New road frame, hurray for me.

Thanks to the folks down at Curbside Cyclery I was able to get a brand new frame in exchange for my old Six 13 frame when I had some issues with it last month. Also big thanks to Chris the local Cannondale rep for getting a replacement to me in under a week.
In the exchange I got up graded to the System Six with a full carbon fork and the beefy 1.5 head tube. Talk about upgrade, I have been out on this bike for the last week and it is exponentially stiffer then the old frame with a much better ride quality. We just switched all the components over from the old frame and they did a great tune up on the rig making it all run like it was new.
Right now I am doing the whole lifting cross training thing so time on the new ride is lower then normal and I wont be able to put the rig through its paces for a few months. The System Six is no longer made being dropped in favor of the Super Six but for me who doesn’t have to have the newest and hottest road stuff it works great. Thanks to Cannondale and Curbside for the great ride.

Back packing Haigler Creek Arizona.

When it comes to hiking in Arizona in the summer I try to keep everything centered on one thing, a place with swimming holes. It is just too freaking hot to try big overland hikes without some kind of pay off at the end.
Friday my friend Ben and I explored Haigler Creek up by my parent’s house in Young. At the bottom of the creek is a public camp ground which I am not a huge fan off so we decided to hike up the creek and see what we could find as far as good fishing and swimming.
The creek was pretty good, you have to bypass some privet property and we saw more people then I typically like along the way. When I go hiking I really want to feel remote so the fewer people the better. This is a relatively popular place so the run ins where often but friendly.

We kept getting bombarded by these little light blue bugs. The little guys would fly around and for some reason land on us then hold on for dear life.
Along the way there where lots of wild flowers which Ava decided to take a break in. she isn’t much of a hiking dog so whenever she gets the chance she is laying down in the water or in grassy patches.
The water in the creek was pretty cold and we eventually hiked far enough to find out why. There was a spring flowing in from both sides of the creek that provided at least half of the water volume downstream and made it feel ice cold. Of course on a hot day nothing feels better then water so cold it makes you head hurt.

While swimming through I found the freakiest thing ever. On the other bank was what I think is a wolf spider that was not joke as big as the palm of my hand chilling out. He was so not scared of me that when I got the camera right up to his face to take this picture he didn’t even flinch. If you open the picture up its so close you can actually see 4 of his eyes glowing yellow, I think it is just a sign of how purely evil he is.
Overall it was a fun hike, like I said though too many people for me but it is great to just get out and not have any concerns other then navigating a creek bead and avoiding man eating spiders.

Pearl Izumi Octane SL extended review.

Gear reviews isn’t something that I typically do but as I took a chance on the new Pearl Izumi Octane SL Shoes I figured I would let you all know how they are working out. I say “took a chance” not because I don’t trust Pearl, all their gear has been nothing but great but up until this point in my cycling life I have ridden nothing but Sidi’s, I loved the buckle and wondered if the all velcro straps on the Octanes would hold up and tighten as well as I like.
After four marathon races and lots of training rides over the last two + months I think I’m able to render a verdict on them to this point. And the verdict is (insert your own drum roll)…..I love them. I have never ridden on such a stiff pair of shoes. The carbon sole is ridiculous, while it does get muffed up here on the AZ rocks those suckers are a solid platform to ride on. So solid in fact that there have been a couple times on fast descents where I hit a dip with such speed that I actually pop my ankle a bit. There is no flex in those things so there is no place for that energy from my straight leg to go but up. Time to adjust my sloppy ride.

As for my original concern about the velcro, well that was completely unfounded. The shoes secure tighter then my Sidi’s ever did, in fact on my first ride I think I cut circulation off to my toes by having them too tight. Keep in mind that all my mountain rides and races are over 4 hours long so they have plenty of time to come loose but they don’t. In addition there was that race a couple months ago that was wet and muddy and they stayed on strong.
One point I hadn’t planned on but like is how venty they are. The toe section has perforations in the leather that come in really handy on hot rides. I can actually feel the air flowing over my feet which is something I have never experienced. In the winter this could prove to be an issue, but it ain't the winter here.

The down side is that if you are looking for a super comfy shoe and you’re not interested in having the lightest race shoes around they aren’t for you. The ride could be considered harsh for most, but if you want it a responsive super light weight shoe this is for you

Arizona night ride.

Travis and I got out for a night ride tonight out at Hawes. Travis as usual forgot something, this time the velcro strap for his light. Thankfully as I have talked about before he got all the white trash jerry rigging ability in our family and he was able to improvise a bungee cord out of his car to hold it on. It actually held up the whole time which was impressive. He and I both have to spend some long hours to get our mountain skills back. I walked a couple sections of trail that are really no problem to ride but I couldn’t put the skills together to get up and over it. When it heats up here in the valley the only way to ride is to start out around 6 PM and ride into the dark. Add the dark into my already weak mountain skills and you have a recipe for going to very slow. Without any races coming up and lots of homework to do in my masters program it feels good to just hang out on the trail and not take myself too seriously. The clouds were out tonight which made for a great sun set.

Owls on Hawes trail.

The weather has been so unbelievably nice this month. This has to be the coolest June that I can remember, that Al Gore is full of crap. Tonight I got out to Hawes for a mountain ride. At the top of cardiac I saw this Great Horned Owl feather on the side of the trail. Great Horn’s are so freaking cool, they take on pretty much anything so I put the feather in my helmet to draw on the bird’s strength and my Native American ancestry. As you can tell I’m like 100% Cherokee and my grandma was a Cherokee princes. However Great Horned Owls must not be able to corner to well because later down the trail I cut it a bit quick and paid the price. I slammed my shoulder into a teddy bear cholla sending the the needles right into the shoulder blade. It’s always a good time trying to pull those suckers out let me tell you. Once when I was a kid I put my whole shin into one and just got it covered. You should learn quick in AZ not to do silly things like this but that’s what I get for letting my single track skills slip so far this year.
It was good to just go on a ride with no particular purpose, just to be outside and to ride. On top of that you just can’t beat Arizona around sunset.

MBAA State Finales.

I have to be honest, I was pretty reluctant to get up to the state finales this year in Flagstaff. It's been a long season starting back in December and know in June I was burned out. I felt so great at the last race in Payson, it felt like I had hit my stride and was coming into forum for the last few races. Like most well planed out things the plan went down quick when I got sick last month. I don’t think I fully realized how much it all took out of me until this weekend though.The wife and I stayed at a cabin with my friend Glen, AKA the best bike mechanic ever. The week before the race he rebuilt the wheel I had dented at the first race and now before the race he ran through everything to make sure it was working right.

Unfortunately my legs couldn’t match the expert tuning he had given the bike. I knew I was in trouble within the first 20 minutes, there was just nothing there but I pushed on through and tried to put up a good fight.

The curse went up and over mount Elden 2x for a total of 6000 feet of climbing and around 46 miles. (That's Eldon on the right in the picture above.) The first time up I felt alright, not good but alright. The second time up I tried to push it again but once I reached the top I was completely blown. So blown in fact that I walked the technical section at the top called hobbit forest, a downhill section with large boulders and trees. You couldn’t ask for better riding but I was so spent I just couldn’t hold a line.

Once at the bottom it was all I could do to keep the peddles turning, but I finished, the finish was far back though. I came in 13th out of 26 so right in the middle. It’s very aggravating though top have felt like I was coming into great forum and then to go back to square one. O well though, it was good enough of a finish to keep me in the top five for the overall series. 4th sounds better then last so I will take it.

Thanks should go out to Absolute Bikes in Flagstaff for getting us on such great trails to race. It was apparently quite a work to make it happen with all the tree hugging hippies in Flag who hate bikes and really hate bike racing. Hopefully we can get back there next year.

After waiting for freaking ever for the overall podium Sarah and I crashed back at the cabin with glen, Gail and Gail’s son Jay. Jay and I where on the same team this year at Old Pueblo so it was cool catching up with them and enjoying some nice mountain air.

By the end of the race my legs where so depleted that when I sat down they started shacking uncontrollably. You have to watch the video for a few seconds for them to start up again but it’s funny when they do.

freaking cycling socks.

Tonight I have one complaint and one happy point. Complaint, every freaking pair of cycling socks I have and have ever had busts out the toes. Its not like I have rat claws down there cutting through these things, I keep them trimmed very short just because of this. But here I have this unnamed brand that is barley a month old and then this. Carbon fiber is cool these days, maybe they could mix some carbon up in there to strengthen these things. Then again maybe I am the only person that has this problem.
On a more positive note the weather took a turn for the cooler this week. We had been getting up into the 100’s the last couple weeks but this week it has been over cast and today it only got into the high 80’s. I didn’t even mind the wind today because I got out before 5 pm.