The Cycling House was privilidged to host the first annual camp with Moots. Moots bikes have been handcrafted in the Rockies since 1981 and their titanium frames are some of the highest most desirable bike frames on the planet. In 1991 Moots rolled out their first titanium bike at Interbike and their bikes have been crafted from tintanium ever since. Here is a short excerpt from the Moots website on why they choose titanium as the material for their framesets.
“Behold, the magical, mystery material. For two decades, we’ve built our bike frames exclusively out of premium US-made, Moots Pi Tech 3/2.5 titanium tubing. Why? Because no other material allows us the ability to finely tune every single frame to achieve the perfect ride quality in every single bike we make. We custom spec a proprietary blend of tube diameters and wall thicknesses for every single frame style and individual size in our line. This ensures that every single frame that leaves the factory delivers the same distinct ride characteristics, whether in the smallest or largest size in the fleet. Each and every tube is cold-worked, stress relieved seamless tubing that meets exacting specs for durability, stiffness, weight, and ultimately, ride experience. When you consider the lifetime you get out of each frame, it adds up to the perfect, magical frame material. The simple fact is: no other frame material can withstand the day-to-day rigors of the ride quite like ti. A Moots titanium frame will not deaden, loosen, crack, or otherwise degrade in its performance or comfort over time like virtually every other bike material on the planet. And it will outlast several generations of carbon fiber or aluminum frames, and always perform like the day you first rolled it out of your local shop. Down the road, we can even refinish your well-ridden Moots frame to look like new without compromising any of the materials properties though our Refurb Program.”
Needless to say but the frames kick a$$! We were joined by by Rob Mitchell the President of Moots and Michael and Cory two sales reps from Moots for a great week of cycling in Tucson. The weather forecast for the week looked unreal and after a little adventure the crew was ready for camp to begin. The TCH staff made a quick pit stop on our way down from Phoenix to Tucson to race the Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race. Our friend and longtime TCH client DJ entered us in the 4 man mixed team division and Heidi, DJ, Drew and I formed the team. We were a mixed bag of talent and we had the X factor; Drew the TCH chef that can whip up a mean meal, run underwater for a long time, watch romantic comedies all day and still jump of the couch and beat most people at any endurance sport. Owen was the other X factor and team manager. He had a big job because our friend Ben from Montana was down on a medical school rotation and decided to jump in last minute. The night before the race we stocked up on food and made camp at the race venue so we could be ready for the 7 AM sunrise start. The team pulled its weight and Heidi threw down the fastest female lap, Drew and I battled each other for fast lap times and DJ was consistent all day. We finished up 2nd place in the 4 man mixed team division. The race was a blast and you might see a TCH 4 man team out at the races in the near future. After the race was done we rallied down to Tucson to get the house ready to rock & roll!
The camp began Tuesday and the house was full with a bunch of new faces eager for a week of cycling in the sun. The week was full of great rides and we logged over 250 miles in 5 days of cycling. We were able to hit up all of our staple rides including San Manuel, Gates Pass, Mt Lemmon and Madera Canyon. San Manuel is currently a little less popular ride but I expect it to become much more popular in the coming years. We start the ride out at the Biosphere just north of Oro Valley off Highway 77. The highway is a popular route but most turn at the small town of Oracle just when the riding gets good. We head out of Oracle on Mt Lemmon road and turn off at Cody Loop. This road is a spur that reconnects with Mt Lemmon road but has some beautiful scenery with protruding rocks and hardwood trees. After finishing the Cody Loop we hit the highlight of the ride on Webb road a 5 mile stretch of beautiful road that looses a decent amount of elevation. The ride itself is an out and back but well worth it because of the lack of car traffic and scenery. The crew at the house handled the week well and we topped off the camp with a picnic lunch at Madera Canyon and pizza night back at The Cycling House. Recently we added a ping pong table at TCH and around the world ping pong quickly became the game of choice. Chef Drew has a hidden talent at around the world ping pong and was deemed champion of the night.
A huge thanks to all of those that attended the first annual Moots camp at The Cycling House! We hope that this will be a tradition that continues. The TCH staff has a little break over the holidays but will be back in full force starting January 3rd with the 2nd annual Ben Hoffman triathlon camp. We still have 2 spots available for the week so contact us if you are interested. We are really excited for this camp because Specialized will be sending out a demo fleet of Specialized Shiv road bikes, helmets, shoes and more!
Here is a recipe from Chef Drew.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples