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AZSF Post Your Stories/Fav Moments

1K views 27 replies 22 participants last post by  Salty Dog 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Meeting the King of South Mountain. I'll let those more familiar explain.
 
#3 ·
Our bunch came across several groups of hikers throughout the day and they were all friendly and happy to be out and share the trail. Good thing because the trails they were enjoying were probably made by mountain bikers.:thumbsup:
 
#5 ·
I'll play along, emphasis on long

* Missing everything on the Blur that I did on the Hei Hei during my Hawes ride, thereby avoiding any buyer's remorse. Its not the bike, I just suck.
* getting a bike for my daughter from ScottN and his awesome family, in exchange for a good 6 pack of beer and the promise to pay it forward
* Not drinking at the Somo Party
* Good conversations, and the great friends who supply it
* Meeting Traildoc, AZJeff and others for a wonderful locals tour of Sedonuts. The highlights were Hog Wash and Hog Heaven, like Hangover, but a tad tamer. Or maybe I was just not so scared.
* Nutting up and hitting a tough drop, turn, and drop without giving in to my fear
* Nutting up and hitting a different tough drop, turn and drop and holding on while the bike slide sideways down the 2nd step
* Nutting up and rolling a 5 foot nearly-vertical rockface, then crapping my pants and succumbing to the shakes after it was over
* Good company with the boys of JRA racing: Helimech, Lostboyz and A.P.B
* Endo'ing on a little hay bale at 0 mph, giving a good laugh to my fellow riders
* Chad F. Brown
* Rolling into Chad's ride, Durtgurl's ride, KennyB's ride, and Paul's ride at Sedona. There must have been at least 50 of us out on the trails.
* Beer and pizza at Bike and Bean
* 12″ tubes at Bike and Bean, saving me a trip to Wal-Mart, and allowing me to support our sponsor
* Hitting BCT alone at dusk for an hour shake-down ride. I had the whole system to myself. Somewhere i dropped my Swiss American water bottle, returning it to the place I found it nearly a year earlier.
* Learning in a pinch how to adjust my hydraulic brake calipers
* Learning in a pinch how to reassemble my freehub
* Good company from Evil Patrick, Dgangi and others during the brutal climb up Alta
* Cleaning Durtgurl's Crack on Alta
* Watching Zort, Dirtbag and Tiss'er clean the Switchback of Death. Watching your buds make gnarly sh!t is sometimes as much fun as getting it yourself. The look that came over Dirtbag's face as he prepared to drop in…it wasn't calm, it was combat.
* Finishing Bajada and not throwing a tantrum as it rolled long and longer and longer
* 6 hrs of gnar, no blood

Thanks Chad, Kathleen, JB and all the ride leaders and fellow riders for another awesome Fling!!!! :thumbsup: :cool: :band: :D
 
#6 ·
Max hugging my back tire on a long, rippin' Bug Springs descent.

Kenny making me feel my age.

Chewy leading me on some rippin' Sedona secret track at mach 6.

Doug kickin' my ass on the Alta climb.

Zort and Richard rollin' some of the nastiest lines like they were butta.

I got good video of all of the above. Well, not the Alta climb (sorry Doug).

:thumbsup:

Most disappointing moment: feeling how plush Kenny's Firebird is. Dammit.

It was great to meet so many fantastic riders and so many more riders that are full of the
passion!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Spending Saturday riding with my fiance in Sedona, linking up with a big group of women riding the same trails, and my fiance smiling as she cleared stuff she thought couldn't because of the encouragement from the other ladies. Finishing with beer, pizza and the tribe(and putting more faces to screen names)!. Then, at the end of the day, the little lady saying she had a great day...and wants to come back in another week or so to ride some more trails!! Riding with her beats a "training" ride anyday!!

Also, meeting new people Wednesday night for a night ride, then afterwards agreeing to make it a weekly thing!! (the Wed beer special at aunt chilada's faciliated that decision).
 
#12 ·
Hellova time for me. 5 days of amazing AZ riding, with only one day of hot weather.

I enjoyed riding Hangover for the first time with some great riders, Drew, Eric, and Doug.

Camping was tons of fun, mix in some fireworks that Kimmee brought up, some gun-loving neighbors, and some homemade margaritas by Rob and you have some classic moments.

Playing bike polo at the Bars on Bikes was pretty sweet until I completely went over the handlebars. The Buffet and Dancing Queen.... shall forever be remembered.

It was fun putting some names to faces, meeting people from out of state, and those new to MTBR.

Let's continue to make this event an AZ tradition.....
 
#13 ·
1) Getting to ride BCT with my honey again - If there ever was a trail MADE for SS, this is IT! It was amazing to see SO many people out there after 3-4 days of hard riding already. All those that showed up were treated to one of AZ's finest!

2) Hawes night ride. Rarely on a SF ride do you get a group that is SO well matched on the trail that it feels like they've been your riding partners forever. Props to Liteandfast for leading this ride and for the great group! It was my first NR at Hawes but it definitely won't be my last!! It was nice to meet Maadjurguer and help stoke his MTB fire on SoMo on Friday.

3) South Mountain Friday. You just can't beat a nice hard ride on SOMO followed up by a cool get together to swap stories and get to know each other. Great people, great beer and a great party! Sharing our passion. That is what the AZSF is about.

4) Beer & Pie at Rock Springs Cafe

PS: Still bummed about missing out on Tucson & Sedona.....

Many thanks to Chad and all the organizers, ride leaders and volunteers that make this thing happen. It is a TALL task to pull this off and it was another flying success! :thumbsup:
 
#15 ·
wednesday afternoon: not getting killed on the 202 by an idiot on her cellphone who decided to take my place on the lane i was on. missed me by less than an inch. my knees were still knocking when i got to papago park.
 
#16 ·
Getting to ride BCT for the first time, with a pretty equally matched group of 6, lead by James from Prescott! All I can say is what a sweet piece of single track so close to town. Besides being able to breathe, BCT made me feel like I was in Colorado riding a ribbon of dirt.

P.S. I was only able to make one ride and I'm glad it was BCT. Next year I hope to make all 5 days!
 
#17 ·
jperson said:
so who's the king?!?
John King. The King of South Mountain and full-time Trail Nazi. The one that complains to the rangers. The one that may be sabotaging trails. The one that tries to confront riders (but then tries to back down when cornered). We rode past him before he was on the trail, but we were still missing one rider (Mike) who encountered him on the trail. Steve-o went up the hill to "talk" to him (it's like talking to a rock though), and I was curious, so I went up there too. As one of our female DHers said, "he's got a screw loose".
 
#18 ·
Too many to count...

Seeing so many cool people that I have met in AZ over the years and re-connecting with them

Meeting lots of new people from all over the States and beyond (that would be Dan and Graham from South Wales)

Making one more tech move on Milagrosa than I made last year

Managing not to get heat stroke in spite of riding in temps I haven't seen in a year

Deciding to postpone my suicide for another few months
 
#19 ·
Discovering that you CAN ride National/Mormon on a rigid SS...
Meeting NoelG and his uber cool wife...
NoelG whoopin' it up for me as I made the descent to Buena Vista (ya just kept me believin' I could crush those drops, thx!!)....
Making it to Buena Vista so I could have a beer or two and trade flasks with Bear....
People who share sandwiches... Saliva (Click Click BOOM!)....
Beth (?) who just simply Stomps It. You inspire me to NO end.
BrianC, my host, dear friend, and SS Comrade...
Meeting so many new people who kept me movin'
Chad on BCT, who told me I "rock an SS"... (I can now die complete... no joke. :))
Salty Dog, whose back tire kept me dialed-in and determined. You leave me Godsmacked! You RULE!
James... for understanding. And being a Tribe Member.
The Guy at Bean who did not flinch when I spilled my beer all over him. You are one of The True. :D
BCT, and all those who put their blood and sweat into it.
The Michigan Gang. ROAD TRIP!!!
All of those who smiled, laughed, kept rolling, and inspired me to try. Thank you.
 
#20 ·
The entire trip.

I have never biked down in Arizona so it was a good experience to head down there and ride some of the trails. It would have been nice to have made it all five days, but all the trails we hit up in the three days were badass. South Mountain was really fun, it had a mix of everything. It was just way hot for me to start off my biking season. Sedona was sweet, the scenery was awesome and there were so many trails to choose from. BCT was really cool, it had really good climbs which made coming back down awesome. It was also great to met new people who enjoy beer and mountain biking as much as I do. Camping out was really fun as well. I will definitely make my way back down to Arizona to get some more riding done in Sedona and Flagstaff. Everyone kept telling me Flagstaff has some really good riding. If anyone comes up to Utah you will have to let me know and I will show you some kick ass trails. :thumbsup:
 
#21 ·
- Leaving Austin 2hrs + behind Bizarro but passing him at Fort Stockton
- Seeing yet another person learn what I mean when I say "it's harder at the end"
- Millie Staircase - too fun!
- Bizarro looking (mostly) like a native AZian on the rocks
- DirtDiva; she makes it all look like buttah. Super encouraging.
- Heh, discovering Sambuco and MacAllan actually do mix well (sharing precious fluids at BV)
- Wiping out on Holbert - you know you're livin' when you're crashin! - could the liquor have been a factor?
- Finding myself in a Magic Glide down Corona Loma
- Riding with Evil P and Evil T, didn't get enough of that when they were in Austin and am very glad I got time to catch up with them in Fling.
- The nice relaxing "recovery" ride with the gang in Sedona on Sat. Har. That was awesome.
- Red Rock Droppies ... gotta go find some more limestone stuff now ...
- Alta, after 66+ miles of previous riding. Not smart, super fun though.
- Having "doors blown off" as Lynette (and Carmen) cruise past on their "XC" bikes on Alta
- Su Ling and DurtGurl co-hostessing the Sausage Fest

 
#22 ·
The Tribe

I drove up solo from SoCal for the rides. When I showed up for the Bugs Springs/Prison Camp/Milagrosa ride, I knew no one. At the end of the ride, I was with friends. This is what it's all about, the Tribe.

Big props to Chad, JB and Kathleen for all that you've put into this baby :thumbsup: Extremely grateful to Kathleen for putting me up.

Spent a bit of riding and hang time with Bear, Bizarro, Jim Beam, Jory, Gary (heal up), Tim and other tribe members (sorry, can't remember the names). Hoping to ride with Su Ling, Jean Louey and the rest of you in the future.

Rock on, AZ!
 
#25 ·
Getting this text from Ted after totally using every ounce of my energy in my body at Bugs Springs / Milagrosa...and deciding burn my mountain bike in the parking lot and never ride again.

Get off the Caboose C ride. Go eat some meat!

Thanks for the encouragement Ted. turned out to be a great road trip. We actually ended up riding desert classic one more time Sunday night as the sun was going down. 5 rides = 85 miles.

See everyone next year!

Jory
 
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