back to my roots

We went to Tombstone last weekend...somewhere down the line I am supposedly related to Wyatt Earp!

Over the course of the last 2 weeks I have pretty much held true to my word and hung up the road bike for the remainder of my stay in Tucson. The only exception was about 200 miles of commuting back and forth to work, but thats communting, not riding or training. If I wasn't working I was hanging out on my Top Fuel! I think I have hit almost every trail system in Tucson. The only exception being the very top of Mt. Lemmon. It's a little too cold up there!

This past Tuesday Andrea and I went to Millie's Pancake House for the best pancakes in the world and then continued to the north side of town to the 50 year trail for the first time this season. It was pretty awesome. The upper loop was a little more technical than I remember, but still a pretty sweet ride. Check out this cactus Andrea hit....amazingly no flat tire....Stans at its best.

Wednesday was my last day at the shop and I stocked up on some goodies! Two new 70 oz Camelbak's and a couple pairs of new Racers Edge grips for the new bikes. Yep Andrea is buying a new Top Fuel too!

Thursday we had to do a good one with the new gear so we decided to ride up Mt. Lemmon and downhill mania the Bug Springs Trail.

Friday was the best day yet...we took a day trip up to Mesa for some new trails and good company. Red Mountain is beautiful and the Hawes trails were top notch. Even better was the fact that we had the company of some old MI friends. The Buerman's who brought me to my first race back in 1993 and the Massey's who were my middle school soccer coaches. We spent the day riding, hot tubbing, and sharing stories of bike racing adventures.

The trip up to the PHX area brought back memories of the many MBAA and road races I did while I lived in Tucson. We took a scenic drive after the mountain bike ride and next thing I know I was on Usery Pass. A place I raced often bright and early in the morning. We could see Fountain Hills and the McDowell Mtns from the top of the Hawes trails. So many times racing there at the Cactus Cup and so many times dodging crazy drivers on I-10 on the way home.

It's all about the mtb

The other day we pretty much decided to head back to the midwest in 2 weeks. Ouch. It was at this point that I realized there is a ton of mtb trails in the area and I have a pretty sweet mtb. Then I came to the conclusion that I am no longer going to ride the road bike unless I am commuting to work.

Dear Top Fuel, get ready for some dirt.

After 3 long days of inventory (Mon = 8 hours Tues = 11 hour and Wed = 12

hours) at Trek Bikes of Tucson I was a little too wasted to jump head first into things. Plus I had two flat tires. Thursday was a day to sit around and lounge by the pool.

Friday I was feeling about the same until at 3:00pm when I realized if I didn't ride NOW I wasn't going to ride at all. So I hopped on the mtb and pedaled up to 6,000 ft on Mt. Lemmon. I wasn't just pedaling though...I was crushing it....if I didn't go good up the mountain I wasn't going to be able to ride the trail back down. It was getting chilly and I didn't want to flat and get stuck in the mountains on a trail I had never ridden before. Bug Springs! It was a pretty sweet 6 or 7 mile 45 - 50 minute descent down Mt. Lemmon to the trailhead at Molin Basin. The two longs Hike A Bike's were a bit rough, but my cross skills and walking with a bike weren't that rusty quite yet! 3:15 minutes

Saturday was another sweet ride at Star Pass on the west side of Tucson. The trails there keep getting better and better each time I ride on them! I still got lost but I did manage to navigate under the 6 foot tunnel to the other side of Ajo and hit some of the Robles trails. On the drive home I got my fix of my favorite type of Mexican food. The super duper authentic road side stand. Adobada and Pollo Taco's. Mmmmm 3:30 hours

Sunday: With no NFL on tap I had the entire day to soak up the AZ sun. I decided to hit a new trail I didn't even know existed when I lived here from 99 through 2003. The AZ trail supposedly runs from Canada to Mexico. We hopped on the trail on the East side of town at Pistol Hill Rd. and continued South under I-10 towards Patagonia. The only bad thing about such an epic trail is that without major planning it has to be an out and back kinda ride. We made it pretty far, but had to turn back without adequate water on a 80+ degree day in the desert. A couple times I thought I was going to see some cowboys and indians come riding up on horses. I felt like I was out there....2:50 hours

Now I'm spent....time for a little relaxation and a little work. Can't wait for the next mtb adventure!