Author: chollaball

Spring Break 2019

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Part 1: Beautiful and brisk start to spring break in Rocky Point, two days of heavy rains where we crammed in some paddleboarding in the calm from the cold sitting over us and squashing the typical winds. Then it was beautiful again.

When the wind is blowing hard on the beach side, or I’ve missed low tide, the estuary can deliver a fun ride.

The estuary is all about choices.

My pro tip – always choose the sand

looks like a lovely carpet to a firm beach? The grass is spongey and comes exactly to my pedal’s downstroke, where it tugs my feet every single turn.

The beach will sink 6 inches instantly.

Bad choices.

If you can see your track, its already too late for Death Mud. Bad choice, always choose the sand.

end of the ride unless I wanted to push over the dune. Sometimes you can connect with the beach side, but not today.

there is no bad weather, there is only inadequate clothing. Old raingear never dies, it lives forever in your beach house garage.

A few years ago I was showboating for the kids, and promptly got my truck stuck in the sand in Rocky Point. I was saved by a tow from a couple strangers, and quickly bought a tow rope and shackles to store in my truck. This week Rocky Point got nearly an inch of rain in less than 24 hrs, which turned the graded sand roads into our neighborhood to a mud pit. Not a problem for me w 4WD, but devastating to some of the local working people in small cars with old tires. We helped  pull two cars out of the mud, and finally gave a few of the local workers a ride back into town along with the bumper from their car that the mud wouldnt relinquish. They were shocked, to say the least, that any Americans would stop for them, let alone get themselves and their cars filthy and go out of their way for a Mexican stranger. One woman tried to give me money, all I could say was ‘mucho gusto’ over and over.

Plenty of times my kids have seen us roll our eyes and mock some of the things that work backwards in Mexico, but they’ve also seen us almost unfailingly treat everyone we meet with respect. Because we are so much more fortunate than most of the people we meet there, its that much more important to set a good example for the kids about acting with decency towards everyone.

Bonus: I got to use a poncho that i havent worn since 8th grade, and has been sitting in the gear compartment of the truck for almost 10 yrs.

i really should know what this is growing out of the dunes on the beach side…but I dont.

Next time I will ask at the CEDO.

Spring Break part 2. Big rains at the beach mean big dump in the mountains. Except 5:30am in Scottsdale my engine wouldn’t start. I hosed it down for 15 min and washed off a gallon more mud, then it started. Mexico.

The eternal dog question:

better to be home alone for for 36 hrs

or

6 hours a day in the parking lot, all I can eat ham & eggs from the hotel breakfast buffet, and LOTS of time surrounded in close stinky quarters with my family?

G is hooked on trees with me!!

i’m not sure yet if she does it for the trees, or for the powder. I do it for both, and I think she does too. Maybe so does everyone. She can barely toe turn in the trees, but is getting the confidence and patience and vision. That’s all so much more important than being clean, when your goal is to get through challenging terrain safely. I love her mindset.

It was tough riding my lines while keeping an eye on her for 2 days, but we got more compatible quickly. I figured out about where she was and kept near, she about figured out to keep an eye on me. I had to unbuckle once and climb uphill to pull her out of a dip. And one time she slammed into a tree. The rest was awesome. We were in the trees like 80%. she was extremely autonomous the other 20%.. well sure its only Flagstaff blacks, but…not bad for her Day 10.

Alana skied, some. she got better, when she wanted to. She is fun even if she is high-maintenance. Here’s the secret code to successfully skiing with Alana these days: 4th graders ski free all year in Snowbowl. Online ski rental for her is $10, with a $15 restaurant credit. I actually made money by giving Alana $5 to go to the lodge and not complain. And that satisfied my inner scales with an AZ girl who is not grateful for getting to drive 2.5 hrs to ski powder at 10,000 feet for free.

No friends on powder days.

Beckie rides a lot like Alana. It was spectacular!

Pleasantville 2018

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Since the election, I’m working myself back to me, the family, detoxing. There have been days trapped in Saigon, still only in Saigon. I’ve focused on exercising every day, to put the anxiety in place. Today made me almost right.

58 miles around Lake Pleasant,  on a blessed day the girls had no need of me. I have done nothing close since my knee surgery, I am fat, and out of shape.   I got scared thinking about the buffet my sloth and torpidity were about to gobble. Its been  3 years since the last ride ride that scared me. But if I could win an election, I could surely scheme my way around this uphill! I did 6 rides for 10 hours in the 2 weeks prior, and got my muscles focused. I planned and quartermastered, instead of installing political signs. The bike, my gear, my routing went slowly and perfectly. I used everything in my pack – batteries, light, all my clothes, all my food, both sets of sunglasses. I finished unscathed but for one small slash on my left wrist, just past dark 10 hours later.   It was the first AES ride I can remember where I was not shattered at the end. Yay me!!!

20 miles of smoothish trail around Lake Pleasant.

these guys were out in force, but I squashed not a one!

20 miles of   jeep roads brought us around the scant north edges of the Lake. The eskimos have as many words for snow as I do for jeep roads. There was a wide all-vehicle swath of powder and gravel that tugged me backwards while climbing. There were degrading surfaces punching up and over pitches impossible to pedal. Some I leaned down carelessly into the turns, and built speed enough to shoot 50 feet up the next hill, 1% of the ride’s total vert. On a road bike you can carry a downhill up for the next half mile. I got 50 feet across bottoms of rubble and rutted pitches.   A few times I fell into a strong cadence and spun hard. Each peak a Spring under my 30lbs overweight, each kept me happy for about 20 seconds before they wore off. 10 or 20 more vf, that kept stacking up. I’ve never felt so not-strong for so long while still feeling strong.

Around 30 miles at 1pm, I stopped for a safety break, eat, turn on my music. I peed off the trail, and this fella came roaring out!

Another hour an half on scenic double-track.

Every AES ride has a few WTF sections. I donut understand why they cant put together something all fun like Flight of the Pigs. The understanding always comes a day later, processing the struggle the day before. You don’t have to be having fun, to have fun.

The furthest reaches of Lake Pleasant hadn’t seen water in a long time, but the lowland still lush compared to the hills.

A mile through this sylvan anti-paradise. Verdant grass is sooooo Colorado, this is Arizona, where everything wants to stab you. The stalks are eighth-inch highly pliable dowels that grow obscenely to handle bar height. Their reverb snaps a steady pelt on my hands, feet, and shins.

Technically, this is a fruit

Another hour of “roads” led to the Black Canyon Trail about mile 40. And it was pebbly pukey crap. I know a bit about trail design and construction, to woefully know how trails segments are consistent. Built the same way, over the same terrain. You don’t have a strip bar next to a swim club. You don’t have buff flowy trails next to primitive zit-faced slogs. Grrrrrrr. The map, and all the beta, said the route’s crux was this grody 500 foot tall line.

I saw the end of the climb miles below from the basement, and fell in slowly and comfortably HABbing with my music. Eventually, it ended. The trail then went down for 2 hours and 12 more miles. I was happy, in a happy place where the fatigue would stop soon, even crossing the New River floor. Every river in AZ is a wash that just washed out more and more and more, 100   or 200 or 300 yards wide, and kept piling full of sundry rock and plants that itch. Sometimes it rages.

 

Solo Dad to Rocky Point

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Every Rocky Point trip is different, and every one is awesome. 95 degrees, 100% humidity and an angry ocean are preparations. There is no bad weather, there is only inadequate gear. G pondered our fate leaving Maricopa, that 3 is less spicy than 4. What would become of us without Mom?   I am “Roger Clyne” level of Mexican expertise. I brought music downloaded to my device, exploding the girls’ minds about capturing the cloud. We had a constant soundtrack for floaties, foodies, poofy clothes and perspiration.

Fearless coyote walking the gas station in Ajo.

Several days of vegetarianism goodness presupposed our slow-cooker binge. Many trips we’ve tried and retried and rejected dishes we didnt remember the name, but put it all together this run to the deli. Appetite inspired by sunblasts and fatigue and wave jumping, hiding in the shade before laying in shadeless baking tide pools. Solo-dad did all the cooking and dishes and cleaning. It was not easier, but less stressful, to be the only cook in the kitchen.

this really happened, Alana finished a book! Because G and I ignored her entreaties to swim, and kept reading. Shade, music, book, beach and beer — why do I want to fight the crush with Alana and a broken boogie board? Positive reinforcement, or negative? There was more than enough time to fight the surf.

G’s 6 mile run to Tessoro and back. 6:30am was spectacular. Going upwind G was faster than me on the fat bike. I had to dig in to. Downwind I was twice as fast, checked my email in the shade before overtaking her. Signal in Mexico is spotty. Later after tacos we hung out in the shoe section at the Wal-mart to grab wifi.

Another workout and wave session followed by lunch in town. Pic sucks, but now I remember — on Sinaloa Ave a few blocks past the fruteria. Soooooooo good.

at one point Alana was playing in the wave blasts with a PFD, while G and i beachcombed for broken glass. I realized I was 3 or 4 minutes and 200 yards away. Could I be arrested while cleaning the beach? And she had a pfd? Solo-dad limitations.

After a week they figured out how much harder everything was solo-dad. Twice as much loading, and unloading, and carrying down and porting up, freezing bottles and working the thermostat. Solo-dad was their only hope. Their helpfulness evolved monumentally.

They hogged out on every leftover to clear room in the cooler for a massive batch of takeout pollo asadero before hitting the road. They passed out in the truck til hunger stirred outside Gila Bend. Never before have I used a roadside table. This was a great spotsfor sunset and windflow and unleashed dog 100yards from the road.

Dumb Summer Remodel

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We got the house exterior painted this summer, top to bottom and all the folds. It necessitated a peel-down, contraction, cleansing, and renew of everything outside. Our dwelling’s kombucha, wash and facial. The entire house looks 10 years younger!

Next came the lawn. I’m so glad that’s gone, constant maintenance of the sprinkler heads  hopelessly spraying alkaline water and surviving direct sunlight in AZ. Grass is not meant to thrive here, weeds and ants are. I got pleasure shutting off the system for two months until our install date.

We had this fountain out front that we turned off after a year in the house. It became the porch’s version of the covered pool table: a dumping ground for injured cactus. We filled the spaces sloppily with rip-rap and 10 years of shell collecting in Mexico. It all got emptied one hot afternoon when Alana and I were home during the teachers’ strike.

An idea emerged…

We needed some elevated bases. We had a lot of leftover paint, and a spill-welcoming back yard!! This took G and ‘lana hours under an EZ-Up and old t-shirts. Dirtbag Dadcamp.

The scorpion was mine. We’ll never see him again, but it pleases me to know he’s down in there.

We also had this concrete fish. Since 2000, when we moved into our Mesa house, which also had a ridiculous fountain. Our first month in Mesa, a heron stood lazily in the fountain and gobbled up the koy fish one-by-one. Then the pond rotted, inexorably grinding down Beckie’s patience for rebuilding pumps and mucking. We finally filled it in to secure a tenant during the Great Recession in 2010. I don’t know how the fish survived that purge. He’s really really heavy, he sat unpainted in a corner for another 7 years.

And was reborn. It took me as long as the cinder blocks did the girls; I was constantly consumed with curtailing their creation of a SuperFund site. Painting during triple digits is a dumb summer remodel. Fine brushes gum up, paint skims sticking become colored landmines. ead grass wafts into an actual image-filter gumming up fine brushes. My parenting skills validated by Alana voluntarily cleaning the continuum of gummy brushes, without being asked even twice. Can you open and seal 10 cans, prep a workspace,  and not get spattered? We went 13 days without a workplace accident.  When I do with the girls where they don’t know, and come away more knowing, is good parenting.

And this claw. One Monday morning there was a big dinosaur skeleton along the highway median. Still there Tuesday and Wed. Wednesday night Alana and I detoured home from soccer practice, only to find it was gone! Scavenged by a wayward paleontologist!! Thursday I retrieved the only remaining fossil half a mile further south.

welcome home, claw!

Our house is finally xeriscaped!

Desert Trails and the Salt River

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7:30 on a Thursday, we had Desert Trails all to ourselves

Alana staying within herself, first time here on the 26er.

So I wanted to see how the Bentley with the plus wheels would perform, with the tire pressure and suspension all pumped up. It was a hoot in the s-curves and landings, but totally wrong for the takeoffs on the tabletops.

G’s first time off this jump!

Then we locked $15k worth of bikes to a tree outside of No Snow and went for a paddle.

Left another one at the put-out. We’re worse than Lime Bikes, with bikes scattered all over NE Mesa.

Solo Dad Camping Trip to the Rim

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Solo-dad camping trip with the girls to Woods Canyon Lake on the Rim.

Amazing campsite, great lake time, ride before breakfast, and a rental canoe! Beckie was missed in dispersion of laundry, and meal choice. Hot dogs, cantaloupe, chips, cantaloupe, or hot dogs is enough calories for 2 days. The bikes worked. The boat worked. We had gallons of extra water. The girls overindulged in a cheap solar shower. We didn’t die. Dad’s work is done here.

 

Saguaro Fruit Harvest

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I met Bluebird 10 years ago, on a group ride from Crown King to Lake Pleasant. He drove the shuttle bus. I re-met him recently through the NoDDC efforts. This should be declared as a campaign donation, its been so cool.

Two weeks ago Bluebird hosted me, G and ‘lana on a walk through the State Land off Pima and Dynamite. He’s a naturalist, a survivalist, and otherwise a normal guy with an iphone. He showed us how to eat palo verde seeds, and mesquite pods. How to see mice trails in the ground, and hair and bones in coyote poo. The hands-on training had all 3 of us stoked about our 5am wake-up, and what we learned.

Two weeks later Bluebird hosted a saguaro harvest. G and I were both fired up to go! So, we are going to use some dried saguaro ribs, wrapped together, and whack the fruit off the top.

Split it open. No needles on the fruit, but fetching them off the ground G and I were constantly pulling needles out of our gloves. Everything in the desert bites, and everything that fell bounced down into a crack that had collected needles and burs

Respect to our place in the world prior to kickoff! No one kneeled for this national anthem. In our group of 6 we had 4 generations, a couple hippies, a couple kids, an ex-cop, a solid Republican or 2, and a hooligan. NoDDC has brought me together with all these people to find what we have in common.

so many barfing jokes.

This was so sweet and full of seeds, it was a natural goo shot. Fruity, freshy, but mild. It snuck up on us 1000 calories later when we all felt grossly full once the jelly and seeds broke down.

Next day breakfast, G needed flavor for plain yogurt on her pancakes. I too started my day with some scoops. We held a few and cut a few to see what the fridge and porch did to them. And will keep at this for a few more days. Yay Food!

I have a thing about not wasting food, co-influenced by knowing nothing about hunting or fishing. I can grow a plant, harvest it, use it to lure meat. This session was very empowering.

Bluebird showed us how to make a rope out of aloe spears. This is the next thing I need to learn from him!

Actual battle of non-stop bickering sisters proving the power of this rope.  Because, they couldnt even stop bickering enough to pose. They just had to fight.

That’s cool but if my friends ask where you are I’m gonna say

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This kind of goodness has gotten so easy the family is bored and wants to go to Italy. #FWP.

Cinder blocks are not something ever known to be in short supply in Rocky Point?

Little tailgate before watching the Eagles. I appreciate the sports bar and the Sam’s Club more than any other americanization

I named the DH runs. This one is Speckles

And this is Spots; it has four booters

Low tide brought a 6-ft shelf in the estuary

Hard to see, but this bird’s beak was as big as its body

i dont know what this was, but I’m glad it didn’t eat me

butterflies everywhere

Soy es Alejandro

We have this new family psyche song

and we went up to Flagstaff to prove it

Bear Jaw – Abineau Loop

do you see the Grand Canyon?

Drove down Oak Creek Canyon the next day, to show everyone Hangover. Beckie and the kids have never seen anything like this masterpiece. The awe motivated all of our tired legs, mostly enough balance. Alana and I both were getting woozy on the backside. Can’t believe I cleaned as much of this as I did last time in about 2010, I’ve ridden so little gnar since my knee surgery.


To keep the hiking small after yesterday, we crawled the truck 3 miles up Schnebly Hill to the Cow Pies lot in the background, and after I hiked back up the road for the vehicle. That sucked.

Dip in Oak Creek under Midgley Bridge