One of the nice things about being self employed is the freedom to stop working and grab the
bike. Now that the temperatures have seemingly finally dipped below the 100° F mark the bike is
getting used more. One of the other nice things is the Phoenix Mountain Preserve right in the
middle of Phoenix.
The trail is about a mile from my house and I was to meet a friend (Tom) about half way along the
trail. I did my husbandly/fatherly duties and was on the bike at 6:34. Typically Tom runs late so my
projected meeting time of 7:00 seemed reasonable though the ride to the meeting place usually takes
about 40 minutes. Lowest temperature I saw on my computer was 59°F so it was awesome riding weather.
The single track I was on crosses a major hiking path and caution is always necessary as there are
usually groups going up and coming down covering the entire road. Additionally there are those few
DH'rs that come screaming down the path scattering the hikers into an uncontrolled frenzy.
Fortunately it was early and the hikers were sparse and the DH'rs weren't out of bed yet.
This isn't a pretty stretch of ST but it's close and continues for 12 miles at which point there is
access to a Starbucks (don't let the alt.coffee newsgroup get wind of that). The ride was pretty
uneventful except for the dog walkers that insist on using those 50' long retractable leashes. I'd
rather they didn't use leashes at all so one could at least dodge the dog. And of course there was
several fresh piles of dog [censored].
I crossed under the freeway being glad I wasn't stuck in the back-up of cars which seemed to stretch
from horizon to horizon.
I got to the meeting point only to find no one........
Tom? Tom? Where are you Tom?
I proceed along the trail toward Tom's house and was just about to drop into a wash when he popped
out of it. Tom's not in great shape and is still recovering (mentally) from a bad crash two years
ago so the ride to the coffee shop was a bit slow for me. It was nice to actually go out and not go
'balls-to-the-walls' for once.
We arrived at the Starbucks and luckily an outside table became available. We sat there girl
watching for nearly an hour. I was just getting ready to leave when a nice girl walked up sporting a
nice spiked hairdo, studded collar, pants and various other 'punk' looking attire. I've seen it
before so no big deal but Tom wants to wait until she comes back out so he can get a better look.
OK, I can sit for a few more minutes but the line is long and I've got to get back for
Parent/teacher conferences so we missed her exit. Maybe it was really just her Halloween costume??
The ride back was slow (waiting for Tom), a lot of hikers for a Friday morning and my chain broke. I
had already used my last Missing Link so had to shorten the chain as I had trashed the link that
separated.
I got home in time for the P/T conference which went very well (for the 1st grader, the 3rd graders
P/T is at 4:00). It's nice to see a note from the teacher that states "she's a joy to have in my
class". It made the ride that much better.
Tomorrow? Probably same trail but riding with an past state mtb champ who broke the frame on his 6
month old Blur riding 24 hrs. at Moab last weekend in which they finished in 2nd place again due to
mechanicals. Hope he doesn't take it out on me .....ugh.
Gary