PMC Can't Break Me

The grassroots Arizona Endurance Series really has a grip on long, great rides and the Prescott Monstercross was no exception. The course follows numerous trails that circle the perimeter of Prescott, starting at the Costco on Rt 69 then heading to the moonscape that is the Dells. It then cruises through Pioneer Park on its way to Granite Basin, then heads south over Iron Springs Road. From there it'll head back east on various numbered trails (with 9415 being a screaming downhill) and then land in White Spar campgound for a last water stop. From there, it takes the wonderful 396 to Senator Highway and then the lug a bike (I was too tired to really call it a hike) up Spruce Mountain Road to Smith Ravine, and finally 305 back to Costco.

A mere sixty miles with just over 10,000 ft of climbing. My longest and biggest ride to date. I was ready. I'd be riding with Freeskier as is the norm. Its actually a race, but we only ride at "picture pace", even if we don't take that many pics, which was the plan this day. We've never done 50 miles under 10 hours, and that was with about half as much climbing so we knew it was going to be a long day.  If we only knew.....

The group was about 30 strong and roughly 25 finished, with Freeskier and I happily finishing dead last. Finishing the important word here! ......good thing we brought lights.

We all scooted down the Peavine trail, and the race doesn't technically start until we entered the Dells since this area is well visited. We didn't want to blast past anyone on a nice Saturday morning stroll.

Then we entered a worm hole and were transported to the moon. I was surprised to find a blue sky there, and unfortunately, gravity was still Earth strong. What gives. Well, we got HAB, so we got adventure.

Can you spot the riders? Or should I say, HABers? We hiked the vast majority of the Dells. What a brutal way to start a 60 mile romp around town - with a 3 mile hike-a-bike. Ugh. I was halfway through my water after a mere 7 miles! And already miles behind the leaders. Well, miles behind anyone, I'm sure.

Freeskier is trying to make it happen. Here, about 15 miles in, he said he was feeling the elevation and heat already, questioning another 45 miles that still lay ahead of us. I had the same sentiment as the sun hung high, clear skies, thin oxygen (compared to my usual 1200ft living conditions) and stangnant air. It was tough for about 2-3 hours, no doubt.

I've ridden Granite Basin before and I was looking forward to it. After entering we were treated to a sweet swoopy downhill that was a nice reward for a bit of climbing. The whole course was this way. Some climbing then downhill, climbing downhill. Sustained elevation, but not too much. Funny, as we entered Granite Basin, we saw riders coming out already, probably about 2 hours ahead of us.  I gave a holler....and that was the last we'd see of anyone the rest of the day.

Grades were never much worse than this.

Freeskier still hanging on. We're both pretty well matched for pace and climbing ability. Neither of us never felt the need to pull away from the other, then again, we don't have the racing mentality. Just a survive and enjoy mentality.

I've seen birds do it in the wild, so I spread my wings to cool off. With the breeze a that moment, and the sun sleeves in effect, it was a cooling miracle. Magnificent!

Not much shade through an old burn section of the forest. Thanks to Freeskier for the snaps.

Our bikes have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few months of riding. Even they needed a rest today. And amazingly, we had no mechanicals, or even flat tires.

After dropping down 9415. We were happy to be approaching White Spar, even though we still had about 20 miles to go. I could taste the end, but it was still about 5 hours away.

Milestones. We must celebrate milestones!

Here's how two tired fellas tackle the unending up that is Spruce Mountain Road. I hit the loose stuff at the start of the road and immediately started walking. I had no power to even try. Survive. About 45 miles in here. Sun is fading fast. Moon rising too. Stomach not happy with space food. Push on...must....push on.

Helmet off and pushing. That's when you know you're going slow. At this point, the leader has been done for about four hours already. We still had about three hours to go!

We were treated to a great sunset on one side....

....and moon rise on the other. Great moment for along day. Nature always delivers, even in celestial majesty, just for me sometimes it seems....

 Here is what I like to call my Cycle of Destruction

hour 2.5ish

Hour 4ish

Hour 6ish

Hour 8ish.

Spruce Mountain. Hour 10ish

End is near. Redemption. Hour 12ish.

It was a lot of work, but well worth every second. We knocked out all 60 miles in a staggering 13.5 hours. My previouis longest day on the bike was when I did some bikepacking from Parker Canyon Lake to Patagonia on the AZT last year, which was about 11 hours - and that was only for 15 miles! (It was a staggering 96 degrees that day.) And the closest I'd come to 10,000ft before was probably some 6500 on BCT or maybe the Ripsey AZT. We were determined to finish, and finish we did, even if it was DFL, but I don't care! It was tough enough for a quarter of the field to drop out, whether for mechanical or bodily issues, so I'm pretty happy about it. Best to post a slow time so there's room for improvement. Not sure how Scott is going to improve on an impressive 6:01...!!!!!!! My god, man! Well, he did spend 7 minutes fixing a flat....

I never really felt busted out there, other than when my stomach started refusing the space goo and solid food. It took me a good 25 minutes to put down a PB&J at White Spar. And I had to put it down - I was really hungry.  Not the first time this has happened. On the AZT I also had stomach issues.  I'll need to carry some antacids with me next time - well, I probably had some in my first aid kit - oh well....

We were mostly concerned about finishing the ride, and not making a blazing time, which probably saved us from a DNF. We knew we were slow, and brought lights in anticipation of spending some time out there, but 13.5 hours was beyond our estimation. When we finished, we finally made our way to In-n-Out for some grub that I had been dreaming of, only to stare at it. I got some fries down, but the burger had to wait until the next morning. I literally curled up into a ball and fell asleep. The body had enough. It was done. I couldn't even have the celebratory beer with Freeskier - I was pretty disappointed, but the body knows what it needs. Didn't even get a shower that night, slept dirty and gross.  Nasty really, but its the price you pay for trying to attain awesomeness. I think I've a long way to go!


Thanks again to Freeskier for the pics of me on trail, it really adds to the documentation! Big Thanks!

The Dells are at about 5 miles in. Granite Basin is at about 15-25 miles. 9415 is the big drop at 37ish and White Spar is at about 42. The big climb starts with 396 then it gets into Spruce Mt. Road. Coming down the back side is the big drop off Smith Ravine, then is smooths out to the finish on 305. Great course. Ass kicking course. Lots of improvement on my part to be had.

Topo of the course around Prescott. It was wild getting to one far end and then seeing some other landmark that we'd ridden through hours earlier far, far away. A bike - it can take you places. Get one! Get out!

Ripsey AZT

Arizona is a real special place for mountain biking. I'd have to say one of the best states in the union for it, at least enduro xc all day jaunts through the desert, high desert, or pines. And there is one trail in the state that literally has it all. It runs the full length of the state, north to south and is now almost fully completed. This is the Arizona Trail. At the time of this post, only a mere 17 miles remain of the full  800+ miles. While not all of it can be ridden on bikes, since some portions pass through designated Wilderness areas, the vast majority of it is open and the parts that you can't ride, have doable ride-arounds.

But Freeskier and myself on this day, we were planning on getting another 18 miles of the AZT in which would include the much laudes Ripsey Ridgeline. Voted by Chad as the best ridgeline in the state. I'd have to agree. Remote and a lot of work to get to, it is its own reward.

The route was put together from various gpx files I could pull form the web, mostly from Scott Morris and his work on the Gila River Scramble and the bike friendly AZT route. A big thanks goes out to him for scouting and making these maps available. All I did was load a few up and then imagine a route between all the segments. Chop up the segments, merge the ones I wanted, draw in a connector on the topo map where it showed a jeep road, check the satellite image then boom! We had a 34 mile route with about 6000ft of climbing. We were on our way.

The morning proved to be as interesting as it could get with fog from the Gila filling the valley.  It hung throughout the first miles of our ride and provided a beautiful backdrop to our introduction to Gila River AZT. The trail was new-ish, and the moist air kept the trail a little damp, which slightly grabbed at our tires, making the unexpected climb out of the Gila all that much more lung busting. It was a tough, unexpected start to a long day, to a long ride, but at least our blood was pumping, and our adrenaline going.  It was going to be a good day.

The start of the ride. Let's get it together. We've lots of pedaling to do! We started fairly early, at 8am. Looks like some others beat us there.

The fog hung low. A special treat for our motivation to put a route together, drive out, and give it a go.

The AZT starts right after the bridge that goes over the Gila that leads to the Florence-Kelvin Highway, which is right off the 177 from Superior.

These signs, I love them. Let your legs do the work. In a week after this ride, the AZT300 racers would be coming through here. Well, at least four of the 22 that started.

Still about 1.5 hours into the ride, we had what I'll call now, low lying clouds. We'd be on F-K Highway for about 10 miles, and those ten miles were up up up. We saw only but two cars for our few hours on the road. It was all ours.

The night was cool, and some snow hung on the higher elevations. It almost felt like Colorado. I liked it.

I owe Freeskier a big thanks for this shot. I really love it. Mountain grades indeed.

I had penciled in a 1 mile connector to Old Florence Road, which would save us about ten miles, and I was happy to see that the topo I drew over was pretty accurate, even if this jeep road hadn't seen much action in years. It eventually ran next to a wash, where we followed cattle trails that snaked in, around and through the wash, like a spider web.

While the gate was closed, they should have also hung a sign, "Don't shoot this sign".

We passed a few corrals on the way down to Ripsey Ranch Ruins where we'd pick up the AZT. While its man made, barbed wire make me feel like I'm "out there". Its just not a city thing. We save that for razor wire.

The "Great Tree", as I called it at Ripsey Ranch Ruins. Four hours in, 16 miles gone and about to hit 18 miles of new-to-us AZT. I was excited. This would put me over 100 miles of AZT traveled. Only about 700 more to go!

The desert framed by wood. I could have hung out there all day. It was a tranquil place, probably because it seemed so far from anything, yet hinted at civilization, but a simple civilization. Zen life. Peace. Then again, there was a generator attached to the windmill....

Water was below the windmill, only about 5 feet down. Luckily, the day was easy on us, and I only ended up going through about 100oz for the whole day, even though I carried 220oz.

Well, the AZT we caught here was doubletrack. Not the blazing start I was expecting, but the remoteness and the beauty of the scenery made me revel in the fact that anything was there to follow. We could get out there. We could get back. All on bike. I love that feeling.

This is the way we were heading. Real singletrack lay ahead, as well as the Ripsey Ridge, our real prey for the day. Excitement grew as it would eventually come into view.

I certainly hope we wouldn't run out of water, but it turned out we could have hung out for two days and be fine. When the AZT300 racers would come through here the week later, temps would be in the mid 90's, which is brutal, with no shade to be found.

The only shade was from clouds, unless you could make yourself the width of a saguaro. How many people have seen this AZT sign? Probably not many. The trail was faint through this section, but there were many cairns, even though I was following the magic line on my GPS.

Freeskier heading down to Ripsey wash. It was a welcome downhill before the second big climb of the day to the top of Ripsey.

And our goal comes into view. The switchbacks beg to be ridden. Or pushed through, as was the case with us.

I also made my way up to Ripsey. Anticipation of the ridge pulled my legs. 26 miles were forgotton and only the remaining eight remained in my head. The earth has a pull sometimes, similar to gravity, the attraction between two masses, but a pull that comes from the inside, spirits passing in the day, getting to know one another, nothing is dead out there. The language, if you listen, is deafening.

Whenever you find yourself in a wash, you can be certain you'll soon be climbing.

That's a lot to climb at mile 26, but my legs begged to go up to the top, just so my eyes could see.

Freeskier taking a breather just before we hit the switchbacks. We were many miles behind him there, a few hours earlier. Travel by bike has to be the best way to travel. You can see a lot, but are also intimate with your surroundings. You seem to really get to know a place, as if it were a person. You feel its personality.

I've said it before, without HAB, its not quite an adventure. Luckily, we found HAB.

The ride between switchbacks wasn't bad at all.

Views like this, attained with sweat, blood and hours of work are great food for the spirit. This is my church. Here I feel I really know something about the world and myself. The great mystery we live in opens up, at least for a moment.

Typical switchback.  A little loose, but surely rideable. Seven, I believe into total to attain the ridge. Worth every foot of elevation. Worth every pedal stroke.

While from far away, the switchbacks seem almost vertical, from the backside, you can see that they almost leisurely climb to the saddle.

And the top. A short grub stop. Some photo ops. From here we could see the whole 34 mile route. F-K highway. Powerline. I only wish I could have such perspective on my own life. At least this might be what it would feel like.

Bar ends are a go. It took a lot of torqueing to get up to the top.

It was well worth it.

We played photo-op time as we played on the ridge a little. With all that effort, it was only appropriate.

Can't help but be all smiles when a ride like this comes together and with great company.

From the ridge in the above photo, we'd cross to this one and eventually drop down the north side, back to the F-K highway, and the AZT that we started on.

The backside. Many switchbacks, many which I made. You can barely see the F-K highway where we started about 8 hours earlier. Snow has melted. Fog has burned off. Getting tired. The sun reaches for the horizon. Another day moves on and I have another great ride almost under my belt. It feels like graduating all over again. Special.

Up and over a ridge is like mega decisions in life. Lots of hard deliberation, but the course needs to be taken. Anticipation, work, loose edges, unsure vetical to go, and then release. You make it over. Time to rejoice, time to relish, time to give thanks for making it one more time.

A healthy 34 miles, about 6400ft of climbing. This is almost a Quad Bypass, in the McDowells. but now quite. It was a memorable 9 hours. The big climb up was the F-K highway. The dip at mile 25 is Ripsey Wash. The ridgeline and descent are obvious. And lots of fun.

Our route. Its great to ride something unproven to yourself, of your creation, even if its built upon the sweat of others. Success can be inebriating. Do it again? Absolutely!

Topo 3D of the ride. Check the Ripsey climb. Good times! And quite a bit of work. I'm surprised every time my body keeps going and going and going. It seems as if I'm just along for the ride.

A big thanks goes out to Freeskier for not only providing the company and extra motivation to get out there, but for his great pics of me riding as well. It really brings the blog together for me. Thanks! And I urge you to get a bike if you don't have one, and get out there!