Endurance Junkie

Climb or Die and Squeezing the Lemmon

2009-05-10T09:06:00.006-07:00

challenge is as follows:

Ride your bike from Tucson to Mt. Lemmon, on as much trail as possible.

- Park at the base of the Catalina Highway (or, bonus points - ride there). (2500′)
- Stage 1: Ride up Milagrosa to the AZT (4000′)
- Stage 2: Follow AZT over the saddle, descending to Molino Basin. (4800′)
- Stage 3: Continue on AZT, climbing to Prison Camp (4900′)
- Stage 4: Climb Bug Springs Trail to MP ~12, near Bear Canyon Picnic area (6200′)
- Stage 5: Climb Green Mountain Trail to the San Pedro Vista (7200′)
- Stage 6: You ride the highway until the connector between Green Mtn and Butterfly is completed
- Stage 7: Butterfly trail to Mt. Bigelow (8400′)
- Stage 8: Bigelow access road to Catalina Highway, Sunset Trail (?) to Summer haven
- Stage 9: Aspen Draw to Mt. Lemmon (9100′)

Completion of this renders the rider immediate and irrevocable status as a mountain bike god.

Well I only know two other riders to complete the above mentioned ride. Both took the road back down,not to take anything away from either rider (they are gods in my book)
Since becoming consumed with the Colorado trail race, all I want to do is find rides that can test me physically and mentally.
With that being said, I thought about adding extra challenge to the ride, to do Climb or Die then instead of returning down the road, I planed on camping for the night, then do the ride in reverse.
So on Sat morning left fully loaded with camping gear to ride,hike,drag and claw my way up, while packing my gear, I had thoughts of do'n ITT for this ride, but to be honest I wasn't sure I could even complete the C or D part and then be able to go back down. I sure didn't want to sleep up there with nothing and the only other choice would have been to bail to the road, so instead of taking chances I thought I'd do it in two parts,( in hindsight I wish I would have left the camping gear). I had know idea the ride would go so smooth.
One other rider Steve (rocky road) showed up fully loaded for two days of adventure and pain. We rolled out from the trail head at 5am with a full moon lighting the way. We had talked about riding to the top, then back down to Bigelow to camp for the night before finishing the ride. Well sometimes things change when you find your groove, as we began the climb I seem to just roll right up, "this was gonna be a great ride" About 5 to 8 miles up there's whats known as Tequila tree(bottle chained to a tree), I'm no longer a fan of that drink, but with the way I was feeling and the adventure that lay ahead I could not resist,I had to do a shot.
As I looked back down the trail it would be the last time I see Steve.(hope things went well)
As I climbed up Milli I began toying with the idea of just going for the whole sha'bang in a day. When I reached the hike a bike for molina thats when it started to hit me, that I was most likely going to be the hardest one day ride I've ever done.
Once on top of the pass I could ride again, it was down to Prison camp then on up to Bugs where the sun could start to bake my skin. Once over bugs I was hoping to ride in the shade of tree's, but no such luck riding fully exposed to the suns rays was the order of the day. By the time I reached the climb at Hitchcock I stoped to lube my chain only to find out I left it at home, I had just seen some downhill guy's at the bugs trail head, so I turned around to see if I could get some lube, once they found out what I was attempting they were stoke to say the least. So as I rode off with a free bottle of lube(probably saved my ride)I knew if I could just get Greenie and Bigelow knocked out things will get much easier(be able to ride again) as I was suffering up Green I received a text from Mr. Chad brown go the distance failure is not an option, this really light a fire under my a** "thanks Chad" from that point on I knew I was gonna complete the ride. Once I got to Bigelow I dumped all my gear, I figured might as well enjoy what was going to be mostly downhill (ridable )trails in to the town of Summer haven. while riding through town I felt the urge to stop and refuel but being this close to the top, I just couldn't do it so one finale push to the top it was 2:00 on the button.
Now it was time for some fun downhill back in to Summer haven for some rest and pizza. While eating I looked up to notice my one and only flat for the day, O'well if it's gonna happen, this is the place. After changing the flat and get'n some fudge it was time for what I call squeezing the Lemmon, (back down)thats a joke.How can one trail have so much climbing both ways I'll never understand it's brutal and demoralizing, but what a great ride. By the time I reached Prison camp(6pm) I knew I would be doing Milli in the dark, at that point it was a race to get down.
I got lucky to make to the rock garden just as darkness set in, I did have a small light to get me out and to the finish.
I think I may be the first one to knock this one out, for whatever thats worth
around 70
15hrs sounds slow "try it"

Little fish swimming with the sharks

2009-05-03T06:43:00.004-07:00

Well after taking 9 months off the bike it's good to be back, right before all of my injury's I had started having an interest in trying multi-day endurance events. So like anything else I do,I seem to jump in the deep end and thats just what I did.after only being back on the bike for 2 or 3 months I enter the AZ 300 and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of Adventure. So now I have been bitten by the www.bikepacking.net bug,and what looks to be my next big adventure,the Colorado trail race 530 miles of the unknown. My plan right now is to do 2 or 3 overnighters per month till Aug. to get my setup dialed in. The last event I had no idea what I was doing so I didn't go there to race,just wanted to finish which I did,5th out of 11 but only 4 really raced it. I'll be doing a few events between now and Aug but for training rides only. I hope show up to the CTR ready to race!

Saturday Morning Kids Ride

2008-05-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Earth Day

2008-04-23T08:27:00.002-07:00

Paddle in the morning

Chad dirt in the water

Pedal at night
Ben on Bugs

The Day After

2008-03-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Chad and Dave

Dave

Dave Nice

Mr. Chad Brown

Long Ride

2008-03-20T23:55:00.001-07:00

AZSF Friday

2008-03-15T23:01:00.003-07:00

AZSP Thursday

2008-03-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

AZSF Wednesday night ride

2008-03-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

Pre-AZSF Wednesday

2008-03-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

Kentucky Camp Epic

2008-03-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

The Rats Ride

2008-02-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

Antelope Peak Challenge '08

2008-01-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

This was my first Endurance race for '08 and it was a time to be had. We met at Willow Springs at 7:00am. Another cold start, you gotta love it. We rolled down to the local coffee shop, The Station. They opened up early just for us, how cool.The race started off right at 8:00am, we had about 3 or 4 miles of road before the start of the AZ trail. The End.

Total mileage: 68

Mileage year to date: 648

SSAZ08

2008-01-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well two day's before the Swizzle, I broke my little toe. I thought it might be an issue, but that had nothing to do with my poor performance. I entered this race just to see how all the training I've been doing is coming a long. We rolled out of the park at 7:30am. It was freezing out, hands and feet were numb on the road to Lemmon. When we got to the bottom, I thought I would go off the front to get some pics of the group climbing up the road. After getting a couple of pics, I just fell back in with the group. Things went really smooth on the way up to prison camp. John, the over all winner, broke away about two miles before Prison Camp. No one made a move to go with him. I think we all thought we would catch him(I know I did anyway). At Prison Camp, I made my move only to get a flat tire. While changing the tire, I got passed by about 8 riders. After P.C., came the chase up Molina, a 900 foot climb. About 1/4 of a mile can you say switchbacks. On the decent, I caught 2 riders; one of who was Scott Morris. Scott and I rode together up Bellota ranch road to Reddington. That's when I made the mistake of going off alone when I wasn't sure about the course, well that cost me 2 to 3 miles of climbing the wrong way. Once I realized I was lost I began to back track. I wouldn't catch Scott again for 10 miles. When I rolled up on him he asked me if I had made a wrong turn, I told him I was just putting in some extra miles. Now that I knew I was back in the chase I put the hammer down only to pass 2 riders on the decent down Mili. All in all it turned out to be a good training ride.
49 miles
6th over all with gears and added miles

Total mileage: 49

2008-01-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Total mileage:30
Year to date:432
Starpass from the house (weekly night ride)

2008-01-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Total mileage:22
Year to date:402

2008-01-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Total Mileage:48
Year to date:380 mountain bike miles

And this is how the ride ended up !

2008-01-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well what was suposed to be an all day epic turned out to be a 35 mile road commute.
my excuses:
Had to adjust front brake 3 times on the way out there.
Have a slight cold or some allergy?
Had no legs.
Total Mileage:36
Year to date:332_______________

This is what was suposed to be.

2008-01-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

AZSS Pre-ride Sat

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I'll be doing the AZSS course Sat morning,if anyone would like to join. I'll be riding from home Speedway/Country Club at 7:00am. So I should be at the bottom of Redington by 8:00am (give or take 15min). lots of bail out ops.I won't be going at race pace, but with other things to do I won't dilly dally either.So come do the whole sha'bang or whatever you have time for.

Training Ride: 61 miles/ 6hrs

2008-01-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

Total mileage:61
Year to date:296 mountain bike miles

2008-01-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

Total mileage: 28
Year to date: 235

2008-01-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Total mileage:22
Year to date:207 mountain bike miles

2008-01-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Total mileage: 22
Year to date: 185

2008-01-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Total mileage: 22
Year to date: 163

Two of us got a hole in one (well kinda)

2008-01-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well today I was going to do my normal 11 mile commute to work, then after work the plan was to ride to Starpass and do my loop backwards.But instead I left work and rode to Albertson's to meet up with Ben who just happened to have a nice new pimped out 29"er. I left it up to Ben to decide which loop to do. So he decided we should do the climb up and over Golden Gate.

(I haven't cleaned that climb without dabbing in four or five years) So I jokingly said "With the new bike mojo, we'll clean everything today". Then it was off to test our luck. Anytime Ben and I ride together, it's pretty much heads down hammering it out, each of us trying to drop the other one, but not today.We were just out having fun, the ride over to the climb was pretty uneventful. When we got to the bottom, there were no words spoken but we both knew that each us wanted to be the one to clean this climb. So I let Ben lead, thinking good and well that he'll never make it. So as I followed him up, every time he would get to one of the spots that have stopped me time and time again, he would just roll right though it with me right behind him. Ben never said a word and kept silent all the way to the top. Once there, I asked Ben," Why so quiet?" He said he never thought we would make it. To put things into perspective, it felt as though we had got hole in one the same day. It just doesn't happen, but it did and it felt great.
(Upon further inspection we realized they had done some trail work and made the sections just a little easier)

Total mileage: 52
Year to date: 141

Commute to work

2008-01-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Well after the APC pre-ride I took a day off .Woke up today feeling pretty good, so I decided to ride my mountainbike to work.Just an easy eleven mile commute oneway, felt great to spin the legs out.The plan for tomorrow is to commute to work then ride from work to Star Pass and do my normal route, but backwards maybe get 40 to 50 miles in.

total mileage: 22
year to date: 89

2008-01-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Well me and Chad set off to pre-ride Antelope peak challenge course. http://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/antelope-peak-challenge/
This ride is about 67 miles of very rustic trails with a few abandon ranchs along the way.

We started out at mile post 105 in the town of Oracle.The ride took us up tiger mine road for about 1.5 miles then we hit the AZ trail, this has to be some of the best unknown single track in the state.We followed this sweet single track for about six miles then we hit the gas line road for ten miles of rollercoaster climbs and decents.During the gasline road we came upon some cattle that needed herding and since I left sprocket at home I had to take matters in my own hands( NO CATTLE WERE HARMED).To see videohttp://chadfbrown.blogspot.com/
After gasline road we took a wash called blood sucker, this is one of the fastest washes I have ever ridden. I guess who ever named it must have came from the other direction.We took this about seven miles then came upon the cholla forest.

This is where we stoped to do a little trail clean up.Then it was on to Antelope peak once there we decided to hike to the top of the peak and sign in.

I rode the course a week earlier and missed a turn and never got to sign in so (REDEMPTION)Then it was back on our bikes for another few miles till we hit Freeman road with the wind at our backs. We cruised about ten miles to Willow springs road ,thats when things took a turn for the worst.The wind that had pushed us all day was now in our faces.Gusts of 15mph made for a tough ride back on willow springs.We should have turned on a trail called june bug but with heads down fighting the wind we passed it.It was no big deal I rode that section last week and its only two or three miles then it pops you out back on Willow springs rd.After four+ hours on the bike, I was getting hungry.It would be eight more miles to reach hwy 77 which took one hour because of the head wind.All I wanted was to get to hwy 77 thats when I was hit with what felt like 30 mph winds my average speed for the next nine miles was between walking and 5 mph.Ive been known to say I like to suffer so with that said I can say it was a great training ride!

total mileage: 67
year to date: 67

Favorites of 2007

2008-01-01T22:58:00.001-07:00

Favorites of 2007 coming soon....like tomorrow.