11-22: How to describe this day?

It was not an epic ride, as it only took about 3:15. It was not a DH, cause despite its 7500 feet of descent it had a heartly 3500 feet of climbing. It wasn’t a gnarfest, even though the jeep roads were very dicey. It wasn’t a race, despite the brisk pace and several of us donning jerseys and arm warmers.

Paul B every so often puts together this trip, starting high up in the Bradshaw Mountains north-west of the Valley. Shuttle van, long ride, lots of overhead, and potluck dinner at Lake Pleasant. I had no clue where he even got this idea from, but that is why Paul has written a book.

I knew from all the descriptions that this would be a patient day, which is no problem, but involves some preparations on my behalf. Logistically, I must clear my deck, and mentally, i must clear my buffer from the habit of squeezing every last ounce of exertion out of time away from G.   Beckie was very cool about it all, very cool indeed, agreeing to taking Saturday if I would make up for it on Sunday.

Paul made a wonderful cappuccino for me as we loaded the van lazily to start the day. I got to hang out with NoelG on the ride, which was cool but kinda weird – Noel was an internet friend, and i knew as soon as we actually met we’d hit it off, and we did, which was weird knowing that we would. It was weird, in the way the internet is weird.   We talked about blogs, and bikes and kids – Noel’s little girl is exactly one day older than G.   I think we made Mike Rudolph (bike=good) and Jayem in the seat in front of us cringe at us being “those people” who always talk about “their kids.”

After about an hour up a bumpy dirt road, we arrived in very-rustic Crown King. Us and a bunch of hunters, quaders and dirt-bikers all loaded up in front of the General Store, and 1,000 feet up, then about 6 miles of raucous jeep road down. It was like Bulldog Canyon, Chiva Falls and 4 Peaks Road all together — steep, loose, granite faces, bermed turns, and wheelers. We all got along fine; a burly road only brings out capable people, no matter their tools. As we closed in on Lake Pleasant the vehicles got bigger, sloppier, and ruder.

big views

big descents

At one big formation in the road…

i stupidly went hard on something i had no business hitting so hard on the Blur. My cavalier attitude on the Blur is starting to bother me, very much. Its becoming reckless, my arrogance for what i can get on the bigger bike and think i can force on the smaller one. My last 5 falls have all been on the Blur, and they are all from hubris. The fall hurt bad, a beautiful endo where my wheel just stuck in a hole, and my aching wrist and forearm fucked me up for awhile until i popped 800mg of vitamin I.   When the ibu took off the edge, i began to relax about the possibility i had fractured my forearm.

After lunch at the base of the descent, we fueled up and prepared for the 8 miles of rollers to follow.   Deep hills, steep climbs, with the lake finally coming into view over the horizon.

We ended with about 15 miles of graded jeep roads, trending down into Lake Pleasant.   Paul and I got to hang out and gab, which was really cool. He is another guy that I knew pretty well from emails and posts, even though we have only talked in person for about 10 minutes over the past year.   It was really great getting to drop our e-personas and enjoy the ride together.   Thanks again Paul for such a fun day!

Everyone followed us to the finish within about 10 minutes

Then it was time for the potluck dinner!   Part of Paul’s tradition on this ride is everyone brings a dish.   Now coming up with something yummy is not hard for me, but coming up with something yummy that can withstand a day in the van and reheating only via the grill is a little harder.   I made fresh salsa and cornbread, and they both went over well.   Paul brought turkey burgers, Tommy and Michelle had a different salsa and cookies, Noel made little pumpkin pies, Jayem some kabobs, and Mike took best of show with bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers.   I passed out on the van ride back to Paul’s house in Tempe – a really fun, wonderful day of friends, food, bike sand exploration.

We’ll call it an Adventure Ride.

More photos from Paul and Noel here: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=471706