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.

This weekend is the 20th annual Tour of the White Mountains right here in Pinetop-Lakeside. A hint of fall is in the air with the leaves starting to change color and morning temps dipping into the low 50’s with day temps in the 70’s.

The trails are in great shape with a big help from the local mtbers and the TRACKS organization. Bluegrass musician Charlie Parr from Duluth, MN is booked for the after party festivities. it should be an all around great weekend!

If you’re coming up for the Tour here are a few places I recommend checking out.

Where to Eat

• La Vie – Trendy, Hip & Modern Cafe (across from Charlie Clark’s Steakhouse)
• Thai Promise – Healthy Asian food with no MSG
• Pinetop Coffee Roasters – Best coffee on the mountain, a Saturday morning must! (Hwy 260 & Woodland Lake Rd.)
• Moose Henri’s – Great food & 30 AZ craft beers on tap
• Baked in Pinetop – Fantastic breads, sweet treats, and MUST TRY cinnamon rolls (closed Sun. & Mon.)
• Eddies Country Store – Groceries, meat counter, and quality beer selection
• Jalapenos – Counter service burritos, I dig the sweet pork! In Show Low near Hwy 260/77 intersection. Stop on your way into town (and again on the way out!)

Sunday Rides

All the local trail maps can printed off and just like the Tour course, are tagged with blue and white diamonds. You should have an area map in your swag bag showing how the trails link together, 200+ miles!

• Panorama Trail (9-mile loop) – Swoopy fast singletrack, a few rocky descents, one steep climb up Twin Knoll, and ripping back down to the parking lot. Take 260 west to Penrod Rd. stoplight, make a right, go about a mile then right on Porter Mtn. Rd. The trail is up the road on your left about 4-miles (trail map). I prefer to ride clockwise and think it’s the most fun ridden this direction.

• Blue Ridge/Springs Trail (9-mile loop) – Blue Ridge is really tough. Think of climbing Prospector at McDowell Mountain, very rocky and physically demanding, but fun (trail map)! If you’re staying in the Country Club and feel up for more of a challenge this would be a good one (two way, but I like riding clockwise). You can start at Springs trail head and connect into Blue Ridge. Springs has a lot of big rocks, roots, and drops.

• Los Burros/Lake Mountain – If you want more of Los Burros, you can park at the Los Burros campground (trail map) and take the short cut and make a left to re-ride the north end aka. “the fun part” of Burros. Looking for some enduro? Head up Lake Mtn. Rd. to the fire tower and then drop in Four Springs for some steep fast fun that spits your right back onto the Tour course so you can finish back at the campground.

Where to Explore

• Rim Trail – On the west side of town just past the go carts off hwy 260, look for a sign for The Rim Trail. This is a short mile or so loop that takes you out to the Mogollon rim with some great views.

• White Mountain Nature Center – The nature center is off Woodland Rd. and has a lot of interesting artifacts and history from the White Mountains.

• Woodland Lake Park – Right in the heart of town, take the dog or kids for a walk around the lake (about 1-mile). There are also Ramada’s with picnic tables and grills for a nice picnic.

I’m looking forward to a fun packed weekend!