With the Arizona Trail Race on the radar for April I really wanted to put eyes on some of the trail and where Laura would be picking me up at the finish. It's all new territory for both of us. We had a long weekend coming up for MLK holiday so we took advantage and headed down to Superior, Arizona. It as a long drive taking a total of 9 hours with the camper and driving at night isn't as fast.
Picket Post trailhead was our destination outside of Superior, AZ. This is where the finish line is for the AZTR 300 miler. We found a great camping spot with a view of Picket Post Mountain. What an amazing place. Laura and I got in a short ride on an out and back on Picket Post and cut it short as I was doing a bigger ride on Sunday with a dude from Phoenix I had made plans to ride with me through MTBR forums.
The ride from PP to Kelvin is opposite the direction I will ride in the actual race but Brian wanted to ride the easier direction. Fine with me. At least I could put rubber on the trail I was going to be riding. It's not easy riding in this area. Lots of up's and downs. Beautiful scenery all around and the 14 miles along the Gila River is equally amazing with constant up[ and down terrain. Brian was on a Scott carbon hard tail and I was on my Kokopelli Bike Co ti 29er single speed running a 32x20. (race time I will run a 32x21 or 22) There is definitely some hike-a-biking. The ride went well with Brian having two tire punctures one requiring a tube to be installed due to the sidewall cut. The first front tire puncture sealed eventually. He didn't have much Stan's solution in his tires which I found odd since he lives here and there is a shit load of sharp rocks/cacti everywhere. This guy seemed super type A so it surprised me even more so when he said he hadn't added any new solution to his tires in awhile. Whatever. My tires were fine. I'm running 2.35" Maxxis Ikon's and they seem to do the trick out here in the knarly rocky desert. It may be my AZTR tires to go with. The ride on Sunday totaled 38.5 miles with 5k plus of climbing. Total time out was 6 hours and 40 minutes. I could have done it a lot faster but riding with somebody typically makes it more enjoyable. Thanks Brian.
 |
| Picket Post Mountain. |
 |
| Laura having a good time on Picket Post. |
 |
| Not a bad view when watching a movie at camp. |
 |
| Roughing it!! |
 |
| Brian having a good ride. |
 |
| Brian fixing his flat. I enjoyed my sandwich. LOL! |
 |
| Railroad bridge along the Gila River near the town of Kelvin. |
 |
| Sunset at Picket Post. |
 |
| Great camp spot. |
 |
| Laura and I found a creek on the AZT heading North out of Picket Post. |
 |
| Saguaro wrapped up by a tree. |
 |
| Laura taking pictures of me running. Why? I don't know. |
 |
| Out for a run near camp. |
