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!Hawesfest kitchen crew!Someone gave me this drink because it had my name on it. Too bad I didn’t like it.Lunch is almost served.Look at all the bikes!There were a lot of games and contests at Hawesfest. This picture is from the mini bike relay race. I am cheering on my teammate.We had a good turnout!There were a good number of local mountain bike vendors on site.
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!Found staircase 1!One of many colorful murals along the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb race route.The end!Repurposed string instruments.Nationally renowned bakery!Erie Street has a lot of vintage cars and storefronts.Technically, Erie Street is in Lowell, AZ, which is literally 5 minutes down the road from Bisbee.
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!
All packed up and ready to go!First stop in Sedona was for chai. The cute pup was a bonus!Welcome to “Snowdona!”At our Airbnb taking pictures before diving into dinner.I’m taking the picture in this picture!Beautiful snowy morning.The snow was melting quickly on day 2, so we still got to see the beautiful red rock.Yay, cake! (Excuse the mildly questionable language.)One of my friends is a great photographer and she insisted on a “photo shoot” to mark my milestone birthday! The dress and shoes were purchased at a thrift store an hour before.On our way back home, we stopped in Cottonwood for a ride. It was completely dry there!Group picture — enjoying the gorgeous scenery together!
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!Here we go! Such pretty light.The iconic Weaver’s Needle is in the middle of this picture.Quick photo break — we are definitely climbing!Paying homage to the rock gods!We did it! Made it to the summit mailbox!Enjoying the well-earned view from the top.And….back to where we started.
Stay tuned for a couple more recaps in the next week! Until then, get outside. 🙂
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!
Ready to tackle Picacho Peak!The view partway up the trail.Look how far we’ve come so far!A well-placed sign, in case we forgot which way to go.The trail gets pretty steep.Pretty desert landscape.I really did like the cables!There were also a few bridges.At the top!About to head back down.THIS CAKE IS SO GOOD!
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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?Vicki and I about to get on the chairlift.Obligatory photo with my bike (a.k.a., Sassy Cat).I had one very good strawberry margarita.Day 2: I just learned the lift is out of service. No riding today.Lunch at Red River Brewery.The town park.Cute little ice cream and burger joint.Most of Vicki’s friends drove up together and got “party shirts” to wear while riding! This is the group after go-carting.OK, got it. Not going to go crazy while driving my go-cart!On the drive back to Phoenix, we stopped in Taos for some coffee. The coffee shop was right in front of a community garden.My chai latte was good!The gate to the community garden space.Lots of murals surrounding the garden.Good reminder.
————————————————*****————————————————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!
My Sassy Cat found a skull!!Gladys striking a pose.A pretty flower.Beautiful forest.Our little group before we started the downhill fun.Wheeee!We all got pretty dusty and dirty.Our bikes got dirty too!
It’s been a while since we spent a weekend with our friends Carl and Lifan. We finally scheduled Memorial Day weekend to camp and mountain bike on Mingus Mountain, near Jerome, AZ, because my SAT (self-appointed trainer) was excited to show us some of the trails he’s enjoyed the past year. I was excited to escape the Phoenix heat, which was — and is — ramping up.
Both my SAT and I took Friday off work and we spent a few hours in the morning packing and getting the last details in place before heading out. When we left at around 11am, my GPS said that there was a crash a bit north of us on the I-17. Therefore, we decided to take the scenic route through Yarnell and Prescott to Mingus. Neither of us had taken that route to Prescott before and were pleasantly surprised at how pretty the drive was. We were enjoying the lush trees (yes, in Arizona!) and charming ranch houses so much that we neglected to take pictures. I’m guessing that all of the green is due to the multiple springs in the area, marked by signs indicating “Hidden Springs,” or “Iron Springs,” etc.
We arrived at the dispersed camp area around 2:30pm. (We decided to disperse camp rather than stay at the Mingus Mountain campground because our friends were bringing their dogs and the campground wouldn’t be conducive to letting the dogs roam freely.) After driving up and down the gravel road, we staked our claim to a large, lovely, tree-covered campsite. We had to drive up the gravel road about 5 minutes to get enough cell reception to text our friends the campsite location; we were going “off the grid” this weekend!
We set up camp shortly after this picture was taken.
A couple hours after we set up camp, our friend Ian arrived in time to start making dinner (Impossible burgers and potato salad). Delicious! Pretty soon, it was time for bed. We opted to sleep in the back of our truck and yes, it was pretty cozy. 😉 Good thing that nighttime temperatures were cool (about 8C / 45F).
The next morning, we awoke to see free range cattle grazing in our campsite! I love seeing wildlife. 🙂 While enjoying a leisurely breakfast (vegan blueberry muffins, vegan quiche, gourmet coffee), we discussed how to set up the shuttle for the day’s mountain bike ride. (For the uninitiated, a mountain bike “shuttle” refers to when (at least) 2 people drive 2 cars to where the ride ends. Then, after parking 1 car at the endpoint, both people drive the other car back to where the riders are. THEN, everyone (and their bikes) piles into the car for the drive to the trailhead. This process is adjusted depending on how many riders, bikes, and vehicles are available/needed. It took my SAT and Ian 2.5 hours to set up our shuttle (thank you!).
Watching the cows from inside the truck bed!My SAT and Ian measuring and hand-grinding their coffee beans. Addicts unite!Ian made quiche! Very fancy (and yummy).
Carl and Lifan arrived mid-morning with their lovable doggies, Millie and Nala. After they settled in, we all packed into the truck (yes, all 5 of us in the cab!) and drove to the trailhead. We started with trail #9037, followed by the Black Canyon trail #114, then ended with the Gaddes #110 downhill. I think the word of the day was “adventurous,” because most of us found the first half of the ride to be fairly challenging. Why? Because the trail:
was very narrow singletrack
was overgrown (because the trail wasn’t ridden much by others and therefore not maintained)
featured lots of loose rock
was steep and exposed (i.e., the trail overlooked a canyon. Not good for those afraid of heights!).
So….yeah. That first half was a bit beyond my comfort zone. Oh. Right. I already said the ride was challenging. 😀 We went slowly and honestly, I felt like we weren’t ever going to finish the ride. I fell along one steep section because it was covered in slippery pine needles. After I fell, Lifan, who was behind me, fell in the same spot, then her husband, Carl, who was ahead of us, turned around to come back to us and then HE fell. My SAT tried to encourage us, saying that the trail would widen and that it would get easier…soon….However, before the trail got better, we had to navigate one very short and steep “hike-a-bike” (HAB) section, which is exactly as it sounds! The top of the HAB section was the physical high point of the ride, if not the psychological high point. When we reached the top, we were greeted by very gusty wind and great views. Finally! The trail DID start to open up and it became a bit smoother and easier, allowing all of us to ride much faster. We all reached the bottom safely and were extremely happy to see Ian’s Tesla waiting for us. Hooray! My SAT got everyone Cokes and snacks at the nearby Maverick gas station, as a peace offering, then we went back to camp. Overall, the 12 mile ride took 4 hrs 15 minutes (yes, that includes breaks, but still…) and although it did feature more challenges than I anticipated, it was still great to enjoy the cool temperatures and beautiful scenery with friends. Nothing like suffering together to solidify friendships! Back at camp, we devoured burgers and potato salad (again, but who cares?), with raspberry crumble bars and cookies. Food seems to taste better outside….and after exerting considerable physical and mental energy, haha. After some hangout time around the kerosene lamp fire (there is a fire ban, which means NO campfires), we all got ready for bed.
All 5 of us in the truck cab. Ian is driving and I’m sitting on my SAT’s lap.Took a wrong turn at the start of the ride and ended up at the lookout point.Too bad the wrong turn meant we climbed for nothing.Views were pretty nice!Top of the HAB section. Happy to be done the HAB section.More smiles, now that we reached the easier part of the ride!So. Much. Green.We survived! Check out the Tesla and the 4-bike rack! (My bike is INSIDE the Tesla, because it’s the smallest bike.)
We all enjoyed another leisurely morning on Sunday, with lots of oatmeal, coffee, fruit, and conversation. Our friend (and Ian’s GF gf, i.e., gluten-free girlfriend) Vanessa arrived. Because none of us were looking for another strenuous ride (apologies to my SAT, haha), we decided to do a couple more moderate downhill trails (specifically, trail #533 and a couple of connector trails). We did have to do a shuttle, but this time, it was much less involved. This time, all 6 of us were in the truck: 4 people in the cab and 2 people, plus 2 bikes, in the back of the truck. The rest of the bikes were on the bike rack. My SAT and I elected to “take one for the team” by riding in the back of the truck. It wasn’t too uncomfortable, mainly because the drive was short and the 2 borrowed pillows from Carl and Lifan helped to cushion our aging knees. 🙂 The mountain biking this day was really fun, with enough flow and technical sections to provide (appropriate) challenge and lots of smiles. 10/10, I totally recommend.
Relegated to the back of the truck!How many people can one truck hold?Fun ride with good people.
After arriving back at camp, a few of us tested out our solar shower. Verdict: 2 thumbs up! It felt amazing to clean up a bit. We made tofu tacos for our last camp dinner, then hung out in Carl and Lifan’s Sprinter van with their dogs to end our last evening together. All too soon, morning came, and we all parted ways. Thanks for a great weekend everyone!
Our solar shower. Fill the black bag with water, let bag lie in the sun for several hours, hang from tree, and voilå! Nala, left, and Millie. Two tired doggies cuddling in the van.
reluctantroadie 