coconino loop couch surfing

Starting Friday 10/9 I will embark as the slowest contestant in a self-supported 250ish mile mountain bike race. My goal is simply to finish on Tuesday 10/13 or earlier.
This is like one of our AZT rides but no stove, hopefully a little faster, and lots of new trails and terrain. John has sponsored me with a bike I haven't had time to ride but it did mighty fine on our last AZT jaunt so I'm not worried (I cracked the frame on my SIR). And I did swap out the tires and tubes.
So if you feel like couch or chair surfing here are the pertinent links.

MTB Cast – You can hear our daily call-ins here. http://mtbcast.com/wordpress/chadbrown/coconino-route-race/

Spot Cast – Watch us real-time overlaid on the course. http://www.trackleaders.com/coconino

Thanks to the folks at MTBCast, trackleaders, AZES and TopoFusion for pulling this all together.

fall frenzy

The weather turned niceish and coincided with a perfect storm of riding.

We started with a ride to Sonora with a few flats on Thursday night.














Got bikes?














In the morning it was time for a South Mnt ride.
Up National and down Viejo to Desert Classic.
Chunky ride, I was pleased with the Pivot 429 rental.














Climb time.














The stairs did Devo in.
































Down Viejo for the The Prick.










































I took a nice spill on jagged rock on my left ass cheek.
Not a great place for a injury if you're a cyclist.

Devo whipped it good.














Then we rolled to Tucson
























































Party like it's 1997.










































Say it with Spicolli, "You dick!"











In the morning we took our hangovers to the west side of the Catalinas for some 50 Years Trail up to Cherry Tank with some B-lines I've never had the pleasure of riding. Nice stuff.




























































"You're going to be closer to cholla than you want to be on this trail."

"Why would I want to be closer to cholla than I want to be?"


















B-line action.
A spotter is good on douchy lips.



















































































Sonorasarus














Cherry Tank














The trip back to the cars was swift and fun.
































Those B-lines could use a pair of shears.














Back to Phoenix for rest and up early in the morning for the Tour de Scottsdale.

I was more than happy to pay to run red lights and stop signs for 70 miles at the behest of Scottsdale's finest.
































It was windy as hell and a little muggy.




























Feeling the last few days of riding I happily lined up at the back.














Shortly after this pic I jumped into a group that was a little to fast for me but got me to
Cave Creek pretty damn fast.
























































































Good event.
I finished under 4 hours and had a nice massage and stretch at the finish.

bartlett lake

I got up at o'dark:thirty with some idea to ride around the McDowells or down to Lake Bartlett.

I hate riding Cave Creek Rd. even at 5am.














Cave Creek Bike Festival.














The breakfast of champions.




























































I decided on the Lake Bartlett option.


















































Once at the turn-off it's 12 miles down to LB and 12 miles back out.




















































































































So I did.
























































































Almost a century, home before 1. Nice.