189 lbs

More photos here from the ride.

Topofusion

On sale until the 30th of November. Check here for details.

More Tortolita riding

See more pictures like the above at Scott's blog

Scott, Eric and I scouted out a GPX track from Tim for new single track up in the Tortolitas. This is now one of my favorite trails in the Tucson area. It had the perfect amount of singletrack and technical sections to make it a classic. As Scott mentioned along the ride, this route is not for everyone since it does take some route finding and there are some section that are overgrown. For me, this route signifies one of the favorite things about mountain biking in Arizona, the vastness of the state and the unknown singletrack that is yet to be discovered. Scott has a good summary on his blog, so go check it out.

Final ride time was about 5 hours, somewhere in the range of 45 miles.

Bikepacking.net

picture from website

Check it out
if you have not already.

Brick Weekend

Saturday: El Tour ride
Sunday: McDowell Monstercross

The goal is to do two endurance rides back-to-back. One down, one to go. I found it to be one of the fastest ways to get in shape last season.

AZ Grassroots 2009

The 2009 Grassroots Schedule

PEE December 20, 2008
Antelope Peak Challenge Jan 25
Sedona Big Friggin Loop April 4th
AZT 300 April 11-13th
Prescott Monstercross April 18
Coconino Dirty Century May 23
Deuces Wild Poker Ride May 30
Kaibab Monstercross June 13
Crazy 88 August 8
Rock y Road 50/50 Oct 17
Kentucky Camp Epic Dec 12

Economy shaping sports landscape

Officials from the Tour de Georgia, one of the marquee road cycling races in the United States, canceled the event for 2009 because of lack of sponsorship. They plan to host the weeklong race in 2010 if the economy is back on track, said Phil Jacobs, a member of the Tour de Georgia Foundation’s board of directors.

“It’s going to be a very tough year for everyone, no matter what business you are in,” Jacobs said in a telephone interview. “We worked long and hard, but just didn’t have a choice but to skip the race in 2009.” More here.

I see some more potential for underground, grassroots races. Anyone willing to start hosting more races across Arizona? We need more FOTP, AZSS, AZt300, PEE, AES, etc....

Why pay when you can ride for free?

Brown Mountain

Scott, Lee and I rode out to Brown Mountain after the bike swap. I managed to break both my eggbeaters in the process. We met with Vern/Vance and Co. on the top of Brown Mountain and finished off the loop with them before heading back through Starr Pass. We logged in about 5 hours of good riding before heading back to the cars in the Maloney's parking lot. Good times with a lot of people on the bike yesterday, road and mountain.

The crew on top of Brown Mountain

Shirts gone

I sold all the shirts! 75 shirts are gone. I got such a huge response that I might make another batch. I have a few on hold for those that emailed me.

I Bike Tucson

The new AES shirt. Organic cotton, dark chocolate with tan writing. FRONT: I bike Tucson. BACK: Arizona Endurance Series on the back, bottom, in small print. Supplies are limited. Email me if you want one. $13 (this is at cost). Shipping out of state is on me. These are free with every shirt, AES spoke cards.

Spoke Cards

I'll start riding with these tomorrow. Pink is the new orange. Spoke cards are not only for fixie riders anymore. Arizona Endurance Series on one side, Riding is FUNdamental on the other. Pink is the only color available thus far. More colors coming.

If you want a few, let me know.

First sign of rain in two months

I had a nice post-ride swim (about 15 minutes) and jaunt in the jacuzzi before it started to sprinkle and thunder around some parts of Tucson.

Epic failure

Base miles was the goal today. Nothing fast, just ride and enjoy it.
The stats from the day:
105.94 miles
with an incredible moving time of 7:59 due to wind gusts up to 40 mph (yes you read that right). I think they were mostly hovering around 10-20 mph for most of the day.
I linked two different routes" my Foothills route (about 4,000 feet of climbing) with House-Palisades (about 6,000 feet of climbing) route for an overall gain of 10,009 feet.

The wind gusts were a bit much, but I did enjoy the ascent of Lemmon. Very few cyclists past Molino Basin due to the wind. I saw about 200 roadies with what I am assuming is the GABA ride on Ina while I was riding toward Lemmon. I am not sure who would want to ride in such a big cluster.



So why the epic failure? I had originally thought that I would ride to the General Store in Summerhaven, but the wind on Mt Lemmon was so unbearable that I could only force myself to Palisades. Also, I had planned to ride out all the way to the end of Sunrise, but I decided that since I got a late start, I would speed down to Craycroft.


My helmet broke this week and my LOOK road shoes are about to bust. Both shoes and helmets are on order. Also, the I Bike Tucson/AES shirts should be in something this week. If want one (and have not emailed me), make a comment so I can save you one. Sizes are Small-XL.

Edit: Coming soon.... AES spoke cards! I hope to have some pictures by tomorrow. They should run around $1 (just price of shipping) of will be added on to any shirt purchased. Anyone interested?

Pusch and Chorizo

Every Thursday morning, I make chorizo burritos to sale for $1 to the student. This week the chorizo still came (although the students are away on break). The original plan was just to freeze it until next week. David (the other Spanish teacher) decided that we should cook it up and give it to the teachers this week. They were a big hit.

We had a few left over which meant that I would have some fuel for the ascent of the peak next to the school. The weather was ideal, low 70s. The 5-mile hike up Pusch Ridge (with a little under 1,000 feet of climbing) took about 1.5 hours. Good times. I finished the day off with a 2-hour, 36 mile road ride. Headed to the gym for a final small before I head out for the night.

Imagine touring the country

with this sweet ride and your bike. There is a good article about Green RVs in the NY Times today. You will be a better man/biker if you read it with touring in mind.

While touring, I would make sure I skip Texas. Did anyone else read this?

More interesting links
Great info on stretching
A great local race here in Tucson on the 15th
Tucson Bike Swap
Booze in Cruise next week

Afternoon run

I had some extra time at lunch to ascend part of Pusch Ridge Trail. Weather was perfect all day, in the 70s most of this week.

Voting

Follow the singletrack to the polling booth.