Here's an idea I've had for a while now, and it's simple - Ride until we find snow, take pics of the bikes in/on/around said snow for street cred, then head home.

Here's the plan:

We'll head to Payson for some breakfast, then head east on the 260 towards a small town called Sleepy Hollow which is smack dab in the middle of a heavy snow area for Arizona.  It doesn't matter if we actually make it to the town, just to some snow, hopefully on a scenic pulloff or side road for pics.  

Meet at 8:00 am Saturday morning at the Superpumper gas station, NW corner of 90th St. & Shea (just east of Shea & the 101). http://tinyurl.com/SuperPumperOnShea

Leave the station by 8:30 or so and head to Payson.  Breakfast at The Knotty Pine on the righ hand side just as we pull in to town.  Off to find snow, take pics, then back to town for gas and a warm up coffee/hot chocolate/etc. as needed.  We can discuss alternate routes home or lunch spots if people want.  

Round trip will be about 200 miles.  About 50 degrees the whole time +/- 5 deg. (maybe colder at the snow!).  http://tinyurl.com/RideToSnow

Disclaimer: I haven't been up there lately and can't say we'll even find the snow, but pretty sure we will.  If anyone has traveled through Payson lately chime in and let us know what's up.

See ya Saturday!

I fully expect to see a picture of a GT1000 just like this:

This is funny ... my family is driving up there today. They just left.

They're headed to Woods Canyon Lake. My wife wanted to show my in-laws the view from atop the Mogollon Rim. I'm staying home to work (which is what I'm doing now).

Anyway, the road takes them past Sleepy Hollow, so I can give you a good report of how the snow is.

But, if you really want some cool bike-in-nature photos, we should all go to the view point from Rim Rd (the road to Woods Canyon). It's an extra five miles, and the view is awesome ... really, really awesome.

Click here for map of what I mean.

Thanks Michael!  If that road is passable on bikes, and we're not too frozen, I'm in.  Never been up there.

It's awesome from that spot.

My wife just called from Payson. They haven't turned down 260 yet, but there's no snow in sight. However, she did say that the local forecast said that it might snow there tomorrow. I'll let you know what she sees after she gets on top of the Rim.

If we need to, we can keep going up to Snowflake or Show Low.

And even if there's no snow, the trip will be fun. Ironically, I'm not sure if I can go yet. The in-laws are leaving that morning ... so, maybe.

Update

My wife just got back to Payson (from the Mogollon Rim) and she said that she couldn't even turn down Rim Rd to Woods Canyon Lake because there was too much snow.

So, we probably won't be able to go to my favorite view point, but there is a lot of snow in that area.

She said that snow plows were keeping Highway 260 nice and clear, but then Rim Rd was blocked by a road-side snow embankment.

Quote from: Michael on January 13, 2010, 02:18:39 PM
Update
She said that snow plows were keeping Highway 240 nice and clear, but then Rim Rd was blocked by a road-side snow embankment.

You mean Hwy 260, right?

http://tinyurl.com/yamyofd

C'mon, anyone interested? 

Well, of course I'm in.
I ain't afeared of no snow!
Let's go have an adventure!

[moto]

I was planning on some scheduled maintenance for my ride....
I can move that to next week, I'm in.

looking very much toward this. i agree with every post here: fantastic view, valve job can wait, it will be an adventure.
thank you d for putting this together.

charles?

what a great idea. sounds really good. alas, saturday i'll be yelling and screaming at the tv again. i'll be with a room full of cardinal fans pushing the blood pressure, heart rate, and BAC to the redline.

RED SEA RISING...DROWN THE SAINTS!

anyway, i wish i could go with all of you. i'd really like some good photos of the monster too. you all have fun n be careful.

DG

I think we'd be back before the game starts.

If my minivan full of kids and in-laws can do it in about 5 and a half hours, then surely we and our precision Italian machines can.

I'll be heading straight home to watch the game (which I'll have on DVR just in case).

Here is a photo of my 2-year-old princess. This photo was taken yesterday (Wednesday) pretty much at the spot where we'll be going.

You have a very pretty daughter Mike. I bet she takes after her Mother, right?
I didn't think you'd be going what with the game and all? My prob is that I'm grilling the game chow early tomorrow morning. I can only get 2-3 slabs of baby-backs at a time on my old grill. Each grilling is dry-rub and smoked for about 2 hours. We're having another 4 couples coming over....so minimum is 5 slabs with 8 being optimum. I'm looking at approx 6 hours of BBQ time. Of course Fran, who always follows the Italian Cooking Rules,  ( ICR#1: "better too much than not enough" ) bought 12 slabs!  I'm going to be really busy!  I'll see about borrowing a second grill from my neighbor when I get home today. I just hope he doesn't hint on an invitation as Fran & I think he's nuttier than squirrel turds.  DG 

Sounds awesome, Doug. Good luck with the grill. My family is Fijian, on my dad's side, so if we had to grill that much meat, we would just get an entire pig and dig a pit to cook it underground all day.

Well, I'm still not sure I can go. Not because of the game, but because of the in-laws.

I don't mind watching the game a bit delayed, though. It's cool with a DVR, I just set it to record the game, and then if I start watching it about 20 or 30 minutes after kickoff, I can skip commercials and half time. I'm usually caught up to the live game by the 4th quarter.