Bear with me!

I'm trying to pull my shit together after the monster tour with JB in the Gila, should have the full break down in 24 hrs, or less.

Addition to todays post

There is an MBAA race this weekend in Flagstaff and there has been recent problems involving the ball-jacking of the race coarse. Handlebar has covered the issue quite well, I suggest checking it out. Handlebarsandwhich.com

TGIF!

Ahhh it's friday once again, my favorite day of the week. I always feel like I don't have to work as hard on friday for some reason, maybe its the anticipation of the weekend, or maybe its just that I don't want to work that hard. It was a great bike to work week, the folks at Flagstaff Biking .org did a great job as always. Wednesdays bike to breakfast was a blast, Biffs Bagels and New Frontiers win the best breakfast stop award, although the bicycle powered smoothy blender was a nice touch at Flagstaff Eye Center. I don't think the USGS is going to win the work site challenge though, we only had a 48% commuter ratio, I've heard that Lowell Observatory has beat us with 57%, damn space nerds! I my self probably logged 60mi of commuting for the week on the Gunner. Hopefully the goals of this week were met and awareness has risen, just because bike to work week is over doesn't mean you need to stop commuting on your bike.

Now that I have recovered from the 12 hrs of abuse that I took last weekend and my road bike finally showed up, I think I'll go try the road legs on the group ride tomorrow, I feel like getting hosed down in some testosterone. The Flagstaff group ride is like a public zoo for inflated egos, I myself used to be one of those folks, but now I have seen the foolishness of my ways and for me it's now just a fun workout, with a little entertainment. I always have to laugh when everyone shows up with their carbon race wheels and I'm sitting on some 6 yr old trainers with a broken spoke nipple and worn out armadillos, guess I didn't get the memo. Hope to see you out there!

12hrs of Mesa Verde - 7 & 7

So this past weekend me and the Handlebar loaded up once again for race day, this past abuse was provided by the 12 hrs of Mesa Verde outside of Cortez, Co. I had heard great things about this race which was just the motivation I needed after contracting the swine flu on the plane between Florida and North Carolina last week. Once the handlebar pulled himself together we were able to head out barely making it to Cortez with enough gas and time to pick up our race packets, typical. We rolled into a venue that looked better suited to host a FFA meeting then a bike race. The next morning we had barely enough time to have some coffee lube, the chamois, and get ready for the classic endurance race start, the Le Mond start, nothing is more entertaining then watching a bunch of people in spandex run around in carbon mtb shoes, its like a heard of cattle performing at Disney on Ice. Then the race insewed, I had to lay some wood fromth get go to get infront of the pokeys after my mall walk of a start put me at the back of the race. We hit the single track and the first lap was constant sorting, I was able to hook up with Big Gay Randy and we started to make progress. After the first lap things settled down and endurence racing started, I had a great first couple of laps then in the middle of the day, when it was nice and hot, the darkness began to creep in. I had to stop after my 6 lap and pull it together, after a couple of cokes and a shot of Athlete Octane I was able to reach into the bag of courage and bang out a 7th lap, putting me in 7th place for geared solo.
Overall I give this race 5 stars, It was extreamly well organized, had a good venue and most importantly, amazing coarse. Of all the races I have done in my time this has to be one of the best coarses I have ever ridden, the entire 16.5 mile loop was all single track! what more could you ask for. I had no idea that Cortez housed such great trails. So Much Fun! I would strongly recomond this race to anyone. Hopefully they'll have some pics up soon

The NC connectiion

Now, NC is for North Carolina & Nancy Cornette, One contains some of the sickest road riding in the country, the other can bake the sickest chocolate chip cookies. Mom and The Bruce have a cabin in Saluda, NC no to be confused with slooter. Which is about 30 min south of Ashville. Smack dab in the Smokey Mtns and the Blue Ridge Prkwy. I shipped the Bondye with Fed Ex, which I ended up taking it deep on both ends on that one, another story for another time. anyway the first day I had my ride I did a RR that I had done before, which left moms and rolled up to Mt. Pisgah through the Craddle of forrestry and up to the Parkway about a 3hr ride and a solid climb up to the prkwy. The next day I was graced by the prescence of Jeff Welch, former Flagstaffian and current owner of Luna Cycles in Lenoir, NC. Jeff had told me that the area around my mothers house had some of the best road climbs in the state, something I knew, but welcomed his local intel. We started the day, in the rain, down the backside of said great climb, which, in the return yeilded 17 switch backs in under 2 mi, ya, the the rest of the 4 hr day was comprised of rolling hills and smooth roads, a great ride and a good chance to catch up with an old friend.

The long awaited update

I do apologize, it has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks and the dark lord at work frowns upon updating ones site from work, what B.S. I know. So as I left off I was headed to Florida for a wedding, well GD, it was one hell of a wedding, basically got to ride in a hummer limo, met alot of great people, almost got the herp from a nasty hotel room, and drank way to much Baily's which caused me to run around on the beach flapping my arms like an idiot and face planting in the sand. All in All it was a great time, K's friend Jess, AKA the bride was awsome along with her new hubby Ben, her family took us in and we had a blast.
Than I got to meet K's dad, the "Admiral", well not exactly but you get the point, lets just say the stoked meter wasn't on high to meet me. Then it was on to North Carolina to see Mom and the Bruce and a shred with old man Welch.

And the Journey Begins.

I survived the trip down the hill to Phx today with a little help from XM Hair Nation and a couple of road sodas. Now I am counting the hours before the super shuttle, some creepy blue van, comes and picks me up from K.'s parents house at 3:45 am, which is going to suck something firce. Anyone that knows me knows how I feel about flying, so getting up or staying up till that time is an added bounus. But I shouldn't complain I'm off to Florida for a wedding and then to North Carolina. I have to say I do enjoy a good wedding, love is in the air, good food, good drinks, everyone is happy and looks good, whats not to like, plus its going to be on the beach in Panama City, the heart of the Redneck Riviara.

Travel, Massage and the Daly Nar

As I prepare for my up coming trip I was trying to figure out the best was to get a road bike out to North Carolina were mom lives. This is a must, the area around Ashville, NC. has some of the best road riding in the country, the mtb is good, but pails in comparison to the quality of road riding. I mean who doesn't want to ride on the Blueridge Parkway. So I boxed up the Voodoo Bonzai to be shipped out. As far as I know Fed Ex ground is still the cheapest way to get a bike shipped, screw the airlines, they just want to give it to you hard and deep anyway they can. I'm sure it is going to cost me to get the bike out there, but the costs of not having it are even worse especially the cost of my sanity.
K. got me a massage for my birthday, so today I cashed those chips in. The massage was through the Northern Arizona Yoga Center, the studio we belong to, with Jessica Fetzner. Now from what I know of Jessica she recently finished massage school and is in full practice. I've had plenty of massages in my time and normaly I would choose a more expericend massage therpist, but I have to give it to her, she did a great job. I felt like she actually listened to what I said and applied it. It was a great balance of deep muscle work and tension release, I felt great when I walked out, didn't even mind going back to work!
The daily Nar report is as follows, Shultz was great to just before the link'n logs, shreaded secret/newham all the way to supermoto, all in great shape, down to lower moto, then down middle earth, this is one of the most fun trails to descend on the mtn, and a little rocky ridge for dessert. thought It might actually rain at one point

Test!

Initiation of the DirtHugger blog, Prescott Monstercross

This past weekend the handlebarsandwich and I reached into our bag of courage and headed to Prescott for the Arizona Endurance Series Prescott Monstercross. 57 miles and 8000 ft of Prescott's finest single track. My riding in the are has been limted to one MBAA race that was lame and the Whisky 50 off road, as I expected the area had a lot more to offer. Credit for the coarse design goes to Dan, a local who was a animal on the rigid singlespeed. He did a great job incorporating everyting the area had to offer. There was a taste of everyting, loose over hard nar granite, smooth buttery soil, baby heads, creek crossings, at one point I thought I was in a Bob sled and fire roads. But I have give it to Dan for saving the best for last. After i rdiculously steep fire road climb we were rewarded with what seemed like and endless downhill, it had to have been at least 10mi, all the way back to Costco.
I chose to pull my Voodoo Canzo 29'er out of the quiver for this one, and I have to say I was glad to have the full bounce for this one, normaly I would choose a hardtail for a race like this, but I wouldn't have had the smile factor on the descents.
I would like to thank Dan for the coarse design, you did a great job and I look forward to riding in Prescott again sometime with you and Chad for keeping the ball AES ball rolling.