Ian invited me Monday AM along for a Black Canyon trail ride same day. Always enjoy riding with friends. We picked up Chuck along the way and will meet Greg and whomever he invited along down at Bumblebee. Greg arrived just ahead of us. Speed trouble coming: Greg rides a single speed hard tail, his gang of Steve and Kevin are speedsters as is Chuck and Ian is close behind. Distance and time spell speed and that’s what happened. I pushed as my body allowed yet I was way off the back. We rode the same ride as I did back on Jan 31 with Ian and others, today my speed was .6 mph faster but with a lower heart effort. Still monster 3 mile road climb to top once past the cattle tank. Ian said I still rock my hips indicating saddle is still too high, I heeded his advice and lowered it a slight bit which continues to improve my pedal power. Maybe that attributed to my lower bpm, certainly improves my bike handling skills. Forecast called for increasing winds as day wore on. Good news was it was from behind which aided the road climb but it would be impeding our return speed while increasing effort. The descent from the top down to the tank is twisty as it goes around the snout of ridges and dips down and up thru small washes. Speed is modulated at the blind bends as one was not sure the turn radius as most had the potential if not turned sharply enough would result in tires not getting any traction while airborne. My speed is dependent on gravity that I modulate with my brakes, I coast while others enhance their speed and work making them go faster. I chose to lessen work and arrive later. We nailed the descent then rested a bit at the tank then headed home nonstop. The ride was like my solo rides as I just pedal mostly non stop. Group rides “sometimes” allow rest stops. Yesterday’s ride was for non talking men. If there was touchy feely talk among the leaders I was unaware. I know I had no one to talk to. The wind created excitement as it blew me off my line at exposed places. We returned unscathed. That previous ride me and someone else bore the same scratch as we hit the same branch or thorn. Today I commented to Ian about it as neither of us were cut, perhaps it was cut out or we just gave plants a wider berth. Good hard ride, 20.9 miles climbing 1939′ pedaling for just under 3 hrs. Sunny and pleasant except for the chilly wind.
Forecast for last night was for more snow, another night at the overlook, Sunday night I drove out to sleep spot at MP4 while avoiding the mud pits. Forecast for rest of week is no precip to make dirt driving hard.
No pics from ride.
AZ does not do daylight savings time, our time is same as Pacific daylight savings, 3 hrs behind the east.
Zags are number 1 seed for the NCAA big dance and favored to win the whole sheebang, don’t count your 3 points until they exit the bottom of the net.
42 degrees at 1:15 PM.