I Rode My Bike Today...

From yesterday...

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Tonto National Forest via Usery Mountain Park, AZ.
 
Monroe Truck Trail today. I was considering going farther, but the rain and mist won out. I was pretty well soaked by the time I got to the bottom.:)

Helluva fine time. Dirt was tacky almost everywhere; only a couple of mud spots. All the creek crossings have running water. :thumbsup:

No PRs were endangered, I was having fun and enjoying the scenery. Monroe is freakin' beautiful right now. :cool:

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Runs with Scissors said:
So, yeah, I rode today with @Faust29 . I'd never done an Old Camp run, he offered to show the way, so off we went this morning about 0730. The scenery is pretty good along this route.

I had been out STT as far as (and down) the Luge way back in 2013, so I did not remember much about it except the flag. It's a good climb. F U hill was kind of a bear, but I cleaned the beeyotch. :cool: Goat Hill was fun too. ;) We got out to the traditional turnaround - top of the drop into Old Camp - and since I'd never been there of course we had to drop in.

Someone has redecorated. The tables and chairs, along with the piano bar and hot tub, are gone. o_O Bugs were out in force, though. So we hung out there about 2 minutes and went back up.

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Most of the climb out of Old Camp to the clearing is unrideable, so I converted to shoelace gearing for it.

We headed back toward the Luge. I was debating with myself whether or not to drop the Luge. On the one hand, it's a shorter return to where we parked at Cook's. On the other hand, I despise the Luge. I ride a hardtail after all, and the one time I'd done it, it beat the crap out of me.

Turned out my decision was sort of made for me. I thought for a minute Dirty Harry had joined the ride...I heard what I swore was a .44 go off right behind me. Then the back end started bouncing off the dirt/rocks so I stopped.
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Well, that kinda sucked. I picked up the bike and walked up the hill a ways, since I didn't want to make Steve ride all the way back down. Neither one of us could really fathom this...when I blow a tire, I don't do it by halves. :thumbsup: Steve offered up his tire plugs, and we made a valiant attempt. But the sidewall also was torn. Crap!! :bang::bang: I think we used 7 tire plugs altogether. Decided that wouldn't work, so I booted it and tubed it.

But wait...there's more.....

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That sure looks an awful lot like it poked a hole in the rim. :poop::bang::gag: Once I got home and pulled the tire and tape off, though, it turns out the effing branch had gone straight into a spoke hole. Whew!!! Rim is definitely out of round though. Need to have that addressed. The tire looked like a drunken sailor as it wobbled around the rim on the way back out. But hey, now I have a perfect reason to replace it. Forekaster on deck, I think. :)

I decided to stick with STT on the way back. Got back to the cars, shot the breeze a couple minutes, and headed home. Sorry I had to slow you down, @Faust29. :oops: Great ride, great company, new dirt. Couldn't have been a better day. Well, except maybe not having the flat....

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Thanks for showing me the route, Steve. Always a better ride with a great ride guide. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Pic slots strike again!!! So I've descended to Old Camp and never need to again!! :cool:
 
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