Arizona Living #AZLife

Mountain Biking Sedona

Finally getting around to a blog update, first one of the new year!

Winter in Pinetop has been downright balmy as compared to Wisconsin. We’ve only had 2 snow storms pass through that dumped 6-8″ each, but with the sun shining, the roads were clear the next day. The ski resort has had its fair share of snows, but we haven’t been over there yet.

Evie and I spent Christmas with my parents back in Antioch, it was nice to visit, but I’m pretty sold on Arizona at this point!

3 reasons you should move to Arizona

  1. It’s always sunny!
  2. There’s lots to do!
  3. Everyday feels like a vacation!

White Mountains Pinetop

I’ve explored a handful of the roads in the area and when you add in the 200+ miles of singletrack plus endless fire roads there’s a ton of riding options right from the house. Driving 45-mins gives you tons of more options from 2000′ climbs to bombing DH style singletrack.

Adjusting to Arizona life has been pretty easy. Along with exploring the White Mountains we’ve spent a few weekends in Sedona and Phoenix, both within a 3-hr drive (for those familiar with Sedona’s “White Line” trail (stunt) I marked the turn with the blue arrow!

White Line Turn

Schnebly Hill Vista Sedona

Pre Sedona Ride

The MBAA (Mountain Bike Association of Arizona) equivalent of WORS started up last weekend. They have a 7 race series that includes a wide variety of courses from desert to dirt. I’m by no means ready to start XC racing, but with Whiskey 50 and Grand Junction on tap for this year, I’ve definitely shifted my training up to be on form in late April.So far it’s been pretty easy to train here with 40 & 50′ degree temps during the day.

We also got a fat bike! We don’t have any snow right now, but riding on the frozen trails is a blast. Looking forward to taking it out on some snow pack soon.

FatBoy

In other bike related news, we’re riding Scott’s this year. Evie and I both got Scott Spark 700 SL’s along with a Genius 740 their 150mm trail bike. Both bikes rock! 650b wheels and 120mm of travel on the Spark makes it a super fun bike to ride. A great climber and awesome on the descents.

Scott Spark 700 SL

Scott Spark Up Close

Four Peaks from McDowell

More in the coming weeks…

Thanks for reading!

Sedona, Durango & Flagstaff, Oh My!

Oak Creek Sedona

Living in Arizona has so far been pretty awesome! Not only is Pinetop a cool place, but we’re super close to many other great destinations.

Hang On!

A few weekends ago Evie and I took a trip to Sedona for the weekend to do some riding with Chad and Tricia. We’d both been to Sedona before (that’s where we got engaged), but had never ridden there. We left Saturday morning and headed out for the 3-hr drive. We made a quick stop in Flagstaff where we rode to the top of Mt. Elden for a quick trail ride down the Upper and Lower Oldham trails. After our ride we stopped at a few breweries to refuel and fill our growler. Finishing out the day with the remainingĀ  45-min drive put us in Sedona for the night.

Upper Oldham Flagstaff

The next day, Chad, Evie, Tricia, and I headed out for some Sedona fun! We ripped around all morning and then met up at Over the Edge bike shop downtown where the guys and girls split off into their own rides for a bit. The day kept getting better with more exposure, awesome rocky descents, and amazing views. In 4-hrs we just scratched the surface of what Sedona has to offer, but being so close, we will definitely be back!

Sedona Trails

Colorado Rendezvous

After a fun weekend it was back at it, getting caught up on work stuff and finally feeling like I have some sort of routine again. My parents came to visit the next weekend and my dad and I did some projects around the house including building the best bike workbench to date. This is our third one we’ve build and I think we have it dialed. From the depth, width, shelf height, it’s just about perfect.

New Work Bench

Then it was off to Durango to meet up with my good buddy Dave, who was spending some time on the front range in Denver. About a 5-6 hr drive for both of us, Durango made perfect sense. We had great weather and explored some awesome trails including Horse Gulch, Telegraph, Sale Barn, and my favorite, the Colorado Trail.

We made it up to “high point” on the Colorado trail, about 9500′ before the snow and setting sun had us turning around for the 3000′ descent. Along the way we rode some rally cool side trails that had some wicked fun berms. The dirt was perfect all day and we rolled back to the car by moonlight. Hard to stop when you’re having that much fun!

Colorado Trail

Durango

Big Lake, Thompson TrailĀ  & Mt. Baldy

Sunday we drove out to Big Lake, which is an hour east of Pinetop. We found this really cool trail along a river that we hiked for a while, Thompson Trail. Makes you forget your in Arizona. We also got some good views of Mt. Baldy, the highest peak in AZ outside of the San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff. Mt. Baldy rises to 11,400′.

Black River

Black River Arizona

Thompson Trail Arizona Let the adventures continue…

My New Home Pinetop, AZ

Sunrise Ski Resort

View from Top of Sunrise

Well, it’s been 3 weeks since Evie and I moved to Pinetop, AZ. We’ve had a little time to explore some of the area and all I can say is YEAH! This place is awesome!

When you see a new part of the country for the first time or visit a small town during a bike race it always seems like it’d be a great place to live, but it’s always in the back of your mind as to what’s this place really like without a big festival going on, or when I’m not visiting on vacation. Pinetop was kind of the opposite…

Upon our first visit to the town of Pinetop-Lakeside (it’s actually two towns that merged), we were not overly impressed. Once we met a few of the locals and began to explore the area more boy were we blown away! This is a total mtbers training ground paradise! More on that later.

Move-in Day and a Bike Race

The New House

We arrived in Pinetop on Oct 1 and got the keys to our new place that we’re renting. Our house sits just behind Woodland Lake Park, a really quaint little park about 1 square mile that has a small lake and some really cool mountain bike trails. So far Evie’s commute consists of a 20-min ride on singletrack!

Luckily we didn’t have to drive the moving truck out, that arrived on Friday (along with TJ and Chloe) who came to stay for the weekend and ride in the Tour of the White Mountains, a race put on by Epic Rides, the same people who put on the Whiskey 50, Grand Junction Off-road, and 24-hrs in the Old Pueblo.

A course marking error sent the lead 12 or so guys the wrong way, so once we all stopped to chat with race officials we decided to just cruise and enjoy the ride. It turned out to be a great day! I didn’t really have any expectations, just a good way to checkout the local trails.

A Mountain Biker’s Dream

Creek Crossing

Open Road

So Pinetop is a lot like Bend, OR, only a little higher in elevation (Pinetop sits at 7000′). The trails are a mix of rocky technical slow sections and fast smooth twists through pine trees. There’s a good amount of elevation gain, about 1000′ per hour when you’re just out riding.

Since Pinetop sits on the edge of the Colorado plateau (right on the Mogollon Rim) you can head south and begin to drop in elevation really quickly. There are a half dozen or so Cat 2 climbs to be had within a 50-mile ride, lots of clean roads, endless gravel fire roads, and about 200-miles of connecting mountain bike trails.

With a little cold and snow in the winter means you’ll keep your toughness, while still being able to ride year round. Plus if you do wanna wimp out, it’s only a 3-hr drive to Phoenix and 4-hrs to Tucson. Not to mention you ride 30-miles south and it warms up 20 degrees as you drop off the rim!

Climate & Seasons

Fall Leaves

Lake Mountain Sunset

Thus far it’s been in the 40s in the morning and 60s/70s during the day. Winter’s can dip down into the 20s at night, but then back up into the 40s and 50s during the day. Summers in the 70s and 80s, but dry, and NO BUGS!

We’ll see some snow in the winter, but not a ton, and any snow that does stick won’t last too long since it warms up during the day. Sunrise Ski resort is about 25-miles to the east of town and rises another 2000′ so the base is at 9,000, summit at 11,100.

We went over there a few weeks ago to hike and checkout the fall colors, along with the downhill mountain bike trails! In the summer they run lifts so get ready to do some big hitting! We walked some of the DH runs and they were sweet! They have a really neat Whistler vibe. Trees, roots, big boulders, etc. Can’t wait to ride ’em.

Thinking I Might Stick Around – So Come Visit!

Evie started work on the 15th and I’ve been busy finishing up a new project for some friends of mine who opened a new bike shop in Fountain Hills, McDowell Mountain Cycles. We’ve had a chance to meet a lot of people in town and are looking forward to more exploring!

For a town of 5000 they sure have a lot of awesome restaurants and cool little shops. With the endless system of trails and so many other cool places nearby like Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Durango I could see calling Pinetop my home for a long time so come visit! We have a spare bedroom waiting!