Throwback to my race earlier this month: I saw my Good Samaritan, Bev, at Phoenix’s Pivot Sunset Shred ladies’ ride last week! The Sunset Shred is always a good time and proceeds go to a worthy cause. This year’s recipient of the Shred’s proceeds is the Hawes Trail Alliance, which is super cool because the HTA is a local organization that develops and maintains trails in the Hawes trail system. I always have a great time riding at Hawes and hopefully the proceeds will help the HTA do more of its great work!

Another cool element of a Sunset Shred ride is the opportunity to demo a bike. I decided to test ride an electric bike (or, “e-bike”). I rode a Pivot Shuttle LT (the “LT” stands for “long travel”) and WOW, it was pretty amazing to climb up trails without breaking a sweat or breathing hard! I’m not looking for an e-bike now, as I just got a new bike last year and it is a fantastic bike! But…it sure was fun motoring up the climbs on that e-bike. 🙂

The best element of a Sunset Shred ride is the company. Riding with other like-minded lady riders is always a fun time!

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*Now to the “24 hours” part of this blog post….last weekend, a few of us decided to do an overnight backpacking trip. We picked Horton Creek for our “slumber party in the woods” and monitored the weather forecast closely. Unfortunately, the forecast indicated lots of rain and cold temperatures. However, we were undaunted and kept saying that “we could handle anything for 24 hours!”

This backpacking trip was only my 3rd one ever (the last time I went was over 10 years ago!), so obviously, I’m not very experienced. I was reminded again of how much STUFF is involved when backpacking: backpack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothing, food, water, headlamp, etc. Thankfully, a couple of my friends had Jetboils (i.e., portable stove) and we shared tents to reduce the gear we had to take.

The weather was cold that weekend; the high temperature was in the high 70s F (23C) and the low temperature was just above freezing (about 40F, or 5C). It did rain for the first half of the hike, then hailed for a few minutes, then cleared up. The Horton Creek hike is not a difficult one: it is about 8 miles (13 km) out and back and the elevation gain is around 1500 feet (457 m). I didn’t notice the climbing, even with my backpack on. I DID notice my shoulders aching a bit, due to the backpack!

The “slumber party” was still fun and I really enjoyed being out in nature, having good conversations, eating and sleeping outside, and seeing stars (no light pollution!). I would definitely do another backpacking trip and yes, will TRAIN for it!