December and January were pretty good months for playing in the snow. El Nino has brought cooler temperature with more precipitation to the Southwest which has been a lot of fun. It’s suppose to stick around all year so that should make for some great riding conditions come monsoon season in the late summer.

That being said, the 15-day forecast shows temperatures in the 50s and 60s so it’s pretty safe to say that the bulk of winter is over. I’m sure we’ll get a mid March or April storm with snow that melts off in a day or two, but otherwise it’s right into spring.

That’s how Arizona does seasons, not much transition time, or at least very little crummy shoulder seasons. You can always ski and/or ride just about any day of the year.

Evie has been skiing a lot, I’ve gone a handful of times (snowboarding) along with some really, really fun fat bike rides.

The snow is mostly melted in town, but the mountain still has a ton. Base miles have begun for mtb season along with a little bit of low intensity racing. Another rider moved to town from Boulder, a former pro who raced for Specialized in the 90s along with racing in Europe in his early years. We’ve got quite the group up along with the NICA kids that are flying!

MBAA Series

The Arizona Mtb series has started up and is already coming into it’s 3rd race. Luckily we have a marathon class which makes putting in some quality base miles relatively easy. Last year I joined the volunteer board as marketing director and this year I’ve been voted in as chair. The guys and gals before me have done an awesome job getting the right people in place to make sure things run smoothly so it’s been fun to be a part of.

I’ve got some bigger rides planned for later this month and more exploring will be had! The Sedona Mountain Bike Festival is the first weekend of March, no doubt that will be an awesome time, plus a lot of people coming down from colder climates to ride and hangout here and there. Arizona is a pretty exciting place! We’re pretty fortunate to live here.

Web Design Projects

Lastly, I’ve had a lot of new clients come way already this year. It’s always super fun working with business owners, uncovering problems, and coming up with solutions. You can check out my latest web design projects and if you or anyone you know needs website help or getting their business found online don’t hesitate to give me a shout.

Until next time!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve got some cool photos from the past few months to share, but first a little story telling.

My parents and sister flew out for Thanksgiving. The weather always seems to be crummy when people come to visit (as if a few days of cloudy skies is really that crummy…). We had some friends and our neighbors over for dinner on Thursday, it was a nice feast.

On Saturday we took a drive over to the Grand Canyon, it had been a while since I’d been there and Evie had never been. The south rim has become super commercialized with asphalt pathways and thousands of people all over taking selfie photos nonstop.

Next time we go, hopefully it will be to hike rim to rim, or spent some time on the north rim, which is much less accessible, thus less crowded.

The weeks after Thanksgiving flew by as they always do. I’ve been doing more running and hardly any riding, which I’m okay with. I’ve purposely tried to stay off the bike for a few weeks to give me some time to prep for next season.

Dave came to visit in mid December, we did some riding in the Phoenix area, the McDowell’s, Phoenix Mountain Preserve, then out in Gold Canyon and Picket Post. Desert riding is sure fun, but it doesn’t compare to high altitude dirt 🙂

For Christmas Evie, Lucy and I went to Colorado Springs where her brother, sister in-law and 3 kids live, and her parents met us there from South Dakota. It was a little snowy and COLD. Bitter cold. One morning I went for a run and it was -6!

We hiked the Inlcine, which I had never done. Think a mile long staircase. It was pretty cool, we took the Barr trail down around the back side and it was pretty icy in the shade, but still fun.

Star Wars was sold out when Evie’s nephew and I tried to go see it. Maybe one day next week I’ll take Evie. On our way back we stopped in Pagosa Springs at one of our favorite breweries Riff Raff Brewing Co. They have the best Red Ale I’ve ever had, and their IPA is one of my top 3 of all time as well.

Lucy found a hot spring along the river and dove in. Snow on the ground and 30 degrees outside, but she didn’t care 🙂

Next year is just around the corner, so I guess it’s time to start thinking about next season. Since moving to Arizona the Epic Rides races have become much more accessible so planning to hit all of those (Whiskey 50, Grand Junction, Carson City). There are some really cool races in Colorado like the Gunnisson Growler, Crested Butte 40, and Outlier Vail that are on my list. We’ll definitely be going back to South Dakota for the Dakota Five-O and Evie will be doing more DH racing so that will probably take me to a few new cool spots.

The MBAA series (Arizona’s mtb series) starts up next month so I’ll jump into a few of the marathon races to log some good base miles in the warm desert. I’m done with USAC after they announced yet another price increase for a UCI license, now $200 + a $25 anti-doping fee + increase in entry fees. Racing the ProXCTs can be fun, but it’s become so easy to upgrade to pro the fields are getting saturated with 100+ riders.

On a 5-mile course it’s a joke. Unless you’re racing WORS, it’s really tough to show up to a SoCal ProXCT, start in the back row, and expect to move up into the top 50, let alone into the points contention. That means no National’s this year either, which, to do just that one race XC Nationals at Mammoth would cost nearly $400 (UCI license, anti-doping fee, $100+ entry fee). When top 15 at an Epic Rides event are getting paid and no UCI license needed, it’s tough to justify.

Well I said I’d share some photos so here ya go! See ya in the New Year!

It’s been a long fun season, but the end is here, finishing at home!

Last weekend kicked off my final race of the season, Tour of the White Mountains right here in Pinetop. Having the Epic Rides crew and a lot of our friends in town for the weekend made for a lot of excitement. The weather and trails were downright awesome! 50’s at the 7:00 am start of the 50-mile race and mid 70’s all day!

The pace started out hot and stayed that way for the nearly 4-hrs of racing. A little bad luck by a few racers, but on the whole it sounded like everyone had a clean race with no one getting lost this year. I managed to pull off a 3rd place finish battling some tough competition.

Afterwards, Charlie Parr rocked the stage with some fantastic blue grass tunes and Sierra Nevada kept the beer flowing, including a keg of Narwhal!

Brian Leddy took some great photos throughout the day.

A big shout out to Brent and Harry at McDowell Mountain Cycles for letting me rock in the MMC kit this season and helping me out with racing. The same goes to Mike and Melissa at Mike’s Mix. Many-a-good things have been concocted in the kitchen thanks to their great products, along with fueling us on the bike.

Hello Off-Season

Now that racing is done, it gives me more time to explore the White Mountains of Arizona via hiking. Evie, Lucy and I submitted Escudilla yesterday, a nice little 6-mile hike up to 10,900′. Next on the list is Mt. Baldy, along with a lot of other neat hidden gems here in AZ.

I’d like to get up to Aztec Peak, checkout more of the Coronado trail, Pacheta Falls, AZT, and cross the Sheep Bridge out by Bartlett Lake, that’s just scratching the surface! I’m looking forward to a fun winter, hopefully I’ll do a little more XC skiing if we get snow and maybe some fat biking too!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from our hike up Escudilla.