McBrown's Birthday Bash x2

 Birthday No. 55 arrived on Monday, the final day of four solid days of riding. My goal: A double birthday mileage ride at Brown's Ranch & McDowell Mtn. Park. 110 fast miles. The catch? Brown's Ranch opens their gates about 30 minutes prior to sunrise and closes at sunset. That meant I had about 13 hours to meet my goal. I did this a couple years ago and literally finished on the minute of sunset. I now had a few more miles to ride, pacing was key. Limit the stops and keep moving. As a side goal, if I could knock out the 110, I'd top 200 for the long weekend. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I arrived to a short line of cars already waiting for the automatic gate to open at the Alma School trailhead. This was a good place to stage from as it's more centrally located in Brown's Ranch. I had a cooler with drinks and lunch waiting for my mid-day return.

I did something a little different this time around for the challenge. I actually mapped out a route. Last time I just winged it. I'd start similarly to last time by doing a full outer perimeter loop, but about 2/3 the way through the Brown's Ranch portion, I'd drop down into McDowell Mountain Park and do a perimeter lap there too. My calculations had me finishing that big perimeter loop back to my car around mile 65. Only 45 to ride after lunch, I was curious to see what time I'd get back to the car.

It was an overcast, breezy morning and it didn't look like the sun was going to pop out any time soon. Fantastic as that also meant cooler temps. It was hovering near 60º when I started a bit before 6am.

Go time!!

The Palo Verde trees were in full bloom, yellow everywhere.

I also vowed to limit my photos, unless I saw something cool. I had an opportunity early on Stagecoach trail when a deer was standing on the trail looking at me as I approached. As soon as I slowed down to grab a photo, he took off. Bummer, it would've been a cool shot. The first 20+ miles kinda flew by, then I rounded a corner on 136th St. Express and ran into this fella:

Gila Monster!!

My absolute favorite desert critter. It had been a couple of years since I last saw one and was feeling a bit of FOMO this year as so many friends had been seeing them. Of course I stopped and snapped a bunch of pics, this guy was tracking my every move, but not really budging off the trail. He wasn't too happy as he was hissing at me although I wasn't really that close to him. I wanted to get a cool shot with his mouth open and I finally snagged one.

Back off!!

He finally waddled his way off the trail making refuge under a Buckhorn Cholla.

The Gila sighting gave me an adrenaline rush and I kept a solid pace going all the way through the Gooseneck trail and into McDowell Mtn. Park.

It's a long gradual descent to Escondido trail. That's a fun one with a few climbs as you zigzag across a small series of hills. My original route had me staying on Escondido until the end, but the more I thought about it, I wanted to ride down the Shallmo Wash trail. So, I called an audible and rode up Cinch to Pemberton, took a snack break and chugged a ton of chilled water at the trailhead. I went down Shallmo Wash trail, which I was glad I added, and noted the extra mileage was around five.

Up until this point, I was a bit over 5 hours in and holding a 10.5mph average, well above my needed sub-9mph. I was already about 6 miles ahead of pace with the long gradual climb out of the park up next. Hmmm, could I snag a few extra miles today for 115?? Dunno, but if time allowed, I'd go for it.

I made my way through the competitive trails combining the Sport, Tech and Long loop into a fun link. Then it was back to Pemberton to begin the six mile climb out of the park.

Short stop at the Coachwhip junction.

A 5' Bull snake crossing the trail. Cool!!

I made good time reaching the top, back on Gooseneck to connect back over to Brown's Ranch.

Another Bull snake, this one about 6' long.

It was a little bit after 1pm when I rolled back into the Alma School trailhead at mile 70. I was just over 7 hours in and a tad  under a 10mph average. I was feeling good about finishing on time. Legs were feeling great and mentally I wasn't really thinking about the finish or how many miles still remained. That's key when doing long rides, don't torture yourself!!

The lunch break was about 15 minutes, drinks topped off, I was ready to go once again. The next few miles were a little slow as I wanted to ride the twisty fun trails that route through all the boulders. It's a nice mix of terrain and neat topography to gawk at.

Another snake sighting!! This time a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, who couldn't have been more uninterested in my passing. Didn't move, no rattle, nada. Just chillin' in the cool overcast temps.

I was now back on the fast stuff covering ground.

This double Crested Saguaro on Desperado trail is a great photo op.

I'd be passing by it again shortly as I did an 8 mile loop. I rode up Coyote Canyon a second time and was coming back down Desperado to link to the east side of Renegade trail when another critter made an appearance:

No, that's not a stray rock...

Desert Tortoise!! My second one this year!! I've only seen a handful of them over the years.

A virtual tunnel of blooming Palo Verde trees.

I was using my new Coros Dura GPS unit for this ride ($250 brand new from REI, BTW) and was really interested to see how it would perform. Specifically, how would I be able to navigate with all the criss-crossing I was doing. Well, the Duro passed with flying colors. Literally. My route on the GPS would display in dark blue. There would be white directional arrows on the immediate track, indicating when I needed to turn. If I approached an intersection, a 4-way for example, that was all dark blue, I knew later on I'd be riding the blue sections that didn't have directional arrows on it. It was very easy to stay on route. Anything I already rode would display as a pink line. Any trail that wasn't part of my route would be a light, skinny, dashed brown line.

This late in the ride, I had forgotten exactly how I routed myself. I did notice when riding up the Divide trail the the technical Diablo trail was in blue, but no arrows indicating to turn on it. I was now at mile 90. Still feeling strong, but wondered why I waited so long in the route to do that trail. And, when exactly would I be riding it.

Well, after another loop or two I was making my way back over to Diablo. I turned onto the trail at mile 104!! Ha! I told myself I'd just do all the easy options to get through quickly, so of course I screwed up on one of the early options a rode a black loop I had no intention of riding. I really needed to get through this trail quick. My overall mph average had now dipped and kept toggling between 8.9 & 9.0mph. Sunset was approaching and I was almost at 110.

I wasn't so sure I could 'legally' reach the 115 with the extra miles from earlier in the day. I stopped to verify the final stretch of route. Nope, not doing that. I had some of the older trails that included a series of punchy climbs. I ticked over the 110 mark, reached a junction that would take me directly back to the trailhead and off I went.

Putting the wraps on it, 112 miles for the day and 15 minutes before sunset.

The sun never did peek out once all day, but I thought I may get a show at the end.

Sure enough, while packing up at the trailhead a beautiful sunset appeared. What a day!!

Strava link. Gotta be the easiest 7300' of climbing I've ever done. Hardly noticed it.

This one is for my wife, she just shakes her head at me when I show her this, but it's true:

Hilarious!!

I'll probably start mixing it up on my birthday, not sure how many double mileage rides I have left!! This was a fun one though and really glad I pulled it off without issue. I also reached my stretch weekend goal of 200 miles, notching 204 with 17,700' of gain. Overall, I felt really good the entire time, perhaps I'm finally rounding into decent fitness after a struggle most of 2025. Hoping to keep things going in 2026.

AZT: Santa Rita Singletrack

 This past October I was able to sample a small portion of the Arizona Trail Association's latest project: The Santa Rita singletrack effort. The mile or so I rode was fantastic and I couldn't wait to ride the entirety of the project when complete. Well, that time had finally come as they put the finishing touches on it this weekend.

A few of us who rode the AES: Coronado Gold event and camped out at TerraSol would be setting up a shuttle ride to cover the roughly 18 miles of AZT, including about 11 miles of new tread. How exciting!! We'd be riding southbound from the relatively new Oak Tree trailhead off SR83 down through Kentucky Camp and on to the trailhead at Apache Springs on Gardner Canyon Rd.

View from camp. If this was a sign for how the day was going to go, sign me up!!

TerraSol compound in Patagonia.

Information kiosk at the Oak Tree trailhead.

Star-studded group L->R: ReiRey, Ira, Igor, Maga, Dan & Gerad. Let's go!!

Barely one mile from the trailhead, the new tread appears. I had ridden this section in October.

Into the Santa Rita foothills we go.

It didn't take long to reach new-to-me dirt.

A classic legacy slice of AZT. Photo by Igor.

This could be on an AZT brochure. Photo by Igor.

Dan hitting some shaded contours.

The trail routes right by this large wildlife tank. Note: Please don't camp within a quarter mile of these.

Simply majestic routing through the trees.

First ride through and I've already forgotten all about the dirt roads we used to be on.

Igor leading the charge here, on a section he personally helped route and is quite proud of the return. I agree!! Well done, sir!!

Igor rode through here two days earlier, and this section didn't exist!! That's how new this is.

It rides so nice.

We were now at the point where the new tread met the old tread and would climb to the high point of the route for the day. I knew what was coming: hike-a-bike. It was a mix of on the bike and off the bike, but didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. The others were already sitting in the shade having a snack when I arrived. Perfect spot for a calorie stop. Not bad views either.

Behold.

I got a bit of a head start on the next section, knowing the biggest part of the project was still ahead.

New switchbacks on the incoming hillside taken from the legacy AZT.

I won't miss this rubbly 2-track climb to get here riding northbound.

ReiRey & Ira making their way up the switchbacks in style.

Yeah, it's that good.

So good to get out on the trail with Ira, been way too long.

New tread, new views. Stellar.

A fun, fast downhill, brings you to swooping trail through the trees. 

The rollover gates are installed too. So nice to not have to stop so often to futz with rancher gates.

My kind of gate.

This one hit a little close to home. I encouraged those participating in last year's AZTR to donate $50 to the ATA specifically for rollover gates. We generated enough funds for this one!! Well done Class of 2025. 

It's not all downhill, but the climbs are well built as Maga & Igor take off.

That would be a bench-cut trail.

Gerad coming in hot!!

The old routing went to the far side of this mound.

If this downhill doesn't put a smile on your face, go ahead and post your bike for sale.

Don't get me wrong, I love some good rocky, technical trails, but this was a hoot.

Dan agrees.

This new section of trail was over 6 miles long to Kentucky Camp.

Gerad: Rigid fork, swept bars, singlespeed = Baller.

The downhill just kept coming.

Such a cool way to come into Kentucky Camp.

Always a nice place to take a break.

The legacy AZT through here isn't too bad either.

Onto the final bit of new trail replacing the dirt road we're crossing here.

The trail follows the side slope just below where the road is, yet you never see it.

Still soft tread as this was just completed.

Looks like a Santa Rita postcard of Mt. Wrightson.

Here I come. Photo by Igor.

The new tread ties nicely into the legacy route up ahead.

One short climb to the final descent.

It's all downhill from here!! Overlooking the Apache Springs trailhead.

Wow!! What can I say, but that was fantastic!! I have a feeling it rides really well going northbound too. I can't wait to see what's on tap next from the ATA. If you like what you see, please consider making a donation. The ultimate goal is non-stop singletrack all the way from Mexico to Utah.

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