Government Shutdown Be Damned, We're Going Riding

A group of like minded individuals, similarly effected by the government shutdown, climbed onto their respective steeds and travelled to higher elevations.  The six of us left dusty Phoenix behind and climbed through pine covered mountains to eat at the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome.

The Space Shuttle 990 did not touch dirt on the ride, and she grumbled about it, but she was in good company with Victory, Harley and Triumph through twisties in Northern Arizona.  It was fantastic.  Riding allows you to shutdown your brain and just take in the scenery.  Its the best kind of therapy.

A literal breath of fresh air.  A weekend of relaxing, of reclaiming my mind from the chaos of the daily grind.  

You're going to take THAT there?!

It's been over 6 months since we've taken the Space Shuttle KTM out for a jaunt off road.  For shame. Mike put new tires on her yesterday and was itching to break them in.  My only stipulation: no 16 hour trips. He decided on Box Canyon.  We did Box Canyon a few weeks back in the Jeep, but this time we planned on pushing through to Superior.  That is 70 miles off road.

I brought along my new Olympus TG1 camera to try out.  Honestly, I'm super dissapointed and might return it. It really did not take good photos in low lighting - it was overcast today. I did play with the HDR function, as it did better in those conditions.  Anywho...

From Florence we headed down Price Road to Box Canyon.

Once in the canyon, we ran across 15 Jeeps.  Being the smaller vehicle, we stopped and let them pass. Several of them stopped to lament on how silly we were for taking the bike back here.  "You're take THAT through THIS!?" Yes, ma'am, we are. 

We saddled back up and proceeded on, only to have to stop to let a UTV group go by.  And more comments: "You're crazy!"

And then we drove by a huge ATV group.  Its a popular area, much to my shagrin. Fortunately, the further you go, especially past the canyon, the less people you run into. Mostly because the road turns to shit.

I couldn't decide whether or not I liked the HDR or normal version better. So here are both.

We exited the canyon and the road kept getting rockier, with steep climbs and drop offs.  It was one of the most challenging routes we've done on the KTM.  I disembarked here to let him climb this ledge as we approached it from the wrong angle. He has video of me slipping and falling, just prior to him slipping and dropping the bike.

I did a lot of walking in the next several miles.  It can be tough to wrangle the bike through this crap with a passenger.

Through all the roughness, the scenery was just beautiful. It's thrilling to know that a 30 minute drive from home can take me somewhere as breath taking as this. Thankfully the sun crept out and the camera decided to take better photos.

We took a brief break on a ridge line and watched two black hawks practice maneuvers.  Once through this particular mountain chain, the road improved immensely.  It followed closely to the Gila River for a while.

From this side, we began scouting for future camping spots.  The road was cake, comparatively speaking, and approached from the Superior side would be easy-peasy for the Jeep.

By now we were famished.  It was approaching 4PM and we hadn't eaten since brunch.  Thankfully we ran into a Jeep and later a group on a UTV who confirmed which direction we needed to go in order to hit pavement. It was gratifying to hear the surprise in one woman's voice when she heard we came from Box Canyon.

This was some seriously gnarly riding in some seriously excellent terrain.  I'm blown away by how beautiful it is back there.  But by the time those 70 miles were up, my bum was excited to see pavement.

Onward to Superior.  We stopped at Porter's and inhaled burgers.

As the sun set, we suited back up and rode home via the easy way - US60. It was great. My bum is a little worse for wear and Mike is sore from wrestling a huge bike through those rocks, but it was GREAT. The weather was pretty perfect today, just enough sun poking through some nature made shade to a cool, moonlit ride home. 

Ride to Jerome

October 26, 2012

On Wednesday, Jeff sends a mass text message asking if anyone wants to partake in a ride north before the temperatures get too low. In true fashion, he wants to go on Friday.  Most people couldn't go last minute.  We aren't most people.

Friday morning comes around.  Like usual, we slept through alarm one. Like usual, Mike made us late for the meet.  Luckily, traffic was a bitch, so the guys were running late too.  We met up at McDonald's in Mesa for breakfast.  Today's crew: Mike and I on the Space Shuttle 990, Jason on his Triumph and Jeff and Wendy on a Harley.  An odd crew indeed.

We left Friday morning traffic behind and hopped on SR87.  We cruised north...

Along the way, we pointed out all the dirt roads that skirted the mountains.  We could never convince Jeff to take his expensive Harley up a dirt road....sadly.  Four Peaks was calling.....we were forced to ignore its call.

At least 87 had good views and occasional twisties.

Arizona mornings have a nice chill to them now.  Casa Grande still gets into the mid to high 80's during the day.  The northern climates, have cooled considerably to actually resemble something like fall. 

We blew through Payson.

Climbed up and over it..

We proceeded west bound on 260 where it got down right cold. At one point the bike said it was 45 degrees.  Even with our winter gear on, it chilled right to the bone.

Down and into a valley.  Verde something or other. Practically forgettable and boring. But at least we had Jerome to look forward to.  Honestly, I had no idea was Jerome was like.  We've had several people suggest it to us, but I didn't think there was much there.  In reality, it was a charming, reclaimed mining town high up in the mountains.  I can't wait to go back.  We had lunch, went to Maynard's wine store and geared back up for the long ride back.

I felt cheated that we didn't get to spend more time in Jerome.  I think next time we go, we'll overnight there.

At this point, we've been riding for six hours.  Our butts were getting tender, but the mountains were so alluring.

Twisty, after twisty.

We had a good rhythm going, zooming along.

And then some dick in a truck refused to yield to faster traffic and ruined the rest of the mountain experience.

Obligatory portrait.

89A dumped us into Prescott Valley.

One last fuel stop.

Then onto boring slab.  I-17 south.

We bid adieu to the rest of the crew on I-10 and headed towards South Mountain.  Until last week, we didn't know a road existed up to the top.  Sore butts and all, we climbed to get a sunset view of Phoenix.

Exhausted, we began our descent, grabbed dinner and hurried home.  It was a 14 hour day on the bike. Long, tiring, painful at the end, but freeing.

A good bike ride with good friends cleanses the soul. 

Day Ride - Superior/Globe

11 hours, 260 miles (140 of those miles on dirt) and 168 pictures later and we're home....

At 6:00AM, Mike B. met us at our place and we headed out for another epic adventure to Superior. The weather has finally gone down into the 90's and the bikes are ready to go outside. After an excellent McDonald's breakfast, we motored our way through Coolidge and onto the Florence/Kelvin Highway towards Superior.

Today was all about winging it. Once the bikes were topped off in Superior, we jumped on US60 towards dirt road glory. A short ways down, we found what we believe was the old road - pre US60. It was a beat up, single lane road that wound its way around a mountain.

And then it stopped. Abruptly. The 60 consumed our road. The boys walked to the top of the hill to see if it continued after, but no luck. At this point, our road was within feet of the 60 and we could see traffic.  A helmetless Harley rider glanced up and gave us a quizzical look...a la, wtf are you doing up there in helmets?

We wound our way back to the 60 and found another turn off that promised a longer ride. A much longer ride. Mike has as tendency to just follow his GPS and hope that those little roads still exist.  Not too far into our next venture, we were again met with a dead end - ranch hell.

 Jerks. Back around, another turn, and another locked gate. Strike three.

Back around again, another turn and oh, this time we get to keep going!

We stopped to see an old mine. We'll the boys wanted to see the mine.

A potty break before taking off again consisted of Mike screaming like a girl when midstream he realized he was peeing on a rattlesnake. Poor snake.

Motoring on the road kept degrading. Full on road to two track, to jeep trail, to ATV trail to ....does the road still exist?

We wound our way to a wash.

Oh look, a rock filled wash. Joy. Mike just loves to wrestle the Space Shuttle through this crap. The road - if you can call it that - wound in and out of this mess until we ended up in someone's ranch. The woman seemed more surprised than annoyed that we were there and graciously gave us directions towards Globe.

At this point its noonish, hot and I'm getting tired. I know Mike is sore and done, and Mike B. has to work a midnight shift tonight. But no, lets detour up to Pinal Peak. Hell we rode this far, what's a five mile detour?

The temperature dropped and I got to smell the pine trees. 7900 feet is nice..

20 miles later, we made it back to the slab, hit Globe and got much needed lunch at Jerry's Restaurant.

A long and grueling ride back to Casa Grande put us home at 5:00 PM. My butt has seen better days, my head is pounding, but the ride was fantastic.

Fall is approaching, so I envision much more riding in our future..

Click here for the entire photographic journey on my SmugMug account.