Burrito at the bottom of the world

The title may be a little misleading but you can trust me, for those in the know it is hilarious.
A friend of mine from High School has taken the path less traveled. I love to hear or read about his latest accomplishments. I am linking a short write up, Todd is one of the guides in this story.

He recently started his own guide service, In The Company of Guides, and I wish him all the best.

Good on ya' Passey.

Good things from Arizona

Its February and those that know me well, know that February brings two things; My birthday and Old Pueblo.  Guess which one I look forward to more? 

This years team consisted of Duane, Curt, Myself and a new addition, Scott. 

24 Hour town seen from the air, we are located in the top right corner.

The course, I have become a fan of the bypass section marked in green. It could be my favorite part of the ride.

Bikes lined up at the start, this is only small portion of the bikes.

Sunrise after a long night of racing. It is always amazing to me that I can be completely partied out but when the sun shows up, I am good to go.

Home sweet home in Duane's lushly appointed, yet not overly ostentatious, tent trailer. I think he bought it just to do this race every year. Due to some slight miscommunication we placed eighth again for the third year in a row, at least we are consistent. If we had our ducks in a row we would have finished sixth, but that matters only to me.

Also in Arizona is the famed Coconino County, located within that county you can find Coconino Cycles and it's proprietor Steve Garro. I have been riding one of Steve's frames since 2009 and have been completely happy. Last year I had a malfunction with the Paragon Sliding dropouts, Steve repaired it but because he is a perfectionist, and consummate professional he was not satisfied with how it turned out. So upon returning home from the 24 HOIP I found my Coconino 2.0 with new Coco-Moto horizontal dropouts to tension the chain.

Behold

Almost twins. Outgoing bike is on the right, note the simpler design of the new dropouts.

New frame all built up with old parts, the new dropouts are awesome. They require about 35 seconds extra to set up but the bolt on hub and lack of moving parts is waaaaay better.

Big props by the way to local superstar Delena for a third place finish in the Women's SS Solo category. You can read all about that here as well as a pretty good food review for the Haji Baba's.

Ripped from that blog

Silver Reef

By now you know that I am a sucker for new trails and cool stuff, I had heard from a friend that they had added some new property and subsequent trails to the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve. The trail head is called White Reef, and starts across the highway from Harrisburg. 

The Silver Reef area was a booming mining area during the late 1800's. It's still the only place in the world where you can find silver veins embedded in sandstone.  The Smithsonian deemed an early sample of the ore, "an interesting fake." Not believing that silver could be found in sandstone. 

During it's heyday Silver Reef boasted a Main street over a mile long, it's own China Town and according to one historian, was the murder capitol of Utah for quite a few years. Despite the number of Mormon settlements in the area the town never had a Mormon Church. 

Due to a drop in silver prices the town began its decline in 1880 but in 1951 Uranium was mined there for a time. 

The old mines are still very visible along the Reef

Behind the bars, looking into a shaft. 

Dead center you see another mine as well as numerous tailing piles from other workings.

Just outside of the populated area I ran across this shaft. It's a terrible picture, I was scared to death that I would drop my phone.  That chasm is about 25 ft across and I am sure goes straight to the center of the earth.

The old Wells Fargo Building is now the museum.

I plan on going back to do some more exploring, as well as reading up on more history. The ride is okay, mostly double track and lots of horse destruction. I am not sure which I despise more, horses or 4-wheelers. 

The Garmin pooped out for about 6 miles of stream crossings and the hike-a-bike sections.