the mountains await w/ fog
Saturday was a long 32×18 ride for SingleSpeed Arizona, my second ever singlespeed ride/race. 58 miles was the day’s tally, and yes that’s nearly 10 more than it should have been. The 9500 feet of elevation meant some tough going along the way. Unintentionally I chose to add an extra loop in the first half of the race and I’ve now realized that such mistakes are part of the risk in trying to lead such a race – there’s no one there to confirm your navagational decision making. I went left instead of right which meant I decended far more than I should have while adding on an extra loop of sorts. By the time I reached a flowing (near raging) wash, I knew that I wasn’t on the originally intended path. After two or three knee-deep forges of the freezing cold water I made my way back up towards the planned course. Nearly two hours later I was on route once again after some seriously steep and rough jeep roads. At Redington road I figured that with AZ trail and Milagrosa awaiting I must go on despite already having a day’s worth of riding in the legs. As I finished up the incredible singletracks some interesting people were met and each of the 70 or so added something to the day’s story.
my kit from '97 made a comeback
DeJay put on a fun day of bike riding and it was great to get out there and try the singlespeed thing. Enjoyable yes, but equally frustrating at times. The simplicity of the bike is appreciable, but so is riding up steep trails with the aid of gears. Pushing the bike is never fun, especially when it would otherwise be a rideable trail. It was a new way to experience some of my favorite singletracks and it made for an epic ride that won’t soon be forgotten. The day started under a dense fog cover unlike anything I’ve seen in AZ before, but by early afternoon it was sunny with temps in the 70’s. Couldn’t have been a a better day of riding. Later,
-TJ
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