MTBikeAZ.com

Chris. It’s open season on slow.

http://gtcatchandrelease.com/

Election day is tomorrow. Be a True American, go to the polls and cast your vote. If you voted early like me (or don’t live in the US), get out and ride your bike!

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

So little riding time with all the rain….I’ve made a few notable updates. First, I’ve added an interactive Google Map to the Phoenix Trail Index.

The map shows the locations for most of the riding areas in Phoenix. Click on the green biker and you’ll get a link to my trail page or blog entry about the trail. It’s a work in progress, and I expect to add more to in the future.

View Larger Map

I also updated the Lost Goldmine trail page with new maps of the East and West sections of the trail plus a complete map of the MTB loop portion just south of Lost Goldmine East.

All the rain this week inspired me to update the Weather page with new radar graphics. Check them out, they are so cool. You can follow the Monsoons in “near” real-time.

And lastly, I added the add this button on all individual posts. It’s at the top of the post and the bottom for your convenience in bookmarking.

Happy Labor Day weekend. Get out and ride!

I get a kick out of viewing my webstats day to day to see who’s visiting my site. It makes me feel really good when I see stats like this from a visitor today:

Continent: North America
Country: United States
State: Maine
City: Sanford
Visit Length: 32 minutes 31 seconds
Page Views: 32

So someone in Maine did a search for gilbert, mtb trails and hit my site, then spent over a half an hour devouring over 30 pages of trail info.

This is the reason I started to write about the trails in Arizona. For that person in Maine, who is most likely visiting Gilbert soon and wanted to see what kind of riding is to be had.

In March I got an email from a rider in Chicago who had been using my site to plan his MTB trip Phoenix. He thanked me for all the info I’d posted and asked for some personalized trail suggestions to suit his skill and pace levels.

Thanks to all you out-of-state and international mountain bikers who make my day by visiting (and thanks to all the locals who visit regularly too). Keep on riding.

This morning marked the end of a famine — 100 days off the bike because of a broken ankle. I hadn’t ridden since Gooseberry Mesa on March 10th. Man did I need this ride.

I spent the early morning out at Usery, where trails are wide and technically tamed. There are a few nice spots around Cat’s Peak, and of course Pass Mountain is anything but tame. I took it easy on the kiddie trails, Blevins, Noso, Meridian, Cat’s Peak, County Line, Ruidoso, and Moon Rock. No mapping the trails this time, just pure riding. It was a perfect inaugural ride celebrating wind in my face again. Still not 100 percent yet, I’m not about to tackle Goat Camp or anything…but riding is easier than walking - so I will ride.

I feel like a kid with a new bike and new trails. I’ve got some serious mileage to make. There are a few trails here in Phoenix that I can’t wait to ride. FINS out on the west side has been calling me, so have a few trails up in the Black Canyon Trail System.

I’m also going to spend some time this summer up on the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains. I should have a ton of new trails up soon. I’ve still got a back log of trails to post, but I’ve been spending the time giving the blog a makeover.

Here’s to the next 100 days.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” -Edward Abbey

An unfortunate crash on my brother’s dirt bike while on vacation in Utah has left me gimping around on crutches for a few weeks.

I broke my fibula at the ankle. I’ve crashed a hundred times on my mountain bike and never broke a bone. One ride on a dirt bike and I break a leg!

So here I am, forced to sit out the last few months of temperate riding in Arizona…by the time I’m back on the bike it’ll be June and hot.

At least there is plenty of virtual riding to be had…I’ll be strapping on that virtual helmet and spinning through MTBmovies.com.

My buddy and I rode Gooseberry Mesa earlier this month. I know, Gooseberry’s not in Arizona, but I sure wish it was. Gooseberry is divine. Everything you hear about Gooseberry is true, and we only rode the South Rim Trail to Hidden Canyon and back through the practice loop.

Out on the trail we met Morgan Harris, one of the brothers who built Gooseberry. He was out doing routine maintenance and recommended the Hidden Canyon portion of the trail. We were not disappointed.

There is so much more to explore. If you are looking for detailed trail info, GPS tracks and maps, head on over to the Gooseberry Trail Guide at UtahMountainBiking.com. For awesome pictures, videos and a trip report visit Pete Fagerlin’s Gooseberry page.

Heres a collection of sweet Gooseberry vids. The first one is of me and my buddy. The best stuff isn’t even in this video… There are a ton of other awesome Gooseberry Videos on YouTube!

24 Hours of Moab started at noon today…Though I wish I was there soaking up all the red dirt, I’ve been doing the second best thing…following the race as it happens from the real-time results page.

The Google Earthlings are in second to last place as of 7:30 PM Saturday night for the 5 person coed class.

For Men’s solo, after 5 laps Nick Martin, Nat Ross and Josh Tostado are all within 2 minutes of eachother. Lynda Wallenfels is leading the women’s solo after 5 laps. Go Lynda!

This is awesome. If only someone was filming some helmet cam with a live feed… Granny Gear also has the map of the course overlayed in Google Earth. Pretty sweet to feel the action hundreds of miles away.

Live audio from Moab is at ride424.com. Thanks Blue Collar for the tip. Just in, the race has been postponed until 7AM tomorrow morning… Moab has gotten some serious rain…

Employees at Google are going to ride the 24 Hours of Moab race this weekend. The team is sponsored by Google and plan to track the race in GPS then upload the data to Google Earth for all to enjoy. Pretty cool. Read all about their preparations on their blog:

Google Earthlings - 24 Hours of Moab Blog

Thanks to the Google Earth Blog for pointing me to this story.

While at Interbike 2006 I stopped by the Mike and the Bike booth and took this photo with Mike Ward, author of Mike and the Bike. The children’s book is one awesome read. My wife recently gave it to me for my birthday and I read it to my kids. It’s a story about Mike and all the places he goes on his bike…. My kids favorite part is when Mike wears his helmet to bed. My favorite part is how Mike takes such good care of his bike and cleans it after every ride.

Mike Ward was at Interbike promoting his next book, “Lucille the Wheel” due out next year. For anyone that has kids, Mike and the Bike is an excellent choice in reading. Illustrated by Bob Thompson, a foreward by Lance Armstrong and a CD that includes a narration by Phil Ligget, as well as seven original songs by Tennesse and Mike Ward, Mike and the Bike is a book all cyclists, young and old will enjoy.

If that’s not enough, a percentage of the proceeds of the book are donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.