TJ Woodruff ONLINE

Got back on the dirt. Or should I say ‘rocks’ of Tucson this weekend. Good stuff!

Pending monsoon rain? I lucked out and stayed dry.

Rolling out on Tanque Verde with Redington/AZ Trail/Milagrosa in mind for day one. Eventually met a stranger by the name of Dominic who ended up riding with me. He used to race the NORBA scene back in the late 90’s.  Good guy with great skills…

Flowing trail and high country grasslands turns to…

big bouldery rocks with plenty of pointy edges as you descend back to the desert.

Cacti make for great ‘freestyle accupuncture’ treatments.

Day two I had some better looking company.  She’s also highly skilled. We rode over ‘Golden Gate’, which is in the background. More rad trails followed too.

Chloe riding up the rocks of Tucson Mountain Park. 

All in all it was a fine return to the desert MTB scene. It’s rugged and tough as ever and I’m loving the challenge. You gotta have skills and searching for more always makes for a great weekend. After a second consecutive weekend without racing I’m feeling very refreshed. I might have to find a way back for ICEMAN… 

-TJ

Not long ago it was June and I was leaving Tucson for the summer months.  Four months later and I’m now back after having an awesome experience in Wisconsin.   Friday was a pre-dawn departure from Madison with a post-dusk arrival to Colorado Springs.  Saturday’s ride made the long hours in the car worth the while. Brian and I got out for 4.5 hours of MTB action. Two hours of dirt road climbing was followed by some of the best singletracks I’ve ridden. This ride was a favorite of my personal ’stash’  from ‘05 so after three years away I was happy to be able to recall the trails so we could make the loop happen as it did. Brian agreed that it was one of epic proportion. He even got a good digger when I had the camera out…

Perfect weather, golden aspens, tacky soils, and fun bikes made the ride incredible. I’m jealous of Brian’s backyard, enough so that I’m tempted to plan my move to Colorado’s Front Range.

Before that happens, life in Tucson takes off once again.  I finished the drive on Sunday and was greeted with a pleasantly cool evening in the desert.  I’ve been on Lemmon twice already this week and it’s nice to be getting back into the local scene. Great friends and good riding can make this place very attractive. I’m looking forward to the weekend and the chance for some big MTB adventures.  Stay tuned for the details. Enjoy the riding!  -TJ

The racing action at the MadCross CX event was fast and furious. My dad made the trip down for the weekend so it was cool that he got his first taste of what cyclocross is all about - intense race action with a lot of super-fan excitement.  Flatting out and not having the mindset simply to add more air to my burped tubeless setup was frustrating but at least I kept the bike together on Sunday to turn in a good finish. The field was stacked and I’m happy with how the season wrapped up in Wisconsin.  Hopefully the AZ Cross scene is ready for some UCI speed! I’ll do my best to up the level the level now that I’ve gotten a taste.

Mountain Goat shot some great film out there so feel free to check out his camera work. Thanks to everyone who made all of the noise and also to those who offered help in the pit on Saturday. Next time I come back to a UCI event I’ll have a better race/pit setup going…