The Kickoff to Summer

Well it was a weekend filled with riding bikes and drinking too much beer and it couldn't have been more fun.  I pretty much have a four day weekend from the school job every week so it affords lots of adventure time.  I managed three big rides in as many days, put on one event and attended another in another town and even got in some creek time down south of here.

Saturday's fun brought a crew of folks from Flagstaff down to visit our friends in Prescott for a lap on the not exactly complete, but completely ridable Circle Trail.  We'd be up before the sun making coffee and managed to stall the ride time of the locals there by only a few minutes.  We started out up a 40 minute singletrack climb heading west from Whitespar Campground.  We were rewarded with super buffed out trails on crumbled granite soils that twist and turn through the ponderosa and chaparral of the high desert forest.  The trails of the Prescott area were described to me as the spokes of a wheel leaving town and we were riding the rim across all the spokes, so traffic was always present.  We weren't even the largest group even though we numbered always greater than ten.  By the time we reached the north end of town by Granite Mountain we had decended into high desert grasslands.  Not only had the trees been left in the dust but so had the trail.  This is where I think the circle trail gets its name.  From here you wind around in circles trying to find your way only to return to the same spot two or three more times.  Luckily I had no responsibility in the and was just able to follow along.  Eventually you end up jumping a fence and bushwhacking to the highway twenty feet over there down the embankment...

Then we hopped a guardrail and the other side became the trail we picked up.  Circles were made.  Bonus hill climbs were taken.  I was the first to get off and walk.  It seemed faster many times over than pedaling a singlespeed....the wrong singlespeed at that.  Prescott isn't really the town for a bike that points straight down...they like twenty nine inch singlespeeds with v-brakes.  And for good reason.  The biggest bumps we hit were those made by horse hooves in the mud that then dried.  Think fast and buff...and some highways.  

In the end all this was for Joe's Birthday and we would end up back over at he and Amber's place to cook out and party at the site of their new homestead.  Not many people I know are lucky enough to have creek access, let alone a private creek....and in Arizona??  Their property is pretty unreal.  Its in a sweet canyon in the mountains south of Prescott and right at the transition from ponderosa forest to high desert.  Thanks for the ride and happy birthday Jose!

We rallied our way back to Flagstaff early in the morning for the Baah!  It was set to kick off at noon, but we wouldn't end up being anywhere near prompt.  Thanks to all who delayed the game to let everyone participate.  The cool thing about the Baah is the random people who show up.  They are the ones who leave the most stoked.  They come in all shapes and forms, but are usually unsuspecting of the mayhem.  The pre-ride gathering allowed for proper socialization and checking out of people's beaster sunday best.  The church ladies undoubtedly took the cake here....

This year also brought about the first ever Baah Run and not a soul wasn't impressed with KP's run up Mount Elden and back down and around.  

Mister Wanderlust showed up with two growlers of his fine Wanderlust Brew, a Belgian Pale Ale and an Oatmeal Stout.  Seriously folks, this is exciting....Mister WL is opening up a brewery right here in good ol' F-town, but the catch here is that his beer is actually good.  Revision...his beer is great.  Now many would say we have plenty of breweries here....but people if you've ever had a good beer, for instance something from Amnesia brewing in Portland, Bitterroot Brewing in Montana, or Terrapin in Georgia and try to compare it with something currently made in our fine town I would think you'd be able to taste the difference.  We have no good beer.  The standard isn't set high.  I would go to say that there isn't even a bar.  That's what makes this project so exciting.  This brew is on par with great beers of regions known for great beer.

Sorry...side rant...back to the ride.  We climb to the top of Mount Elden as a tribute to the goats that have lived there ferule for who knows how long.  Usually its a fairly social pace but after the delayed start tensions and nerves ran high and the weather was unseasonably warm and the ride scurried on to the top.  I the past we've done this race back down the road in the tradition of repack but this year begged something different....the Heart trail....probably the least ridden trail in Flagstaff.  Two miles dropping about 1700 feet down a cobbled, switchbacked fire scar on the eastern face dropping out off into no man's land.  One thing common to all Baah rides, though is the shotgun lemans start.  Shotgun a beer, slam the can, run to bike, ride off.  The race is won and lost in the shotgun and the Heinchez was out to defend his two year title.  Church lady Dre blew the whistle and the beers were down in a matter of seconds.  Heinchez taking the hole-shot.  That damn Okie sure can put down a beer.  I was only a second behind him.  Half a mile of road would thin the pack a bit more finding riders spinning out singlespeed gears and maxing out effort on rigid forks.  And oddly enough no full suspension bikes managed to pedal past.  Coming to a skidding right turn the sunset trail takes off uphill for a short but lung burning climb to the section known as catwalk.  Heinchez is still in sight but he's pulling away on the climb as my legs feel pretty blown.  Then at the very top to my dismay, Mister Wanderlust passes me by on the right as I make a fouled move through the only remaining snowdrift.  From the catwalk its all downhill.  I'm on WL's wheel watching him take lines I don't really like from all too close...waiting for my chance to make a move.  I miss the turn for heart trail and we start down the cobbles and switch backs.  Three or four and I'm still on WL's wheel waiting when I remembered the cream puff and the cyclo-cross move, the walking pass.  I asked WL if he'd seen the Heinchez....he was gone....outta sight.  Damn.  I went for the pass on WL going into a switchback getting off my bike and jumping trail down in front of him, pedaling on.  A few more switchbacks and the Heinchez popped up, off the trail, like a gopher, dazed, his bike nowhere to be seen.  I asked if he was alright.  He said he thought so.  I was in the lead.  WL was gone.  The Heart trail winds on after its elevation is lost initially in steadiness.  But now I was alone and would remain that way for a few minutes after reaching the bottom.  Mister WL would come and join me followed by the Heinchez who had crashed and flatted, The Viking and Odin, Zach and the Buffalo Poacher who had also crashed--his arms were so fried that he couldn't extend them and walked around like a T-rex for the next ten minutes.  Then the full suspension bikes started trickling in.  Then Naw.  Then KP the Baah Runner.  Then the church ladies and the moonman

 and Cus'n Dave and Aqua.

It was Heinchez's race to lose

The Viking and Odin

Foust and CJ

This dude Moose showed up after I told him about the event the week before and came in the full spirit.  He had on this sweet sleeveless sweater and refused to take it off in honor of the goat.  It was his wool.  Pretty bad ass.  Oh yeah, he's totally about to eat it right here.

Naw.

Moonman and the moon bike.  I would have thought this would have been a great bike for this trail but Moonman said otherwise.

One Church Lady on a bicycle.

Space Lemmy chases down the field.

Space Lemmy looks good win or lose, but better win.

At trail's end we regrouped for the customary beaster egg hunt and consumed everything to be found before returning to the ranch for the after party.  Baah Ride three would be the greatest yet.  I think all the fools that we roped into coming along would agree.  If not, Space Lemmy doesn't really care.  Cheers.

Baah

Here It Is.  Year three of the Baah Ride.  I've been wondering if it would happen again but a slight alteration of the course has me pumped more than ever.  Other people too.  The course is noted on the flyer.  The rest will only be amplified from the previous years.

here's a random list of why the Baah is cooler than you know:

1.)  Its a tribute to the goat.

2.)  The goat(s) live(s) on Mt. Elden right behind my house and shop

3.)  Mt. Elden is one of the coolest topographic features here in Flagstaff and many cool rides start here with a trip to the top, as does the Baah for instance.

4.)  Mountain biking is awesome!

5.)  Ridiculousness is awesome, there will be plenty of that.

6.)  The goat is awesome, it (they) have been subsisting on the mountain in some feral state since they were herded here (Spanish sheep hearding could have been in the area as early as the late 1600s, though its history is unrecorded).  They've been here longer than you have.

7.)  Pan, half goat half man, was known in ancient Greek mythology for fertility and the coming of spring.

8.)  Might I note that the Baah takes place on (B)easter Sunday?  Somehow this just seems a little more appropriate ritual and falls a little closer to home than an easter bunny.

9.)  There will still be a (B)easter egg hunt.

10.)  A tribute to the goat.

Oh yeah, I've been doing a lot of coloring activities so feel free to print out and color the full size flyer for full effect.  It just worked out that way.  As did everything else you read here.

 

Vishnu

...as in Vishnu Schist.  The bottom rock layer in the Grand Canyon.  1.6 billion years old.  The reason the canyon is known as "Grand."  When you get to the schist of the inner gorge its like you've entered the oldest, shiniest, most decorated room in the earth.  It glimmers in shines a sparkled red dark brown.  Kyle is a geology teacher and local gold prospector and at some point in the build process he said he said his bike would be known as Vishnu as in the bottom layer and I suggested we make it look like the rock.  He settled on RAL3007 Black Red with a gold flake top coat done by the fine hands of John at Ironhorse Coatings.  This bike is a short wheelbase 29er built around a tapered steerer Rock Shox Revelation with switchable travel between 110mm and 140mm.  He wanted a stable downhill platform that still could climb and maintain quick handling.  I think the travel switch option will be very nice on the climbs and for low key riding, as the fork feels very plush and responsive.   It'll clear 2.4 inch tires tucked all the way into 418mm chainstays and it will take a full complement of gears or can be run as a singlespeed.

Some firsts for me on this bike:  This is the first 29er I've done that doesn't have the curved seatstays.  The first time I've put ISCG tabs on a bike.  The first Reynolds tubing I've used.  It has a 33.1 mm seat tube that takes a 30.9mm seat post--a common dropper post size--in their 631 alloy that I hacked and gas welded back together as a butt joint to get a little more tire clearance.  We'll see how that holds up.  Really I'd like to curve this tube out but thought better than to try and bend this seat tube.  This reynolds stuff is mucho $$$$.  This is also the first full yoke style chainstay attachment I've done.  I used the plate on the drive side on Odin, but the full yoke seems a fair bit stiffer, though a little heavier.  It could probably see some material safely removed yet, but time adds up fast on these things.  It would seem I have a knack for building 29 pound single speeds.  I'll get you all some build pics here soon.  The build turned out real nice, unfortunately we got pounded with two feet of new snow to effectively close our early season trail riding for a while.  Sedona here we come!

--Richard

Touring the Black Canyon Trail

I  have the good fortune of knowing the most amazing and ridiculous people on the planet and, good for me, they all seem to like riding bikes and are also in some state of alternative or self or un-employment and can spend a random three or four days of any given week dropping everything to take a quick and relatively unplanned bike tour.  The lack of planning only adds up points in the ridiculous equation and as our packing lists were minimal we wound up compiling quite the odd assortments of goods and whatnot to fill our bags.  A trip to the grocery store yielded a great variety of ride food for Zach and myself.  We packed a ham, a Tillamook baby loaf, twelve bagels, oysters, sardines, a three pound submarine sandwich, four blocks of cream cheese, some fresh fruit, and plenty of whiskey of course.  Oh yeah, that coffee cake looked pretty good too for $5 so I figured I'd strap that along as well.  It became known as der Kuchen.  We would be riding the 80 mile section of hand built singletrack connecting Mayer to Greater Phoenix that has emerged in the past couple years as the Black Canyon Trail and would connect the ends via shuttle.  And as shuttles go this one definitely maximizes the ratio of ride to drive time.  One hour shuttle drive for three full days of riding.  We set the shuttle Tuesday night and the rest of the crew met up at the start first thing wednesday morning to the sprawled out bags and foods of our camp at the dirt road on the ridge (read: the non-existent trailhead)

Within moments of our departure on bike, we knew through the shared conscious that we were onto a great thing.  The trail showed great promise immediately as it snaked through the gray rocks and prickly pear cactus of the high desert grasslands.  Most if not all of the land the trail passes through is BLM so it is open to grazing (read: there isn't much grass in the grassland).  By the end we would drop about 3000 undulating feet at the base of the Bradshaw Mountains, crossing its fingered lower slopes as we traveled.  Our hoots and hollers carried us through to plenty of rest stops and two creekbed campsites with trickling winter desert flows and only a minimum of navigational difficulties.  

Shred der Kuchen

High country air

Geoffrey

It makes me sad when my tractor doesn't work

We stopped at Rock Springs for food and pie and wound up calling it a day after that.  We left with two whole pies and I think about four pieces were eaten onsite in addition to that we brought with...that was after beer and burgers of course.  With der Kuchen there was pie everyday. 

Geoffrey

Saguaro cactus started to emerge after dropping off the rim where Uncle Rico parked his van....I wish I had a picture of that van.

Hey Evan: what do you think of this trail.  Its alright.  Yeah I've seen better.

Some people don't have panniers but that doesn't stop them from looking good or going on a tour.

The sequence of Amber riding through the cactus forest no hands lead to a crash of her ghetto booty Kona so she opted try the safer no feet sequence.

These things are cool

The last ten or so miles was flat desert straight dirt and cactus to puncture your tires with a prison for scenery followed by a road and a parking lot with Evan's truck waiting for us.  It was a grind...so really the trail is about 70 miles if you stick to the good parts but man o man are they good.  Ride this trail with your friends and you will laugh a lot I promise.  Bye

The Great Debate

The Strip Teaser vs. the Fu Manchu.  Flavor Saver vs. Teenage Fuzz.  We're talking a Moustache face off here...Twenty Six vs. Twenty Nine.  

You'll spy the competitors on the ground next to one another....Shrek on the left, the 26" monster, Odin on the right, 29" of viking war god, and in the background along for the fun is tried and true number two.  The two bikes facing off feature the exact same tube set with only minor differences in configuration to achieve what I felt was the best possible ride for their given platforms (Long-ish travel front ends and big tires=maximum shredability) and intended use (The viking rides trials, I ride trails...but we have a fair degree of overlap in what we ride).

The tubes are a mix of True Temper Supertherm, Pacenti Heavy Mettle, and good ol' 4130 straight gauge and feature a Paragon Machine Works 44 mm head tube.  The Effective top tube on both bikes measures 607 mm.  The minimum chain stay length on both is about 415 mm with horizontal dropouts handling tensioning duties for single speed use and positioning the rear axle a little more forward on Odin.  Both bikes are running tapered head tube, 20 mm thru axle forks with 140 mm travel, though the 29er was designed for 120 everything is rotated back a bit (slacker head and seat angles, higher BB, weight a little more over the rear axle).  

I traded bikes with the VIKING in the parking lot and after riding the last week on my new green monster, I quickly noticed the slight changes in position and setup as well as the energy needed to push the larger wheels.  As I was noticing the subtleties of the ride the VIKING instantly started his hops and spins and nose wheelies.  His comment..."this is more stable."  And I noted equally that his front end was a bit easier to lift...sounds a bit backward but Odin is no ordinary 29.  A few millimeters over your rear axle makes a huge difference.  We climbed a rolling climb and by the end I felt completely at home on the VIKING's steed.  I could have dealt with a few minor tweaks, but in the end it was hard to give it back.  My only complaint with a big wheel beast such as this is minor...I get tired of turning over the big wheel up climbs.  The end.  Its an awesome bike and a great platform for many riders when done "right".  This one is the VIKING's and I'd say its done right for him...though his beefed out war god is certainly not for everybody.  Did I mention he rides TRIALS?

Right - handles playfully to the degree the rider is willing, carves turns precisely, climbs and descends confidently, responsive to body english in handling, front wheel lifts without being a major production, and is all around fun to ride....usually this does not exist off the shelf.

Hopping back on my green monster, I found the transition a little odd in the same ways concerning setup, but quickly nestled back into the bike I've been feeling increasingly confident riding everyday.  We cruised down the twists of slim shady wheel to wheel, but I kept wondering how the other bike would ride this.  No disrespect to my own, I think I've just settled into it feeling familiar (certainly not a bad thing), and this Odin bike was unfamiliar in such a curious way that I wanted more.  At one point I told the VIKING that it might just be best if I didn't ride your bike.  

We pedaled around the rock features of Sedona for hours stopping to hit the play lines on the rock slabs but we stuck to our own as far as the bikes go.  I settled back into my groove and finished the day loving my bike at least as much as I had the day before.  It does what it does so well...going down hill, catching air, letting me get away with the sloppiest lines I've ever ridden, letting me ride the biggest lines I've ridden on any hard tail with endless confidence....I'm even learning to get it up the tight climbs without pushing.  Its a super fun bike and at the end of a long ride I still feel like turning that wheel over.  

Cheers to options and indecision....now how about one of those 650b bikes!

Resolve

New Years Resolutions:

1.  To exponentially increase the volume of music in my "retro" collection....as inspired by the radio show formerly known as "The House of Retro-Pleasure."

2.  Sell some bikes.

3.  Do stuff....namely make adventures and ride bikes like this one....my new one a long time in the works.

I've been in Sedona the last three days sending out the old year and ringing in the new one in a T-shirt and shorts testing out this green monster.  Its spec'd with some new goodies from Chris King, Profile and WTB such as the new Frequency i23 rims which laced up quite nicely.  The fork is a Fox Float 36 thru axle with a 1.5 inch tapered steerer necked down to 140mm of travel.  Old school 26" wheels for the catching of air wherever possible and cuz I just get tired of spinning 29" up long climbs.  Angles are 68.5/72 HT/ST.  And no it isn't light, but it does fly.  Any questions?

Happy New Year to all yous reading out there.

But it wasn't a Rock......

....It was a Rock Lobster!!!

Our post turkey ride handed both my legs and my lungs to me on a plate.  But it was an awesome time nonetheless.  If it weren't for Sedona I think I'd find Flagstaff a lot less liveable as I'm not really one for winter.  It gets a lot harder to get out and ride.  But that said what have I been doing the last couple months?  Not riding.  This one made me go the two following days though, one for a mellow ride that turned into a shooting gallery of plates and bowls, and the next for a three and a half hour dirt road ride.  Haven't done that in a while so it was nice.  All the best ideas in bike building happen while bike riding, it just turns out that sometimes they're hard to remember.  I should bring a notebook.  Anyways...check out the sequence of Heinchez dropping the big line on Hangover.  Its completely rideable when you're dialed in but I didn't hit it that day.  Yes it is as steep as it looks and if you missed you could easily find yourself in a world of shit.

Elder's first hangover