Well.. I got a random text message today.. And I replied :thumb:

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Ended up being 50 miles on the nose. I rode out to the start which was about 9 miles away. 33°F when I left the apartment. Half way there, it started snowing. Really? It's effing mid May already. Brought extra stuff with me like a different jacket, gloves, hat, etc. Good thing because the headwind was ripping right through the helmet. Had to stop 10 miles into the ride to put that on. 23 miles in I changed my jacket to a warmer one. 25 miles in it started snowing again, and had it kept up, we could have seen some accumulation. Still had a good time and thought about my mom and what she went through. Did a few extra miles on the ride home to get the 50. Now I am sitting in front of the space heater with my dog and a sandwich. Pretty good day to be honest.

today i have to go home.

i dont wanna. this place feels more like home than nyc.

teh sadz.

Waiting patiently for your blog to be updated with all the photos and stories of the trip. And then I'm going to use that, and plan my own trip for the fall (or summer, I don't mind the heat and it should be nice up north).

dont be fooled, we almost died twice in the area between mingus mountain and williams from heat and dehydration

and the lime kiln trail outside of cottonwood has similar "convection oven" properties, but youre not climbing for 60 miles and the fun factor overrides most of that

Sounds like a crazy trip!

Damn, and it's early too, although last week the temps were starting to get up there. That convection oven you speak of is the way Phoenix feels June through the end of September. Usually you're fine as long as you don't go out in the afternoon, but if you're in need of water or making camp and have no choice, I can totally understand near death experiences.

I lost a daughter to Leukemia in 1996. She was in hospice for about 6 months. I've been a big advocate for hospices in general. It takes a very special type of person to work in hospice.

Sorry for your loss. You obviously loved her. I think most of us don't realize how we should have cared for each other until "each other" is gone.

And snow in May... https://www.dropbox.com/s/qqmh9u6y3t...fused.gif?dl=1

Today I feel like a black Hope seat clamp would look cool on my bike.

Phoenix + July/August = http://forum.blu-ray.com/images/smil...rted/faint.gif

But it's a dry heat.

It's not that bad, the worst part is in August when the humidity picks up due to the monsoons. But umm, I'll take heat over whatever it you guys have to deal with all winter. :)

Does anyone here live in SLC, or has lived there before?

How is it out there? I might have a job opportunity there, and I'm pretty interested, but this is the first time I'd be outside the bay area for something not college.

Did my first fixed gear century yesterday, feels so good. Was my last training ride before a 330 mile tour down the Nor Cal coast that we're starting next weekend, and now I'm definitely gonna do it fixed, too.

Also put my MW rambler up for sale because I never use it anymore.

Today I did my commute to work (9 miles) almost 5 minutes faster than my previous time, pretty proud of myself. :D

yeah were in wide open sun at the hottest time of day (afternoon), on rentless climbs for miles. it didnt stop, it just got harder and hotter. if i remember correctly my garmin got to 104° in the shade of my head

we blew through about 10L of water each like it was nothing, the verde river at the end of that day was the most incredible thing ever

i highly recommend the lime kiln trail from redrock>cottonwood, and munds wagon downhill along with every other trail in sedona

im coming back. in sedona, the trails are beautiful in a way i didnt even think was possible and the people all kick ass. and hanging out in flagstaff, that town is where i belong, the people, the food, the breweries, the weather, everything. im truly sad to be home right now, its like im homesick

I'm happy you enjoyed it. Yeah the Sedona & Flagstaff area is super awesome. Next time, you'll have to check out Jerome too, which is a little mountain art community. It's so weird because we're such a red state with big trucks, trump stickers, and confederate flags, yet downtown is super liberal, along with all the cool places to visit in the state, so you start to forget about all the crazy people in the suburbs.

How much water did you guys try to carry, or what was your maximum capacity that you could carry. That's my biggest concern right now, but I'm thinking I can just throw a couple of bladders (or giant bladder) in the frame bag and call it good. I really need to just buy the bags and load up the bike and see what I can carry and what I can't. I'm thinking for most summer trips, all I'll need is a sleeping bag and skip carrying the tent. Then its just supplies, food, and clothes left to worry about.

One would think so, but it isn't from what I remember. Many trips there. Monsoon season (mid June to Sept) makes it rugged even when it isn't raining. Farther north, by Mead etc it stays pretty dry.

Yeah dry heat....I hated Arizona that dry heat you mention sucks at 115-120.....

Flagstaff is a great town but zero employment opportunities, I originally tried to move up there when I was younger but there ain't **** for jobs. Almost all of northern Arizona is beautiful, it's phoenix and below where the people and weather are awful.

Thanks for the kind words, and sorry about your daughter. I just think, what would we have done without hospice? We couldn't have cared for her like they did. The nurse that took care of her most really took good care of her. She gave her a manicure and painted her nails just as she would have done them herself. She came to the funeral as well, and hugged me and my family as if we were her family. People like that only come along once in a lifetime, and she will never be forgotten by me or my family.

Alright, gotta stop with the sappy stuff. Damn onions making my eyes water when I am cutting them.

Did a nice fixed gear ride today. Legs felt good. Weather was really nice hitting the mid 60's. What a difference a day makes.

my buddy just moved there to work for QBP....from what he's told me and the pics he posts it sounds and looks amazing.

we both primarily used a 3L bladder on our backs, dan had 2 bottles on his fork and we both carried platypus 2L collapsible bottles which were all used at some point. technically we were able to carry 7L each, but that was only possible when we took a rest day and emptied our packs, be mindful of volume not just weight

find an offline map that can show you where springs are. springs are the most reliable and usually dont need to be treated (and are usually ice cold, bonus)

get a reliable way to treat water, its out there but most of it is disgusting (livestock feed troughs) we had the sawyer mini which worked great until we started filtering water from puddles and the silt just made them worthless. after that we used aquatabs and we boiled water from the verde

you only need 2 outfits, on the bike, and camp. with layering stuff and rain gear/puffy jacket. this is an area where i screwed up, too much clothes.

be prepared for cold, the only time i wasnt bundled up in my puffy coat with wool socks, in my bag, in my tent fully zipped up was on the verde. the nights are legit cold, but its nice because here in the summer the nights actually can get warmer than the evening so theres no relief

we got snowed on at mormon lake in the morning when we finally got off the anderson mesa, rained on leaving sedona, then when we dropped down off of mingus we were turning into human raisins in 100+ heat

Just picked up an early 90's GT Timberline with triple triangle goodness. My exact size.
Almost all 500LX level except for the 300LX cranks.

Bike in great condition (no rust!) that just needs a little TLC.


FREE!!!


The 500LX/300LX parts all seem to be in decent shape. Just needs some lube/adjusting, etc..


Just finished stripping the frame down. Appears to be in nice shape.

http://i66.tinypic.com/6tmo1j.jpg