Traveling Again

Well, H and I hit the road last week. One night and one day in Yosemite. No heat in the camper that night...had a propane leak and it was too late (1am when we pulled in) to mess with. Did a day hike in the snow. There wasn't anything open yet in Yosemite to rent XC skis or snowshoes, so hike it was. Next, we went to Bakersfield to stop at H's parent's place. Rode with her Dad the next day and picked up her snow shoes too. Then hit the road for Sedona.

Lucked out pretty well with Sedona. TrailDoc from MTBR let us park in front of his house...he was even up at 1 am when we rolled into town. He is 3 months post ACL recontruction, so wasn't riding much with us the next day. And, as it turns out, I happened to ride with TrailDoc and his wife in Moab 5 or so years ago, but didn't realize the connection until we had talked a bit in Sedona. His wife was 52 at the time I rode with them in Moab and I was walking stuff she was riding/rolling. Small, small world...at least the MTB world :)

Since he wasn't riding hard (not supposed to ride at all at this point in the recovery), his neighbor Wes took me around the trails and made me feel like a) I wasn't in shape and b) I didn't have a whole lot of skill either. He was riding a much heavier Turner 6 pack and pedaled away from me on every climb. Regardless of my comparitive ineptitude on the bike, Wes was a super nice guy and it was good to ride with a friendly local (who also seemed to know everyone we came across on the trail).

The next day, I took H on the trail. She did really, really well. Rode lots of stuff. We got some good photos too....





























We rode again the next day, this time a shorter ride out of West Sedona. I think H burned the candle at both ends the day before as she was really feeling it. After the ride, a little lunch, then to PV to visit my mom. Then Phoenix once again. I rode Desert Classic at South Mountain Christmas Eve...and am left wondering why it is that even the easy XC trails at south mountain always make me feel out of shape. Tomorrow, I'll probably do Morman and National at South Mountain. Then, I may hit the road to do a couple of rides while enroute to meet back up with H in Austin.