AlienSplicer

Archive for the ‘Bicycling’ Category

I haven’t done much bicycling lately. “Lately” meaning for several months — my last real ride was this one. I’ve been having trouble dragging myself out into the heat and haven’t been able to get up early enough on the weekends to ride while it’s relatively cooler. I’m getting lazy.

Late Friday evening, I signed up for the Arizona MS150, a 150 mile charity bicycle ride for the National MS Society. It’s scheduled for the second weekend in November so I should have just enough time to get back into okay riding shape. This will be the sixth year I’ll have participated — hopefully, it’ll be enough incentive to actually get out and ride.

Yesterday I took my youngest, Zach, out for a short ride. We loaded the bikes and drove over to a nearby section of desert — mostly flat and few rocks. He was enjoying the ride until he crashed and banged up his arm on the ground. Nothing broken, no swelling or redness, but he was hurting. We called the rest of the ride and went home. Hopefully he had more fun that not and will be interested in riding again another weekend.

We decided to ride somewhere different today. I recently discovered an old (January 16, 2003) article, in the Arizona Republic’s Travel Guide, about Sheep Bridge, an historic bridge spanning the Verde River several miles north of Horseshoe Dam. The article describes the 27 mile, round trip, bicycle ride to the bridge and how to get to the starting point at the dam.

A note of caution: The article describes the road to Horseshoe dam as “… unpaved … easily passable to family sedans.” It may be “passable” but the wash-boarding is terrible! We drove slowly, but by the time we got to the trail head at the dam, one of my mirrors had shaken loose from the truck due to the constant vibration.

It was a good route, but it was definately too late in the year for this one. We started riding at 8am and made it to the bridge by about 10. But the Summer heat was just getting started, which made the ride back much, much harder. When we got back to the truck, at about 1-1:30pm, the temperature was already over 100 degrees. This is one ride that should be done in early Spring or late Fall.

It’s getting easier, although I’m still rather slow. Took about an hour to get into work and an hour and forty minutes to get back home. There’s a slight incline to Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road, but after that it’s pretty much smooth sailing.

Another fairly easy spin just south of Carefree Highway w/Dave and his son, Jacob. The knee is feeling much better — I should have started riding again much sooner than I did.

It’s nice having easy access to the desert now. Took an easy spin along desert trails to get my knee feeling better again — I’d twisted or pulled it a couple weeks ago while putting in the water line at the house.

Finally got a chance to commute from the new house to work: Approx 43 miles, round trip.

Rode in the MS150 last Saturday & Sunday. This year, due to road construction on our usual route to Parker Dam, we rode from a South Phoenix High School to Gila Bend and back the next day. The distance was about the same as in years past — 150 miles — but this year the wind was stiffly against us both directions. One bright spot: In Gila Bend, the ride organizers setup a satellite dish so we could watch final game of the Series Saturday night — the Diamond Backs won the World Series!!

Rode in the Union Hills Loop area with David and his son — we decided to ride the loop in the reverse direction. On the way back, near the end of the ride, Dave and I were talking while Jacob ranged on ahead. We were following the youngster on automatic and weren’t paying any real attention to where we were going. Naturally, we ended up lost and found ourselves riding another 5 miles of steep hills to get back to where we had parked the trucks.

Participated in a scheduled MS150 training ride around South Moutain. Approx 43 miles.

Went mountain biking with David & Jeff along the trails at Pima Road & Dynamite Blvd. Ended up endoing when I didn’t quite get the front tire high enough to clear a rather large rock during a fast up-hill swoop. No serious damage, but my ego did get a bit bruised.