Rollin' into the New Year

The Shredder and I spent the holidaze in Arizona with family and friends, took some time to drive as much dirt road and old 2-laners as possible, ride bikes a lot, and party. Winter Solstice night we car bivied in Saline Valley, CA. There's a 2 or 3 day dirt road tour I've got in mind for that zone, looping Eureka V. and Saline V., maybe some pavers on 190 through Panamint Springs and a meal at the cafe. hmmm, maybe early Feb. in an effort to "harden" myself for the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo...

Riding in AZ was sick. On a hunch we found our way the Cave Creek Trailhead and kinda committed to riding Trail 4, SS on my Vulture and Shredder running gears on her Coconino. Conditions varied from rad 1-track to completely gone-washed away by highwater to ballistic angular rocks with modest exposure to rolling babyheads and sand dunes etc. A herd of javelina bowled the brush along the creek early on in the ride, kinda humbling me and peaking Oso's interest. They'd make short work of him for sure. Ever seen one of the those little buggers charge straight through chapparal at full throttle?! On a lighter note, jumping cholla and cat claw mesquite were everywhere, as were a few other toothy species i haven't had the pleasure encountering before this. Views of the canyon were stunning - rugged hills studded with 20' saguaros and a crystal clear creek below, flowing from plung pool to boulder stretch for miles on end. Unfortunately, the aesthetics of the situation were such that bleeding shins, leaking tires, seized SPD's and very hard to ride surfaces dominated the situation. At about sunset we emerged from the trail to a dirt road and Shredder span on home to get vehicle and was to return for Oso, rather than run him down 5 miles of rural roads. We kept pluggin along though, making it to about a mile from the house when they found us. Dark, hungry, thirsty, and happy were the ending notes for that ride... at least for me.

A bit of rain hit AZ after Christmas, dumping snow on the hills just a few hundred feet in ele above Cave Creek, and all over the higher country including the sandstone of Sedona. It made for a forced rest day, but by time Huck Tater found his way to Cave Ck we were willing to gamble on riding up north a bit. We jammed up to Sedona hoping that by time we'd arrive the snow would melt out and dried up enough for some riding. Turned out to be one of those rare, not cold but kinda wet mornings with snow melting out giving way to blue skies and warm afternoons. We stayed away from the sticky trails and rode the rocks and sandy surfaces of Templeton Tr. to Baldwin and back on Templeton, with a detour to Llama and back to the rig near Bell Rock. If that doesn't mean anything to you, take notes and get out there. The riding in Sedona is very good, especially on a one speed.That night we drove up to Flagstaff and visited with the Garros. It's absolutely amazing how well Steve is recovering from the collision he had with a truck a little over a year ago. He's starting to walk again, brazing frames a ton, arm biking and learning to kayak whenever he gets some time. He and Denise are awesome to visit with and a tremendous inspiration.

They next day we joined them for some biking-arm biking-hiking again in Sedona. Talk about amazing, the stuff Steve spins that One-Off through is real impressive. It took me 4 tries to clean a techie climb he arm biked with only mild assistance to get the front wheels up some big rocks and keep from flipping. Go man Go!And to fully round the AZ holidaze out Shredder and I had the supreme pleasure of seeing Flathead play live along with Thee Oh Nos and Elmo Kirkwood in Tempe. What a hoot! Ever see garage-surf punk played by 4 dudes in black ski masks? Follow that up with Airborne and all the FH songs I can think of and my ears were ringing well into the new year... kinda spinning too.Happy New Year, readers.
Japhy rider