I wasn’t going to be able to take days off this year, but since   Beckie and the girls were heading to Rocky Point,   I planned to enjoy the weekend to the fullest. I hit the pre-Fling Hawes ride on Wed eve (sorta, by myself, after working late and missing LiteandFast Dave’s group), the Somo Party on Friday, Sedona on Saturday with local guru Traildoc’s tour, and the Alta\Bajada ride at Somo on Sunday.

The Highlights:

• Missing everything on the Blur that I did on the Hei Hei during my Hawes ride, thereby avoiding any buyer’s remorse.   Its not the bike, I just suck.
• getting a bike for G from ScottN and his wife Robin(?), in exchange for a good 6 pack of beer and the promise to pay it forward
• Not drinking at the Somo Party
• Good conversations, and the great friends who supply it
• Meeting Traildoc, AZJeff and others for a wonderful locals tour of Sedonuts.   The highlights were Hog Wash and Hog Heaven, like Hangover, but a tad tamer.   Or maybe I was just not so scared.
• Nutting up and hitting a tough drop, turn, and drop without giving in to my fear
• Nutting up and hitting   a different tough drop, turn and drop and holding on while the bike slide sideways down the 2nd step
• Nutting up and rolling a 5 foot nearly-vertical rockface, then crapping my pants and succumbing to the shakes after it was over
• Good company with the boys of JRA racing: Helimech, Lostboyz and A.P.B
• Endo’ing on a little hay bale at 0 mph, giving a good laugh to my fellow riders
• Chad F. Brown
• Rolling into Chad’s ride, Durtgurl’s ride, KennyB’s ride, and Paul’s ride at Sedona.   There must have been at least 50 of us out on the trails.
• Beer and pizza at Bike and Bean
• 12″ tubes at Bike and Bean, saving me a trip to Wal-Mart, and allowing me to support our sponsor
• Hitting BCT alone at dusk for an hour shake-down ride.   I had the whole system to myself. Somewhere i dropped my Swiss American water bottle, returning it to the place I found it nearly a year earlier.
• Learning in a pinch how to adjust my hydraulic brake calipers
• Learning in a pinch how to reassemble my freehub
• Good company from Evil Patrick, Dgangi and others during the brutal climb up Alta
• Cleaning Durtgurl’s Crack on Alta
• Watching Zort, Dirtbag and Tiss’er clean the Switchback of Death. Watching your buds make gnarly shit is sometimes as much fun as getting it yourself.   The look that came over Dirtbag’s face as he prepared to drop in…it wasn’t calm, it was combat.
• Finishing Bajada and not throwing a tantrum as it rolled long and longer and longer
• 6 hrs of gnar, no blood