Buckeye Arizona trail ride anyone?

[amberwolf]

Nah, that's me; I forgot to take pics (but he didn't).

If you're ever out this way you're welcome to try it out; only a handful have been "brave enough" to ride it after sitting on it. :lol:

(I doubt I'll ever make it up your way with it, unfortunately.)

 

[BikeFanatic]

Ha HA That is you! i wasnt sure cuz of the beard. I may take you up on your offer some day, and I will take pictures.

 

[dogman dan]

I looked at the weather, and thought, oh boy fun ride. Too bad, but water from the sky we'll take.

Crazybike rides fine really, but you have to be used to how a bike that heavy feels.

 

[waynebergman]

Lucy and I rode the "FINS" trail south of Goodyear. Super nice trails. Very cross country with some tight switchbacks but nothing technical or difficult at all. The sign in the photo shows someones idea of a warning but it is all very tame and well built.

Just to let people know there is signage at the trail head stating no motorized vehicles. Mid week the trails are very quiet and I only saw two hikers, and as my bike is super quiet and low powered I justified my being there and no one noticed I was. I just mention this as if someone made a special trip with some kind of a whinning high pitched high powered rig the may be shunned in this area.

Technically I realize I should have not been in there myself but I will not loose any sleep over my actions for the day nor will I try any further to justify it but I just wanted to give the heads up for any one with an electric bike that wants to ride this.

Lucy liked it too

 

[amberwolf]

Just to let people know there is signage at the trail head stating no motorized vehicles.

"motor vehicles" or "motorized vehicles"? If the former, you aren't one, you're a bicycle as long as you stay under 20MPH by the AZ definition. If the latter, you'd have to check cuz I don't remember what that was defined as.

 

[dogman dan]

In my area, all new signage says "motorized"

On the local BLM trails, I get no push back from other bikers as long as my tires don't throw rocks as I ride. In other words, 1000w or less is passing fine in my area. Those trails are posted, no motor vehicles. 8)

Before I got sick, I rode 3000w a lot. So on some vacant land generally used as an illegal dump, I built 8 miles of trail I can tear up. Finally got some other Ebike riders to take a run on it last week, and it kicked their asses. I made all that trail deviously twisty, to discourage 650cc quads from riding it.

 

[amberwolf]

Weather looks good this week, partly cloudy but no rain predicted.

I have Tuesday free again.

Maybe Friday, too; still waiting to find out for sure on that one (am hoping I *don't* have it free, cuz right now it means my hours are cut by a whole day this week...I'm gonna have to find a second job at this rate).

 

[waynebergman]

Yes Amberwolf, it looks like the sunshine is here now. The trike is working well and I have been enjoying some of the nice bike paths out in the Verado area that is close enough to ride to from where we are staying in Buckeye. Things are a bit up in the air for when I will have the van to get out your way next but I will check in with you when I can make it. This next week is no good for sure but I am here till March 1 so something will work for us to ride when I have the Van for a future Tuesday.

 

[amberwolf]

Ok, though I don't know if it will be a Tuesday that I'll have free in a future week (my schedule could change every week; it just hasn't the last few).

As for weather, it's sunny now, but it could change.


Remember that I can head out your way, too, if we can
meet up somewhere that we can leave something plugged in safely until we get back, wihtout risk of it being stolen.

Then I can use one of my detachable packs (like the A123) to get there, leave it at the meeting place on the charger while we ride, and then have it to use to get back home if I need it.

How far away is your place from mine? If it's close enough that it doesn't take all day to reach it or use up most of my pack capacity, and there's a route there that doesn't require a freeway/etc., I can get all the way there.


Would be cool if Dogman made it out here while you're still in town...unlikely as that is.


FWIW, I just did some fixing up on CrazyBike2; I think I've got the "twisted" rear frame fixed up now (problem from when I did an emergency repair late in 2013, and didn't fix properly when I rebuilt the cargo pod frame), and a worn rear tire swapped out.

So it ought to be a bit better to ride.

If I get the chance to do it, I've also got a "new" headset to try on it that may take the little wiggle out fo the front end during accel/braking, which may make it easier for you to control if you wanna try it out again.

 

[waynebergman]

I am west of Verado so its a lot of riding and not so scenic from your way to here. Lets not wast our range on busy streets etc. No sweat for me to swing the van to head out your way but just not this week. Lets keep an eye on the wheather and we can do the original planned ride the week of the 26th sometime. Just let me know what day or days you get off that week and it should work.

 

[amberwolf]

Ok, sounds like a plan.


FWIW, west of Verado is probably 20-25 miles west of me, then, as the crow flies. That would be at least 1.5 hours of riding, one way, allowing for traffic lights and such, probably closer to two if there are detours or a lot of back streets are required due to traffic.

So while it'd be easily possible to get out to you, it would definitely require the extra pack left there to charge to get back home with certainty, if we rode for a good ways for fun while out there.

 

[amberwolf]

Assuming it doesn't change at work, I'll be free Tuesday again next week (1-27-15).

However, based on these
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Phoenix&state=AZ&site=PSR&lat=33.5592&lon=-112.132
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=33.49016&lon=-112.10380554199219&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=full

it is probably going to be rainy again like last time, with a little rain for part of the day, probably the middle of it, just enough to make things wet for a while.

As of right this minute (friday 2am) they're predicting "slight chance" of rain on Monday, and "partly cloudy" on Sunday.

What that probably means is it *will* rain *somewhere* in the valley, just dunno where or when. Or more likely, it will rain in scattered showers over teh whole valley, so some get sprinkles, some get nothing, and some get drenched.

Also, depending on the speed of the front, it could get here early and start on Sunday, or late and do it on Tuesday.

SInce they don't have a prediction for Tuesday yet I dunno for sure, but since Monday night is also predicted slight chance of rain, it's a fair bet to continue into the next day, and I dunno if MOnday is supposed to be the peak fo that rain, or the start of it.


We'll have to wait till the day of to actually see if rain will really happen, but my guess right now is that it will.

Given the season, this will probably go on for a good while.

 

[waynebergman]

Lets keep our fingers crossed for a Tuesdsay coming up. I am sure something will work out. If the forecast is good we can do it. All Tuesdays are good for me except Feb 10. Arizona has to give us one day of solid sun in the next month.
I have got all my flat tires sorted out now. Those Goatheads are nasty.

 

[amberwolf]

Yes, they are.

We get a lot of days of solid sun...just so far they haven't been when you were free *and* I was off work, *and* everything was functional. :/

Kinda how life works when tied to a job, I guess.

 

[amberwolf]

About like i figured, forecast is now

# Monday A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69.
# Monday Night Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
# Tuesday A slight chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 71.
# Tuesday Night A slight chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 53.

Previously MOnday had been "slight chance" so Tuesday will probably get more than that, too.

We'll see. :/

 

[amberwolf]

And now:

# Monday A 40 percent chance of showers after 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 67. East wind around 7 mph.
# Monday Night Showers likely, mainly before 11pm. Cloudy, with a low around 54. East wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
# Tuesday A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly before 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 70.

So pretty much a guarantee of rain sometime in the morning at various times in various places, and possibly clearing up in the afternoon.

 

[amberwolf]

Looks like the above is still about right, so we're planning on doing the ride after 11am or so, when it's less likely to drizzle on us.

He's gonna use the bike instead of the trike, as it's a little more on the water-resistant side, and higher off the ground and probably better in mud if we run into any (a fair likelihood).

We'll be trying out the path southeast from Metrocenter, probably as far as he's got range for and still get back home, depending on what happens, I'd guess.


FWIW, CrazyBike2 has gotten significantly better Wh/mile after fixing the twisted frame causing the rear wheel tilt, so now that it's riding on the center fo the tread instead of the left edge of it, same tire pressures, it's getting 25-30Wh/mile again, instead of 30-35Wh/mile on my work commutes. I dunno what it'll be on the longer ride but probably a lot less as we'll also be at slower speeds than I'd be on the roads with traffic.

 

[waynebergman]

Fun ride today with AmberWolf. A little bit of street riding but mostly along the canals so we had nice bike paths for over 90 % of the ride. Distance covered was around 28 miles and as things were flat and at speeds of 20mph or less I only used around 7 or so ah on my bike for the ride. I was mentioning to AW how is twin motor set up sounds exaclty like our sky train in Vancouver at take off. Our Vancouver Light Rapid Transit system is called Sky Train. The big red bike did good on this outing today and turned a lot of heads on the trail.

 

[amberwolf]

Though there weren't too many heads to turn, this time of day on a Tuesday.

I put the full trip stats / CA pics over in the CB2 thread

but the 2hours and 15 minutes of riding fun only took about 22.2Wh/mile, average speed of 12.7MPH, peak of 21.4MPH (probably on one of the several downhills of the underpasses). About 12.5Ah for me (since I was only ghost-pedalling, and only on the path itself, not on streets, cuz my knees and everything else are extra cranky with the weather).

Wayne's pic above (and mine below) of the bikes with Camelback Mountain in the background was nearly at 44th Street & Stanford Drive, just north of Camelback, after we'd run out of paved canal path and eventually reached 40th St and Camelback, just south of Chelsea's Kitchen--we might've gone another little ways from there, I forget.

CK actually has a sign with their hours and whatnot *on* the canal path, with a way to get thru the curbs/fences/etc right there into their parking lot. Would've been interesting to stop and see, but we decided not to, and turned back around there, as it was getting near turn-around time for range (and to get back up to my area for lunchtime cuz eating places like CK started smelling pretty good).

We went back up to 32nd St, and decided to check out Stanford Drive, cuz it partially paralleled the canal and looked quiet but pretty newly paved and painted, and might be scenic (it was, a little, especially where we stopped to do the bike pics). Final turnaround point was at the T of Stanford with 44th St, facing the mountain. I briefly considered pushing on to the mountain itself, but it wasn't worth trying to cross 44th and find a way thru the area to it, cuz I don't know the area and 44th is a mess of angry traffic.


From there we headed back the way we came up thru south of Metrocenter to 35th Ave, up a mile or so, then back again and to my house. Best approximation on googlemaps below, return trip had to be drawn quite a ways from where it actually was cuz clicking too close to the real one erases the other points.



My camera work isn't as good but here's my EOT pics. Wayne's bike doesnt' have a kickstand so it's just leaning on mine; easiest way to keep it upright since mine's self-supporting:

 

[UncleAge]

Looks like you all had a nice ride! Your ride brought you right near where I live. I ride the canal between 20th and Maryland down to 40th and Camelback most days for work. I live a few blocks up from the canal near Glendale/Lincoln.

Even if I had caught this thread in time I still wouldn't have been able to ride with you all. My bike caught a flat (rear tire/belt drive/pain to change) AND I have it ripped apart making a change-over from the friction setup to a hub drive. Anyways, I hope you all had a blast. Maybe I can catch up to you all another day.

off-topic a bit... Amberwolf, I have a couple of guys that come by my store regularly and they ride gas-engine bikes (Spooky Tooth I think). They started talking about the forum here and then asked me if I had run across a bike they saw around Metro Center that looked wild with a basket and what-not! I just laughed. I told them that they probably saw your bike and that if they had questions they could post them here.

 

[waynebergman]

Looks like the trip is over now and we are on the road heading home. The mini van is pretty jam packed for the return trip. I hope the Canada Customs do not make us empty the van as it takes a while to pack things up like this. The trike got converted to a dog bed for Lucy to conserve space in the van. The riding in Arizona was nice this year. MY son meet us in Sedona and he rented a bike from the Bike and Bean and we had a great 2 days of trail riding. Rode the trails out in the Red Mountain Ranch area with a friend and we also did the trails out of Goodyear and also the White Tanks above Verado. Great single track trails in all of these areas. Fun ride wtih Amberwolf as well on our Phoenix street ride.

If anyone has a trike and is looking for a good place to ride in this area I would highly recomend the streets and neighbourhoods of Verado. It is part of Buckeye and has some great street riding with super shoulders and lots of good scenery. No trafic and lots of birds singing in the sunshine.