Lollygaggin

Yesterday was my off Friday, which means getting out of the heat to go ride in the pines. Turning north to the rim, I set out to ride an out and back on the General Crook from it's intersection with highway 87, 25 miles out to Dane Spring, look for a decent at large camping spot for the 4th of July weekend with Mrs. maadjurguer and furry beasts and then return. If my online mapping was correct, this would give me a nice even 50 miles with close to 5 grand in elevation gained....turn-n-burn time at 7500 ft.








With only a 20% chance of thunderstorms after 11am, and a hard stop for riding at 1pm due to box seats at the Diamondbacks game back down in PHX later in the evening, I figured that I needed to leave the car no later than 8 to be back in PHX by 3. In the end, I was only off by 30 minutes or so.....I forgot to factor in lollygaggin time....























The chevrons on the tree mark the General Crook trail along it's length...not that I needed it....just keep the trees on one side.....























.....the cliffs on the other side.....and the rubber side down....it's all good.



















Arriving at Dane Spring, I noticed the cabin needed a little fixing up....























But the view out the window wasn't half bad.


















The spring was still running, cool and clear
























.....but I filtered it anyways...I mean, I enjoy reading Dirt Rag on the toilet as much as the next guy...but I can't say sitting on the toilet for hours on end is better than sitting on a saddle for hours on end.



















I almost lost myself at the spring, smelling the roses....or more appropriately, rosa arizonica. I was lucky to see this guy....the flowers only last one day. They're also noted for their very fragrant hips which make a great tea.



















On the last climb back to the car, I had to stop and snap a shot of the Golden Columbine, aquilegia chrysantha.



















Standing out on a hillside full of impossibly green ferns, it made for a worthy stop.







Total time: 5:09
Moving time: 4:46
Lollygaggin time: 23 minutes
Distance: 50.08 miles
Vertical ft gained: 5010

I've been SPOT'ed

Short post here before I head up north for the Beer Fest and some riding. I was going to do a pre-ride of the northern half of the crazy 88 route this weekend, but the timing of previously scheduled events kept me from finding the time to do it....so I did a big loop this morning for 40 some-odd miles (Hawes-Twisted-Wild Horse-Bulldog Canyon). This was my first time doing Bulldog Canyon...very impressed....there are some hike-a-bikes hidden on that "double track" which don't become apparent until you ride it. Lucky for me the overcast kept the sun at bay...otherwise I'd be mumbling right now.

Which brings me to the topic of this post. I recently bought a SPOT unit. You might notice there is a new menu item on the blog here, found in the menu bar on the left, at the top. It says,"maadjurguers spot track - track maadjurguer in real time". By clicking on this link, you will be taken to a website which logs what my SPOT unit is sending out to the satellite. I've had mixed results with the tracking of this, mostly due to user error, but you can see my ride this morning tracked just fine.

As my knee allows me and I start cranking up my mileage by going longer and bigger...I wanted a way to let folks know I was ok but would be late....or....I have a Tib-Fib fracture....so get me out of here. I've always approached the outdoors with the attitude that self-rescue is the best option and have never expected anyone to save my bacon except for myself....but sometimes things can get away from you when you least expect it....always when you least expect it. Mostly, it became apparant to me that while I was always fine....I would be out of cell-phone range, the ride was going long, the sky was getting dark....and Mrs. maadjurger was getting worried. Now she can track me......scary, huh? And for those of you asking right now....I will not be carrying this with me to the bar on friday nights.

As for the real time aspect....obviously I'm riding the desk right now...so the real time is a stretch....but had you logged on earlier in the day, you would have been able to see me in real time. I'll be using this on my longer, all day rides as I load up the oddometer this summer....knee allowing, I hope to start cranking some 80 mile days here soon.

It creeps up on you

Last week did not hit me until I looked back at my rides.....I had become so accustomed to my weekly totals being dictated by knee pain, that I stopped checking vertical and mileage. My knee has since become an altimeter counter and odomoter.....it had a weekly max of about 70 miles or 5000ft vertical in one ride....whichever came first.

I've been sorely disappointed (pun intended) on many rides to have to retreat from completion due to discomfort in my IT band going from a 3 on a 0-10 scale to a 9 in about 1 hour. I got into this sport to do long, endurance type rides....but have slowly learned to lower the bar....until this last Sunday when I looked at my Garmin.

It started last Sunday, with a ride to do Six-Shooter Canyon in the Pinal's.


















I was certain that this ride would leave me with a sore knee, but I was optimistic that it would be manageable. To my surprise, no knee pain after 26 miles and 4436 vertical ft of climbing.




I took the next day off out of habit and continued with my physical therapy, then went for an easy fitness ride on Tuesday with a favorite loop combo around Hawes for only 10 miles with 1130 vertical ft of climbing. I then headed up to Flagstaff for the moe. show at PMA....and proceeded to hammer my knee by dancing around like an idiot....the show was that good.





Needless to say, I was not happy Wednesday morning at myself....the moe. show had done more harm to my knee than Six-Shooter Canyon did. So I took an easy spin around some of the Flagstaff forest roads to rehab the knee...only 300ft of vertical gained....but 10 miles of easy riding and some early afternoon drinking at Pay n' Take....just what the PT tells me to do (sans beer), but I rarely observe (the easy riding...not the beer).






















I also used this opportunity to take dad on his 1st MTB ride....he may be hooked judging by the look on his face.






















I returned later that day because I had to go into the office on Thursday. At this point, I was dehydrated from the moe. show...drank too much coffee at work and probably only had a total of 1.5 liters of liquid the entire day. Waking up the next day (Friday), I had intended to ride Pass Mountain for the first time. However, I was clearly dehydrated.....but I decided to press on.

















After 45 minutes, I was feeling very week and light headed....it was 83o in the morning and already in the low 90's...I had thoughts of turning around...perhaps it was because I was dehydrated that I decided to press on through the misery. I brought this on myself, I'd live with it. So I decided to sit on a boulder for 30 or so minutes and find enlightenment....no Bodhi tree here....just a bunch of Palo Verde...but I did see a cool lizard who was more curious of me than I was of he/she.


















Me trying to live in the now, with no thought to the past (my dehydration) or the future (how I would complete this ride with rapidly rising temps, and dehydration).






















Climbing up the north side of Pass Mountain...temp at 97...2 liters of water for the next 6 miles, 1 liter so far consumed.

















Early season Saguaro blossoms...the heat in early May shocked everything into full summer mode

















The only cloud in the sky was no match for the fireball in the sky






















Self portrait on Pass Mtn saddle....looking forward to the descent.

















I can't say I cleaned much of the upper descent...but the Hike-A-Bike did give me time to appreciate the finer things growing out of the rock

















Upper and middle descent complete, I look back to appreciate where I just came from...and to also appreciate that over the past 3 miles....I've consumed my remaining 2 liters of water....I'm as dry as these rocks....






















After the most miserable 3 miles of riding I've had yet (due to dehydration) over sections of baby heads and other loosely assorted geologic detritus, I arrive within Usery park and proceeded to splash myself in the drinking fountain like a bird in a bath.....Aghhhhhhhhh! Lifesaver today for sure. One comment on the bike though....the 15mm thru-axle made those last 3 miles passable given my lightened state - I just ran over everything without heed to an easy line....I'm sure I would have taken much longer to get to water had I been on my 9mm QR fork.

















Overall, 24.5 miles with 2557 vertical feet gained. Nothing special on a winter day...kinda special given I had been peeing fluorescent gatoraide for the past few days and stopped sweating for 2 hours during the ride. Drink more water! But the knee felt bomber...I never gave it a thought.





The next day, I had a ride planned up on the Mogollon Rim...no more of this desert riding this week....I needed some pine trees and a cool breeze. The temps were scheduled to be a whopping 70 as a high with wind and rain - awesome -....and the streams were running....so I proceeded to hydrate after my Pass Mountain ride like a maniac and prepared for the next days ride...this time with Liteandfast and Mrs. Liteandfast. The planned loop was the Cabin Loop NE of Strawberry, AZ and was about 25 miles long. I was not sure of the vertical....but my knee was still feeling strong and rehabed from the previous ride...so I pressed on without researching it much more other than loading some waypooints into my Garmin. I figured that when my knee turned to crap, I could bail on any of the numerous forest roads on the rim. I packed my camelback with 3 liters of water and my water filter just in case.

The planned route, starting at General springs and riding clockwise















Bow-shock from Liteandfast's 29'ers






















Switchbacks through the ferns of Endor






















Barbershop canyon....a bit of HAB here, but the temps were delightful...everything was...except for the forest fire blowing smoke along our track.






















The route trails along several cabins up on the rim, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centruries

















I saw this guy along the trail on one of several HAB's...very docile and he/she let me pick him/her up for some closeups.....love the color masking these guys can put on to blend into the rock.

















One of many elongated watercourses.....paradise after Pass Mountain

















Just north of one of the springs we filled up at with the filter.

















More greenness....I think I want to come back for when these wild iris' are in bloom

















Nearing the end of the ride on the General Crook trail, view to the south across the rim

















26.5 miles, 3346 vertical feet of climbing. The knee is still perfect...amazing.




The next day, after taking it easy...I looked at my Garmin and noticed for the first time, that I had 97.5 miles on the week with something like 11k vertical feet of climbing. This is not close to epic for most...but for my IT band, it is! I'm now hitting the PT religiously....I am a believer.

My bike is better than me

Last Sunday I headed up to Globe to ride 6-shooter canyon. I can't top the posts of others, so I steer you to a more complete trip report through the fine postings of chollaball, or U2metoo's post on MTBR; however I will take this opportunity to focus on one picture taken by chollaball. For those interested in the holistic experience, please refer to the linked posts above by the folks who I had the pleasure of riding with. U2metoo has produced a pretty cool video of the trip located at either of the links above to include a scene showing the incident I am describing below.

I, however, want to focus on the ride from my point of view and from my new love, LaFawnduh. From this picture, you can clearly see that my bike has let me down; more specifically, it has dropped me like I was hot….but I’m not. My bike is way better than me….plain and simple. I’m not saying that LaFawnduh has let me down in the emotional sense or more specifically that she has disappointed me, rather; she has dumped me. My skills are well below the potential that LaFawnduh deserves, and occasionally she reminds me of this. When I look at myself on LaFawnduh, I am reminded of the picture of Truman Capote and Marilyn Monroe dancing….something does not look right. In this scenario, I am to Capote as LaFawnduh is to Monroe…..clearly a mismatch has occurred.

I’m not saying I won’t ever get better, but for now one could say that I have married well. The last time I felt such a void between the “potential of me” through top-notch equipment and the “reality of me” as exhibited by my marginal skills was a little less than 20 years ago when I was learning to ski. I had just bought my first real piece of ski equipment….a North Face Jacket – Scott Schmidt signature model….damn that thing looked good. But it quickly became apparent to me that the jacket looked better than my skiing did. This disturbed me, much like the picture of Capote and Monroe. I’ve never been one to pose, or to be a poseur; so I threw the gauntlet down at my feet, dug deep, and worked hard on skills to the point where my skiing said everything one needed to know about me….not the jacket. Flashing forward, I feel the same sense of dichotomy and void when I ride LaFawnduh. She is clearly a Formula 1 race car, and I; a Tommy Boy-esque like character behind the wheel....."I'm out here getting my ass kicked and every time I drive down the road. I wanna jerk the wheel INTO A GODDAMNED BRIDGE EMBANKMENT."

So with great humility and a sense of purpose; I am throwing down my gauntlet once more and challenging myself to push myself beyond my ability each and every ride. I made this pledge last year when I was first learning to ride, but I failed to move the bar up after achieving my initial goals. I’ve been resting on this comfortable plateau for a few months now, but it’s time to move on. I’ve ordered up some armor to protect my naked shins and knees from the inevitable scrapes, bumps and punctures which have plagued me this last year and have placed me on the bench occasionally or forced me to ride conservatively on longer days. I will now hammer obstacles over and over again until I see improvement, much as I did on skis. In the end….this is fun for me….solving problems. It just took me riding LaFawnduh for a week or so to realize that I was no longer solving problems….LaFawnduh was….by dumping me…in the creek…on my ass…..supine….with cameras flashing.

Without further ado, I give you LaFawnduh

As my previous posts explained, I've had a bit of a bike crisis. So I did what any sane person would do....I threw money at the problem and bought another blue bike. Here is the result of my efforts:

















The guys at Adventure bike have been good to me over the last year, so I decided to throw some business their way and step my game up some more. It may be blue like my Jenna, but this one comes with a major difference.....



















For a 5.5" travel bike, the suspension is pretty tight when pedaling...but soaks up everything else out there.























True to her name, I broke some personal speed records on the down just the first time out

















Please don't misread my intentions here....I still love my HiFi and always will, but this new bike has something....everything I wanted in a bike, but never knew before riding this one. I'm still swapping out my components off of the HiFi and putting them on the new bike and fine tuning the suspension...which leads me to the issue of what to name her.

In riding along yesterday, I realized that in comparison to each other; there really are no comparisons. The two bikes are both great, but they each excel at different things. So asking me to equate one to another is patently unfair. I, however, can offer these observations from my last bike ride.

The HiFi is a goat...it can climb just about anything with my skills being the limiting factor.

But that comes at a cost on the down. The bike is downright twitchy given it's steep headtube and roughs me up on these AZ trails.....kinda like this.....



The Mach 5 on the otherhand, floats through the rough like a landrover. It does give up a bit on the climb because it's got more "junk in the trunk".....and then it hit me



This bike has more junk in the trunk than a honda....that's why I'm gonna call her LaFawnduh. I'll be writing up a more complete review when i get everything spec'd out, dialed in and locked down. Until then, call me Kip when you see me.....Peace out.

I can't take it anymore, so.....

........it's coming

Brittle Failure

I'm devastated. Pictures tell a thousand words....or is it stories.....or is it a picture says a thousand words....wait....how can a picture "tell" anything? Anyways....I was "Just Riding Along - JRA" and then this happened. Might as well cut off my hands, tell me I can't drink beer, watch football or surf the internets. Hopefully....resolution will come swiftly....I can't hold out by supplementing my cardio (or stoke meter) by running in place in the gym like some lab rat while listening to some death metal. Luckily, a good Samaritan in the neighborhood (chollaball) has offered to let me ride one of his rigs on Sunday....it's good to know that others feel my pain (que some music by the Cure.....audience rolls their eyes), fade to black.....curtain down.