Riding the Phoenix Summer With a Repaired Heart

Mountain Biking in Extreme Heat With a Repaired Heart

It’s 4:13am on a Saturday in August and it’s already 90 degrees. That’s a normal summer morning here. The first thing I checked wasn’t the temperature. It was the air quality. Mountain biking in extreme heat is the whole problem in Phoenix from May through October, and since March 2024 almost everything about how I […]

Getting Back on the Mountain Bike After Triple Bypass Surgery

Getting Back on the Mountain Bike After Triple Bypass Surgery

Nobody could tell me what it would look like. So here it is. I don’t know exactly when my heart attack started. I know it wasn’t during the ride. This is what mountain biking after bypass surgery actually looked like for me — from the parking lot at Apache Wash since March 2024, with the […]

Monday, and I Couldn't Tell You Why

Monday, and I Couldn’t Tell You Why

Up at 4:43. Bathroom, get dressed, out the door for the walk, same order as every other morning. The walk is supposed to be the thing that sets the day,

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My Story: Heart Attack, Triple Bypass, and Back on the Bike

My Story: Heart Attack, Triple Bypass, and Back on the Bike I’m 54. In March 2024 I had a heart attack, then triple bypass surgery. I still deal with high

Panicked on Sidewinder

Panic Attack on a Mountain Bike: What Happened on Sidewinder

I was riding Tapia Canyon with Pat on January 31, 2014, around 8 in the morning. Friday ride—the kind where everything feels clean and fast. We’d been doing this mountain

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Pyramid Peak, Phoenix: Committing to the Line on a Technical Drop

I was scoping this technical drop—nothing crazy, maybe four feet, but it’s the kind of feature that sits right on the edge of what I’m comfortable with. Loose granite, bad

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My dad passed away yesterday.

He was 96. I don’t feel sad. I don’t feel much of anything, honestly. And maybe that’s the part that gets me — the guilt of not feeling what I

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Bonking on the Bike: What Running Out of Fuel Taught Me at 50+

We hit Sonoran South and Dixie Mountain this weekend. The elevation profile was absolutely brutal. Just a relentless, unapologetic grind that tested everything we had. To make matters worse, I

a close up of a street sign on a pole

The Pivot: To “Send It” (or Not)

It’s marked by a Tuesday. It’s the Tuesday morning after a standard Sunday ride, and you’re still moving like you have a steel rod in your spine. It’s the realization

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Pyramid Shred: The Send-Off

D2’s heading back to Cali next Saturday. That sucks. We gave him the only proper goodbye we know: a dirt-filled “see you later” at Pyramid Peak. Dave led the charge

Group of mountain bikers riding a forest trail together near Bean Peaks

Riding Alone vs. Riding With a Group: Which One Do You Actually Need?

One of our favorite “not too far” places to ride… and a welcome break from the Phoenix temps. There are two kinds of rides that keep me sane. Neither one

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You Can’t Bring Me Down: How Metal Got Me Through Cardiac Recovery

There’s this Suicidal Tendencies song—”You Can’t Bring Me Down”—and that opening riff hits like a punch. I’ve been listening to it since the 90s, but last year it hit different.

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