One is all you need....

It's been a long time since I posted here on my blog. I finally have a computer at home that I can upload pics to, and I can access internet at the Santa Fe Brewing Company, so I no longer have any good excuses. I hope to post more frequently in the future.

I had been trying to sell my old road bike for a long time, and last spring I finally found a buyer. The bike was custom-built for me by John Cutter of San Luis Obispo, California in 1986. It was a work of art in its time, beautifully fillet-brazed and powder-coated in a turquoise color. But I knew I would never ride it again and it needed to belong to someone who would use it. Some guy somewhere back east gave me $750 for it, and promptly put red tires on it. Yuck.

Coincidentally, right about the same time a friend tipped me off that a local shop was offering a smoking deal on a slightly used 29er Haro Mary SS. I never thought I would enjoy singlespeeding much, but I took it for a ride and the fit was so good I just couldn't pass up the bargain.

One ride on the rigid fork was enough, though, so the first upgrade was a RockShox Reba. No complaints about that fork, it has worked beautifully and the lockout feature is great for long climbs. The Avid BB5 brakes sucked, so next up was a pair of Avid Juicy 7's that I scored on Ebay. I've tried numerous tires on it and have settled on a Continental Mountain King in front and a Kenda Nevegal in the rear. Perfect for the loose conditions frequently encountered around Santa Fe.

Learning to ride the damn thing was another story. The local Dale Ball trails are perfect for SSing, nothing too steep, but the numerous tight switchbacks proved challenging in the uphill direction. My most sucessful strategy has been to get some speed up and try and stay seated through most of the turn.

Singlespeeding is a lot more work than riding a geared bike. Once I got in better shape I started taking it up higher trails with longer climbs. By the end of the summer I was (barely) able to ride it all the way up to the TV towers above town for a total of 5,000 feet of climbing.

Half of what makes singlespeeding so much fun is the simplicity - no thinking about when and where to shift, just pedalling and enjoying the ride. The other half is the amazingly fast acceleration out of corners. Even with the 29" wheels, you can just get up to speed in a hurry.

Thanks for looking!

Went for a little ride......

I was short on time, so it would have to be a small ride. Just a little way down the trail and back.

Cruising along, I noticed the wildlife was out everywhere, enjoying the fine spring weather. Horned toads are common in the southwest - I saw this little guy and he was cool enough to pose on my thumb!





Down the trail a little farther, and I saw another critter, not sure what it was. A baby skunk? Badger? Venomous duck? Not to worry, it seemed pretty harmless.





Reached the turnaround point and stopped to munch some trail mix. What's this? A mouse? And he's hungry! I shared a sunflower seed with him.




This was getting a little weird. Oh well, gotta finish this ride. I picked up the pace a bit, then slammed on the brakes when I spotted another critter. I didn't think anything like this lived around here...




I was starting to get a wee bit creeped out. But the ride was over. Next time I'll have to do a BIG ride.

Thanks for looking.

Turd-smoker sighting!

It's been a cold and wet winter up here in Del Norte. Enough to drive a mountain biker to desperate measures in order to get some riding in. I mean really desperate. Enough to go to (gasp)..... Texas.

Yes, a couple of amigos and I headed down to El Paso in January in search of dry trails and fresh gnarliness. We found the Redd Road trails, which had a little something for everyone - lots of cross-country desert cruising, lots of ledgy, techy goodness, and for the truly brave, the Devil's Trail! (which, needless to say, I did not attempt - the consequences for failure would have included a trip to the ER)
The next day we rode at Franklin Mountains State Park. These trails started out pretty good, but at the half-way point it became clear that we rode the loop in the wrong direction. Besides riding into a headwind, the ride finished with a mile of extremely steep doubletrack. Not fun. But hey, at least we were riding, it wasn't snowing, and there were no flat tires.

We also saw this dude smoking a coyote turd on the side of the trail. Weird.


Thanks for looking!

Seven Rides in Seven Days

So this pathetic loser (me) wakes up alone on Christmas Day and considers his options: 1: Wallow in self-pity and depression. 2: Commit suicide. 3: Get the fuck out of town. Since the first option was already achieved, and I didn't have the balls to select option 2, I chose door number 3.

After taking the dogs out for a quick run, I packed up the car, and 7 hours later I was in sunny Phoenix! I stayed at my friend Kathleen's house with her two psycho dogs. And I rode every day. It was good to be back on the bike after 4 weeks of not riding. Here's what we did:

• Day 1: Hawes / Pass Mountain - 31 miles after a month off the bike!
• Day 2: an easy spin on Desert Classic - man was my ass tender!
• Day 3: the Milagrosa Trail in Tucson - easily the highlight of the trip. This trail ROCKS!
• Day 4: Goat Camp trail at White Tanks - way over my head expert level stuff
• Day 5: South Mountain - up National, down Geronimo, up Geronimo, down Corona Loma. Fantastic riding!
• Day 6: Trail 100 at North Mountain Preserve - easy cruising
• Day 7: 3 hours at the newly-completed Black Canyon Trail - very scenic desert riding

I demonstrated yet again my complete lack of any talent at mountain biking on the Goat Camp trail, where I walked everything of consequence and berated myself the whole time. Was there ever another mountain biker that sucks as bad as I do? Doubtful.