I have once again proven myself to be just about useless. As my one reader knows, I am continually lamenting my inability to get out of Tucson and travel to Flagstaff or some other high-altitude locale.
Back in May, some college buddies invited me to take a road trip to Durango via Flagstaff. I was down. My first effort to screw things up consisted of opting out of the Durango leg; I wanted to ride more and drive less. I then decided that instead of driving up to Flag in a convoy, I'd just meet my friends there. Going further, I decided I didn't want to be on any kind of predetermined schedule that depended on meeting someone at a specific time and/or place. Perversely enough, I was also bent that no itinerary was forthcoming from the guy planning the trip. At that point, after not having heard about anything resembling a plan for 3 weeks, I decided to bag the whole thing. I went from stoked to go to Colorado to staying at home - again - in less than a month. Like I said, I'm useless. I might, however, have obtained a valid excuse, albeit after the fact.
The afternoon I e-mailed my friend regarding my epic bail was the hottest day of the year up to that point - 105°. I had ridden to work in order to complete what was going to be my 12,000th mile of bike commuting. As I crested the last hill before home, I arrived at a springhead gushing cool, clear water into a small, desert stream. Unfortunately, the spring was emanating from the foundation of our house. Four days, a dug-up yard, a ton of money, and a severed phone line later, we have a new water line.
Coincidentally, the job cost the very same amount I'd anticipated spending on a cap and hitch-mounted bike rack for the truck - key items I wanted to have dialed in for the road trip. So, even if I hadn't voluntarily backed out, the plumbing meltdown would have preempted the trip anyway.
On the plus side, Mother Nature gave me a tremendous break in the form of some unseasonably cool June weather. June is usually an absolute inferno around here, and desert rides pretty much need to start at dawn and conclude by no later than 9:00am. I wake up at zero dark-thirty all week for work, so it's difficult to do it on my days off. If I sleep in, I don't get to ride, or at least not during the day. Well lo and behold, there's some crazy weather pattern keeping the Old Pueblo under 90° for the entire weekend. Today, I slept a bit extra, took my time getting ready, walked the dogs, and then pulled a late-morning 11-miler on the singlespeed. Can't beat that with a stick.
I still have some hope that I'll get off my arse and put some pine needles under my tires before the monsoon rains arrive in the high country. After all, I can't count on aberrant weather every weekend.
