Out There

Saturday morning the racer boys started pouring in to Willow Springs Ranch to ride the course. I can ride the course during the week when it's deserted, and in fact did ride it for much of Friday. So I decided to take a long adventure. I rolled out of camp on my singlespeed at around 10:45 and headed north on the Willow Springs Road out into the empty desert.

After I left the venue I saw nobody at all for over an hour. When I did see someone it was a cowboy in a pickup truck. I rode about 12 miles to the intersection with the Freeman Road, and east/west dirt thoroughfare that can take you deeper into the desert. I went east to find the place where the Arizona Trail intersects Freeman.

Last year I did this then road the AZ Trail south for hours, all the way to Oracle, then back to camp via highway 77 and the Willow Springs Road. That was something like an 11-hour ride. Today Phil and June urged me to ride the trail north. So that's what I did, and it was a treat!

At first I followed some renegade dirt bike tracks. It was either two-strokes or they were making a point; lots of roto-tilled trail. Not all bad though I guess, since that trail does not see much traffic, and parts of it have grass growing in the tread. Then there was a brief doubletrack section, and from there it just got better and better. I went out and back about 9 miles. About 6 miles from Freeman it got really good; nice rhythmic singlespeed trail.



When my GPS odometer read 25 miles I turned around. I had meant to have a more leisurely ride, a nice aerobic spin. But then the adventure of never seen trail took over. By the time I got back to Freeman I was feeling worked. And I had 15 miles at least of return trip.

I got back to camp with about 5.5 hours of saddle time. The hamburgers tasted REALLY good.