Happy Summer

The long rides of spring have given way to short rides of summer on the Coconino.  They're the kind of rides which are not marked by the long march towards solitude; you and your mind ranging over the landscape.  They are the rides punctuated by conversations concerning life and the shared experience.

I rather enjoy these rides within the Coconino.  These are the rides when everything you have is coated with the fine erosional dust of volcanic activity long gone .  Her fine dust coating everything, getting into my mouth as I breathe hard up a short pitch after a dusty descent; the grit coats my teeth which are exposed in a perpetual grin.  My tongue feeling the fine abrasive texture of that long ago cataclysm coating the roof of my mouth, the subtle acidic taste lingers as I pour down the singletrack once again in hot pursuit.

The sound of summer rides with friends takes on a different timbre, each highlight being shared mutually within a crescendo of enthusiasm.  It makes you want to play louder and better....each participant willed into a performance better now than it was last week.  EpicRider with his production number 36 Coconino, plays on the log rolls of the Coconino....  

Climbing farther into the hills, the dry and dusty conditions of the Ponderosa dominated forest give way to the loamy character of ground littered with aspen leaves from last falls transformation.  The acidic taste in my mouth and sharp smell in my nostrils is replaced by the subtle and sweet earthiness of decaying plant matter....occasional breezes reach down from the hill and sift a note of mushroom towards us on the twisting path.  We appear to flicker as we fly through shadows and shafts of light, filtered between the neon-green leaves of aspen in spring.  Ahead of us, we see angled columns of light filled with dust motes gently floating in random patterns which makes time appear to slow down.  If it were not for the riders who pierce through these columns of stillness, the motes would remain frozen in time; their motion now swirling in the wake of riders blazing their own path in pursuit of happiness.

With the visual stimulation being absorbed by all of our senses, more challanges are met head on by some...and others left to document the transaction.  The feeling of shared stoke over a tricky approach and climbing skinny.......

When riding is like this, the camera just fades away into my pack; the rest of the ride is consumed in a feast of light, smell, feel, taste and sound....Happy Summer is here....

3 Days, 3 Groups, 3 Rides

I was climbing the walls last week, stuck in the heat of the desert and short base mile rides on Hawes.  Boring, uninspiring solo rides on singletrack I've ridden every way possible were taking their toll on my sanity.  I needed a change of scenery otherwise my joie de vivre on two wheels was in serious jeopardy.   When I saw DurtGurl was driving north, I invited my self along so I could find something different.  Still thinking I was going to go off on a bikepack or long day rides, I was pulled by the desire to slow down, ride with people and share in the wonder.

Day one started slow with a ride up Weenie Walk and plenty of relaxing.  It took me a while to get used to not always moving...but I adjusted just fine.

After a great descent down Sunset....it's always a great descent....we climbed back up Little Gnarly and headed out to Jedi where we were greeted by the budding explosion of Aspen in spring....

Obligatory aspen pics were taken.....

...as were Log Roll shots....

DurtGurl airing it out....

It's easy to get punch drunk on Log Rolls when you've been spending all winter riding the desert....

ChongoBob flashing his trademark concentration.....

BC rolling it out....

After having a great time on Jedi, we descended Schultz and slipped into town for some beer at PnT, some pizza at Fratellis and a shot at the Weatherford before climbing back up Schultz with backpacks filled with beer.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent sharing in mirth.

Day two, more folks joined to climb Weatherford and descend Overlook....I was starting to really enjoy the group pace, taking time to talk with folks I've not ridden with before and snap shots of some great riders.  Here, Jeffro shoots a steep slot line......

....followed by DurtGurl....

More folks joined in on the Log Roll celebration....Dave makes this roll look small on his Pivot 429, size XL.....

....but a change in zoom brings things back into perspective.....

Lynette approaching the same.....

....DurtGurl flashing a stoke filled smile....

....and SuLing exuding focus.

After Overlook, we moved onto Supermoto-Dogfood-Oncelor....and then I stopped taking pictures, enjoying the ride throughly.  Day 3 dawned with a ride up LittleGnarly-Pickle-Lower Prom Night-Rocky Ridge-another trip to PnT-Schultz.

Riding with so many friends, both old and new was a refreshing change of pace and is something I'm going to focus on more.  The sharing of stoke and laughter with like-minded individuals was just what this rider needed.

Walkabout

I missed the AZT300 on purpose, having exhausted any mental capacity to do much beyond drinking beer and wallowing in short, obligatory rides to maintain a base. Given the conditions which lead to the worst attrition rate this year (congrats to Lynda....you killed it!), I had no chance; yet the lack of experience has been eating at me since March. Enter, the Coconino 250: A beautiful ride of best hits over the course of 4 stages, 4 days and 236 glorious miles. Having grown up in Arizona, the Coconino plateau has always held a special, magical corner of my heart and imagination. Watching the weather carefully, I spied a window of time I could squeeze the ride into, before committing to the Casner Dirty Centrury Ride this weekend which I volunteered/got volunteered into "leading"....whatever that means. The weather was cooling down, but there was a catch....there always is. Forecast for day's 3 and 4 was a 10% chance of thunderstorms with snow down to the 6800 ft level, sustained winds in the 30 mph range, gusts to 40, low temps in the 20's. 10% chance of precipitation in AZ might as well be a weak fart in a stiff wind, so I packed my gear and dogs and took the traveling circus back north.

Repacking my gear at Casa de Padre, I went through the neurosis associated with getting your stuff dialed....the forecast kept changing....10% became 20%......20% became 30%. I said screw it....I'll make day's 1 and 2 and do a final weather check in Cottonwood...if it's bad, I'll bail there over some BBQ at Hog Wild......

After a fitful night of sleep, full of telling dreams and foreboding insights; I rolled out on the FUTS to start the ride, happy to reach singletrack in the beautiful light of spring and wonder......

I've always loved this spot, having enjoyed it after a long ride in the grace of summer; winters frail grass still dormant prior to the arrival of early summer rains......

Reaching Marshall Lake, I peer back over my shoulder from where I started and admire the fading snows of the Kachina's....

As I pedaled on, the winds picked up as forecast....soon I was riding into a stiff 30mph wind out of the Southwest....gusts occasionally took me by surprise, knocking me over within view of Lake Mary........

........... and giving me an opportunity to look around and inspect the color I'd been seeing all along my wayward path....

After a Green Chile Pork burrito I'd bought earlier in the day from Pay N Take, I transitioned to the North of Mormon Lake where I followed the abandoned sleeper and spike from an old logging railroad used to transport timber from Mormon Mountain back to Flagstaff at the turn of the 20th century.....

Past Munds Park, I found a California Mercury whose driver had too good of a time the previous night, airbags deployed....."Pump your brakes, kid"......

Making the final descent into the stage 1 stop, I let the bike fly as I sang at the top of my lungs, "Bird is the Word".......spying a family in an ATV slowing down for me...I yelled out to them as I flew by....."Have you heard.......BIRD IS THE WORD!!!!!!!!

<<<<<click on this link and run in the background, if you want a soundtrack to the pics and words>>>>>

Stopping short of my final stop, I felt compelled to picture some more color....

Making camp on the basalt cliffs overlooking Sedona, I spread out my gear to dry and began to explore in the warm glow of afternoon light.

Late spring blooms of crimson adorned the cactus growing from fractures within the cliff......

....some, sprout from imperceptible cracks as they grow into the western sun.....

Behind me, the ground was dominated by giant alligator juniper.........

Walking around this king, I found unusual colored lichen adorning a dead branch......

.....and more, growing up from the rocks at the juniper's roots.....glowing hot in the shallow light of late afternoon.....

The smell of fresh sap was in the air; fresh ooze reflecting back images of the green plateau and blue sky behind me.....and the photographer with camera if you look closer.....

Returning to the tangerine scene which would dominate the rest of my walk, the sight of silhouetted spires rising from the canyons below held my gaze.....

One more look behind me showed the peaks, now further away than ever..... 

Returning to my bedroom, I propped up my bag against a rock and started to eat a dinner of Strawberry-Vanilla Perpetum and Red Vines as the feature presentation began......

 The lower the sun moved, the warmer the light became.....

 Cliffs I now sat on transitioned from Grey-Black to Red and Orange.....

With every minute, the temperature dropped...fast...I was frozen as I soaked up the fading views and last warmth of day......

Counting down the minutes, I shot one last frame of the Sun, setting fire to the last ridge between me and darkness........

That night, I peered up at moonless sky, dominated by the most beautiful Milky Way scene I've ever witnessed. So clear was it, that the spiral arms of the galaxy were plainly in view as I listened to Phish's Billy Breathes album.....a sublime ending to day one of bikepacking on the Coco as I drifted off to sleep as Prince Caspian.....floating upon the waves.......

The windy chill of morning woke me at 5am along with the growing glow of day. Packing up, I observed the shadows retreat down into the valley along the cream and crimson cliffs to the west.....

Making a final call on the weather in Sedona, I learned that the forecast was for more of the same for day 2, with convective precipitation a real concern for day's 3 and 4. Based on the real potential for hypothermia and frostbite with lows in the 20's and thundersnow; I called it and decided to forgo the second half of the Coco by arranging for a pickup at the base of Mingus Mountain in Cottonwood and began to enjoy the flowers of late spring along the Sedona singletrack.

Making my way over Broken Arrow, Llama and Templeton trails to Buddha Beach, I stopped to filter a bit of water at Oak Creek before continuing on to Red Rock State Park......

Transitioning to Lime Kiln Trail, my progress was slowed by extremely high headwinds and deep, talcum powder sand which left me pushing downhill, into the wind at times while being sandblasted......demoralizing to say the least, when you have to HAB on a trail like this.....I was amused, however, by seeing tire tracks from what must have been the BPR Crew making their way through here just a few weeks prior.....

.....however, the horizon-to-horizon views were still epically beautiful. The winds and clouds developing on the western horizon heralded the impending cold front.

Riding home in a vehicle with doubts as to my, now final, decision to abandon the second half; thoughts firmly validated over the next 2 days when it snowed in Flagstaff with very cold temps for mid-May.....yet I could not help but think of when I could do it all over again, and more.....I shall return........

Coco is on my mind

I'm packing in a rush having just seen a weather update....my caffeine infusement from the morning is now compounding my efforts to grab all the things I need to have before loading the car, the dogs and the bike to head north.

Tomorrow morning, Saturday May 7th, I'm going to attempt the Coconino 250 as a solo. My SPOT unit will be on and you can track me through this link, or by hitting the SPOT link found at the top of the menu bar to the left of this column.

The farthest I've ever riddeen was 150miles, and that was a 3-day bikepack with Chad last summer. The only bikepack I've done solo was a hundered mile, overnighter....and that was a mind trip for sure.  I'm clearly going to be out there....but then again, that's this blog's namesake.

Wish me luck, have hope as I do that the winds are not too bad on day 2 as I ride into them...and wish for that 10% chance of rain and snow on the end of day 3 and all of day 4 to evaporate like my fears of the unknown as I push into it, one pedel stroke at a time.

Touring the Coconino. from lacemine29 on Vimeo.

Bug

I've had writers block of late.....and less inclination to photograph things of beauty; content just to put my miles in on the day's I'm not riding something major.  I have my excuses.....the drying season in the desert leaves me without color....the early season of spring leaves me without color farther north....blah, blah, blah.  They're just excuses......I'm back in a rut....I need a good long ride again....and if I can pull it off, I'll have achived that very soon......In the interim, I played around with the photo's of the last year years adventures and put them to song....credits go to Phish for the song, Bug.  All of these are taken in Arizona, with the exception of 6 which were taken in Colorado....it's up to you to figure out which 6.......