Transition to Colder Weather

I live in Arizona so many will scratch their head when I describe my plans for transitioning to `colder' weather.  ("Arizona?  It's always hot there, right?!)

Today is Sept 12th and at 7AM it's 51F and sunny. 

One hundred (blessed) miles southeast and 4,000 feet lower is the obscenity called Phoenix where it is currently 75F with an expected 95F today. 

Down `there,' in the `valley' the cycling season is coming alive. 

Up `here,' in the mountains we're a bit more reality based with four actual, real, seasons.  Snow as early as November, even though most of it melts off in a day or two.

Because we're in the mountains, though, the roads can stay iced in the mountain shady sections during the day.  Cycling requires much more planning and is typically of shorter duration.

Last winter I found myself schlepping the bike south and down to warmer climes to get in some training.  Punched a big hole in my day without much of a return.  I spent many, many hours grinding away on the indoor trainer while looking out the window at snowy mountains.

Not this year. 

Yes, I'll continue to put in hours on indoor equipment.  But I won't be schlepping the bike or threading the weather needle during sunlight just to be on the road.  Instead of `looking out the window at snowy mountains' I'll be on the mountains.

Literally every time I ride I find myself wondering what it must be like to be `up there,' in the woods and on the mountain.  I plan to find out this winter.

Trekking up and over rural mountains, thinking it is going to be a fun hike, is an invitation to calamity.  There are `trails' galore out this way.  But they're not the kind of trails with benches every 2 miles and informative little descriptive signs.  Some trails go untraveled for years.  And they often lead over one mountain, down to a wilderness valley and back up to another mountain that is even more wilderness.

I'm very much engaged in learning as much as I can in advance of a careful, considered winter of hiking and climbing.  If and when I conclude I know what I'm doing I'd like to do some multiday hiking.