Adventures on the Trails

My Superfly showed up about three weeks ago and I've been riding it ever since. As of this writing it already has 241 miles on it. Every mile has been a blast and I am well on my way to completing 1000 miles in 2013.

     Most of my riding has been on two tracks in the Clay Springs area, and it is a beautiful area but in order to increase my skills I have begun to seek out more true single track. I rode a little more than half of the Juniper ridge trail a couple of weeks ago. It was beautiful and a great adventure but it's rarely used and quite overgrown. When I have more time and a riding partner I will be returning to finish that ride. I have recently found Show Low's secret trails to be a ton of fun and a great learning tool. They have some of the more technical features of the trails in the area and they are close by when I'm in Show Low. The mountain now has a high school mtn bike team. I think it's awesome! They ride twice a week. I had a blast riding with them last week and will probably ride with them a couple of more times before their season is over.

     Most recently I started building a single track trail on the family property. All said and done it will be about two miles long with the main loop being about a mile and a half. It will be a great place for me to practice without interference and it will also be a safe place for Celisse to ride by herself when she doesn't want to ride out into the woods alone. I'm really excited about it because I think it will benefit everyone in the family. Trails help bring people to fitness, without them thinking about getting fit.

     I don't know if I plan to race anytime soon. Sure I still dream about going to Rio in 2016 but the the sacrifice that would take is too much for my family. I am excited for our second daughter and I want all of my kids to see a few bike races before they have a chance to race. My daughter is already getting excited about the bikes and can't wait to have one of her own. I might do a couple really awesome races every year but for right now I'm just focusing on having fun and improving where I can. For me the bike is still about the adventure.

Bikes, Monsoons, and Future Plans

          It's not always convenient to get outdoors but sometimes it actually is. I've been going into the local bike shop for years, but until recently there hadn't really been room for me to work there. Either they already had someone or my own schedule didn't fit. A few weeks ago though I walked in looking for some info on my mountain bike's fork and everything clicked. I've been working there a couple days a week since and having an absolute blast.
       I've been kind of messing around on my bike for the past few years. I did teach a spin class in 2011 and 2012 and I also helped lead weekly group rides at BYU Idaho before it got to cold in the fall' of 11'.

My first and only mountain bike race was in June of 11 as well but the fact of the matter is that I didn't do a single bike in 2012 or 13 and I haven't held a road license since 2010 and haven't ridden a sanctioned road event since 2009.
     I've been riding but it's mostly been to explore the backwoods, or run errands. My trail riding came pretty much to a halt when my suspension fork locked up for good a few months ago, which is really too bad because Celisse and I were having an awesome time riding together.
     Working at the bike shop has been great therapy for me but it's also inspired me to get a little bit more serious. I dusted off the Madone and TT bike and put a good chunk of miles on them in the last few weeks. My brother Matthew and I took the opportunity before he left on his mission to embark on a one hundred mile high elevation road ride before he left on his two year mission for the church. We managed to make it 46 miles before we were hit by a massive rain/hail/freezing storm and 55 miles before we managed to find shelter and call for a ride. It was a little scary but it was a ton of fun and a ride that we will never forget.
     My TT bike has never gotten very much use and even though I absolutely loved getting out on it every now and again I also knew I needed a new mountain bike, which has proven to get a lot of seat time. It turned out that entry level suspension fork was completely toast and a new fork was crazy expensive. It made more sense to buy a new bike especially considering that Matthew needed a bike on his mission in DC. My old mountain bike was still reliable and functional for city riding, so I boxed it up and sent it off. In the mean time I posted my TT bike on Craigslist for a steal and it was gone by the end of the day. Losing the Trinity was hard but I believe it will be worth it.
   
   

  I ordered my new Trek Superfly a couple of days ago and am just itching to hit the trail. I find it ironic that working at the bike shop would soon lead to me temporarily having only one bike, but here we are. The new Superfly is supposed to be completely awesome and a huge upgrade over my old Giant. It will be my first 29er and I'm excited to go on some awesome adventures.
     Mud has been an issue with crazy amounts of rainfall this season and sections of my favorite trail, Los Burros, are still avoided due to mud. As things dry up though I plan to ride the following trails by the end of the year.
Los Burros 13
Land of the Pioneer 8
Panorama 9
Willow Springs Loop Trail (with Celisse) ?
FR 237 and possibly below Larson Ridge 14+

And of course the forest road between Clay Springs and my Parents house in Taylor (26 miles round trip),


     There are a ton of other trails in the area though and I plan to hit up a bunch of them. Celisse and I rode about three quarters of Los Burros early in our marriage and I hiked all of it with my family when I was pursuing my hiking merit badge. I've hiked Land of the Pioneer as well but never ridden it. Both are incredibly beautiful but I think that Los Burros is the best in the area. I've ridden Panorama a few times, once with Celisse even. I've hiked part of the Willow Springs Loop Trail which is closed off to motor vehicles and the lake is our favorite spot. I've driven 237 in our Jeep and we hiked to the bottom but it looks like a great place to ride and the trail in the canyon could lead further, we don't know. I've spent a ton of time on the route between me and my parents and ridden it fully once.

     I finally discovered Strava a couple weeks ago and have been trying to compete on the various segments near me. I'll have to remind myself to relax and take in the view sometimes, even when the competitive side tries to get the better of me.

     I'm really loving the new cycling kit I got from the bike shop. Not only is it local, and put me and my bro on the same team but the Hincapie kit is top notch in quality. Also my first set of bib shorts, different but awesome. This was my last ride on the Trinity, I didn't know it at the time but I'm really glad we got a picture. I don't know if you can tell but I'm really counting on the new Superfly to make up for it.

Nothing but Adventures

     This summer has been packed with almost more outdoor activities than I could have imagined. The great this is that it wasn't planned that way. I've spent countless hours fishing, kayaking, hiking, and camping. It hasn't been perfect however, much of my running was put on hold due to a particularly nasty infected cyst. It's finally gone and I'm back to running and cycling, but it took a full on surgery, lots of pain, and a second hit of the infection weeks after surgery before it seems it has finally gone away.

    I was very grateful to be able to spend a week at the beautiful Cultus Lake of the Oregon Cascade Lakes at the beginning of August. My wife got to spend two weeks there, and I will remain jealous of her for sometime. One of my favorite parts of Cultus this year was large amount of time I spent snorkeling. Cultus is clear, and the variety of things in the water and on the bottom of the lake are staggaring. I particularly enjoyed the underwater rock arrangements at what my wife's family calls the "hot rocks".

     My daughter absolutely loved her time at the lake, and her joy brings much more satisfaction to my own adventures. I loved being able to play with her in the water, seeing her experience things for the first time that I have in the past taken for granted.

While my wife and daughter spent two weeks in Oregon before I arrived I was in New Jersey with the Marine Reserves exploring new country side. Being with the Marines I was of course not able to explore it properly but I got a good feel for it and it was different. I would like to some day return with my family on our own but I had mixed feelings about it. Tics were a new problem for me, they aren't really something we deal with in the west, but I fell in love immediately with the fireflies and was baffled by the size of the ground hogs.

     The Jeep took us on a few adventures closer to home. Most notably we were able to find a beautiful hiking trail into a canyon with an amazing secluded river. That's a full blog post on it's own, as is my first trip to Havasupai in the Grand Canyon. I think it will take several blog posts to catch up my thoughts for this year actually and I look forward to recounting them.

     The nearly full month straight of being away from home has made me a bit tired of travel for this year but I have several exciting adventures still planned locally including what I am hoping will become and annual run of Mount Baldy. We started it last year and I hope to continue the adventure. Look forward to more posts soon and enjoy the video of Mount Baldy Run 2012 below.

I finally got my first kayak a few weeks ago and have been absolutely loving it so far. I know it's the middle of winter but I've had a blast paddling in the elements. I've found that unlike other outdoor activities, there is a high level of fun and adventure while paddling adverse conditions.

Many of the lakes around Show Low have become completely frozen this winter and my favorite forest lakes are closed for the season. As a result I've been going to Show Low lake, just down the road from the local Wal-Mart which is big enough to remain mostly fluid. The first time I went out on the lake I encountered a fair bit of ice but it was thin enough to push through. A major freeze last week however left it quite frozen as well so I'll have to wait for a few good warm days before I can get back on it.

I've been trying to go paddling at least once a week but at the beginning of this week I was down with a heavy case of the flu. This morning I woke up chipper and ready for action. The snow was falling heavily outside and the temp was well below freezing. I scouted out a good little pond not far from my house and got in the water. It was actually a really good experience as it was the first chance I had to test out my waterproof neoprene paddling gloves. The gloves certainly kept my hands warm and dry but in temps that low I might consider adding a thin synthetic running glove or something similar inside the paddling gloves. The wind was very high and the temp was low so I don't think my hands would get cold at all in other situations.

After paddling a few times this winter in different conditions I can definitely recommend a good pair of gloves. Mine cost just $13 at Wal Mart and while they go up from there, mine are perfectly adequate and fully waterproof.

I'll say much more about the specific kayak I purchased after I have gained more experience and put more time in it but right now I am very pleased. Previously I had only paddled in a name brand 10 or 12 foot recreational kayak. I was very pleased with those kayaks but right now I simply couldn't afford a name brand boat. I got a Waterquest Aruba 10' by Sundolphin KL Industries. It's pictured above and for just $250 was a great buy. I don't feel like it's any slower than the kayaks I have paddled before though I will be replacing the cheapo paddle it came with, that being said most new kayaks do not come with paddles so this is a great deal to get you out on the water. In the future I want to save up for an affordable sea/touring kayak and this kayak will be for the family. It feels like a really solid craft though so I probably won't be upgrading anytime soon.

If anyone has any advice for me or any questions about my kayaking adventures please leave them in comments.

This One Is For Me

For the past year or so I have been running a website that deals specifically with trail running and other running topics. I started it for a college project my time with which to work on it has diminished and it has grown into more of a company than I really have time for. While I am still updating the site I am interested by so many more outdoor avenues than just running.

I have been an outdoor enthusiasts for as long as I can remember, and it has only escalated since moving to the mountains of North Eastern, Arizona in 2000. This blog may eventually be followed by an outdoor adventure business but for now this one is for me. There is no business plan, no posting schedule. Sure I'd like to have a decent following but this will never be a generalized description of all things out doors. This will simply be a narrative of my adventures, with as much useful information that I feel is necessary to slip in.

The fact is I love the outdoors. Backpacking, hiking, running, cycling, mountain biking, camping, 4x4 ing (if that's a term), kayaking, swimming, I love it all and I'll be posting about all the adventures I am having.  I hope to provide something of value to my readers but I want to do that in a way that this writing can add value to me as well. I look forward to blogging about my favorite subjects. I hope you'll enjoy as well.

- Chris Babb

The photo below is one of my favorites, from Cultus Lake 2010. If you can't see through the shadows I am on your left, my wonderful wife Celisse, is on your right.