Love your veggies: T-shirt Touring in December

With my last papers turned in for the semester, we celebrated the beginning of winter break with a short 4-day bike tour. The route totaled 155 miles of dirt and back roads, taking us from Sedona to Jerome, Prescott, Camp Verde, and finally back to Sedona. At first I thought 50 mile days would be a breeze, however I soon realized that dirt "roads," short winter days, and my protesting legs that haven't seen a loaded bike since the summer, makes for a challenging and full day.

We learned several things during the trip. One is that it's hard to predict the condition of backroads in Arizona, and that many of these roads aren't marked at all; there were several "where in the world are we" moments and plenty of backtracking to get on course. One road that we planned to take for about 20 miles ended up being pretty much a giant un-rideable sand trap that wound through rugged no-man's land hills of the desert. The alternative route ended up in mixed blessing of unsigned middle-of knowhere hike and bike hill climbing, followed by an insanely steep/treacherous descent into a canyon, followed by one of the best rides I've ever had, darting through rock fields in a lush oak and cottonwood lined river canyon. That about sums up the trip: insanely burly riding, epic views, and best rides ever, all in a t-shirt in December. Weird. Here are a few pictures, the rest are here.