Chris Lesser called for followup interview. Talked almost 2 hours.
Cloudy day and chilly.
Head back into MBH for shop ride. Left about 11:00 w/ Rama, Janet, & Doug. Picked up a sort of regular woman rider out on trail. After a short while she dropped out because of gear problems. Rama went with her. Doug, Janet, & I were on our own. Under the radar, over around Pyramid. Janet left. Doug had an itch to extend the ride. He wanted to add H… E to our route which meant crossing Oak Creek. Normal crossing is @ Red Rock xing but flow is too high and washed out the rock stepping stones. Doug thought that another crossing existed above Buddha beach. We hike a bike bush bashed searching for a crossing. Creek flow was too strong to wade as was it too cold. We found a potential crossing where someone had laid a like 2×14 over to a 4′ square island. From there it was a big step over to the base of a washed out tree. A single slender piece of tree trunk spanned to the shore. Doug crossed w/o his bike and set to work improving the last crossing. I worked the island. And then i handed his bike to him. We crossed w/ dry feet then bush based some more until we hit Templeton trail. Series of 4 switchbacks awaited. Years of lack of trail care made for vey difficult going. Traildoc worked & repaired the damage. To climb them is big boy stuff. Doug almost made them all. I chose to hike a bike. Interesting, Doug tackles & rides most of hard tech stuff. I walk some of it. At the end of 6 1/2 hr ride Doug was gassed. Rode trail where I fell on my back. Both of us walked it up. Back hurts after I am off the bike. Made the climb up to H…E & rode it. Some kind of a Sedona trail as it hugged the uphill face of a cliff band. Challenge. The drop off the high slick rock is a drop your seat and get behind it downhill. I don’t drop my seat and don’t ride that kind of trail. I rode more of it today than i did back @ christmas. Back down @ Oak Creek. Bush bash and we found our crossing. We are at low point, we have to climb out of valley. Grunts. As we crested a hill we saw javelina crossing the road. Doug counted 18 as they scampered up the hill side. Climb we did on Sketch which hangs out in space. Pay attention to where your front wheel is and look @ the trail, forget the view down below. Made it back. Doug was beat and I was looking forward to a cold beer.
Last night my EDGE 305 bike computer quit working. I used my Etrex GPS to record route. Batteries died.
Dashed back to deer pass to find my spot occupied. Picked another.
Tubeless front tire worked great, bit of air suspension. Tomorrow I buy a new rear tire and have it made tubeless.
Tomorrow might be rest day. Possible rain tomorrow and Friday is nice w/ rain over the weekend. Sedona is 3″ of rain ahead for year.