#ilovehawes super d Gidro

Sooooo I saw the super d route and it was right up my alley. Gidro is my jam, so I went about a nice long way around the mountain to enjoy climbing alpe and not cactust garden ofcourse. I had an appointment at 11:30 so I was rushing long before the trail. When I hit Gidro I pushed a bit, still not as hard as I could but enough to have a good time. Turns out I did might good, I was top 10 which was kinda nutty out of 170+ people and I did it without suspension! Once my arm was done being sore from patting myself on the back I was ready for the long course and probably will end there.

#ilovehawes short course

The #ilovehawes races are back, this time with lots of great options. The short course was a great way to kick it off. I started in the dark, maybe a disadvantage since the first 15 minutes are downhill, I didn't really care since I don't care about racing but wanted to see how I did. I gave it a pretty good effort and got soem PRs so I must have been at least pushing harder than normal. After that was done, I added 25 more miles of sweet trail!

Turning and burning

Getting hot, but not getting any weaker!

Wow that's better

I tightened up my crank, headset and thru axle and man, new bike! Felt great having it back solid again, I have to tighten the headset every month for some reason maybe a rigid thing but never the skewer or crank. How about them palo verdes! Driving my allergies nuts but so pretty!

Come on feel the rythm

Had gloria estefan come on in my earbuds, not going to lie, I liked it. Great ride, ran a dirt roadie "graveler" off a blind corner, I stopped to make sure he was ok. He got up and all was fine, I hope he realized it was unavoidable.

Where is the shade?

Rough after having such greatness in Sedona, I really missed the shade, I forgot how there is none here in the valley. Oh well.

Shredona!!!

Oh my goodness I went to Sedona! Funny things was I was announcing it on and off out loud to my wife to warm her up to the idea. We were at the splash pad with the kiddo and I was told to go get dumped on by the cold water buckets, I said I will if I cna go to Sedona! It was fun to do anyway but I got the ok! It took a few weeks to pull it off as things kept popping up. But one glorious morning I rolled up. Parking was madness but I got lucky and eventually found a spot. I did not have much of a plan other than to hit hi line and figure the rest out. It was a little messy with no plan but I kind of liked it. I am familiar with hi line so after that I crossed the stream which felt glorious on my feet! The it was onto Carrol canyon and this time I opted to try Herkenham which was a lesson learned, skywalker is so much better! Then I was into West Sedona with the thought of chuck wagon or mezcal but I am so familiar with them so I decided to head for a route to grand central in the Adobe jack area. I rode Girdner for a first time, that was actaually really great and just what I wanted. From there the thunder mountain looked interesting and least amount of road to get to grand central. Thunder mountain was tough, technical but so so so good! I eventually made my way onto grand central after what seemed like forever. Turned out it was just ok, might need to try adobe jack next time. Then I was so tempted to ride hangover but I was just about out of time. I rode a bit of pavement to speed up getting closer to my vehichle and then choose some trails from there. I picked made easy breezy for a nice easier route and then climbed up ht trail to llama. Llama was great, and just what I needed to finish off my short time I had in Sedona. The smells were amazing I must add, and the sight and sounds, I forget how nowhere else on the planet is like Sedona! So blessed!

Blessed

Feeling very blessed lately, so so happy to be able to play around on bikes in this beautiful landscape.

Pump up the jam

I was feeling very good at the botto of RMR, I could feel the flow and was pumping like I was on a bmx bike, evem caught myself smiling I was having so much fun, expected a PR but got none, but it's ok it's about that smile!

Bees

Man the bees are fying all round, luckily they are all s friendly, I just get smacked all over by them, thank you kind bees! Second rattler on the trail, more to come I am sure.

Sweetness

Hit the trail nice and early, summer is coming and man I wish it wasn't!

First snaker

Well, been seeing lots of people coming across rattlers, surprised it took me a few weeks to run into one, this one was off the trail and rattled at me, would not have known otherwise. It is sooo nice when they're not on the trail!

Gila Monster and Hedgehog blooms

The first of the hedgehogs are blooming, so vibrant against the gray desert I love them. I also saw a little onster making it's way across Alpe, it was in a hurry into the bushes but I got a picture!

Classy hawesy

Keeping things about 90 minutes rode me some classic Hawes!

Time for sunscreen and pepper spray

My wife hasn't been feeling well so I kept this one short. I didn't mind that at all, enough time to burn some energy and shred some trail. A border collie came at me at the top of Alpe, not cool...... I moved my foot as he ran at me and bit at me. That's a first.