Author: Tim Racette

Mid August Evie, Lucy and I returned home to Arizona. Evie started teaching and we broke ground on our long list of house projects. The first two of which are the back yard and kitchen (the two places we spend most of our time).

On Labor Day we made our annual trip to the Dakota Five-O. Trevor and I drove out with the bikes and Evie & Karlene flew. It was a shorter trip with a long drive on each end, but fun camping and hanging out with friends nonetheless. The race is always fast and long, I finished 9th.

The MBAA puts on a fall enduro series so as executive director it’s my job to map out the logistics and organize the events. The first one was up at Sunrise Ski Resort and this weekend we head to Kingman, followed by Prescott in two weeks.

Last weekend I extended our patio out back with some pavers, just in time to have the turf installed today. It took 5 guys to move the 15′ rolls from the front yard to the back, they’re heavy!

Next is the kitchen. We’ll be removing the existing pantry and putting cabinets there instead, plus replacing all the existing cabinets, flooring and a new lighting configuration. We’ll be busy these next few months!

Some photos from the summer and the backyard.

Summer kicked off in mid May with our annual migration to Colorado. Evie and I both raced the Grand Junction Off-Road and then a trip to Nevada for the Carson City Off-Road in mid June.

Colorado has felt a lot like Arizona lately with highs in the mid to upper 90s and unfortunately lots of fires popping up. Hopefully the monsoons roll through soon.

Next we head on a little trip to the Midwest, then it’s back to Arizona before heading to Spearfish, SD for the Dakota Five-O Labor Day weekend.

A little highlight video from the Carson City Off-Road.

And some photos from our summer fun thus far. Cheers!

A lot to catch up on since my fractured hip incident.

My sister got married April 14th, so Evie and I traveled back to Milwaukee for a long weekend. The wedding was awesome, the weather not so much. 30s, snow, sleet, rain, 30+ mph winds, ya know the goods.

Whiskey 50

I’ve been riding again, quite a bit. I did my first race a few weekends ago, Whiskey 50 in Prescott, just 3-1/2 months post injury, finished 7th about 2 minutes back from 3rd after 3+ hours of racing, I’ll take it. I didn’t feel great, but kept the pressure on the pedals and had a few good passes on the downhills.

Next weekend is the MBAA series finale in Flagstaff. The course is great, a good mix of everything. Then we head to Colorado for the Grand Junction Off-Road, my favorite course of any. Then after that is the Carson City Off-Road another Epic race. Now that I’m back to ~85% I’m looking to put together a few good race results, and hopefully gain some more fitness in the process.

I didn’t get much time to do my usual exploratory riding this year with the hip and all, but leading up to Whiskey I did a sweet ride out the Bartlett Lake Dam. A route I’ve ridden plenty, but the dam is a few miles off the pavement in what feels like the middle of the desert.

Oh it get’s even better! On the one other “adventuring” ride I did I found a $100 bill, No joke! I had parked in this random pull off on the side of the road to head out to Mt. Ord for a big ride and when I returned to the car I walked around the back of the car and right there on the ground was a $100 Benjamin! I would’ve been stoked on finding a $10 bill, ha. I proceeded to stop at Subway on the way home and cashed it with no questions asked. A big payday, just for training!

New House

Oh yeah, and that other thing that happened over the course of the last few months, Evie and I bought a house just north of where we were living. The location is superb in McDowell Mountain Ranch, 90 seconds from the trails with access to all kinds of other trail heads and fun outdoor activities. We have plans to remodel, so begins the process of idea curating and putting together a road map. Some pictures below. Until next time!