I Couldn’t Believe It

About halfway through the ride at SSAZ, I started feeling pretty awesome.  Not because I was riding gnarly terrain like I was skilled at it or something, but because I was riding something different.  

It was so beautiful out there.

I was already taking a lot of pictures, but at this point I was stopping just to take it all in.  I was really happy about this new place that my bike had taken me.

Sure I’d ridden in the desert before (the Mojave near Vegas), but this one was so much more scenic.

I was riding some stuff that I knew I woulnd’t ride again for quite some time.  There was really only one tough hike a bike climb, and even with that I didn’t mind.  The cactus-laden descents were so awesome that it was worth it.

And in proper DrunkCyclist form, there was a rad “aid station” out in the middle of nowhere.

I hung out there for a while with some old friends, and they told me that D-Wayne had only passed through there a short time ago.  I rolled out, climbed one more time, and found the raddest downhill section of the day.

From what I was told, the end was near.  We just had to cross the same creek about a million times.

I finally hit a fire road and starting seeing people.  Like, touristy kind of people.  I knew I was close.  Before long, I found the halfway point/aid station/finish line.

And everyone was happy to see us.

There was more trail to finish, but since this wasn’t a race we decided that we were done for the day.  Our ladies took the car back to town, and D-Wayne and I hopped on our bikes and headed towards the Flat Tire Bike Shop.

I thought it was gonna be a long, lonely ride back to town until we spotted a trail that ran parallel to the road.

It made our ride much better.  Every town should have such a thing.

The ride went by quickly, and before we knew it we were at the shop.  It had cool bike parking out front.

And beer.  Let’s not forget the beer.

We hung out for a while and relaxed.  Eventually D-Wayne and Meghan had to get back to take of their doggies, so Little Miss Sunshine and I stuck around.  The plan was to hang out at the after party for a bit, but first we had to catch a desert sunset.

The after party went on well into the night, but we rolled out (after staying a while) to make the long drive back to Tucson.  It was an awesome day in the desert mountains, and one that I won’t soon forget.  It was great to be a part of the “family reunion” and they put on a good event. 

I can’t wait to go back.

The Family Reunion

Saturday morning started early.  Up around 5 a.m., departing Casa de D-Wu shortly after in two cars due to bike-carrying arrangements.  One quick stop for breakfast and another for gas with shady gas station bathroom action had us getting up towards Cave Creek right on time.

We were still in the desert (duh), and out of nowhere this Wild West sorta town appeared.  We rolled up to the Flat Tire Bike Shop and starting poking around.  I ran into most of the AZ DrunkCyclist crew, Chewie from MN, Dejay,  and even some old friends from here in North Carolina.

Everything was a little behind schedule while they figured out how to shuttle everyone to the start location.  They had luxury limo van service for the people and a U-Haul to take the bikes.  Since we had two cars (which turned out to be pretty smart), we followed the convoy that eventually started heading out of town.

After about a twelve mile drive (including a dirt road) we made it to the Bronco Trailhead in the Tonto National Forest.  The riders gathered around to hear Dirty give his speech…

It included the most important advice for any kind of race or ride…

“Don’t be a dick.”

This was not a race.  It was a family reunion of single speeders from all over with a group ride thrown in for good measure.  We rolled out of the trailhead let out by some kind of enduro dirtbike (not Enduro™) and hit the road to find the singletrack.

Since it was a party pace, I had plenty of time to take photos…

It was a beautiful day in the desert mountains, rolling up and down the hills on a road for quite sometime.  Once we hit the singletrack, it was gridlocked.

And it stayed that way for a while, meaning that even the simple climbs had to be walked.

Once we started to spread out, I dropped back to get some “riding” photos before I caught up with the group.

Then we backed up again because of a really rocky creek crossing.

There was actually water in this one.

With no real steep climbs at first, it was still a challenge due to the gnar of baby heads all over the trail.  We actually rode a lot of it though, and of course I stopped often to take in the views.

And we took a few breaks along the way to practice the DrunkCyclist secret handshake:

Did I mention that the views were awesome?

During one of my shutterbug sessions, I spotted Shanna rolling down the mountain, showing the fellas how you ride the gnar.

Then it got really uh, technical…

It was like the desert was giving us a big F U.

We kept going though.

And of course it opened up again.

And I stopped for moar photos.

And yeah, I’m nowhere near finished.  More to come on Monday from Single Speed Arizona.

I have to go get ready to heckle this weekend at the next short track race.

By The Time I Get To Arizona

This is the last day of the week for me.  This time tomorrow morning, the little lady and I will be flying the (un)friendly skies on our way to Tucson.  I am excite.  Hopefully D-Wayne and his better half are ready for us.  The last time I checked, our bikes were indeed in AZ and out for delivery in Tucson.  There was a little delay in there for some reason since the original scheduled delivery was supposed to be yesterday.  No big deal as long as they get there I guess.

I’m looking forward to riding in the desert.

It looks dangerous.  Like, “I hope I don’t roll of the trail into a cactus” sorta dangerous. 

I rode in the desert that time I went out to InterBike, but this seems to be a different kind of desert.  I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m basing everything I know on the cartoons I watched when I was a kid.

Okay, that looks moar dangerous than a cactus-infested trail.  At least my bike isn’t made by Acme.

That being said, don’t expect to see me at the short track race this weekend (Lunchbox will be there though.)  I’ll be back sometime next week and will resume blogging probably on Wednesday or so.  This is a much needed vacation for us all.

See y’all next week…

Road Trips

So, after Carl’s big day on the town, the rest of the day’s plan started to form.  My man D-Wayne was back in NC after moving out to Arizona and I wanted to hang out with him.  He was in town doing the Tour of Tanglewood up near Winston Salem, so I hit the road to meet him, Eastwood, and the rest of the crew at a local restaurant for some food, beer, and bullshitting.  It was good to see D-Wayne and his better half, even if they were busy playing around with firewood.

 A few beers, a few laughs, and a lot of catching up.  I drove and hour to see everyone and it was worth it. 

The gang was back together again…

 They had more riding to do the next day, and since I hadn’t planned on staying I hit the road back to Charlotte.  I was waiting at a red light when a dirty little white box pulled up next to me with some shady characters inside.

I have fans.  Not good ones, but that’s what slightly famous on The Internets gets you.

I got home a reasonable hour.  In fact, Lunchbox said, “I thought you’d be much later.”  I guess I should’ve stayed out and partied a little longer, but I was beat.  A long week of work plus getting used to having a new dog in the house had taken its toll on me.  The next morning I had a few things to do (one of which was to check out some new trail at BYT with Hubbs and Dicky), but I just didn’t feel like getting out of bed.  I finally felt like moving, and after feeding the dogs and watching them poop I had to figure out what to do with the rest of the day.  It had been way too long since I’d been on my bike and I wasn’t about to let another day go by without saddle time.  I ended up on a road ride (more on that tomorrow), and with that out of the way I started planning the rest of my day.  I knocked out a few adult responsibilities (lawn mowing and the like), and took my ass right back up to Winston Salem for more beer and food. 

The little lady was already there, cutting her camping trip in Pisgah short just to hang out with our desert dwelling friends.  She’d crashed pretty hard the day before, and the second I arrived I got to see her battle wounds.

Oh, that’s pretty.

 The usual crew was there, minus Eastwood.  He was plum wore out from two days of riding and headed back to Charlotte.  Too bad, because the place where we ate had butterfly crackers.

He is the Butterfly King you know, so maybe he left those there for us.

More beer, more food, and more bullshitting.  As I looked around while we shot the shit, I noticed one of my stickers.

Since D-Wayne is the one who created them (via Dwayne Hunter Design Company), I figured that he put it there.

But, this one?

Right where I belong.  In the shitter.

Eventually we’d had enough fun and everyone was getting tired.  We said goodbye and headed to our vehicles.  That’s when I noticed more stickers, this time on my truck.

Yes, it’s my sticker on my truck, but I didn’t put it there.  And I sure as hell didn’t put a Glow Worm sticker on there…

I guess I’ll keep them on there.  You can’t have enough stickers, right?

It was good to hang out with the D-Wayne clan.  This is the first time they’ve been back since they moved out to the desert, so I’m glad we got a chance to see them.  The good news?  We’re planning a trip to visit them out there early next year.  I hear there’s a big race/party thingy nearby that I’ve been summoned to do by the AZ DrunkCyclist crew.

Single Speed Arizona is coming up this February.  I’ll be there. 

Details to come when I know more.