Enjoyable ride to work

Rained hard last night so had to ride through some mud on the way. Love the cyclocross with 35mm tires. It was humid but only 80 degrees.

Fast trails on South Mountain

Rode with Jonathan S at 5:30 this morning. East on Desert Classic. Pima ramadas. Counter-clockwise on the East Loop. Pima Wash. DC west. Secret Trail (Sidewinder). Warpaint loop. DC west to the rock bench. DC east. Home.

Thought I'd be able to ride fast on these trails but STILL felt tired and slow. Not sure if it is the heat or what. Hard getting back to where I was before knee surgery. Maybe some time on the road-bike would help.

Trail 100 end-to-end-to-end

Got a really early start and rode Trail 100 with Kevin. The entrance to Dreamy Draw was closed at ~5:10am so we found the spot where T100 goes under Cave Creek Rd and parked near there. Headed west to 7th Ave, turned, rode east to Tatum, turned, rode back to the van.

Solid ride. Felt slow but I think we kept a decent pace.
Trail 100 C2C2C at EveryTrail


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Desert Classic C2C2C

Great ride with Kevin and Jonathan this morning. We hit Desert Classic at 5:30. Rode out to Telegraph Pass, turned, and rode to the ramadas, turned, rode home. Weather was outstanding - low humidity and 80 - 90 degrees. Still felt weak but DC is more forgiving than National. Gotta do this kind of ride for a couple weeks before attempting any major climbs again.

National and then a kids ride

Kevin and I headed up National at 5:30. My first time up since knee surgery in May.

Ugh. Odd ride. Not sure if it was the early ride time, lack of caffeine, stress during the week, or what - just couldn't drag my ass up the hill. Did ok on the Mormon wall but then I was thoroughly pooped. Climbed up to Fat Man's Pass and decided to call it quits. Was worried I'd be so exhausted that I'd screw up on the downhill and hurt myself. Was glad when that ride was over. [Still glad I went though.]

Then Kevin and I took Rylan, Ian and Conner for a ride on Desert Classic. Everyone had fun. Rylan didn't pay attention to what I was asking him to do (like stay with me while we ride on the street, don't cut in front of other riders, etc) and I had to cut the ride short. I think Kevin, Ian, and Conner kept riding to the water tower.

BMX race in Tucson

Rylan and I went with Kevin, Ian and Conner to see the ABA BMX Southwest Regionals. They had a blast. Rylan is already looking forward to competing next year.

It was really neat. Lots of participants. The races only last for 45 seconds or so and they just run one heat after another for hours on end. They only stop if someone crashed and is still on the course.

Racers aged from 4 or 5 to 60+. The teenagers were by far the fastest (15 - 18) but BMX is all about the little kids. There were lots of kids in the 6 to 13 age range.

Lots of crashes but also lots of safety gear. Only a few people were hurt.

Chandler BMX

Took Rylan to the Chandler BMX dirt track for a beginners clinic. I've never seen him enjoy anything so much.

It was HOT. He'd already done many laps. He was obviously pooped. I asked him if he wanted to do one more lap and then head home. He vigorously shook his head no. I said, you want to go home right now? Again, no. Ahhh... I guess we're in the market for BMX gear now.

They did a little two lap race after that and Rylan did really well. He has a strong competitive streak.

Helipad + Degoba

Good ride with Kevin and Jonathan. Jonathan hadn't ridden the entire Dagoba loop before. Weather was relatively good - we hit the gap between high humidity and high temps.