Mid-year recap, part 3/3

August 2, 2025August 2, 2025 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

So far, July has been the most memorable month this year in terms of travel and adventure, which is why this post is V E R Y long! I’ll talk about 2 trips in this blog: Colorado and Angelfire. First, my SAT (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a. “The Husband”) and I did our annual week-long Colorado trip at the beginning of the month. Unlike last year, this year, we headed up to Leadville to try and acclimate to the high altitude in order to hike Mt. Elbert a couple of days later. (Spoiler alert: 2 days is not enough time to fully acclimate to high altitude!) Mt. Elbert is the highest point in the state and is one of the Colorado 14ers (peaks higher than 14,000 ft or 4,267 m). I really wanted to hike Elbert because I missed out on hiking a 14er last summer. I thought hiking up to the highest point in Colorado would make up for NOT hiking any 14ers last year!

*We stayed at Pagosa Springs one night before arriving in Leadville the next day. We saw this deer during our evening walk in Pagosa Springs!*

Mt. Elbert is considered one of the “easier” 14ers to hike because there is a well-defined trail all the way to the top. However, it is not easy because you are hiking at high altitude, which affects your breathing. My SAT and I didn’t do too badly; our plan was to hike continuously (and slowly), stop for brief breaks every 45 minutes, and take in the amazing views. According to my Apple Watch, we hiked almost 10 miles (16 km) and gained 4,600 ft (1,400 m) in elevation in just under 6 hours. Not bad! The weather was beautiful and we only started to see storm clouds at the very end of the hike.

The next day, we drove over to Grand Junction and stopped at the Colorado National Monument. This national site is a beautiful area boasting monoliths (upright stone structures), red rock, canyons, and panoramic vistas. I kept on thinking that the CNM is a blend of the Grand Canyon, Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, NV, and Moab, UT. We drove the 23 mile scenic drive and enjoyed seeing the changing landscape. We also saw a big-horned sheep! So cool. If we had more time, we would have done a hike or two….perhaps next time.

*My SAT looks pretty small next to the sandstone rock.*

When we finished the scenic drive, my SAT was REALLY curious about what the other side of the valley was like. So….we drove across the valley to what I learned later is the Douglas Pass viewpoint. We drove along highway 139 from Loma towards Rangely. The road got pretty steep and twisty in some parts, but was otherwise smooth. The views from the top of the pass are also pretty wonderful.

*Now we know what both sides of Colorado highway 139 look like! I thought the colour difference was cool: red at the top of the CO National Monument and green at the top of Douglas Pass.*

The next morning, we did a mountain bike ride in Grand Junction. This place is a very mountain bike friendly town! There are tons of trails and what we rode is but a tiny fraction of what the area offers. The scenery is again stunning and reminded me of riding in Las Vegas or Moab, with the colours of the rock and the vegetation. We rode some of the “Lunch Loops” trail system and it had steep climbs, swoopy downhills, some technical challenges, and great views. Definitely something for everyone!

After we finished our ride in Grand Junction, we headed over to Durango to our Airbnb. (We stayed at the same Airbnb as last summer, mainly because of the 2 adorable doggies, Hank and Hannah!) Along the way, we stopped at a few spots to take some pictures because the drive was just so pretty. We got to drive along the famous “Million Dollar Highway” again, like last year, but this time, we approached it from the north. Doesn’t matter which direction you take that highway because it’s all beautiful!

*Pretty sure this is Red Mountain No. 3, the hike we did last year!*

After a leisurely breakfast, we made our way into Durango and to the Twin Buttes trailhead, which turned out to be a dirt parking lot slightly out of town along highway 160. The weather was cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain, so we weren’t sure if we should do the entire planned route. But, we decided to go for it and kept pedaling our way up into the forest….then had to take shelter a couple of times when it started raining pretty hard. After waiting out the rain, the skies cleared up and the rest of the ride (which was downhill!) was pretty fantastic. There was lots of fun flowy riding and even a cool wood feature near the end of the ride (a very steep downhill ramp…which I did!). I would definitely ride the Twin Buttes loop again.

And too soon, it was our last day in Colorado. We decided to ride the well-known Engineer Mountain downhill. My first thought was “what shuttle are we taking?” My second thought was “how long will it take to get to the start of the downhill?” Unfortunately for me, my SAT’s answers to my 2 questions were “we are going to self-shuttle!” and “as long as it takes us.” Have you heard of a self-shuttle? It’s kind of what it sounds like. In our case, instead of paying a shuttle van service to drive us to the start of the trail, we parked our truck where we would end the ride, then rode our bikes uphill on highway 550 for 4.5 miles (a single lane highway with no shoulder and some exposure!) to Coal Bank Pass. Then, from there, we started riding uphill on the Pass Trail for another 2 miles or so. I think we climbed almost 2,800 ft (850 m) AT ALTITUDE before we finally made it to the start of the downhill. Although a 2,800 ft climb is a very respectable mountain bike climb, doing that at altitude made it really hard. At least for me.

BUT….that downhill was worth the miserable climb. We had perfect weather and the COLOURS. SO MANY WILDFLOWERS. Add in blue sky, puffy white clouds, gorgeous white barked aspen trees, green Alpine meadows….it was like the world had been coloured in the brightest shades of Crayola crayons.

*Partway up highway 550. I did not enjoy this climb.*

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A couple of weeks later, we joined some friends to do some “gravity fed” riding (i.e., downhill bike park) in Angelfire, New Mexico. The Angelfire Bike Park is the first bike park at which I’ve ridden, so it will always have a special place in my heart. 😀 We were only there for 2 days and planned on riding at the park on the first day, then “waiting and seeing” to decide on what we’d do on the second day. It rained really hard when we got to Angelfire, so the first couple of downhill runs we did were somewhat muddy. Things dried up pretty quickly, which made it easier to pump out more runs. However, because we were in monsoon season, it started to rain again in the afternoon, which meant the chair lift stopped taking people up the mountain. (At Angelfire, if the lift operators observe lightning, they stop the lift for 30 minutes. If there’s no more lightning, the lift will start up again. If there is observed lightning before the 30 minutes is up, then the clock restarts. Safety first!) Since the lift stopped early on our day 1, we all went back to our Airbnb’s, cleaned up, then reconvened at my Airbnb to have dinner together. Over dinner, half of us decided to set up a shuttle (that word again! This time, it meant 2 people driving their respective cars to the end point of the trail, then driving back together in one car. In the morning, we’d all pile into the one car to the start point, start riding to the end, then pile into THAT car back to the other car, after which we all go home) to do the South Boundary Trail (SBT) the next day.

The SBT is considered a classic New Mexico route that is a must-do. Overall, I enjoyed this ride and although it wasn’t as pretty as Engineer Mountain, it was fun to practice my singletrack riding and experience more of a backcountry trail. We only climbed about 1,100 ft (335 m) in total, but descended about 4,000 ft (1,220 m)! I thought the last 3 miles of this 20 mile route were the most interesting because it was the most technical: loose, rocky, steep with some sharp turns. I definitely had to stay focused because it would’ve been easy to slip, lose traction, and go “over the (handle)bars.” Up until the last 3 miles, the terrain is fairly smooth. I was a little disappointed that the SBT didn’t have any good viewpoints, like Engineer Mountain did. But there was still beauty to be found in some of the flowers, the aspen trees, and many butterflies. I’m glad I did the SBT and satisfied that that was my second day of riding in New Mexico this weekend!

*Great view of a gorge on the way to Angelfire.*

And that brings me to the end of the recaps! Thanks for reading and I hope you’re all enjoying your respective summers!

Mid-year recap, part 2/3

July 28, 2025July 28, 2025 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 2 Comments

Continuing with my 2025 recap! In April, I took a quick trip to Victoria, Canada to visit my brother and his family. I found it really interesting that I got an empty row on both my inbound and outbound flights! Amazing. 😀 Victoria is such a pretty city! Its roots go back to England and you can see many British influences all around the city, including FLOWERS, tea shops, and gardens. I enjoyed hanging out with my family, visiting cool coffee shops and bakeries, and taking long walks to enjoy all the lovely flowers.

In May, I did 2 fun day trips. The first one was to (finally!) ride at Bean Peaks in Prescott. This is a fun trail system that is modeled after conventional bike parks. That is, most of the trails are “gravity fed,” i.e., downhill! The main difference is that in order to get to the downhill trails, you have to pedal your way up, instead of taking the chair lift up to the top. Bean Peaks is great for all riding levels, as the trails are flowy and smooth. I had a fun day with my friends Janey and Keeley and we appreciated getting out of the Phoenix heat and riding new trails.

My second May day trip (ha, that sounds funny!) was a hike at Horton Creek with my friend Kate. Horton Creek is quickly becoming one of my favourite areas to visit because it is just so pretty and features a waterfall! We had a gorgeous day and basically had the area all to ourselves. Kate’s dog, Jasper, also had a great time running circles around us and checking out all the foliage. The hike itself is a pretty mellow 8 miles with enough elevation gain to earn a decent lunch. 🙂

In June, I went on another 2 day trips. Phoenix starts to really heat up in June, so getting out of town is welcome relief. Last year, I rode the Full Sail trail in Flagstaff for the first time and it was so fun, I knew I had to ride it again soon. However, “soon” turned out to be “a year later,” due to schedules and availability. This year, I got to show Janey Full Sail and we both had a blast riding a well designed downhill trail! The uphill riding to get to the start of the downhill wasn’t too bad, since we parked at a different trailhead than where I parked last year. That was a good move on my part because we “only” had to ride uphill for 3 miles instead of 8 miles and could do laps. Beautiful day with good company!

Ah, Humphreys Peak. I’ve hiked Humphreys annually for almost 10 years! I normally hike this with my friend Crystal (for example, see this post), but this year, she couldn’t make it. So, my SAT (self-appointed trainer and husband) joined me this year and we used the opportunity to make this hike our one and only big training hike for our upcoming Colorado trip (more on that in the next blog post!). For the uninitiated, the Humphreys hike is about 10 miles (16 km) round trip in distance and around 4000 feet of gain (1200 m). Because my SAT and I have high altitude hiking experience, I knew that we wouldn’t be adversely affected by altitude sickness. However, since we weren’t in top hiking shape, I wondered how we would withstand the day. (We were fine!) Our hike was great, weather was perfect, and we got to escape the Phoenix oven for a few hours, which is always a treat in summer!

Thanks for sticking with me so far! Here’s a bonus picture of a pretty sunflower to end this installment of my midyear and the first half of 2025. Stay tuned for the third and final installment of my midyear recap!

Mid-year recap, part 1/3

July 27, 2025July 27, 2025 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers! I say this every year, but….really….THIS year has gone by SO FAST! I am yet again woefully behind on updating this blog, but I shouldn’t complain because I get to do some cool, fun things. Let’s jump right into recapping 2025!

January in the desert is lovely. It’s cool and one can get outside whenever one wants. Unlike summer in the desert, in the winter, there’s no rush to get outside at dark o’clock in the morning to “take advantage” of the “cool weather” at 5am. Most of you know that I am NOT a morning person and prefer to get as much beauty sleep as possible! 🙂

I started 2025 with a fun ladies’ theme ride: New Year’s sparkle! The next major event for me this month was a local, homegrown mountain bike festival called Hawesfest, which took place at the Hawes trail system in east Mesa. I volunteered at the Hawesfest “kitchen” with my friends Vicki, Tawnia, and Scott and we worked our buns off (pun intended) ensuring that all Hawesfest riders got lunch!

*Mountain bike gals posing in their sparkly best!*

February’s trip was a weekend getaway to Bisbee, AZ. I’ve wanted to visit Bisbee for a long time because of the artsy vibe to the town and the famous “Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb.” My SAT (self-appointed trainer) and I hiked the Stair Climb race course and had a fun time finding all 9 staircases. Another cool thing to do while in Bisbee is to drive over to Erie Street, which has been preserved as a quasi-museum of classic 1950’s cars and storefronts. In between all the hiking and sightseeing, we enjoyed some great food, some of which was at Cafe Roka. 10/10 recommend!

*We had dinner our first night at Cafe Roka — highly recommend!*

March is birthday month! My annual Sedona birthday weekend this year turned into “Snowdona” because of a huge dump of snow that weekend. However, that snow only dampened our boots (and not our spirits). We pivoted our plans to include more hiking and less mountain biking, due to the very muddy trails, and took advantage of our amazing Airbnb to cook and eat lots of yummy food (including birthday cake!) and spend some quality girl time. Fun fact: this annual birthday weekend celebrates 5 of us!

A couple weeks later, I got to hike Picketpost Mountain with my friend, Gladys. This is a hike I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and the stars finally aligned for Gladys and I to hike this fun trail together. She is very knowledgeable about the trails and hikes in the Superstition Mountains and I felt very lucky to benefit from her guiding expertise! Just take a look at the views from the top! Although the trail isn’t long, there is enough uphill to make this hike a great workout. I enjoyed the scrambling near the top and loved soaking in the views at the top.

*RIght before we got to the trailhead, we passed some friends who were doing a backpacking overnighter in the same area!*

Stay tuned for a couple more recaps in the next week! Until then, get outside. 🙂

Speaking of bears….

October 24, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 2 Comments

In my last post, I discussed a weekend bike park trip to Big Bear, California. Bears were everywhere there! That bear theme was also evident at the Tour of the White Mountains (TOWM) race the first weekend in October in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. How so? Well, the top 5 finishers in each of the race categories win a custom, locally-sourced carved bear. More on that in a bit….

I was interested in doing the TOWM two years ago, after successfully finishing the Whiskey 30 race. However, due to other events and not wanting to ride my bike during the summer (it’s HOT in Phoenix!), that didn’t happen. I don’t remember what I was thinking when I registered for TOWM on a whim at the end of the summer (for the 50 mile option!), but I figured I’d be ok despite the lack of training. I mean, I’ve done lots of long rides and I have a little experience doing mountain bike races, right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

How did things go, you ask? All in all, I had 3 weeks of actual training, which included my “long ride” and my taper week. (For those who are curious, “tapering” simply means to reduce your training intensity and duration a couple of weeks before the event.) My focus was to ride every day with one rest day per week and build up my “time in the saddle.” It was harder than I thought to ride everyday during the summer!! And by “summer,” I mean the last 3 weeks of September. We actually got a heatwave here in Phoenix the last 2 weeks of that month, which made me regret my decision to do this race (again) and doubt whether I could do it.

Race day!

My friend Tina and I drove over to the race venue and arrived around 6:50am. The 50 mile category rolled out at 7:15am, so this gave me time to situate myself and decide whether I REALLY still wanted to do this. (Spoiler alert: I did the race.) By 7:05am, the 50 mile riders were corralled into the starting area. Funny story: when the race announcer indicated that the US national anthem was going to be sung, I thought we ALL were going to sing it. So, when he started singing the anthem, I heartily joined in and very quickly realized I was the ONLY rider singing along. I stopped singing pretty quickly!

Finally, the shotgun went off at 7:15am. We were off! I knew I had to pace myself and not sprint right out of the gate, so I took it easy and concentrated on pedalling smoothly and warming up. There were 221 riders in the 50 mile category, most of whom were men. I did pass a few ladies somewhere in the first 5 miles and I also passed a few guys, which motivated me to maintain a steady pace. The first half of the race went well: I didn’t stop, I managed to eat and drink on the bike, and I wasn’t regretting my decision to do this event.

*The course goes through this blue arch.*

The latter half of the race did not go as well as the first half, which was to be expected. However, I didn’t expect to struggle so much! Around mile 36? Mile 38? I honestly don’t remember now. But somewhere around there, a wicked steep “hike a bike” (or HAB) started, which stopped me in my tracks. Literally. That HAB section was about a mile and a half in distance, but gained almost 1000 feet in elevation. If that wasn’t bad enough, the actual trail was extremely loose with lots of little rocks and tons of dirt, which made upward progress laughably slow. And if THAT wasn’t bad enough, my legs decided to cramp. My left quad muscle was first and the cramp was so bad, I couldn’t walk. I almost fell down, actually. Then, after a few minutes of measured breathing and praying, that cramp subsided. I started my HAB again, then my right leg cramped. This pattern went on for a few more cramps.

In the middle of my cramps, a Good Samaritan named Bev appeared out of nowhere and offered me some pickle juice, which is really great for restoring sodium and electrolytes. She stayed with me for about 10 minutes, until I told her to finish her race. After she left, I felt brave enough to continue my sad, slow climb, stopping every few minutes to rest so I wouldn’t cramp again. That whole HAB section killed my time and speed and put my goal of finishing the race in jeopardy. After reaching the summit of the HAB section, I still had about 20 minutes left to ride the 2.5 miles to the last aid station. If I didn’t make it, I would DNF (“did not finish”). There was NO WAY I was going to DNF. I did NOT want to come back next year and do the race again. I HAD to finish. So, I kept on talking to myself as I pedalled those 2.5 miles to that last aid station. I made it there with 6 minutes to spare! Bev also made it to that aid station 3 minutes before me! What a relief. That was definitely the highlight — and lowlight — of my race experience!

*This is one of the professional pictures I bought and my Good Samaritan, a.k.a., Bev, is right beside me! This is foreshadowing at its best!*

After reaching that last aid station, there were still 12.5 miles to go. Ughhhhh….well, after a few minutes of rest, I pedalled away, slowly and steadily. Thankfully, there was not much climbing left, so all I had to do was keep my turtle pace and keep the end in mind. FINALLY, there it was….the last right turn through the finish line arch. Tina met me at the end, having finished her 35 mile race a few hours ago. I was so very glad to finish within the time limit!! I earned a finisher’s camping mug for my effort, haha. Tina also told me that I got 3rd in my category, which meant I won a hand carved bear! WHAT?? Stranger things have happened!

I mentioned earlier in this post that 221 riders signed up to do the 50 mile race. A few days after the race, I did some poking around the race website and learned that of the 221 riders, 174 finished (in other words, 79% of the riders finished). That made me feel a little better! I was not the only one suffering, haha! The 35 mile category was the biggest one with almost 700 riders.

Will I do this race again? Not sure. If I do, I will definitely train so I can walk up that HAB section easier!

Gear and stuff:

I didn’t wear a vest or jacket as it was forecasted to be on the warm side. That was the correct decision. Although it wasn’t warm by Phoenix standards, the temperature hit a high of 26 degrees Celsius (around 80 F). I also didn’t wear elbow or knee pads because I banked on the fact that the course would not be super technical. I was right about that as well. There were a few chunky sections, but nothing crazy. Everything was well within, if not below, my current skill level.
I was thankful that I didn’t have any mechanical issues!
I was very annoyed that I had leg cramping issues. Grrrr….Next time, bring some pickle juice.
Food: I prepared a baggie of Skratch Lab chews and Shot Bloks and put that in my top tube bag for easy access. I also had a Camelback hydration pack, which carried my water and a few additional snacks.
Water: I filled my 70 oz Camelback with 4 packets of Skratch Lab electrolyte drink mix. I also had an extra bottle of water with drink mix that went into my bike’s bottle cage. My thought was that I’d drink most of my calories and eat a few chews every half hour or so.
Music: I wore one of my AirPods and listened to a Spotify playlist focused on steady tempos called “Riding Music.” Little did I know that “riding” music included ALL kinds of riding, including road bike riding, horseback riding, and um, after hours riding. Please do not ask me to elaborate on that last one! My AirPods didn’t last the whole day, but I was distracted enough for most of my race, so that was good.
Other considerations: perhaps bring a portable charger? Is that a thing on these long “race” type of rides? Obviously, that would indicate that you’re NOT super competitive! Also….lesson learned: train longer and better. 😉

From sea to sky

September 15, 2024September 15, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

Summer is finally starting to wane here in Phoenix, which is very exciting for us desert dwellers! We can almost smell the cooler weather coming our way. 🙂 On that note, in this blog post, I’ll briefly recount a couple of short trips in the past month to escape the heat, visit family, and ride bikes!

First, I took a short trip to Victoria, Canada to visit my family. Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia and, as the name suggests, it has a ton of British-inspired touches evident everywhere due to its history. Some highlights of my trip include breakfast at The Empress hotel, walking around the harbour area, and checking out an amazing market.

*Fun bakery a couple hours outside of Victoria.*

I did some more walking at Ogden Point another day with the family, followed by a trip to the prettiest grocery store I’ve ever seen.

In another attempt to escape the brutal Phoenix heat, we drove to Big Bear, California over Labour Day weekend to do some downhill mountain biking at the Big Bear Resort. Such a beautiful place and a reasonable drive from Phoenix. We enjoyed the cooler temperatures, fun riding, and our cute Airbnb with all of the wood features and decorative bears and animals! (Sadly, the Big Bear area has been closed for the past couple of weeks due to the current Line Fire.)

Colorado is pretty! Part 2 of 2.

August 18, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

And the fun continues…..

Day 4: Today, we were in Purgatory. Literally. We bought lift tickets for Purgatory Bike Park and planned to ride as many downhill runs as possible. However, the park doesn’t have a lot of runs (i.e., “trails”). Purgatory has a lot of potential to be a really good bike park, but that requires money and it doesn’t seem like that is a priority for the park planners. Skiing seems like more of a priority at Purgatory. I did learn that back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Purgatory hosted some World Cup downhill races and the bike park was a destination location because of that. One of the runs is even called “World Cup” (how appropriate). Check out this video to see what I did NOT ride!

After riding the chair lift up to start run number 5, my SAT thought he’d check in with a friend to ask about a “really awesome backcountry trail in the area.” His friend gave my SAT some information and we decided to go on a spontaneous adventure. Instead of doing our fifth run, we rode a forest road out of the bike park and into the backcountry in search of the Elbert Creek trail. This trail is a 3 mile downhill trail through the forest, ending about 2 miles from Purgatory Resort on US 550. I was hesitant to ride Elbert Creek at first because my SAT’s friend said there were some chunky, more technical sections, but once we got going, all fears disappeared. It was an absolutely beautiful trail and the riding was pretty flowy with only a few chunky sections (all rideable). Riding back to Purgatory on the highway wasn’t even too bad! After visiting the resort gift shop, we stopped for drinks and fries at the Nugget Bar, which was only a few miles away. Despite its questionable exterior, the Nugget was a fun place to hang out at! When we returned to our Airbnb, Hank and Hannah greeted us warmly and showed us their favourite toys. Hank and Hannah are SO CUTE!

Day 5: One of the great things about being on vacation is lounging. We loved our leisurely mornings at the Airbnb! After breakfast (which was MUCH later than normal!), we did a short little hike right by the Airbnb, during which we saw a couple of groups of touristy horseback riders. Seems like the hiking trail we chose is used a lot for guided horseback rides. Then, we headed into Durango and got lunch at Carver Brewing Company. After a relaxing lunch, we headed over to Mild2Wild to get set up for our river rafting experience! We signed up for a 2 hour trip down the Animus River and had a great time. We would have loved to experience more rapids, but that requires a swimming test….which we did during the trip. We jumped in the water — with our guide’s approval! — floated through one section of rapid water, then swam back to shore. Perhaps next year we will do a “harder” rafting trip. 🙂

After our wild water adventure, we had dinner at Kennebec Cafe outside Durango. Initially, we thought dinner would not be a good experience because we waited for about 15 minutes before being seated. (We were later informed that there was a group event that was keeping the restaurant staff pretty busy.) However, our server was very attentive and the evening was delightful. Dinner was DELICIOUS and I highly recommend this place. If you decide to visit Kennebec Cafe, know that it is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday only and you need to make a reservation. Also, it’s located right off the highway. The sign makes the place look very unassuming, but the interior is lovely. The patio is pretty and the whole place is quiet enough that you can have a conversation without shouting!

Day 6: We finally locked up our Airbnb, said goodbye to Hank and Hannah, and drove to Durango. We were going to check out the Twin Buttes mountain bike trails on the west side of Durango, but got a bit distracted and ended up at Animus Mountain trailhead. I was delighted to see a deer lounging right by the trailhead! We started our little ride climbing up Animus Mountain trail. I did not enjoy it. Lots of technical, steep climbing! (Pro tip: the Animus Mountain trail is hard! Yuck.) BUT….we sure had fun on the downhill trail we rode! We flew down the Swerve trail then ended up riding the rest of the way down Animus Mountain trail. Hooray, we didn’t die! To celebrate, we got a snack, did some window shopping along Main Avenue (not Street, haha), then drove to our friends’ place in Mancos, where we caught a little bit of the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremonies.

Day 7: Our friends (Carl and Lifan) took us for a fun, mellow ride at the Boggy Draw trail system. It was a lovely morning! After the ride, we stopped for brunch at Kelly’s Kitchen, then went back to the house where Lifan made a traditional Taiwanese breakfast called shao bing. Yum! She even made her own soymilk! I am inspired to try making my own. (Yes, really, my SAT.) After a lovely walk around their large acreage, we packed up and went to bed, as we were leaving early the next morning.

It was a lovely week and I’m already thinking of what to do for our Colorado trip NEXT summer. If you have any ideas for me, let me know!

Colorado is pretty! Part 1 of 2.

August 17, 2024August 18, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

For our anniversary this year, my SAT (self-appointed trainer) and I decided to spend a week in southern Colorado and escape the Phoenix heat. What a treat that was! We (that is….ME) planned a week of hiking, biking, and eating in the Ouray and Durango area and, like all vacations, the week went by SO quickly. I took a ton of pictures, but will share only the best ones here. 🙂

Day 1: We started our trip in Ouray, otherwise known as the “Switzerland of America,” due to its climate, natural alpine environment, and scenery. To get to Ouray, we had to drive along the famous “Million Dollar Highway,” a.k.a., US Route 550. The stretch of highway called the Million Dollar Highway runs between Silverton and Ouray and is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the US because of how narrow, twisty, and exposed it is. Oh, and there is definitely a lack of guard rails! Once we arrived in Ouray, we checked into our hotel, then walked down to grab some dinner and drinks at Maggie’s Kitchen and Grumpy Pants Brewery (I love the name!). After dinner, we walked around for a bit to get our bearings and enjoy the cool mountain air.

*Molas Pass, elevation 10,640 feet (3240 m).*

Day 2: The next morning, we found out that our hotel room comes with free breakfast at a nearby restaurant called Mi Mexico. Breakfast was wonderful and filling! We were then prepared to tackle the Ouray Perimeter Trail, which is a picturesque hiking trail that circles the entire town. I think hiking this trail was the perfect introduction to the altitude and the area’s beauty. The trail is about 5.5 miles long (almost 9 km), gains about 1,600 feet (490 m) in elevation, and is never more than 500 feet vertically or a half mile horizontally from Ouray’s city limits. Along the way, we saw a couple of waterfalls, lots of wildflowers, beautiful mountain views, bridges, and cool rock formations. We also got very wet near the end of the hike because it suddenly started pouring rain. Luckily, we found some shelter and waited out the rain for about 20 minutes. This trail is really unique and it was definitely a highlight for me! After the hike, we went to the Ouray Brewery for dinner. We got seats on the second floor patio overlooking Main Street and enjoyed our dinner and people watching.

Day 3: The next day, we said goodbye to Ouray and drove to the trailhead for Red Mountain N3. This hike was a relatively easy one, but the altitude made breathing a little challenging for me! My Apple watch indicated that this hike was just over 4 miles round-trip and gained 1,600 feet. The views were absolutely gorgeous! After the hike, we drove to Silverton to get some lunch and do some window shopping. My SAT said he really wanted a funnel cake, so we got him one of those. He wasn’t able to finish it. Finally, we headed to our Airbnb and met the hosts’ dogs, Hank and Hannah. They are a pair of adorable Golden Retrievers who love to play! Hank and Hannah came by several times a day to say hello and to play fetch, which was very endearing. The Airbnb itself was immaculate and had an awesome view of the San Juan mountains.

*The beginning of the hike promised great views.*

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Where is 2024 going so fast?

June 29, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Well, as the title of this blog post suggests, I am surprised by how quickly this year is whizzing by! As I was looking at my calendar, I realized that I haven’t updated this blog in a couple of months. So, per usual, I will write yet another “catch up” post. 🙂

In May, a few friends and I hiked Picacho Peak north of Tucson. The last time I hiked Picacho was 9 years ago (see this post). The hike statistics have not changed, but what I CAN say is that the hike is mostly in shade! When I went 9 years ago, it was in early February and maybe the angle of the sun was such that the hike was not shaded then? I still enjoyed the cables and I greatly appreciated the company. After the hike, we made a detour and headed to the Tucson Art Museum‘s cafe to have some lunch and take home some AMAZING cake. It was SO GOOD. Well worth the detour!

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I hadn’t planned on any trips in June, but when my friend Vicki asked if I wanted to join her for a spontaneous weekend of downhill mountain biking at Angel Fire Bike Park, I said YES. Although the drive to Angelfire, NM is more than 9 hours, we easily did it in a day and we talked THE ENTIRE TIME. I am not exaggerating. I’m surprised my voice survived. The weather was lovely and we planned on 2 days of riding. Day 1 was great, despite my dumb little crash right after getting off the chair lift. It was really dumb….I slid out on some loose rock and fell on my face. Luckily, I was wearing my full face helmet, which did its job. We met up for dinner with some friends of Vicki’s and then I went to bed because I was tired! When we got to the lift the next morning, we quickly learned that the lift was out of service and there would be no riding that day. The resort was issuing refunds and we were scrambling to find something else to do. Apparently, there was a mechanical issue with the lift and the resort had to order parts that would not arrive for another week or so. Bummer! Our plan B was to drive to the nearby tourist town of Red River, have lunch at the brewery, walk around, and do some go-carting! Not a bad alternative. I still enjoyed getting out of the Phoenix heat, so overall, the weekend was still a win.

*Can you tell these bikes belong to girls?*

————————————————*****————————————————Last weekend, I got to check out a new fun trail near Flagstaff called Full Sail. It’s a flowy downhill trail that looks and feels like a bike park trail. It’s smooth with great berms and lots of opportunities for jumps. However, in order to get to that fun downhill trail, we had to climb 8 miles! To be honest, the climbing wasn’t that bad, especially since we had some cloud cover. It’s been super hot in Phoenix because….it’s summer….so we were soaking in the cooler temperatures and reveling in the cool, overcast temperatures! I definitely plan on going back to Flagstaff and riding that Full Sail trail again…and again! Hope you all are enjoying your respective summers!

Another catch-up post!

April 10, 2024April 10, 2024 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

I say this every year, but how is time going by so quickly? It’s already the middle of April! So far, 2024 hasn’t been too bad. It’s been full of much of the same things as last year: work, cats, riding bikes. However, one new unwelcome development is my recent tennis elbow diagnosis (or, as the medical types call it, “lateral elbow tendinopathy“). That diagnosis has forced me to dial back the intensity of the trails I ride and the frequency I ride. Bummer. However, I’ve been seeing a physical therapist for the past month and am seeing improvement, so I’m trying to take some comfort in that. Being patient is NOT a strength of mine!

On to happier things….last month, I got to do my now-annual Sedona weekend with some friends. There are a handful of us who have March birthdays and we’ve made a weekend celebration a tradition. This year, the weather was on the cloudy / rainy side, but that did not dampen our spirits a bit. Most of us arrived in Sedona early enough on the Friday to take a hike and promptly got drenched. It rained SO HARD! The trails dried up enough overnight though, so we got to ride the rest of the weekend. I’m so grateful for my “girl gang” and always have such a fun time with them! We booked a fantastic Airbnb and had a blast cooking, eating, watching stand-up comedy shows on Netflix, and just hanging out. Happy birthday to us, indeed!

*Coffee Pot mountain! We hiked around this on Friday afternoon…in the RAIN…*

Things coming up on the horizon include a White Rim trip next month and a Colorado trip this summer to celebrate a big anniversary. 🙂 I hope you all are enjoying a lovely spring!

Sayonara, Sedona Roamfest

November 24, 2023 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

What is Roamfest? It’s a mountain biking festival for the ladies that lasts a full weekend! Lots of group rides, vendors selling tons of mountain bike stuff, free food and swag, panel speakers, a film screening, and the most fun “silent disco” you’ll ever experience. 🙂 This year is the last year that Roamfest occurred in Sedona, so I really wanted to go. Starting in 2024, Roamfest will only happen in one place — Fruita, Colorado.

I had the great opportunity to volunteer at the Sedona Roamfest this year for the first time. Because this year was my third time attending the Sedona Roamfest, I wanted to get a different perspective and volunteer. I got to help at the registration desk all weekend, checking people in and answering questions. It was really fun and I met a lot of people that way.

I drove up to Sedona with my friend and roommate, Liezl (we stayed at the Wildflower Inn, which is a 2 minute walk from the festival venue), then after parking in the hotel lot, we headed over to check in. It was great to reunite with some friends from various mountain biking events I went to over the past year. (I’m looking at YOU, Jes, Danielle, Christina, Lani, Jen, Loni, Joanna, Hannah….so many familiar faces!) After checking in, I found the volunteer coordinator and got myself situated to start my first of three volunteer shifts. I decided to volunteer first thing in the morning all weekend, because that gave me the rest of the day to ride, check out workshops, hang out, or just sit down and catch my breath! The weekend went SO FAST….I got very little sleep, as expected….it was such a lovely time. I’ll end this post with some pictures. If you have any questions about Roamfest, let me know!

Sassy Cat’s in Moab!

October 29, 2023November 23, 2023 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

Exactly one month ago, I rode my new bike! I’ve been keeping an eye out for a new bike and test rode almost ten bikes over the past year, most of them at Roamfest in Sedona last year. My one non-negotiable was to have full standover, i.e., being able to stand over the top tube and have both feet flat on the ground. The winner was the Pivot Shadowcat, a.k.a., “Sassafras,” or “Sassy Cat” for short. The Shadowcat comes in 2 colours: Danger Fruit (which is really a hot pink) and Blue Mirage. My colour preference is shown below 😉 Sassy is a light, nimble bike that absorbs chunky rock with ease. I’m enjoying smoother rides on Sassy than my other bike and am feeling more confident to attempt small drops and jumps because of the longer travel (i.e., greater suspension). I’m looking forward to getting to know Sassy better! It was so wonderful to have Sassy to ride in Moab — such an epic way to break in the new bike!

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I can’t believe it’s already been 2 weeks since I was in Moab. That was an amazing trip! On my second day in Moab, while my SAT (self-appointed trainer) rode a difficult trail I didn’t feel I was ready for, Jess and I checked out the Navajo Rocks area and rode a beautiful loop full of picturesque views. It was the perfect way to do a recovery ride. It was also cool to ride during the annular eclipse!

As a final farewell, my crew went for a little walk on our last night in Moab. We enjoyed watching the sunset at Slick Rock. This is a popular trail known for its “slick rock,” which is essentially petrified sand dunes and the eroded remnants of ancient sea beds. The rock is really grippy, but the trail has tons of steep ups and downs, which make it very challenging to ride, despite the grippy rock. I’ll try riding it next time I’m in Moab (hopefully soon….next year?).

Mexican food is great!

October 22, 2023November 23, 2023 ~ reluctantroadie ~ 2 Comments

Last weekend, I got to experience the beauty of The Whole Enchilada (TWE) trail. TWE is an iconic mountain bike trail just outside Moab, Utah. The entire 27 mile (43 km) long trail is actually made up of several shorter trails that begin at an elevation of 11,177 ft (3,400 m) at Burro Pass in the La Sal mountain range. You ride down, through, and over mountains, alpine forest, and red sandstone / slickrock, dropping about 7,700 ft (2,350 m) all the way down to the Colorado River. It’s an amazing trail that offers gorgeous views at almost every turn. My jaw dropped every time I rounded a corner! It was really hard not to take pictures ALL THE TIME.

The only unfortunate part about our ride is that Burro Pass was closed to the shuttle vans due to snow, which meant that our TWE ride would be a few miles shorter. We’d also miss out on the first climb (a couple of my friends were happy to hear that!). When our shuttle dropped us off at the Hazzard County trailhead (9,350 ft elevation / 2,850 m) at about 8:30am, we were greeted by snow, crisp mountain air, and near freezing temperature. The initial short climb helped to warm me up and the scenery (and altitude!) made me breathless.

*My SAT (self-appointed trainer) recognized Richard Cunningham, a biking giant!*

The next section was the Kokopelli trail, which is a wide, rocky / chunky dirt road. It was very easy to go very fast. Kokopelli melded into the UPS (Upper Porcupine Singletrack), which was immediately followed by the LPS (Lower Porcupine Singletrack) trail. Both UPS and LPS are fun trails with lots of overlooks from which to enjoy the sweeping views. About halfway down LPS is the super technical section called the “Snotch” (no idea where that name comes from). The Snotch is super steep, narrow, and hard to walk down! My SAT (self-appointed trainer) was able to ride down the first half of the Snotch….even he said it is difficult, haha.

The last and longest portion of TWE is Porcupine Rim, which many say is the most difficult section. I agree, for several reasons: you’re somewhat tired by that point, the trail is technical (i.e., chunky, steep in spots, high consequence in other spots) and fatigue makes it harder to navigate features, and depending on the weather, you could be riding during the hottest part of the day. However, when we started the Porcupine Rim section, the temperature was still really pleasant and we were excited that we were heading into the home stretch. This last part was challenging, but my group emerged unscathed and pretty full from our “enchilada” experience!

It was really a perfect day. My group did not have any mechanical issues, other than a slow leak in one tire early in the ride, which was easily fixed. We also did not have any crashes or incur any injuries, which is a huge win. Would I do anything different? Yes: I need to remember to eat regularly. I started feeling weak and very low energy about a couple hours into the ride, which made me walk some technical features I normally would ride. However, after eating a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I felt MUCH better and my riding reflected that. Overall, I had a fun time with my crew, felt like I rode well, and am making plans to ride TWE again, possibly next year!

Lessons learned

Eat food regularly. As I said earlier, I was feeling pretty weak a couple hours into the ride (before hitting the Snotch). I should have set up hourly alarms to remind myself to eat, similar to what I did during my Rim to Rim hike.
Wear and bring layers. It’s cold at the start of the ride!
Make sure the bike is tuned up before the ride. In my case, I just bought a new bike (Pivot Shadowcat!! I’ll officially introduce my “Sassy Cat” in my next post!), so everything was already in tip-top shape. (Side note: riding TWE on my new bike made the experience even more epic!)
Doing some regular upper body strength training is a good idea to develop the strength you’ll need to ride downhill for several hours at a time.
Consider bringing a bike light next time, just in case.
Have a bigger backpack for next time. My 3L Camelback was not quite big enough. I was lucky this time because my SAT (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a., my husband) had a big backpack and could carry a few things for me.

Gear

Bike stuff:

Helmet
Spare tube, “bacon strips,” manual pump
Multitool
Master link
Sealant
Elbow and knee pads
Gloves
Sunglasses
Baggie with gauze, tweezers, bandaids.
Duct tape

Clothing:

Buff
Vest
Smartwool base layer
3/4 sleeve jersey
Long riding shorts
Knee socks
Shoes

Food:

I used a small top tube bag to carry a ziplock baggie of Skratchlab chews (about 5 packs). I also had a couple of gels and fig bars.
In my Camelback, I had 3L of water, 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a few more fig bars and Larabars.
I also had a little baggie of electrolyte/salt pills and Ibuprofin (i.e., “Vitamin I”).

Other:

I recorded my ride on my Apple watch. Next time, I will use my Garmin to conserve my watch’s battery power.
Took my phone with the Trailforks app. I downloaded the route onto my phone, just in case.

“It’s a cruel, cruel, cruel summer…”*

July 29, 2023 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

It’s almost the end of July, but the high temperatures show no sign of abating. Phoenix has broken a couple of weather records this year, to which I say “Phoenix, STOP being an overachiever!” Summer riding in Phoenix is always challenging because the “coolest” part of the day occurs VERY early in the morning. I’ve managed to get myself outside by 5:30am when I want to ride my bike, but I’ve also given myself some grace to NOT ride my bike. The last few early morning rides were a little hard to wrap my head around, because the temperature was already 95-97 degrees F at 5:30am! (That’s about 35 degrees Celsius for my Canadian friends.)

What does an overheated Phoenician do to weather the heat? Escape to cooler climates! A few things I’ve done in the past couple months include:

a fun bike park skills clinic at Fort Tuthill in early June with Trail Lovers Sedona. This was a fun class that focused on a couple of skills used at bike parks: jumps and drops. I drove up to Flagstaff with a couple of friends and we spent a half day working on jumps (i.e., getting some “air” on the bike) and drops (i.e., when you ride over an elevated surface and “drop” down to the ground). I did execute a couple solid drops, which made me happy. 🙂

*I took this screenshot from the video of my drop. You can see that my wheels left the ground! Videos always flatten out angles, so the screenshot doesn’t look as steep as the drop actually was*. *Well….maybe the drop wasn’t steep. It sure felt like it was!*

A few friends and I spent a weekend in Flagstaff in mid-June exploring new trails and enjoying the cooler weather.

*We ran into Joanna and Phil Yates (3rd from right and very right) at the start of our ride! They were the coaches at the clinic I took in June!*

In early July, my SAT (self-appointed trainer) and I visited our family in Canada. While there, we attended a family wedding, which was on a boat! Fun fact: I get seasick. 😦 However, even though the boat ride was a bit disappointing because of nausea, we did other fun things, like visit a water obstacle course and meet some animals from Australia.

*Despite my seasickness, it was still pretty cool to attend a wedding on a boat.*

I went to Flagstaff AGAIN shortly after coming home from Canada with some other friends to ride bikes. Although it wasn’t as cool up in Flagstaff as we would have liked the day we went, we still enjoyed the change in scenery. We left Phoenix at 5am and started our ride shortly after 8am, when the temperature was 80 degrees F (about 25 C). The temperature was about 95 F (about 33 C) when we finished riding around 11:30am.

*Yay, we’re not in Phoenix! Lani (far right) was my guide again.*

To prove that living in Phoenix is like living in an oven, I baked cookies in my truck (again). I made a chocolate cookie dough with Heath bar pieces, dropped a dozen onto a cookie sheet, and placed that cookie sheet inside my oven. Started at 10:30am and took them out 6 hours later. The max temperature inside the truck was 190 F (88 C). The cookies were DEFINITELY baked….rather crispy, actually. Although it’s super cool to bake cookies in one’s truck, I’d prefer it if Phoenix did not get hot enough to do that!! I’ve now baked cookies in my vehicle three times and each time, the max outside temperature was at least 117 F (47 C). Also, the temperature inside the vehicle hit a high of 190 F. Consistency is key, my friends.

The rest of July was spent in Colorado! The first half of our CO trip was with our good friends Carl and Lifan, who moved there recently. They showed us the delights of small town life and introduced us to the Phil’s World trail system. We will definitely come back!

The second half of our CO trip was to ride at Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park. The drive there from Carl and Lifan’s is absolutely gorgeous. We passed through a few mountain passes and were inspired by all the “14ers” we saw along the way. I’m thinking that we’ll be making our way to hike up some of those 14ers next year! One nerdy highlight was seeing the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, which features prominently in the American opera “The Ballad of Baby Doe.”

Finally, we met up with our friends at Trestle. We rode there for two days and wow, who knew that downhill riding could be so tiring? By the end of the first day, my hands were cramping so badly that I couldn’t hold onto my handlebars. I was fine the next day, but I was definitely tired! It was fun being at a bike park with my SAT; it was the second time at a bike park for both of us. What was great about being part of a group at the bike park was that we could ride with other people who were more at our level, as well as riding with each other. For me, my Trestle experience was like a personal workshop in downhill cornering, jumping, and getting used to speed. Of course, the weather was awesome! I keep saying this, but we will be back to Colorado as soon as we can!

*Me and my SAT riding the gondola up to the downhill trails.*

*Any guesses as to what song the blog title comes from?

I’m alive!!

May 2, 2023 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers! I can’t believe how fast this year is going! I’ve been pretty busy with work, lots of visits from friends and family, and outdoor adventures when I can fit them in. I want to recap a few of the more notable events in my 2023, largely for my own benefit, haha.

Right after the new year, my dear SAT (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a., my husband) volunteered us to foster a pair of feral brother kittens. His boss had been feeding these kittens, along with their mama and sister, and took the kittens to get neutered. My SAT thought his boss would appreciate us fostering the kittens while they recuperated from surgery. We were only supposed to have them for a week or so. WE STILL HAVE THEM. But, I think we may be rehoming them to his boss’ place soon. Anyway, I named them Mario and Luigi and they were about 5 months old when we got them. They are pretty cute! Mario has the white chest and paws and Luigi is all grey. My cats, Jack and Simone, have largely tolerated the kittens’ presence. The kittens LOVE Jack. They would totally engage more with Simone if she let them. Here are some pictures of Mario and Luigi (let me know if you’d like to adopt them!):

(First picture is shortly after the kittens arrived at our place. Luigi is behind Mario. They were about 5 months old. The second picture is Luigi enjoying the flowers. He’s about 6.5 months old here. The third picture is Mario lounging on our bed (approximately 8 months old here).

For the past few years, I’ve ridden in Sedona with friends to celebrate my birthday. This year, I got a small group to spend my birthday weekend in Sedona. We booked an Airbnb close to some trails and just hung out the whole weekend. We mountain biked, hiked the Devil’s Bridge, and ate lots of yummy food! It was a fantastic weekend and such a great way to celebrate. There were 9 in total and 5 people had a March birthday, so the mood was VERY festive. I made a “Birthday Queen” sash for the birthday girls to take turns wearing!

This year was the third year I participated in the Slaydies Spring Challenge. For the month of April, participants commit to practicing a few mountain bike skills every day for at least 15 minutes. On May 1st, there is a celebration ride and party to mark the end of the challenge. Pivot Cycles hosted the party and provided demo bikes for us to ride (Pivot bikes are super nice, so that was a real treat). I focused on climbing for this year’s challenge and I think I’ve improved my overall body position for attacking technical (i.e., chunky, rocky) climbs. The celebration was last night and I got to lead the “beginner/party” ride option. Why was it a “party” ride? Well, apparently, I have a reputation for “making” my riders take part in a mountain bike dance party, hahaha. I like to have fun 🙂 One cool thing that happened at the end of my ride was getting a group photo taken by a professional photographer! He posed us in a “V” formation and caught the sunset. After the ride, we all enjoyed pizza and drinks and received our challenge t-shirts. It was such a fun time!

I hope all of you are having a great 2023!

Birthday punisher?

November 21, 2022 ~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Most people I know want to mark milestone birthdays in a meaningful manner. My friend Kara is no exception. For her 40th birthday, she wanted to do a “long ride.” Maybe a 40 mile road ride? Or a 20-ish mile mountain bike ride…which is somewhat equivalent in effort to a 40 mile road ride. Or….something else….well, thanks to my SAT’s (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a. my husband) suggestion, a little group of us ended up doing the AES Picketpost Punisher race to “celebrate” Kara’s birthday.

The Arizona Endurance Series, or AES, is a local “underground” endurance mountain bike race series. As the website says, the AES promotes grassroots, endurance races throughout the state of Arizona. “Underground” simply means that the race is not an official, sanctioned event. There are no fees and no prizes. The challenge is to finish! The AES offers a full calendar of events and most of the events offer 2 to 3 course options. For example, the Picketpost Punisher has 3 options: the A course (or, “Pulverizer”), which is 76 miles long and over 10,000 feet of climbing; the B course (or, “Punisher”), which is 49 miles long and about 7,200 feet of climbing; and the C course (or, “Pansy,” hahaha), which is a measly 22 miles long and about 2,200 feet of climbing.

Guess which option my group chose to ride?

It was actually a pretty fun day. We aimed to be at the Picketpost trailhead near Superior, AZ around 7am because the race started at 7:30am. My SAT initially planned on riding the B course, but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to join the “girl gang” on the C course. Here is the “girl gang” right before starting the race! Kara is on the very left, wearing a little birthday crown. 🙂 (Fun fact #1: Kara and I wore the same mountain biking shorts!)

The C course winds around Picketpost Mountain and includes a section of the Arizona Trail. The scenery is beautiful, with lots of fall colours, cool canyons and lush foliage, all connected by rugged singletrack. Overall, I didn’t find the technical aspect of the ride to be too difficult. There were a handful of spots that I walked, but I was able to ride most of the route successfully, even the last tricky descent with all of the loose rock on the trail. I kept telling myself not to brake too much and to keep looking ahead! My “girl gang” ended up splitting into 2 groups: me, my SAT, and Kara in one group and my other 4 friends in the second group. My group finished in a leisurely 4.5 hours and the other group finished their “social paced” ride in about 6 hours. 🙂

After the ride, we hung out with the other racers and enjoyed all the food we brought to share. I even brought a birthday cake for Kara because you can’t celebrate a birthday without cake! (Fun fact #2: the cake was allergy-friendly for Kara’s sake, i.e., gluten/dairy/soy/nut free and tasted pretty good!)

(Fun fact #3: the race organizer said that the ladies represented well: 9 ladies participated (I think that is the biggest number of women participants in this race?) and all 9 finished. Yay!)

Good day with good friends. However….it’s TOO SOON to say if I will do this again. So, quit asking me, my dear SAT. 😉

	Mid-year recap, part… on Mexican food is great!
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reluctantroadie

Originally a journal to document my training towards my first double-century, this blog is now a journal of my outdoor adventures.

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