Windy night @ Deer pass camp, in this case I was still in bed and the van was rocking, come on in.
Drove into west sedona to laundromat for last wash. Bid owner George farewell. When i add my riding clothes to my regular week’s worth of clothes I step up to the big $5.00 washers. I hang my Pearl Izumi shorts on my clothes line stretched across the width of the van back up against the far end. I delicate temp dry most jerseys and wool socks. I final dry them on the same clothes line. For a day or 2 i have drying clothes hanging. AZ like 12% humidity & upper 70s baking temps finally evaporate all the moisture.
Drove down to VOC. I made an appointment w/ an acupuncturist for Mon AM to fix my tingling feet.
Geared up and rode to BnB. Craig… was sitting @ the counter. We previously met and chatted @ the shop. He is repping Caffe Latex , another tire sealant compound. Previously he gave some to teh shop to try. Previously I read less than glowing reviews on MTBR. Today he asked me when i was going to put the stuff in my tires. I told him of the negative reviews. he said the mix has been improved. I said give me the stuff and I will try it. He put up. Tomorrow I will empty the Stan’s then put his stuff in. Stan’s leaked. Jimmy’s tire still holds air after he put sand in the Stan’s in his tire.
Jimmy, Jason, and I headed out for the Hogs out near Chicken Point. Beautiful day, windy, dry, and not too hot. The Hogs is a lesser known area and has its technical hike a bike pieces for me. Exposure, slick rock, consequences for failures.
Got lots of sun for 14.9 miles in 2 hrs 21 mins of riding. Big elevation of 1849′. I rode up my 2 nemisi in the wash. There are moves on the Hogs that are above my skill level. The consequences of failure are too great to risk riding. To that end I am sensible. My seat dropper lowers fairly quickly and dependably and the return speed is nut smacker. I use it quite a lot. Benefit is that it lowers the seat out of the way so that I can squat down on the pedals thus lowering my center of gravity on downhills. I have used it on slight uphill tech sections and it works real well in the rocky washes. Once you become comfortable w/ a dropper, you won’t go back to fixed.
Late afternoon @ BnB this guy pulls in driving this. He said it cost $150,000 to build. He bought it from the owner for less than half price. 10 mpg diesel until he spent $6,000 revising the engine to get 22 mpg. This is the kind of rig Jimmy wants to own.
Dashed off up canyon to the spa for a shower. Dinner @ Mexican restaurant. Ordered Mole for 3rd time, every time the Mole is a bit different.
Out to Deer Pass camp.
8,177 MTBR readers have opened my post, “My life is better than your vacation”