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Biking in Flagstaff



I spend a lot of time "riding" with my little boys. Max (2) has gotten really good on his balance bike over the last few weeks. He can now coast with his feet up for quite a while. Preferably on trail. I am so excited for him!

Noah's great love these days is the skate park. I may spend more time at the skate park than on my road bike these days. He can do pretty amazing stuff. Both on his bike and on his scooter. But more about that later on our Family Blog.


It's about time I tell you about biking in Flagstaff. Well, so far it has been ... decent. Definitely not great, but not terrible either. Well, not terrible all the time.

The good news is that I found some riding buddies. Two, to be exact. Jennifer and Karen. They are both super busy, so it is hard to coordinate schedules. But that's nothing new...

Jennifer is awesome! We attend the same ward, she is my visiting teacher, and we serve in the Primary Presidency together. She has 3 kids (all older than mine) and works as a Chemical Engineer for the University of Utah. She does not race but she can hold a good pace for a long time! Her first love is mountain biking though, so she has gotten me out on the trails. I am so glad because I really like mountain biking, especially in the off-season.

Karen cracks me up constantly! We both swim at NAU, run with the local running club on Tuesdays, and like to ride. She has 2 kids (also a little older) and works as at NAU in the forestry department. She has only done 2 triathlons, but she is well on her way to becoming an awesome triathlete. We are both planning on doing the MountainMan Half next summer and I can't wait!

There is really only one issue with riding in Flagstaff, but it is significant:

There are no roads to ride on!

I know. I know. I am exaggerating. I will tell you the truth: There is 1 road to ride on. Everything else is either freeway or dirt.

Really? One? Are you kidding me? How come no one told me that, when I had to choose between moving to Moscow, ID and here? And I thought riding in Utah was pretty limited! Silly me! That's what you get for being spoiled growing up riding in Germany. I want to go home!

This is how my conversation with every single biker in town goes:

Me: "So, where do you ride around here?"
Biker: "Out on Lake Mary Road."
Me: "And ...?"
Biker: "Well, that's pretty much it."
Me: "Really???"
Biker: "You could go out on Hwy 180 and up Snowbowl but the road is bad and traffic is worse."
Me: "Great. Thanks."

Granted. Lake Mary Road is really nice. Once you get there. Which in my case takes almost 30 minutes. And it's only really nice for about 5 miles. Then it is lumpy and bumpy. There are roads like that in Utah Valley that I never go on because I like it nice and smooth. Here, I have no choice.

(I have to admit, though, the scenery is beautiful! Rolling hills next to two lakes and lots of forest.)

Really, what I should do, is sell my tri bike and buy myself a nice mountain bike. Problem solved. Trails galore in my backyard!


But I am not about to part with one of my best friends. Although I try to spare him and use my road bike more. No sense in beating up my nice bike right now. Nice to me, that is.

So let me tell you about option #2 for a minute. The Snowbowl Ride. Only real climb around. Beautiful. It goes up to the local ski resort and is a decent road. If you ignore the tear in the road every 10 feet. Nights are very cold, days are warm. Water freezes and thaws constantly and rips up all the roads.

Anyway, chances are you don't survive the ride out to the Snowbowl turn-off. On Hwy 180, you will either get run off the road or your bike will fall to pieces. Yes, it is that bad. When I rode it for the first time, I was incredibly upset the whole way and was sure to never return. Well, you get used to everything...

So. There you have it. I could go on but I will spare you. I need to go to bed and get as much sleep as I can in order to be ready to bike with the Big Boys on Saturday. I will tell you more about them later.

Night.


Comments

Barbie said…
Like you, I can't believe you only have one road. Sounds like a good idea about the mountain bike but how can you give up that beautiful bike. Could you have both? :)

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