Welcome our newest member to the family, Lucy. She’s a sweetheart!
Lucy is a 2-1/2 year old Pitbull mix. We got her from the Humane Society in town.
She’s been a great dog. Incredibly athletic and loves to cuddle.
Our New Dog Lucy!
Springtime Fun in the Sun (and Rain)
The first big race of the season is in the books (Whiskey 50), new travels are on the horizon, and summer will be here before we know it!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update. March was a whirlwind of local weekend races, including a trip to SoCal getting that first bit of early season race prep in the legs. Things around Pinetop have started to bloom and the trees and grass are becoming greener.
The seasons blend together quite a bit here, winter was colder with highs in the 40s and 50s, but plenty of sunshine. We had a pretty dry spring (along with a dry winter) and now we’re seeing consistent temps in the 70’s, but other than the blooming flowers it’s hard to tell a lot has changed.
Upcoming travels are a short trip back to Wisco for my best man Niko’s wedding, Durango for the Iron Horse Classic and then Grand Junction for the GJ Off-Road, really looking forward to this one. I hear it’s a lot of challenging technical rock riding, a real mountain bikers course. After that we’ve got a weekend planned at the Angelfire bike park, Colorado Springs for some family time and another round of the U.S. Cup and then Mtb Nationals in Mammoth, CA.
Our ski area Sunrise, has a DH park that will open memorial day weekend. We’ve walked some of the runs, they’re pretty cool, lots of roots, big rocks and steep drops! This weekend we’re headed to Sedona for a skills clinic with pro DH/enduro riders Lindsey & Kirt and Voreis. So lots fun stuff happening.
I’m in the process of finishing the new Racette devStudios website, but in the meantime I’ve added some new items to my portfolio section of the blog, check it out and let me know what you think!
Until next time…
Big Miles, Monster Climbs, & Epic Road Rides
Last week I took the opportunity to explore two really cool roads, the Coronado Trail and the Salt River Canyon.
Coronado Trail
The Coronodo Trail (scenic highway 191) starts in Alpine at 8,000′ and heads south to Clifton at 3,500′ swooping through forests, amazing vistas and large trees that slowly turn to shrubs, then cactus.
I did this as an out an back, but you could do it as a one way from Clifton to Alpine, for a 90-mile 12,000′ climbing day (it’s been added to my list!). All in all it was an awesome ride. 4.5-hrs 8,000′ of climbing and I only saw 4 cars all day.
Salt River Canyon
On Sunday I capped off the week with a ride into the Salt River Canyon, a road that drops off the Mogollon (pronounced Mug-E-own) rim towards Phoenix. I got stated at sunrise and again there wasn’t much traffic. Rollers take you up and down from 6500′ down to 4,500′ and then the road drops you into the canyon bottom at 3,500′.
The climb out was pretty cool, steady climbing for about 1.5-hrs, then a few rollers, and the final climb back up to Show Low where I began. All in all another great ride capping off the 22-hr week on the bike with a total of 29,000′ of climbing!
24-Hrs Old Pueblo
The weekend prior Evie and I participated in the 24-hrs of Old Pueblo with some friends from Fountain Hills and McDowell Mountain Cycles. We did the 5 person coed and ended up 2nd on the weekend. All in all it was a good time, we got some miles in on our new race bikes and most importantly we stayed healthy. The real racing begins in 4 weeks with the Fontana ProXCT.
New Team for 2015
And finally, I’m proud to announce that I’ll be representing McDowell Mountain Cycles for 2015 with support from Scwhwalbe tires and Mike’s Mix Recovery drink. Looking forward to an awesome season!
