Summer Begins in Spearfish

Cement Ridge Lookout

Whew, taking a minute to reflect back on the last few months. In April I raced the Whiskey Off-Road and placed 4th. Raced a great race after years of bad luck and blow ups climbing out of Skull Valley! I followed that up a week later with a win at Flagstaff Frenzy, the final race in the MBAA series.

Been taking a break from riding the past few weeks working on house projects in Spearfish. Will get back on the horse soon and gear up for the 2nd half of the season later this summer.

Right after Flag we journeyed up to our new summer destination in Spearfish. After a few days of thrift store shopping and Craigslist/FB Marketplace furnishings we got things pretty well setup.

Spent the spring mapping out projects and getting things ordered so I could jump on the egress windows right away. Did some yard grading, lots of odds and ends, replaced a bunch of leaky valves, water heater, old wiring, and planned out future projects. It was a productive May.

A quick trip back to AZ to put on the AZ State Champs in Prescott made for a fun MBAA retreat with staff. Got some good plans in place for 2023 and beyond. The fall enduro series kicks off in October so I’ll be prepping for that over the summer along with more house projects, biking, and playing with Mattie.

Lately Mattie’s favorite things are… chasing ducks, looking for deer, honks from trash truck, building forts, and going on hikes/mtb rides. Some photos for your enjoyment. Cheers!

Flagstaff Frenzy
Flagstaff Frenzy
Lucy dog
Lucy dog.
Spearfish Canyon
Spearfish Canyon
Bike garage
Bike garage

Mattie Turns 2

I am the Future

Mattie turned 2 on Monday! She’s wild and crazy and lots of fun. I think the photos speak for themselves 🙂

Been doing a little racing and gearing up for The Whiskey 50 at the end of the month. Got the win at Havasu on the first really hot day of the year and a couple 4th places at White Tanks with a flat tire and Prescott.

In May we’ll head to South Dakota for the summer. Lots of house projects on tap along with scootering to the park with Mattie and post ride ice baths in the creek.

That’s all for now, enjoy the photos!

Mattie turns 2

Orange Tree
Our orange tree blossomed, but dropped its fruit for the 2nd year in a row :/
The desert is pretty
The desert is pretty right now.
Evie SS win
Evie has been crushing the SS MBAA races and Mattie likes the podium 🙂

Christmas Fun & a New Project in Spearfish

Sunrise over Four Peaks

Current things Mattie likes, trash truck, hiding things, hiding herself, riding her Strider, singing, crayons, and chalk. It’s been a fun couple of months as she really has begun to talk up a storm and is getting the hang of her strider bike.

We spent Christmas at our new house in Spearfish, South Dakota with Evie’s family. It’s very much a work in progress, but we got a smoking deal after searching around Spearfish for nearly 2 years. The former owner collected classic cars and sold his collection of nearly 50 cars at auction in 2012 for 1.2M. Apparently Jay Leno was in attendance.

The house was built in 1965 and has a lot of mid-century character with room to turn one of the garages into a master suite and add a rec room downstairs. It will be a fun project and a great place to go to in the summer when Arizona gets hot!

Here is the full car collection with some photos.

Les Schuchardt, car collector.

New Spearfish House
New Spearfish House
Lots of garages
Kind of ugly at the moment with lots of garages. We have plans.
Awesome fireplace with lots of character.
Awesome fireplace with lots of character.
Cool exposed beams.
Cool exposed beams.
Great location by the creek and City Park.
We scored a great location by the creek and City Park.

Been doing some riding. Planning to ramp up to Whiskey 50 in April and then just relax and fun ride this summer (and work on the new house among lots of other fun things to do close by in the Black Hills). Capping the summer off with the Dakota Five-O race of course.

The MBAA season kicked off a few weeks back with McDowell Meltdown. I raced Estrella race #2 this past weekend and placed 3rd in the marathon race. These youngsters are getting fast! Evie raced Singlespeed at McDowell and won that one, and placed 2nd at Estrella. I will be putting a bigger gear on her bike for the next race, ha.

Bartlett Lake Dam.
Arizona has lots of dams. Bartlett Lake Dam pictured here on my ride.
Bartlett Lake in the distance.
Bartlett Lake in the distance.

Until next time…