New Bike

State Bicycles fixie with flip flop hub. I'm running it single speed.

Today's Bike Ride

On the Brompton and trike in Scottsdale on the multi-use path taking a lunch break at Subway.

Before and After

This "before" picture shocked me! I found it last night while looking at some old pictures. Karen took it at Smuggler's Den campground while I was on top of our 5th wheel for some reason. It was taken in 2007.

New Bike!

One week ago Sunday we bought a new bike! It's a used Bike Friday Traveler XL tandem. We'd been looking for a quality tandem ever since selling the junky one we had a while ago. We even considered buying something new but the prices were way out of our budget. We bought this one from an outdoor equipment consignment shop in north Phoenix and paid about half of what a new one would have cost.

The bike was in basically good shape but I did some work on it to get it into tip top shape. The biggest thing I did was put new tires on it. The original Primo slicks were shot and had even begun to rot on the sides. I replaced them with Schwalbe Marathons. I have those on my Brompton and have been very satisfied with them. I also had to replace one brake cable so far and I adjusted the 3 speed SRAM DualDrive hub and the derailleur. We're now quite happy with the ride and performance.

While looking for a tandem we concentrated our search on a Bike Friday because they can be taken apart for travel. A few days ago we went to Tucson on an overnight trip and took the tandem with us. When broken apart it fits nicely in our Nissan Versa. Besides the first times when we were still trying to figure out everything we can take it apart in about 20 minutes and put it together in about 25 minutes. Not something we'd want to do on a daily basis but reasonable for a trip.

Grand Canyon 3

Grand Canyon view.

Ross, Karen and Lee at Hermit's Rest.

View near Hermit's Rest.

Grand Canyon 2

Looking down on the Bright Angel Trail which we hiked on our last trip to the canyon.

Ross and Karen.

The folding bikes at an overlook.

Good view of the Colorado River.

Grand Canyon view.

Grand Canyon 1

Earlier this week we went on an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon. We brought our folding bikes with us and rode along the mostly carless Hermit's Rest road.

Elk near the beginning of our ride.

Ross and his Brompton.

Karen and her Dahon.

The Brompton along the road.

Karen riding into one of the view areas.

Road Trip

In Tucson today for the big bi-annual bike swap meet. I couldn't believe the crowds!

Another "Before and After" Photo

Star Trek

Guardian of Forever here at Casa de Paz.

Moon and Venus

And Another New Speed Record

Another new high max speed on my Long Haul Trucker going down "Kong."

Today's Hike

Today we hiked the Peralta Trail to the Freemont Saddle. Amazing views of Weaver's Needle from the saddle!

Karen on the trail.

Karen coming up the trail.

Weaver's Needle.

Hoodoos on the ridge line.

View from the trail

Another New Speed Record

On my LHT today riding down "Kong" on the Bush Highway.

Tiny Tire Ride

On Saturday we attended a group ride put on by PortaPedal. It was called the "tiny tire ride." Most of the people had Bromptons but there were a few other types too like Karen's Dahon. It was a pretty slow ride but we had a good time and met some nice people.

Karen at the ride.

Ross at the ride.

Moab, UT Day 2

During our 2nd day at Arches National Park we hiked the trail to see Delicate Arch. That's the arch featured on Utah's license plates. The hike to the arch is about 1 1/2 miles each way with almost 500' of elevation gain. It was very crowded at the arch!

Delicate Arch.

Some of the crowd viewing Delicate Arch.

Petroglyphs near the Delicate Arch Trail trailhead.

Later in the day I hiked the Park Place Trail. It's a short 1 mile hike leading through a canyon with balance rocks and some huge fins. A large section of the canyon floor had some pretty interesting patterns.

Self portrait on the Park Place Trail.

Patterns in the rocks of the canyon floor on the Park Place Trail.

Moab, UT Day 1

We were in Moab, UT this last week. We spent 2 days hiking in Arches National Park. The first day we went on the Fiery Furnace Tour. We'd been trying to take this tour for a couple of years now and it finally happened. The Fiery Furnace is a maze of slot canyons. It wasn't an easy hike but it was well worth it. During one scramble through a tight spot Karen ripped her pants and I shredded my pack's water bottle pockets.

Arches in the Fiery Furnace.

Karen during the scramble when she ripped her pants.

Surprise Arch in a slot canyon in the Fiery Furnace.

Karen leading tour members down the trail.

Coming out of the Fiery Furnace.

Today's Bike Ride

Soda break at Circle K.

Today's Hike

Near the start of the Wind Cave Trail.

Finally!

Speed

New high max speed on a bicycle for me. On my Surly Long Haul Trucker today. Downhill riding back from Usery Park with a stiff tailwind and pedaling fast. All I could think was "if I wipe out I'm toast!"

Cute Cat Picture

It's Peaches!

Karen's New Ride

Not really. We were just killing some time in a motorcycle dealership.

"Before" Picture

Another "before" picture. This was from our 1st season of Spring Training in 2009. It was posted on Facebook by Gary Barton who is on the right side of the picture.

Cat In The Bag

Grand Canyon

Last week we took a trip to Prescott and the Grand Canyon.

Karen on the Bright Angel Trail.

1 1/2 Mile Rest Area on the Bright Angel Trail.