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.