imagination, but I was sure I saw a tear in his eye as I wheeled the Klein out the door.

Notice how in this picture, Mr. K looks like a Sixty-Niner?

And in this shot it seems to be a Ninety-Sixer?

Talk about versatility!

Gear Reviews, Everyone's doing it, so Why Not?

2008-03-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Since everyone’s doing it, I might as well jump on the bandwagon and start writing product reviews. There is a caveat; I have a philosophy about biking that probably doesn’t match that of those who build and sell bikes and accessories. In fact, it probably doesn’t match with most people who are at all serious about cycling. Here it is; Cycling should be FUN and CHEAP. You want expensive, go buy something with lots of horsepower. I started riding bikes when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and lapsed only for things like the Vietnam War and a tower construction job that had me travelling through the western states.

When I started grade school, the 10 mile barefoot walk uphill both ways through ten feet of snow was actually 4 blocks and took me past Weir’s Cycle and Hobby Shop in Portland. Ken Weir ran the shop and his dad, who I think founded it in the ‘20s, still worked there. They had bikes, models, RC airplanes, slot cars, and all kinds of stuff that excited the imagination. On top of that, they had the patience of Job (biblical reference) with kids like me, who would stop in, gawk, ask questions, test ride bikes and be a general nuisance. Only occasionally did I have enough money to actually buy something. Over the years, I eventually bought a half dozen bikes and various parts from Weir’s, and I still think they epitomized what a bike shop should be.

Anyway, in keeping to my philosophy of FUN and CHEAP, I’m going to start reviewing products I have experience with. Don’t expect to see reviews of the latest Specialized S-Works 16 inch travel 69r or Chris King headsets, XTR components (with one exception), or the hottest high end Fox doo-dah racing fork. I am, by nature, a skinflint. I think it comes from a heritage that includes Norwegian and Scottish, along with various other Anglo-Saxon ancestors. In the 15 years or so that I commuted by bike in Portland, rain or shine, I generally kept track of the cost, which worked out to $5 a month, including the 3 bikes I went through, rain suits, tires, etc. Certainly cheaper than the bus and faster too!

Nowadays, I can afford to splurge a bit more, but FUN and CHEAP still prevails. CHEAP should really be in a larger font, more like CHEAP. I ride a Fuji Finest steel road bike from about 1999 and a Klein Pulse Race from 1997, bought used in ‘99 or ’00. I still consider both bikes as major splurges. I think I paid $650 for the brand new Fuji and $700 for the used Klein. The thought of paying more than a thou for something without a motor just doesn’t seem right. Next Post – Review #1 Klein Pulse RACE.

A little stiff

2008-03-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up a little stiff this morning after my T100 mini-epic. I met up with a family friend for lunch and then drove to the airport from Scottsdale. She was in town for a conference and didn't know I was here until she talked to Sarah on Saturday. Her folks are old friends from Spokane and it was great to catch up.

Later in the afternoon, after the old bones had loosened up a bit, I took off on the road bike, explored the neighborhood a bit, then caught the bike path from 32nd at the 51 and rode it down to the canal. Followed the canal back to 7th St, up 7th to Cave Creek, to Thunderbird and back to the apartment. In all, about 15 miles. It was not at all strenuous, and it sure helped loosen things up.

This is only the 3rd time I've been on the road bike since moving to Phoenix last August. After all the mountain biking, it is really kind of surprising how much easier it is to maintain reasonable speed on hills. Certainly not fast by any definition, but I'm comparing it to the 4.5 years in Kansas, where you figure out which way the wind is blowing, ride against it for an hour, or until boredom sets in, then turn around and pray that the wind doesn't shift 180 degrees before you get home. Kansas isn't completely flat, but if you stand on a beer can, you can see Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma as you spin around (until the can crushes). Riding in Kansas is more of a chore than a fun activity. Around Wichita and Clearwater, where we lived, mountain biking consists of riding the dirt/gravel roads between the wheat fields. Road biking consists of riding the paved roads between the wheat fields. Although that's not entirely true, there are also fields of corn, milo, soy, cotton, and occasionally sunflowers.

There are actually some good trails around Topeka and Lawrence, Perry lake comes to mind, but good riding in Kansas is a long drive from Clearwater. I much prefer the 1 mile commute to the 32nd St trailhead.

T100 mini-epic

2008-03-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

In spite of my OTB excursion on Thursday and getting in no other riding in a week, I went ahead with my plan to do T100 from 32nd St to 7th Ave to Tatum and back to 32nd. I figured a little over 5 hours should do it. Left the apartment at 10:15 and was on the trail by 10:20. I thought I did pretty well, clearing everything except a couple of hike-a-bikes between Dreamy Draw Park and Cave Creek. I made it to 7th Ave and back to the North Mtn Visitor's center by 12:15. Rested a bit and talked to my sweetie for a few minutes, then back on the trail. Got another call from a neighbor from my last apartment, just east of Cave Creek. She was excited and out to tell the world that she got an internship in Belgium for the summer.

Made it to Dreamy Draw, and was starting to drag a bit. Just at the top of the steep section of Dreamy Draw, I got another call, this time from my neighbor's dad, telling me that she got an internship in Belgium. Having just cleared the steep section, I was panting like a dehydrated puppy dog and could hardly talk. Told him I'd call back after my ride.

By the time I reached Tatum, I was really dragging. Sat around for a few minutes, drank some water and hit the trail back to the west. Made it back to the apartment at 2:50. The whole ride took 4 hours and 40 minutes. I'm sure there are few riders out there who can make that trip slower than me.

Fortunately for me, the apartment complex has a hot tub, which felt very good. Even after the hot tub though, my legs feel a lot like the weeks of daily doubles of high school football. Might take it easy tomorrow and go play roadie for a few miles.

For those who don't know, T100 is a trail through the Phoenix Mountain Preserves. Its generally an easy trail with a few tough sections and a lot of rocky areas. Makes for a good old fart riding trail.

Over the Bars

2008-03-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

So, last night, with the telephone network operating properly, I escaped from the office by 5:30 and was on the trails by 6:00, lights ready, battery charged and looking for a good 2 hour ride. I worked my way up to the high point on trail 1A and headed east after a stop to look at the evening view. As I was picking my way through a rocky spot, I got a little too far forward on the bike and allowed the front wheel to land in one of those nicely formed spots that pretty closely match the circumference of the wheel. Naturally, the wheel stopped just as the laws of physics intended. The rest of the and I attempted to continue on. Since the front wheel was still attached to the rest of the bike, the rear wheel chose the path of least resistance, which of course was up and over the front wheel. That decision by the rear wheel left me with only 1 decision, how to make contact with the surrounding terrain in a manner that would allow me to get back up somewhat intact. Fortunately for me, the tumble didn't damage any of the local flora, nor did the local flora have the opportunity to damage me. The bike remained intact. The only damage was to a bracket that holds the headlight to the handlebars. The light still works, but without a way to hold the light in place, it was time to head home. The two hour ride turned out to be about 50 minutes. Now the trick is finding a new bracket for the light, although I am pretty good with a roll of duct tape.

Riding Plans Gone Awry

2008-03-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

My plan for the weekend was to ridw T100 end to end to end. That didn't happen. I joined up with a group ride that began at Dreamy Draw and spanned about 17-18 miles of the Phx Mtn Preserve. We were an older group (youngest age 45), so we stopped often, chatted and had a generally good time. We spent about 4 hours riding. Great weather, great fun.

Since I didn't do my planned ride on Saturday, I figured I'd do it on Sunday. As it turned out, I spent the day working on telephone network problems up north of Lake Pleasant. I've spent 3 days now driving back and forth on the back roads trying to fix a pretty intractible trouble. Hopefully, we'll figure it out tomorrow and things will get back to their normally hectic pace. With any luck, I'll do my T100 mini-epic ride next weekend.

One great thing about my job is that I get out of the office fairly often and there is some beautiful scenery where I work. I took these shots along the way on Sunday.

Desert Classic and a little T100

2008-02-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a gorgeous day that topped out about 68. MTBR Arizona showed a group ride at 10:am, Desert Classic starting at the Pima Canyon trailhead. Since it was listed as a c-ride, I figured what the heck, I should be able to fit it in between running around to the baseball stadiums buying tickets for spring training. Arriving at the trailhead, I found every parking space full. Managed to find a spot near the park entrance that didn't say you could park there, nor did it say you couldn't. Rode up to th emeet point, arriving at 9:55. Waited around for about 10 minutes and began to think the ride wasn't going to happen. Started out on my own solo group ride. Desert Classic is an interesting trail with lots of whoop-dee-doos and not much climbing. The trail marker posts are numbered, b ut I don't know what the numbers mean. Seemed like 1/10s of a mile, but they weren't very evenly spaced. Anyway, I rode out to marker 54and started back. Met up with 3 guys who were there for the group ride, two were still outbound and 1 was coming back. The returner and I hooked up and headed back to the parking lot. I'm not sure, but I think the ride was 12-14 miles. One thing I've noticed is that c-riders tend to go faster than I do. I guess I'm more of a d+ rider. I can usually keep my wheels between me and the ground in the terrain they ride, but I'm a hell of a lot slower.

Today, I was dragging around, doing chores and running errands. Got out on the bike about 3:00pm and wenmd looking for a T100 trailhead near the apartment. I found one at 24th St, but it turned into a rough climb that I wasn't really up for. Pushed the bike up and found a meet with T100. From there I headed west to the power lines, then back east, up Dreamy Draw and down to the 32nd St Trailhead. Made it back to the apaartment in time to listen to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" on the local NPR station.

I'm thinking next weekend I might do all of T100, starting at 32nd, heading west to 7th Ave, east to Tatum, and back to 32nd St. Its about 20 miles, so I'm thinking (don't laugh) 4 to 5 hours, followed by a good soak in the apartments' hot tub.

New Helmet

2008-02-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

If that title grabbed you, you really need to find something more interesting to do. Before I start on that subject though, I think its interesting that, according to Google Analytics, I had a visitor from Casoria, Italy, evidently part of the Naples metro area. That adds to the USA, Finland, Yemen, Australia and New Zealand since I started playing with Analytics. I'm easily entertained.

This weekend I shopped for a new helmet, since the one I've been wearing is about 8 years old, smelly, and probably not as effective as it should be. I've been wearing bike helmets ever since they became generally available, probably over 30 years ago. In that time I've only landed on the helmet once. I was on my daily commute in Portland and running a bit late. Along my route, there was a small dog that would spot me and run down off his porch, barking and trying to catch me. because it was a slight downhill, I always had enough speed that he never quite got to me. One morning, he got smart and hid behind a trailer parked on the street. Seeing me coming, he jumped out of his hiding spot crouched down and started barking. Being late, I was pushing pretty hard and doing about 25 mph. Dog and I locked eyes and panic. Dog can't figure out which way to go, spins around darts abck and forth looking for a place to hide. I can't figure out which way to swerve because dog hasn't made up his mind. Time's up. My front wheel hits him and I go over the bars, landing helmet first and tumbling about 3 times before I stop. The wheel is taco'd, my neck hurts, I'm scraped up, but my brains are only slightly scrambled, thanks to Mountain Safety Research (MSR). I got up, straightened the wheel as much as possible, and wobbled on in to work. Never saw the dog again. I think I made out better than he did.

The old MSR helmet was a lexan hard shell, basically a mountaineering helmet modified for cycling. The lexan held up pretty well and never developed any cracks, so I wore it for a long time.

So there I am, looking for a new helmet. Now, I don't really like to admit it, but my skull is large enough to have its own gravitational pull. I tried on several "Large" and "Universal" size helmets and found out that those sizes refer to large and universal pinheads, not the manly skull that I sport. I did find a Bell Influx that fits my noggin and is actually comfortable. The silly thing is, this helmet has "GPS," which aparently has nothing to do with global position systems. It refers to a little knob on the back that tightens a strap and firmly positions the helmet on my globe. Another thing that I like is the placement of pads inside the helmet. When I ride, I sweat like nobody else. The sweat runs down my forehead and drips on my glasses (coke bottles, really). Its one of those annoying things that I've put up with for years. This new helmet seems to direct the flow down my nose and misses the lenses. You might think that sweat dripping down your nose ain't such a great thing, but not having to stop and wipe sweat off my glasses with a damp tail of my shirt, then see the world through smears is a major improvement. I'd rather wipe my nose any day.

South Mountain

2008-02-04T16:25:00.001-08:00

Figuring that the Super Bowl and cloudy day would keep the crowds away, I made a run at South Mountain yesterday. Arriving at the Pima Canyon entrance, it was obvious that I was wrong. There must have been 200 cars on the access road and in the parking lot. Fortunately, a few football fans must have already left, 'cause I was able to park pretty close to the trailhead. Not knowing my way around, I opted to follow the gravel road that continues up into the park. after about a mile, the road ended and two trails led off into the hills. One was marked "National" and the other was marked "Mormon" with the second m scratched out. Having heard tales about National, I chose Morxon. It was mostly climbing, but not too severe. Being a geezer, I wheezed along as much as possible and pushed the bike where needed. I met up with National after a mile or so, then followed it until I figured it was a smart time to turn back.

These are some very cool trails, but in many places simply more difficult than I am willing to ride. Some interesting erosion is taking place along the way. A couple sections have turned into a single rut about 2 feet deep and not much wider than the width of my pedals. I don't know how it would be possible to recover those areas, since the rains probably wash any loose stuff away and continued use will just make them deeper.

I was surprised at the amount of traffic on the trails, both foot and bike. Looks like folks are loving it to death. It must be a circus on SoMo when the weather's good.

Super Bowl Weekend

2008-02-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

I've been fighting off some upper respiratory crud and haven't been on the bike much in the last couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks, I'm startingto think ,"Valley Fever" and really hoping this isn't it. Valley fever is a real thing that hits people in the Phoenix area. Its kind of a cold/flu thing that goes on for weeks. With any luck, this is just a cold. Anyway, it makes climbing a chore on the bike.

For the first day of Super Bowl weekend, I started out at Dreamy Draw and worked east. Theres a neat section of trail, I think its 8, that follows up a ravine and tops out about 1/4 mile SW of the A&W house. With all the rain lately, the desert is really fascinating. Unfortunately, all the trails are rockier than normal, with a lot of loose stuff to keep your focus. Anyway, I made it up there and got to see the oddity that sits pretty much alone in the preserve. The house looks like something from the 60s, with a sort of gawdy elegance. Whoever built it had a lot more dollars than sense.

Depending on weather, I might ride at south mountain. I've only ridden the road up to the lookout once, during a silent sunday. Given that the whole city will probably be watching a couple of east coast teams bump into each other, the mountain should be all mine. I haven't ridden the trails there before because there's apparently a lot of folks hiking and riding around most of the time and even parking there is supposed to be a problem. Weather outlook calls for rain, but if it isn't bad, I'll go and get wet. I will just have to miss my annual super bowl nap where I kick on the TV and fall asleep before the first quarter is over.

Slow Truly Defined

2008-01-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

A week ago, I went out east and rode Hawes, etc. with a group of riders in much better shape than me. I warned them that I would be slow and, if they wanted to drop me I'd ride alone and maybe see them back at the parking lot. Turned out they were kind enough to wait for me at trail intersections and avoid comments like, "Godamn, you are the slowest sumbitch in the valley!"

I really felt slower than usual too. I had donated blood during the prior week and was in the second day of a headcold. I took some stopyourrunnynose pills and figured riding might actually help clear things up. Didn't, sucked.

Hawes is a very cool trail area. I rode it once in the early fall when the temp was about 100, and I was looking forward to the ride in cooler weather. I have only been there twice now, because its 50 miles from my apartment and I'm not a big fan of burning a lot of gas to ride my bike. Feels like it kind of defeats the purpose.

Speaking of apartments and driving to ride, I am moving to a new apartment that is about a mile from the 32nd St trailhead at Phoenix Mtn Preserve. The reason for the move is mostly economic (not a fan of paying almost $900/month for a 1 bdrm w/dumpster view), but my sweetheart says. "Its all about the bike." Actually, its all about the biking. Big difference.
Anyway, its temporary. When the house in Kansas sells and we make the big move, the location will be based more on politics and volunteerism than biking, but that's a story for later.

Random Nations - Nothing yet

2008-01-17T20:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't really given it much time, but so far, no hits from the countries names in the last post. Anyway, my 4:45 alarm went off and I had every intention of hopping on the bike and getting in the pre-work spin in Thunderbird Park. I could hear the wind blowing and knew the temp was supposed to be around 36, which is pretty cold for 'nix. I wimped out and reset the alarm for 6.

Feeling kinda like a slug for skipping the o-dark-early, I hopped on the bike when I got home at 6:45. Now, I know T-Bird closes at "Dusk", but when I got to the gate at 7 it was wide open, so in I rode. Hit the loop around the south side and made the usual climbs. At the top of the last hill, I shut off the headlight and enjoyed the fresh air and view. When I turned the bike around to head down and back to the 67th Ave gate, I saw the flashing lights and thought, "I wonder if they just chase stragglers out or ticket them." Not really wanting to find out the hard way, I left the headlight off and killed the flashing tail light. Still, wearing a hi-viz green windbreaker with reflective piping, I doubt I was invisible. Anyway, with my eyes used to the dark and being familiar with the trail, I rode down with lights off. There was a half moon high in the sky and visibility was actually pretty good. Anyway, got down the hill in one piece. As you approach the 67th Ave gate from the south, there's a small hill to climb, then a gradual drop out of the park. Again, not wanting to find out about tickets, fines, Maricopa County Tent City Jail, etc. I crept up the hill, keeping an eye out for flashing light. No sign of them. Quick, out the exit gate! Felt like being a teenager again.

More Analytics

2008-01-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Checking Google Analytics today, I noticed that an obviously very bored Finn from Kuopio stumbled accross this inane blog. It reminds me of ham radio operators who scan the airwaves hoping to make contact with anyone they can reach. Google gives a dashboard with dots pointing to the places that hit the web page. Makes me wonder, if I name some countries randomly, will folks from them stumble across the page?

Let's try it: Scotland Argentina Kenya Iran Denmark

I'll post a note if I get hits from any of the above countries.

Analytical

2008-01-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

Back in November, Sean came down to Phoenix for a few days to visit and ride. While he was here, he showed me Google Analytics. I dinked around with it and got it working, generating statistics about my pretty darned boring blog. Its interesting to check it every few days and see how, among the billions of people in the world, there are only 5 or 6 per day who are so misguided or plainly lost that they end up glancing at the miscellaneous ramblings of a fat, middle aged (if I live to be 112) non-competitive mountain biker.

I thought it was pretty cool when I saw that my blog had its first international visitor - some poor bloke from Sydney Australia who probably stumbled onto the page after I made reference to the Estrella Yacht Club. The EYC is absolutely one of the silliest things I have seen in Arizona. I guess they had to name it something important sounding. After all, who would join the Estrella Dinghy Club? I might, but I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.

Google Analytics is a fun diversion. It reminds me of the end of one of the Muppet movies. While the credits were rolling, one of the characters asked if anyone ever reads the credits. To which Kermit replied, "Sure, they've all got families."

First Blood '08

2008-01-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Fantasy Island North

2008-01-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

One riding area I'd heard and read about but hadn't tried is Fantasy Island North. Apparently named after Tucson's Fantasy Island (which I also have not ridden), it sounded like an interesting place. I have a thing about driving a bunch of miles to ride my bike, so I tend not to go not much further than the Phoenix Mtn Preserves. FINS, being 34 miles from my apartment, seemed like a lot of dino juice for another ride. The route passes through Goodyear, then into another of those weird housing developments on the outskirts of the metro area where nobody lives without 1 or 2 SUVs. Estrella Mountain Ranch. I was most impressed by the Yacht Club.

Who are they trying to kid? The "Yacht Club" sits on a man made lake that can't be much more than 10-15 acres. I wouldn't drag my 13 ft. sailboat to a lake like that. I can picture a table of old salts sitting aroud at the Estrella Ranch Yacht Club in their watch caps and peacoats, smoking their scrimshaw pipes and spinning yarns about the gale of '06, clawing off the lee shore of the pond, and fearing that the mighty swell would wash them ashore NNW of the 15th hole.

Sorry, but Yacht clubs in the desert are a bit incongruous.

Back to FINS. You park at the nearby grade school and ride about 1/2 mile to the start of the trails. And a great set of trails they are. The folks that built them put a lot of thought and hard work into them. Lots of narrow, winding singletrack with whoop-dee-doos, climbs and descents. This is a trail system that would interfere with my life if it was close to home. I'd be out there every day for hours while the mortgage didn't get paid and the family starved.

I rode for about 3 hours and only did a little bit of backtracking or repeats. I think I covered about 90% of the trail system and had a ball.

Riding an aluminum hardtail in Phoenix presents some challenges, and my old Klein hardtail is very rigid. It has an old Judy XC fork that I modified a bit because of my weight. The fork has no more than about 50 mm of travel. FINS was built for this bike. I'm certain the trail builders figured that sooner or later some geezer would show up on a bike like mine and the trail would need to have some flow. Thanks guys. The geezer showed up and loved it.

As Sean calls it, "Gratuitous bike porn shot."

Shaping up after Christmas

2008-01-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

My Honey came into town for the holidays and stayed for about 2 weeks. Since we don't get to see a lot of each other while she's trying to sell the house in Kansas, I got on the bike only once during her visit. I was afraid that it would take at least 2 weeks to get back to my early December condition. Mind you, my early December condition wasn't all that great, but I was riding 5 days a week and getting in about 40 miles of trail.

My first day on the bike was an O-dark-early Thunderbird Park ride, my usual weekday loop. It didn't bode well, and I was thinking it would be a tough weekend.

Saturday, I rode the North Mtn Preserve, covering about 7 1/2 miles. Started at the visitors Center and rode northwest. I tried a couple of trails that petered out near a church, then worked my way back around toward the southwest ti the area around the T100 7th Ave trailhead. On the way back east, I found a trail leading southeast to overlook 7th St. That trail tied into a paved road that appears to be used for hiking. From there, I backtracked and made it back to the visitors center just as the rain started.

On Sunday, I rode out of Dreamy Draw and put in about 8 miles on trails between there and Tatum. On one trail that follows a hillside north of T100 and somewhere around 40th St, I came across the work of some rock fairies. A pile of rocks, about 5-10 pounds each was stacked on the trail next to a boulder and partially blocking the trail. It would have been easy to hop over, but I stopped and removed them. It was obvious that the rocks didn't end up there from erosion, too many of the same size in one spot and not enough anywhere nearby. I'd heard that the rock fairies leave their marks on that trail, but hadn't seen the result before.

In all, I was relieved that I didn't suck as bad as I expected, but Tinker Juarez still has no need to worry about me.

Night Ride

2007-12-22T20:11:00.000-08:00

I went for a rare evening ride under an almost full moon. The moonshine was almost bright enough to ride without lights. If it hadn't been for the city lights, it probably would have been possible. With the city lights glowing, it was hard to develop good enough night vision to pick out the trails. I headed out from 32nd Street and rode some trails I thought I knew. Funny, things look different at night. Didn't really get disoriented or anything like that. It was more, "I thought the trail dropped here, popped up there and went left there." Still, there were enough obvious landmarks that getting lost wasn't an issue.

Stopping occasionally and listening to the sounds of the preserve was a delight. I could here owls hooting from what seemd to be around the 1A trail, rustling of bushes here and there, and a few scurrying sounds. Couldn't see or hear any sounds of people other than the distant hum of the city in the distance.

The ride only lasted about 45 minutes, but it sure was refreshing.

Christmas on the Trails

2007-12-16T18:02:00.001-08:00

I was riding along T100 between Hwy 51 and Cave Creek and came across the second decorated tree I've seen on the trails of Phoenix.

This one wasn't quite as good at the one on top of one of the hills in Thunderbird Park, but this is the one when I had a camera with me. It will be intersting to see if the ornaments get removed after Christmas.

I went on my first group ride in Phoenix Saturday morning. Its called a c-ride and we left out of the 7th St visitors center, headed east past Cave Creek, then chased around on some fun trails I hadn't seen before. We rode for about 2 hours. I was the only one riding a hardtail, which is a pretty skittish bike on all the rock left after the recent rains. I was definitely the oldest, fattest and slowest of the group. Sort of a C- rider among a group of C+'s and B's.

Later on in the day, I took a solo ride in T-Bird, just because it was too nice a day to sit in the apartment. Followed up with an afternoon ride today, which made for a good weekend of pedalling.

Poaching? Maybe

2007-12-12T19:32:00.001-08:00

Went out for a ride this evening, figuring I could make my usual early morning loop through Thunderbird. When I got to the park entrance, the ranger was closing the gates. Yeah, the ones with the signs that say something like, "Park Hours Sunrise to Sunset." Rather than try to outrun him in his truck, I rode on by and turned around when he took off back into the park. He left one gate open, so I rode on in. I headed around to the south like I do in the early morning hours, keeping an eye out for the gendarme. As I came over the hill that overlooks the 59th Ave parking lot, I stopped, turned off my light, and looked around to see if maybe he was hanging around looking for trail poachers. Didn't see him and started down the hill. I thought about continuing around to the north and back west, but I figured the trail on that side is mostly visible from the park road. I have no idea whether the Rangers ticket folks for being in the park after it closes, and I decided I didn't really want to find out. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I cut southeast along a trail that pops out next to 59th and headed back to the apartment.

What I can't quite figure out is, when I get to the park entrance at 5 am, the gates are open. Dawn is still two hours off, but somebody came through at O-dark-early and opened up the park. If they can fudge by 2 hours in the morning, why not in the evening? Another great imponderable, kind of like, "If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?"

Another After the Rain

2007-12-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's (Friday) weather was an almost exact repeat of last Friday. Rain started coming down about 1:00pm or so and continued well into the night. We must have gotten about an inch. Today dawned cloudy and cool, with predictions of rain inthe morning hours. I hung around the apartment, reading and doing a little bike maintenance. Finished a book entitled Great Adventures in Small Boats, originally published in 1948. All the accounts preceded fiberglass and occurred in a world when small boat voyages were pretty rare. Fun read.

Rode out of Dreamy Draw, working my way around the north edge of the Preserve. I hadn't been on most of these trails and it was fun exploring some new ground. One great thing about days after a big rain is the cool crisp air and almost complete lack of smog.

Looped around and caught T100 for a bit, then tried climbing $5. Made all but the last 50 yds.

Followed 1A around to the east, dropped back down to T100, up to Conversation Point and down Dreamy Draw to the truck. Good ride.

'tis the Season

2007-12-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

After all the months of warm, dry weather, the season of snot rockets has arrived. You know what that is, your sinuses clog up, your nose runs. You turn your head left, cover your right nostril and HONK. You trun right, cover your left nostril and HONK again. By the way don't get that backwards or you'll look like banana slugs have been crawling over your chest.

This is one of the basic skills of cycling. First you learn to balance, then you learn to pedal, then you learn to blow snot rockets. This comes before bunny hopping, gloving tires, fixing flats.

That brings me to flats. I usually run about 40-45 psi and rarely get flats, except from thorns or broken glass. This morning, first time at Thunderbird since the rain, I caught a pinch flat. Heard a hissing sound and thought, "That doesn't sound much like a snake." It wasn't, unless a snake bit the side of my tire. I love fixing flats in the dark. Anyway, I found no tire damage, but there it was in the tube, a telltale lengthwise slit along the side of the tube. Had to cut the ride short and get ready for work.

After the Rains

2007-12-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

After 2 days of rain, the air was a clear as i'v ever seen it in Phoenix. The high was about 65. Perfect day for an afternoon ride. The rain washed all the trails to the extent that a lot of them seemed completely different. I kind of planned to go up by the A&W house, but when I got up to the trail that leads over there, the erosion and mud made it look like a bad idea. Instead, I headed north on 8 to meet up with T100. 8 was in pretty bad shape too and I walked part of it so the hikers wouldn't think I was showing off, and I've got a bridge to sell you.

Looped down 8, then back up and caught 1A back to the west. After that it was north for a bit, then back to the truck at 32nd. Beautiful day for it.

The vegetation isn't looking much different so far after getting 2 inches of rain. Except the saguaro. Most were getting pertty thin from the dry. Today, they were swelled up like post-thanksgiving dinner football watcher.

Rainy Saturday

2007-12-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

The day dawned with showers and cool temps. I loaded up the bike and went to the Tempe Festival of the Arts for a couple of hours, then headed up to Dreamy Draw, hoping to get in a ride before that next squall came in.

One thing about rainy days in Phoenix, parking is a breeze at trailheads.

Left the parking lot about 2:30, went up Dreamy Draw, then up 1A, across to the east and down a hill Sean referred to as 5 Dollars to T100. As I started down, the rain and wind hit in earnest. Knowing there weren't many folks in the park at that time, I figured I should work my way back to the truck. I followed T100 back rather than take some of the more interesting routes. By the time I got back, I was pretty well soaked. It was a lot like riding in the Pacific Northwest - cool and wet, but without the mud.

After about 2 inches of rain since Friday, all the rock was washed clean and dust was non-existent. There wasn't much soft ground anywhere, nor were there many puddles. The air felt as clean as its been since I moved here.

I'll probably head over there again tomorrow and ride as much as possible. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the vegetation now that its had a good dose of rain after so much drought.

Post Thanksgiving Grind

2007-11-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

After a week off the bike and a trip to Kansas to see my honey, getting back on the bike everything I expected, or feared. The pavement section up to Thunderbird Park entrance seemed to drag, climbs on the trail were pathetic, and my balance was a bit off. It all made for a pretty strong reminder that a week without exercise and too much eating does have its consequences.

Sedona weekend

2007-11-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

Sean arrived in Phoenix at about 10:40 Friday night after a flight delay of an hour or so. He was pretty hot to see his new ride, a Salsa El Mariachi 29'r that he bought from Rage in Scottsdale. Back at the apartment about midnight, the perfect time for a spin around the parking lot and a tweak here and there to get set for the morning run to Sedona.

To me, the bike looks like a skinny frame with tundra tires, but it is a pretty cool bike.

We met up with Crazy Joe and Gordo the Wonderdog at Oak Creek, and headed off looking for the Baldwin trailhead. Neither of my guides seemed to remember exactly where the trailhead is, so we took what looked like a well used trail that petered out and gave us a bit of a bushwhacking experience that ended up in somebody's driveway, inside their gate. Fortunately nobody shot at us. Another mile down the road and we found the real trail, with a real sign, and off we went, Baldwin to Templeton.

The scenery was absolutely spectacular, and I managed to take an off-trail excursion while gawking at the redrock surroundings and paying too little attention to the redrock in the middle of the trail. Off the bike, down the embankment and into a holly bush that was kind enough to break my fall. My glasses came off on the way down, and were invisible in all the dust I kicked up. Problem - myopic geezer stuck in a holly bush without his glasses. Don't move around too much, because it will be a long run back to the truck without my specs. The dust settled and I eventually found them, none the worst for wear. Caught up with Sean, Joe and Gordo about the time they were talking about sending out a search party.

I don't know about Sean and Crazy Joe, but I'm willing to bet Gordo the Wonderdog was smart enough that he could have found me at the crash site AND went to get Lassie. Now, I'm not a big fan of dogs (mostly they bark, chew up shoes and crap on lawns), but Gordo is pretty impressive. We rode something like 13-15 miles at a pretty good pace and he stayed with us the whole time, never blocked the path, and completely ignored other dogs on the trail. Put in a better performance than I did.

For most of the ride, I wondered why Crazy Joe carried that moniker. He rides that singlespeed like a mountain goat and seemed more than happy to wait for Sean and me as we struggled to make it through sections that he cleaned as if they were 6 lane freeways. I figured out the "Crazy." I warned him at the start that this ride would be one of the slowest he ever did. We'd been riding about two hours when he commented to me that he hadn't seen slow yet. At that point I knew Joe is either crazy or he perceives the space/time continuum in a manner unlike the rest of the human race. Anyway, thanks Joe for a great ride. You and Gordo are tops in my book.

Sean was his usual self - cheery, funny, enjoying life. I may be biased because he's family, but he is a great riding partner and a joy to spend time with. We rode Sedona on Saturday and Phoenix Mtn Perserves on Sunday and had a ball. Like anyone else who throws a leg over an mtb, he pretty much left me in the dust, but didn't seem to mind having to wait for the geezer to catch up. Definitely made for a fun weekend.

Sean at speed on the new ride.

Me - looking determined and barely making the little climb.

28 mile weekend

2007-11-11T19:23:00.000-08:00

Saturday dawned with a temp of 60, and by the time I started riding it was about 70. Parked at Dreamy Draw, fortunately nobody else wanted to park next to the trash cans, since there was nowhere else to park. Busy day. Headed west and followed T100 & T100A to 7th St. and back. In all, 10 miles in a little over 2 hours. Not bad for a fat guy.

Hit the trail again on Sunday at 11:00 with the temp around 70. One trail that has defeated me twice since arriving in Phoenix beckoned. Its in Thunderbird Park west of 59th and north of my usual morning loop. Bottom to top is 1.75 miles and only about 550 ft. of climbing. The problem has been the way it climbs. The tougher sections are at the west end with a fairly steep, rocky climb, followed by a couple of additional steeps and the last 100 ft of climbing in the final 1/10th mile. Probably no problem for a scrawny 30 year old, but for OFS its tougher than it looks. Anyhow, I made the climb, with a few stops for hikers and a couple of "I think I'm gonna die" stops for air.

After making the climb, I rode back to the apartment and swapped Mr Klein for Mr Fuji Finest (more Fuji OK than finest), my road bike. Its been a while since I rode my skinny tire bike and tire pressure was down from 110 to 20. A few shots with the pump and I was off.

My objective was to see if there is a reasonable way to get from 67th Ave and the 101 to the Peoria baseball park where the Mariners and Padres have Spring training. Someone whom I'm very fond of has a thing about professional baseball and spring training, and I wanted to see if there is a way to ride to the park without serious traffic issues. The park is only 4.5 miles away, but I'm going to have to try a few other routes before I find one that the baseball fan will be ok with.

In all, I got in 19 MTB and 9 road miles. Not bad for an old fat guy.

White Tanks

2007-11-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, White Tanks is is off my list.

I started up Mesquite Canyon and got into what would be a great trail for hiking, but really sucked with a bike. The first mile of climbing is simply not rideable by a geezer like me. Walking wasn't too bad, but would have been a lot better without 25 lbs of bike. After the first mile, the trail is rideable, and I managed to grind up to the intersection with Willow trail. I continued another 1/4 mile or so before I decided to bag it and go back down. The downhill was better than the climb, and I rode all but maybe 400 yds, with only 1 excursion over the bars. With the crash yesterday at Black Canyon, when I dropped my front tire into a soft spot in the sand, my total crashes since arriving in Phoenix have added up to 2.

Now that I've spent 12 bucks for access to White Tanks, I'm through paying to ride there when there are so many other places to go.

WORK?!!

2007-11-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

I left the apartment at 7 this morning and drove up to the Black Canyon Trailhead at Black Canyon City. Got there about 7:45. There were only a few folks there and the sign-in sheet had only about 3 names. I was the only one with a bike. Met Bob the BLM guy, who gave me directions, "Whenyou get to the river, go west about a half mile. You'll see us up on the hillside." or words to that effect. So I took off on the trail and found the river. 8:15 or so, sun on my back, I'm facing west. I follow the river (rivulet) about 1/2 mile. No trail, no trailworkers. I continue on. There was a fork in the trail back near the hilltop, maybe I took the wrong one. Another mile, damn river is now east. No trail, no trailworkers. Another mile, now there are houses. Must have gone wrong somewhere. Back downriver. Lots of sand and rock gardens, so its push and carry Mr Klein. Now its about 9:15. I signed in and now I'm off somewhere that wasn't in the plan. I know how to get back, but I don't want to backtrack all the way to the truck and have a bunch of folks wandering around looking for "that idiot." When I got back to the place where the river and trail met, I ran into a lady who was doing something with geo-caching. She pointed out the work crew up on the hillside and said that one of them headed upriver to find me. How long ago? About 10 minutes. We must have passed somewhere. On the way back downriver , I made a point of following my trail and leaving a separate set of tracks so someone would see that I had come back. As I was trying to decide whether to go back upriver and find the searcher, he came into view. He remarked that he could tell I had returned downriver because he saw two sets of tracks.

Off we went to meet up with the trail crew, after my wasting of 2 hours. The crew had made good progress already, and I joined them for about 3 hours. In all the crew completed about 800 ft. I broke rock, raked dirt, and didn't f**k up my back.

Temp was about 90 when we headed back where the folks drove to. I loaded Mr Klein into one of the trucks and accepted a ride back to the trailhead. Pie ala-mode and good conversation at the Rock Springs Cafe, and I was back in Phoenix by 4:00 pm.

Tomorrow I'll try Willow Canyon to Goat Camp at White Tanks. I've seen video of the Goat Camp trail and that was enough to convince me that I'll turn back rather than break something.

Gear growlings

2007-11-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

About 6 weeks ago, I found that my chain had stretched quite a bit (I check this kind of thing once every 5 years whether it's needed or not). I replaced it, which led to the realization that the chainrings and sprockets were all worn. Finding replacement chainrings didn't work out, so that meant new crank, which meant new bottom bracket. 8 speed cassettes are getting to be a bit rare, so I ended up with a SRAM cassette.

All together, the setup worked ok except the chain skipped on the 3rd cassette gear any time I cranked hard on it. Ok, just avoid that gear. After a few weeks, 4th gear started doing the same thing. This was getting ridiculous. Last night I gave up on the SRAM, even though as an old fat and slow guy I liked the 32T granny gear. At the second shop I visited, Swiss American(?), 44th Ave & Bell, I found an 8 speed 11x30 Shimano. They were holding a bike maintenance (bent wheel bad, straight wheel good) class, so I had to step around some of the attendees to get to the parts counter. All in all, it seems like a good shop, and off I went with my new cassette.

Now that its all dialed in and working well, I'm just waiting for the Octolink BB to fail like the ones Sean's been going through. If it fails, I'll dig around for some new chainrings and go back to the past with square taper that's served me well for the last 50 years.

Flat Fixed

2007-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like one of the attack cacti must have get my rear tire while I was riding at White Tanks. It was a pinhole with the tip of a spine caught in it, so small that drowning the overinflated tube in the bathroom sink showed only a small bubble every few seconds (Yes, I'm living alone right now until the house sells in Kansas, so I was able to clean up the mess before anyone commented). The tire didn't have an obvious hole and there was no sign of a hole. Got it back together last night and was on the trail again this morning.

In two months of riding almost every day, this was my first flat. Apparently, knocking on wood did no good.

Huh

2007-10-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Got up at 4:45 to go out for a morning ride before work.

Flat tire on the rear.

Went back to bed.

White Tanks

2007-10-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

I spent Sunday afternoon at the White Tank Mountains competitive track, and, except for a couple of interesting sections (the technical loop and the northern loop) the trails were kind of ho-hum. The scenery was impressive, but for riding, the trails generally were not. I did actualy remember to bring my camera this time. Funny how these desert shots all start to look alike!

Red Mountain

2007-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

For a sunday ride, I drove over to the area south of Red mountain and rode about 6 miles on the trails. As recommended, I parked the truck near the Walgreen's at Thomas and Power Rds, then rode the 1.7 miles to the trailhead. The trails are the best I've ridden in Phoenix so far, smooth, curvy and just plain fun. On one section of the Ridge Trail, there was a flat black painted full suspension MTB stuck in some rocks like a roadside monument. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a department store bike that was left behind because walking probably turned out to be a more quality experience.

The only drawback to Red Mountain is that the trailhead is almost 50 miles from my apartment in Glendale. Its all freeway, so time isn't a big deal, but at 18 mpg, that's a lot of dinosaur juice for a couple hours on the bike.

2007-10-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

At 10:00am the temperature was a delightful 72 degrees. I parked at Dreamy Draw and headed toward the west end of the T100 trail. It starts with a fairly steep and rocky climb followed by a steep and rocky descent. It’s not the best way to warm up. However, after the first ½ mile or so, the trail turns into a technically interesting ride. I followed it for about 3 miles then backtracked to the start point. I headed up dreamy Draw just to see if my lungs could make the climb without the audible gasps for air that echo off the canyon walls like an asthmatic rutting bull elk. Fortunately, the climb was good, I stopped only long enough to let two guys go screaming down without running over me. From Conversation point, I went north and caught 220 for the descent to the parking lot. 220 has a section of 20 yards or so where I chickened out and walked the bike down. Great day for a ride.