Clouds, Cheba Hut, Hip-Hop, and a Windsor Oxford

The bad news is that I haven’t been out on a bike for the last 2 days.  The good news is the great ride that I had out on Trail 100 on Monday (also, the great road-ish ride that I had on the Tempe Town Lake / Scottsdale Greenbelt / Canal loop on Saturday).  There is more good news, but first Trail 100.

It was the first time I had been out on Trail 100 since before I left for summer camp, and it certainly did not disappoint.  It was everything that I wanted and needed from it – fun, fast, slow, cruisy, steep, hard work, and more fun.  The clouds were spectacular for most of the morning (until they broke and it just got hot and humid).  I took the Trail 101 turn for the heck of it, and was greeted with much steepness.  The clouds were still looking good, but this picture does no justice to how hard I was working to get up this part of the trail.

I eventually found that the trail wrapped around some peak and seemed to be making its way to some sort of summit.  I ended up flipping my bike around, and rejoining Trail 100 as I know it.  I got pretty tired, and planned on stopping, but someone was sitting at the turning around point I had in mind.  I kept on going and eventually climbed “the” hill.  If you have ever ridden out at Trail 100 you know the one I am talking about.  I used the top of that hill as my turn around and enjoyed the rest of my iced coffee and some healthy trail food.

So, even though I didn’t ride today or yesterday, all is not lost.  I ran some errands and did some home-improvement today while listening to the best playlist since my 4 song playlist from the summer.  The new playlist included every song on my iPod from Sage Francis, B. Dolan, Ra Scion, Gabriel Teodros, Common Market, Blue Scholars, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Brad B, The Insects, Drunken Immortals, Doomtree, Cecil Otter, Sims, and P.O.S.  My last errand was a stop at Cheba Hut for a Magic Mushroom sandwich and Sage Francis was on their sound system as I was walking out.  I never hear “my” music when I am out and about.

So, I am home now, enjoying my sandwich and writing this blog entry.  The bikes both arrived this afternoon – both the GT Ruckus that I rode around camp this summer and the Woman’s Windsor Oxford from Bikes Direct.  As soon as I finish the sandwich and this entry, I’ll be off to the dining room / bike workshop to start putting it together.  I am excited about the bike – it has a Shimano Nexus-3 hub – I have never checked out an internal-gear hub.  I hope that it doesn’t have a coaster brake built-in, but I have a feeling that it does.  I will post pictures as soon as I get it put together.  It’s getting closer, but it still feels a ways off.  Hopefully it will not be too long before it gets some use.

peace

Finally Home

I just got back to my beautiful Arizona desert yesterday. The life of a summer camp counselor in Massachusetts was so great that I extended it to a full twelve weeks (I guess really eleven since I spent the last week pecking around New York State, Pennsylvania, and Ohio). Regardless, it is great to be home.

The day after I got home from camp last summer I went bike shopping (I had become convinced during that summer that I needed, no, NEEDED a 29er. I ended up driving out to The Slippery Pig downtown once and the one out in Fountain Hills twice that day to get my Caffeine. As soon as I arrived home yesterday I decided that this year I would ride the day after I got home from camp, so I hit up Papago at 6:00 when it opened, and it was perfect.

The weather couldn’t have been better. It was 90 in Tempe when I woke up, and 86 two hours later when I was done. It sprinkled a few drops here and there while I was out, too. There were 9 cars other than my own out this morning – it was good to see people getting a jump on the day. I saw a few other mountain bikers while I was out. I was out on the singlespeed and took it pretty easy. It seems like they have been doing improvements on the portion of the park east of Galvin Parkway and also extending the canal path. I’m very excited to spend more time over there. It felt good to ride up and down the trails that I have ridden over and over. It felt good to have my heart pound when I was standing up to climb the hills. It felt good to coast down the hills. It’s great to be home.

To top off my morning, I am sitting down to a plate of mom’s homemade enchiladas as I write this. I have a feeling she made them just because I was coming home. I had the WORST facsimile of enchiladas out in Massachusetts this summer, but let’s not dwell on that. Mom made both green chile and red chile enchiladas. Delicious – it is great to be home.

Overall, the summer was amazing. I worked incredibly hard, but also had a wonderful time. I didn’t ride nearly as much as I should have, but I definitely enjoyed the Ruckus out there. I shipped it back to AZ and am looking forward to its arrival. Waiting is hard for me, and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of things far more precious than my dirt jump bike. I hope that everything arrives soon.

My primary playlist this summer was only 4 songs long:

Pearl Jam – Just Breathe

The Roots – You Got Me

Imogen Heap – Blanket

fun. – If Work Permits

One of my friends from camp introduced me to Macklemore, and I have listened to Vipassana over and over and over. I also visited some old friends, like Damien Rice, Jose Gonzalez, and Amos Lee.  I think it is going to be a Sage Francis sort of rest of the day today.

I am excited about what the future holds. Big changes started over the summer and I expect them to continue through the fall and winter. It’s great to be home. It’s time to read and write and ride, not necessarily in that order.

peace

4 Days Left

I’ve got 4 days until I leave The Valley Of The Sun for summer camp in The Berkshires. I haven’t packed or mobilized yet, but I feel good nonetheless.

I spent the day yesterday catching up with each of my parents (pancakes with mom and steak + whiskey with dad) and then wound down the day playing a little Half Life and Halo Reach.

I set the alarm for early this morning and came out to Desert Classic on South Mountain. I felt a little moody as I drove to the park and was strapping on my shoes. From the Guadalupe parking area to the water tanks and back just beat me up. The moodiness continued for a while. I hit every bump and felt nauseated as I spun up the hills and certainly didn’t feel very flowy. It was perfect. I felt rad for three very brief moments when the bike and I moved just the way I intended. I enjoyed coasting down the especially mellow hills, too.

Somewhere along the way my attitude adjusted. It’s barely 7:30 and I’m already done with my ride and halfway through a breakfast burrito from The Burrito And Company. Even though the ride was tough, it was great way to start the day. For lunch I am going to see my sister’s new place and later I am going to see X-Men First Class with the boys.

Summer vacation rules even more than when I was a kid.

Peace

Phoenix Coyotes on Trail 100

My last three trail rides were up in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve – Sunday morning and Tuesday and Thursday after work.  I call it Trail 100 whenever I ride up there, but I usually take some wrong turns and end up walking up some steep part of the trail that probably isn’t really part of Trail 100 per se.  Little Cousin met me up there on Sunday, and I rode on Tuesday and Thursday solo.  I took the single speed out on Sunday and Tuesday, and brought out the Caffeine Thursday.  It’s the first time that I wasn’t riding the single speed in quite a while.  I didn’t really know what to expect – I thought it would maybe be much easier than the single, but it wasn’t really easier – just different –  and I still ended up pretty tired.  I saw a couple of coyotes around 24th street where I turned around to head back to the truck (you can see one of them in the 2nd photo below).  It’s definitely my favorite place to ride right now.  Peace

Coffee + Papago Park + America’s Taco Shop

Today was a great day.  It didn’t really start that way, though.

I did get up early enough to pack my two mountain bikes in the back of my truck and get a couple of shirts ironed for work.  These accomplishments were not a bad start to the day.  Aim And Ignite by fun. has been my soundtrack for the last few days.  I added The Format to the mix this morning.  Bad move.  Something sad came on and wrecked my mood.  I changed it the song, but it was too late.  The blues had set in for the morning.  I tried to fight them off with some green tea, but it just wasn’t working.

Over the last few days I was considering / attempting to cut back or even possibly quit coffee (again).  I hemmed and hawed briefly at work this morning and then finally decided to take my lunch at 10:30 AM instead of my usual 1:30pmish lunch.  Straight to Starbucks for an iced espresso.  Good move.  It was delicious, energizing, and the beginning of a day turn-around.  Nursing that espresso the rest of the day made a much better day at work.

After work I took a friend of mine to Papago Park for his first mountain biking experience.  We rode together in the Ride For The Children a few weeks ago.  I let him ride the Cannondale and I rode the singlespeed.  The weather today was perfecto and we spent a couple of great hours riding around the park.  After the park we stopped at America’s Taco Shop on 7th Avenue for apre ride burritos and beers (and tacos and chips and salsa).  It was a great was to cap off a day that luckily got better as time went on.

Only have 12 more days left in the school semester.  I can’t believe it.  In less than 3 weeks I’ll be jumping in the truck to head off to summer camp.  It’s going to be a great summer.

peace

Desert Classic, Thor, and Free Comics

I was lucky to wake up early enough to ride over at South Mountain.  If I am going to ride Desert Classic on the weekend I have to arrive before the crowd does. I showed up before 6 this morning and the parking lot at the top of the hill was already full. I almost left, but decided to stay and I am glad that I did. The weather was perfect, and the crowd wasn’t too bad. Most of the bikers I saw were friendly and courteous, as were the walkers and runners. I guess it’s normal nowadays, but I saw two women walking together with headphones plugged into all of their ears talking very loudly to each other. When did it become ok to wear headphones while you are talking to someone? It always strikes me as odd, but I want to focus on the positive.

It was the first time that I took my singlespeed out on South Mountain and it worked out really well. I only rode the east side of the trail (to the water tanks and back) but it was perfect. I hadn’t ridden since The Ride For The Children (2 weeks ago today) and it felt great to get offa the couch. I had some penance to pay for the overindulgence and lack of sleep in Chicago last weekend. I have definitely had tougher penance in the past (Javelina Canyon the day after the Roots concert last year).  It was a great ride and it felt so good to be out on the trail.

After breakfast burritos from Filiberto’s with the family, I came home and worked on packing up my books a little.  I am trying to mobilize before summer camp, and decided to work on my books a little today.  I have gotten rid of many books, and I still have so many.  It was so hard to pack them.  I don’t really get much of a chance to read at camp, and I only have 3 weeks until then, but I wanted to either read every book that I packed before camp or I wanted to take them all with me.  I told myself earlier this week that I could take 3 books with me this summer, and I have only managed to narrow it down to a 1-foot tall pile so far.  At least I got the rest of my books and dvd’s packed into boxes.

My buddy Sun Devil and I went to check out the Thor movie today.  I liked it well enough.  Definitely not my favorite comic book movie, but it was good.  Afterward we stopped by the Mesa location of Atomic Comics to pick up our subscriptions and get some free comics.  For my free comics I chose Green Lantern and the Image United Preview.  I also picked up a preview (chapter 1) from Planetary Book 1 as well as a $1 preview of Invincible.  My current subscriptions at Atomic are: Batman and Robin, Black Panther: The Man Without Fear, Daredevil Reborn, Green Arrow, and Red Robin.

I guess that’s about it for now.  The Supercross Championship is on TV right now.  I love watching this sport.  I hope the main event comes on soon, though, because I am getting sleepy.  Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day- I am going to spend the afternoon with the family.  I haven’t decided what to do with the morning yet, though.  Should I ride, read, or pack some more?

peace

Ride For The Children 2011

Ride For The Children 2011 started on Friday night when I finally got out of the house to grab dinner.  Most of my diet lately has consisted of Taco Bell and hot dogs, so it felt really good to sit down to some steamed veggies and rice from Teriyaki Kitchen down the street.  After my delicious pre-ride dinner I grabbed some post-ride beverages at Whole Foods.  I love Fat Tire cans.  I am willing to say it is my favorite beer in all of the land.
I really didn’t know what to expect, and was actually pretty nervous on the morning of the ride. I drove up to my Scott’s house so we could ride over to the start. After almost getting run over on the way there we made it safely to the start and I saw one thing: lots of spandex. We stood around for a while and it was time to ride.
My first time riding in a pack was a bit nerve-wracking, but fortunately the pack thinned out shortly after we got started. The ride was mostly flat, but the hills we climbed were definitely work for this dude on his single speed. I saw only one other single out there. Actually, I think it was a fixie.
Overall it was a great experience. Scott wants to do the 65 miler next year. I am tempted, but there is part of me that would like to do the 25 miler again next year and just do it faster (especially the hills). I guess time will tell. I will say that after the experience of riding in the group I am less excited to ride in any road races. Even though the group riding was a little sketchy (especially the folks that didn’t seem too comfy on their bikes) everyone was courteous. I am fearful that once egos get involved in a race setting this might not be the case.
I don’t think I have been on any rides since. Soon. I spent this past weekend in Chicago for a Great Books conference. The theme was beginnings and we discussed Brave New World by Huxley, Genesis, and Tom Outland’s Story by Willa Cather. I also got to meet Nobel Laureate Dr. Leon Lederman.
Now there are around 4 weeks until I head to summer camp. Hopefully in the mean time I can do some riding and eat more steamed veggies (I’ve been back on the hot dogs and tacos since the ride).
I read a pretty great book called Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe on the plane to and from Chicago. I started Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance again before the trip but I didn’t want to carry the large hardback copy with me.

Kicking off the weekend at Papago Park

School closed at noon yesterday, so I stopped at Papago with my singlespeed on the way home. As you can see, I had the whole park to myself. The desert was looking especially beautiful, and it is definitely heating up. It was the first day this year that the weather made a difference in how riding felt.  My last ride was on Trail 100, and it was a cloudy, cool day.  I rode for around an hour and a half or so- my legs felt like they were there, and my cardio feels like it is coming along. More than anything it just felt very good to get out.

I wore my new t-shirt to Ted’s Hot Dogs after my ride yesterday.  Ride For The Children is tomorrow –  I signed up last weekend.  It’s my first organized ride of any sort and I don’t really know what to expect.

The end of the semester is just around the corner, which means that my journey east for the summer is just around the corner, too.  I am very excited to go away to camp for the summer, but I definitely have alot to get done in the mean time.  The rest of the weekend should be mobilizing for camp, riding bikes, and hanging out with friends and family.  I hope that there is time for a sci-fi movie or two, and maybe some reading.

peace