Flagstaff ATM Withdrawal

As mentioned in my last blog post, I'm trying to prep for a hopefully long trip on the AZT in a few weeks. So day rides getting the mind and body ready for long efforts have been on the agenda. I will say, once you have done a handful of AES style rides or actually attempted an ultra, I don't know if you can really "lose" it. There are always various levels of fitness and the speed (or lack thereof) that come with that... but once you have pushed those physical, and more importantly... MENTAL) I think that sticks around for a really long time.

My goal for these long rides has been to really get used to keeping a slow and steady effort. Sometimes annoyingly slow. I know I am going to need to put out a long, steady stream of effort on the AZT, and I've really learned that I can do a lot more and feel so much better after many hours if I dial things back. I just can't afford to burn through matches in the first day or three. It won't end well.

It's been really enlightening listening to some podcasts or reading some ride reports of some amazing single speeders and how basically being forced to recover when on the flat terrain and maybe more so on the tough climbs by HABing keeps them fresher and riding stronger for longer. I've been trying to incorporate those thoughts and ideas into my riding. I guess we will see how that turns out.

On to the ride.

Nina and I headed up from Phoenix the night before - didn't want to deal with driving up in the AM. We both wanted early starts - she was going to get a long hike up Weatherford while I rode around Humphreys. She was going to finish way earlier than me so was going to head back into town and hang out. Anyway, we got up there late enough that we didn't really want to try to find a spot in a campground. We checked out the parking area at the Schultz Y and saw a couple other vehicles there and no signs stating no overnight parking. I locked my bike up to a tree and we just crashed out in her vehicle.

I slept OK and my new air mattress that I wanted to test out was very comfortable, but a bit noisy. No biggie. I was definitely brisk outside but we both got prepped for the day. The AZT was closed right here, which was fine. I really needed a steady climb to get warmed up. I would even bypass the AZT where it was open shortly after - I wanted the training of the road climb.

I was legit cold at the start and the temperature on my wahoo said 32 degrees. It felt like it. I should have been wearing something a bit warmer, but at the same time I knew the climb plus the exposure to the sun once I was on Waterline was right around the corner.

As mentioned before, I was trying to keep the effort fairly low and measured from both an RPE and HR standpoint. It was going to be a long-ish day. As I was climbing up the last bit after Schultz tank I heard helicopters flying around Elden and I got worried. I didn't see any smoke, but from what I could see it looked like the helis were carrying buckets underneath them. I wondered if there was a fire in the area and they were responding. Turns out they were just mulching the steep sloped of the museum fire scar in an effort to prevent flooding.

A little snack break at the gate that prevents vehicles from getting past. 

In the shade, but getting ready to break into the sun. Views to the east already getting bigger. 

Oh hi.

The climb up waterline is very tame and very steady. It was perfect for what I was looking for. Views for days and I was finally feeling comfortable with the temps. Some gusts of wind came occasionally, but nothing crazy.  

Big views due to the carnage of the Schultz fire years ago. I wonder what this looked like prior to that?

Really neat rock fins jutting out of the mountainside. These seemed so random compared to the surrounding area. 

Cool tunnel. 

As I continued to make my way north, the vegetation increased quite a bit. Smaller trees and shrubs starting to make their presence seen among the trees burned in the past. Oh and some spectacular fall colors starting to display!

Fall colors!

Eventually, the ride takes you through some really dense and "old" feeling forest. It feels like a different area altogether, and I found myself shouting out every so often because it feels like bears might like it in there. Side note: Nina saw a bear on Weatherford - about 20 - 30 yards from it. They both scared each other pretty good. Haha.

This place feels like it has stories to tell. 

The climb to the top was almost complete. Such a beautiful area! Now for the descent down to Lockett Meadow.

Just a blast. Plenty of traffic this morning, and I'm not a speedster anyway. Taking it all in...

Junction at waterline road. 

Breathtaking!

The ride down was a blast, it was good chatting with hikers coming up. I helped someone find their lost dog - didn't take long. It is a trip riding on a trail with roots. That's a rarity here in AZ and I had a couple of interesting moments on the way down navigating them.

I got to the bottom and had a snack. I was wanting to do a few more miles than the typical ATM route, so I just decided that I was going to go to the Sunset Crater Volcano visitor center. There is a theoretical 15 dollar fee to enter via bike, but I was hoping to that the person at the entry gate would let me get past for free to fill up at the water fountain that was like 100 yards away.

But first... a brake roasting teeth rattling descent from lockett meadow. Epic views to the north though.

The kind gentleman at the gate let me by for free when I told him I just wanted water and I'd be heading right back out. Your mileage may vary...

Cool vantage point of the Inner Basin

After a refill of water and a quick break, it was time to get back to the route. The blazing fast pavement that delivered me to the visitor center made me pay the price of admission on the way out. Not terrible, but a decent grind to get back to HWY 89 and back on route.

Then the bullshit starts. And that's FR 418. It lulls you in with a descent at the start, but then it's just grind after grind until you finally have a final fast descent down to the junction of the AZT. It's a high price to pay connecting waterline and the AZT on the west side of Humphreys... wish there was a better way, but with wilderness rules dictating where bikes can be, this is the only option.

There are some views though.

The payoff is well worth it. The AZT singletrack that flanks the west side of Humphreys is divine. It's a bit of work heading this direction, with some decent climbing, but you almost forget at times due to the beauty.

Yes please. 

There was a bit of blowdown still remaining. I think maybe 5-6 trees over the entire stretch. 

Rad!

After the aspens and ferns, you get into pines again...

Only 189 to Utah, no big deal right?

Snack break 

I stopped taking pictures after this. I was still feeling great. Nutrition plan was working and no issues whatsoever. The trail mostly trends downhill for the final bit, and it gets a little bit rocky but I was way better at navigating it than I was last time I was here. Maybe I'm a better rider, or there has been trail work. Or both. Who knows.

I finally wrapped up at the Schultz Y where I had started. I got in touch with Nina who was still in town. I told her I was done and that I was just going to start climbing up the pass again and I said to just stop at the next available spot when she passed me. She texted back and said OK I'll pick you up at the Schultz Pass lot. Haha. OK then. Time for some good extra credit climbing.

I made really good time up the road actually, and I felt strong and ready to ride. But at the same time, I was ready for some real food so I was also happy to call it a day.

Relive 'Morning Sep 21st'

It's long ride season - Prescott Circle day ride

Well, long ride season is upon us, and I have a particularly large one coming up - The unofficial AZT 500. I've long had my eye on the AZTR 750 course, but I just don't have the time to be out on the trail that long. I was thinking about giving the 300 course another run next April and was building towards that... but then the powers that be made the (wise) decision to drastically change the start date to October - with the next official running being in 2020. As always ITT's are encouraged and I didn't really want to wait until October 2020. At the same time I thought that maybe I could make a compromise from all the options. So at the end of the day, I'll be kicking off my "AZT 500". I'll begin at Picketpost TH (the northern terminus of the the official 300 route) and I will follow the new version of the northern "half" of the route - including the new addition of the four peaks area and if everything goes well, I'll also be able to ride the actual AZT past the north rim of the Grand Canyon since it won't be covered in snow.

While this route is not officially recognized by the organizers of the AZTR, I will for all intents as purposes be "racing" it, mainly because I'm slow as it is and I don't have unlimited time for this little adventure. Also, for clarity, I will be following the normal rules of the official race regarding support and route following integrity. 

I've been getting in good rides and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm two years older, a bit fatter than I was in 2017, and a bit slower than I was back then - according to Strava anyway. I also think I'm a bit smarter now so we will see how that all shakes out. No matter what happens, I look forward to my adventure. All of that said, I know I need a few longer rides to get that all day riding experience back. I figured a long day on the full Prescott Circle Trail would help out with that. 

The Prescott Circle Trail is just a wonderfully planned trail that, as the name indicates, circles around all of Prescott. You go from lush riparian areas to high desert brush to pines. It's rugged, and based on where I was going to start, most of the climbing is in the last 1/2 of the ride. It's a proper day adventure. My plan was to not really see how fast I could go on it, but rather test my "all day" pacing and also practice my fueling strategy and make sure the foods I was rolling with were still smart and didn't cause any issues on a long ride. 

I slept in a bit longer than I wanted, but still managed to get to the walmart in prescott right at 8AM. A quick prep in the parking lot and I was crossing the road to access the circle trail from the auto dealership parking lot. Just a little bit of pedaling then it was a smooth fun downhill on sundog. It's these kind of starts that lull you into the day being easy. Haha. There are a few short climbs to keeps things a little bit honest. 

After that it's very flat as you head towards Watson Lake to skirt the Dells...

The Dells are always spectacular no matter what time of day you get there. 

Riding more flat trails past Willow Lake

After this, it transitions over to some cool trails near Embry Riddle and Pioneer Park. This was all in the high desert scrub with minimal shade and it started to feel pretty warm already. So weird how in Phoenix 82 would be like a dream but up here it feels warmer that that. Whatever. 

This continues for a bit till you hit Williamson Valley Road which just blasts you down into a neighborhood. You go uphill on the road to connect to the next section of trail. It's pretty steep and beat up in there - again I was testing all day pace and just decided to hike quite a bit of it. This section is where the ride feels like it starts. From here on out it feels like a constant up/down kind of thing. Gain some decent elevation, lose a bit, repeat. But you start to transition to pines so that is rad. 

Vegetation starting to transition to larger trees.

This was the big transition point. You can see mainly desert trees here, but behind me were the big pines. Yes!

Random. #ninjabikerAF

From here, there just isn't much to say, climb a bit, descend a bit to lose some of that precious elevation. This seemed to go on forever until I got to the Wolverton downhill. It was definitely warm, and I knew I was going to be getting low on water so was looking forward to the White Spar campground where I could refill. I got there, and topped up on water knowing the last bit of this seems to drag on for quite a while with the significant climbing. 

Upper Goldwater Lake. Right before the last big effort of the day. 

I crossed over Senator Highway and after a brief bit of HAB started the climb on trail 62. This was just about the perfect climbing grade. Just slow and steady here with every improving views of the areas west of me. Eventually, I topped out and began a long descent first through some very shady and dense pines which eventually gave way again to high desert brush. Even with the long downhill and minimal effort I was smelling the finish and ready to be done. Before I knew it, I was crossing a tunnel under highway 69 and basically back at the start.

A good day on the bike. Nutrition strategy treated me well, no issues there. Felt good at the end, not overly tired at all. Good have ridden much longer without any problems. Ready for October!

Relive 'needed_some_saddle_time_what_better_way_than_a_chill_spin_around_p_town.gpx'

Brothers camping trip/rim country rides

Over the last couple years, the fam has been intentional in getting "the boys" together for some time in the trees. It's so good getting up there with my brothers (and brother in law) and various nephews. My Uncle Eddie (the freaking fish whisperer) comes along to keep us from getting in too much trouble and provides comic relief on a constant basis.

This year, we decided to try to make a longer weekend of it which is fantastic but since I'm training for pretty big event this fall, I determined that I needed to get some larger rides in while up there for training and of course minimizing dietary damage from four plus days of camp food.

The first ride was pretty easy to figure out. Camp spot was going to be in close proximity to FR300 so I figured I would just connect to that, ride for three hours, and turn around. Figured that would get me around 60 miles and a bit of climbing plus some acclimation to the thin air on the rim.

The second ride I stumbled upon while checking out segments on Strava. This one I could also connect to from camp and was a gravel grinder route south of Colcord mountain heading towards Young, AZ. No singletrack, but I didn't care. It had a respectable amount of climbing and again right around that 60 mile mark.

Anyway, I got off work (later than I hoped) on Wednesday night, then picked up some grocery items and got home and packed everything up. I got on the road around 8ish and arrived in our camp spot northeast of  Willow Springs lake around 10:30PM. Set up camp quickly after chatting with one of my little brothers for a bit and I crashed out. I woke up with the sun, but just laid there enjoying the peacefulness of a shit ton of logging trucks working in the area. Lovely.

Got prepped as and was on the bike and riding a bit after 7AM. It was early on a Thursday morning so I didn't think too much of riding the shoulder of the 260 before crossing over it to get on the old rim road. I guess there is actually trail (General Crook 140) that goes through here, but I kinda had tunnel vision when putting the route together so didn't notice. Whatever. I just wanted time in the saddle. Forest roads are just fine by me. Without them, you wouldn't get to views like these:

Forest road literally is on the edge of the rim. 

Big views to the South/Southwest

The Tallboy happy to be outside on dirt.

 I got that little bit over with and crossed back over the 260 at the ranger station across from FR300 intersection. It was still super peaceful and only got passed by a vehicle or two. I noticed the paved walkway that skirts the rim and decided to drop down onto that. I didn't realize how far it went but it was a decent distance. It did finally spill me out to the actual FR300, so I was in gravel grinding mode. Ended up splitting up a huge (150-200) herd of elk which was an awesome sight. You can check it out on my instagram @phatmike2112 if you care to search for it.

Oh, I earned more great views:

Right around here I reached the three hour mark and decided to turn around. Really quiet day on the rim, other than a road maintenance crew repairing some of the road surface. 

Views like this all day. 

I ended up burning some time helping an older guy figure out where he was trying to get to. Pointed him and his giant trailer back the way he came a few miles to where is camping partners were at. It took him so long to get turned around that I was basically at the spot where he needed to turn so I heard him approaching from behind and directed him down the correct road. Good deed for the day done.

Prior to that I did ride through some rain, but it was quite refreshing since the day was getting a bit warm. I relished the overcast skies and the road stayed in good shape and kept the dust down of passing vehicles. Can't say this about the next ride...

Anyway, I was wrapping up on that original paved walkway but then saw it ended but there was some dirt singletrack that picked up where it ended and I decided to check it out. Pretty fun, almost all rideable but some interesting rocky bits that would force me to dismount and hike briefly up. This gave me a little taste of the terrain that might be coming later this fall. The rocks sure looked like some pictures I've seen...

Some legit mountain biking fun to wrap things up approaching the 260. 

I basically retraced my steps to get back to camp and was hoping for someone to hand me a beer but they were all gone and at the lake, so I cleaned up and cracked one open myself. Everyone got there about 30 minutes later.

The next day was spent at the lake. Just chilling with my fam. I didn't end up throwing a line into the water, instead of migrating from shady spot to shady spot and napping like a champion. Haha.

Gotta rep the AZT gear. Floppy hats are the best for sun protection. 

My brother in law and his son and loyal service dog. 

Storm to the east and right over our camp. We started to pack up and we arrived back to camp in a decent sprinkle and wet chairs. Oops. 

Saturday morning was time for ride number two.

Starting in the trees south of camp and the 260 - would lose elevation quickly to the high desert landscape below

Quiet road riding for a bit. I think just a handful of vehicles passed me. 

Already getting warm out. Bike computer said it breached 100 degrees a few times. Waiting for clouds...

Big country out here.

It was warm and the track was directing me to a stout climb there in the distance. 

Woah, water! Ran across this area unexpectedly. Haigler Canyon campground. 

A kid was here fishing - a pretty cool spot 

Looking down the first bit of the climb away from the campground. Decided this was a good spot for a break it was toasty and still not many clouds around. 

Always try to find a break spot that has a view!

A view :)

Warm, but clouds are starting to build. Yes!!!

A friendly cow close to a community closer to the 260. 

I ended up dropping all the way to the 260 even though I would just be coming back on it. It was a decent chunk of miles that I didn't want to miss out on. It was starting to get hot and the clouds were starting to provide some sun relief right as I made the turn south and up Colcord Rd towards the lookout tower. I found it odd that a flood of ATV's were making their way down but I didn't think much of it. I just knew I had a 1000 foot climb staring me in the face in the next 3.5 miles and I was thankful for the overcast. Then I heard thunder. No biggie. Then the rain started. Slow at first but then it picked up in intensity. The temps plummeted 30 degrees and I was now getting soaked. Found a bit of shelter and decided to wait it out. Didn't want to get more wet.

I stayed a bit more dry here. For about 10 minutes then the tree that was providing shelter got saturated enough and I was no longer sheltered from the wet. 

Me as I contemplated my next move. The rain stopped right after this. 

The rain stopped, and I was excited to get back on the bike. Right before I took my first pedal stroke, the thought of this being death mud broached my mind. Oh God, please don't let this be death mud.

Ten yards and death mud status confirmed. Shit!

Nasty stuff. Funny, I had put a paint stick in my pack after the Schilling death mud experience. But for some reason I took it out. Dumb. Wish I had it. 

Bike is going nowhere. 

The view of deathmud from the perspective of my bike haha!

I think those people in the ATV's knew what was up. I wouldn't want to be on a wheeled contraption of any kind on that road when wet. Oh, looks like some Strava people figured that out before I ever did:

Not exactly the segment name I would use, but use your imagination. 

So I had done about half the climb before the rain hit, now I still had another 500 feet of climbing in a short distance in death mud. It was brutal slipping and sliding as my shoes had obviously been packed in mud now as well and it was a decent struggle to get any forward progress. There wasn't much I could do but get out of there. Nobody was gonna get up there with a vehicle in the state that the roads were in. Couldn't realistically backtrack with my current supplies and even if I did I really didn't know how much deathmud would be awaiting for me if I backtracked. I also didn't relish the idea of riding the shoulder of the 260 on a late saturday afternoon. So my best option seemed to be to continue forward progress. HTFU. 

I got to a spot where I had good cell service and called my brother just to let him know I was going to be running a bit later than I thought but that I was fine - he indicated they got hit pretty hard with the weather where they were at too so I'm glad I called so they didn't worry. 

I eventually hiked up to the top where the road surface seemed to change a bit. I scraped off some remaining mud and my bike was kinda functioning. And I had a pretty decent downhill which flung more mud off of the bike which helped. 

Until I hit the bottom and ran into more deathmud more hiking up another pitch of not so terrible but still bad enough to where I couldn't ride mud. Finally I was spit out onto pavement (Yes!!) on the Young-Hever road and I was pretty much in the clear. My drivetrain wasn't very happy, but it was good enough to get me back. Beer me!

All in all, I was really happy with how my body handled a couple of bigger efforts in the span of three days. Looking forward to more!