Temperature that is. Friday in the morning before the winds picked up I was comfortable in short sleeves. Drove out to N Klondike TH in strong winds that kept me and the van rocking between the lines. Favorite spot was occupied as was next closer one by turns out 3 vans occupied by (gasp) younger people. Winds were picking up dust then blasting whatever was down wind. One was me. I was not headed directly into the blasts forecast to 30mph+. I squared the van to the wind and hunkered down. Ferocious winds. Moab airport recorded a 48mph gust at 5:30PM. I rode that one out. Then the temp dropped down to 17 degrees the next AM but the winds abated. The Propex furnace at 6,000 BTUs is just too light weight for my heat loss. I fan the catalytic heater on high all night which didn’t stay ahead of the cold, 47 Degrees inside. The doubled light weight down blanket allowed too much body heat to escape which left me unwarm hiding under the blanket until the sun added solar gain.
Sat ride was under crystal clear skies but chilly. I rode with insulated tights which turned out to be too warm. I rode out Dino Flow and returned on the west side trails for an easier ride. Spoke with 2 couples from the vans. One is from Ohio and have been on the road for 11 months but heading back to Ohio for T-Day. Other couple from CO. Talked about trails we have ridden. Ohio couple had ridden Switchgrass in Kansas and enjoyed it.
Friday I was examined by a DR about my leg issues. She as each have said my condition is caused by valves in the leg veins don’t close suffieiently to prevent back flow of blood and lymph and compression socks are not the ticket yet which explains why the mid level compression sock was very painful. Oh well, fine tuned and carefully abused body is wearing out.
Fri I bought Grisham’s new book, Rooster Bar. DR suggested that I elevate my legs for an hour to let gravity help return the good stuff which gave me the perfect reason to lay on my back with my nose in the book. Fun read. My legs started barking about 45 mins.
Somehow I hit the wrong function which is choosing this type and won’t upload pics. caused by my ignorance which can be overcome, not stupidity which happened at conception.
Sunday I waited for the heat of the day to come on before pedaling away, this time with just knee warmers which slipped down because the leg length of the liner with its grippers was too short. I finished with them down my shins. I figured this might be my last ride here this visit so I chose some of the more demanding trails. I blew up on several of the steeper climbs. 13.3 miles and climbing 1364′, finally a 100’/mile. Ran into Eric from Hurkin whom I dissed back in Sedona for dragging his rear brake. I told him I did the same thing on a Flag trail.
Yesterday the forecast low said 19 degrees. I used only 1 layer of the down blanket and added my opened 20 degree down sleeping bag over and ran the heater on high. About 3 I woke up because I was hot. I checked the outside temp which was 30 degrees. WTF?. I readjusted the covers and turned down the heater to medium and sought more sleep. Not happening. Damn. temp dropped to 25 degrees. A less than rewarding sleep.
I started looking at RV heaters. I need more BTUs. Or, I can cope with chill for maybe 3 months and save the $. First heaters I liked at have the BTUs but require space that I didn’t design for.
My dropper post was not fully extending, a new case of needing cleaned and regreased. I scored shop time at Chile Pepper this AM giving me the reason to get on the road early. The shop called saying the post is happy again.
At Gearheads while filling my water tank a guy approached me and asked if I was the guy riding all over. I said yes. he thanked me as he had read the Bike Mag article then set out to ride in he said 49 states. Always good to be an example to others. He said he just added more years of home stay as he just married a family.
Steve mailed me a book The stranger in the Woods about a guy who lived as a hermit for 27 years. Will be an interesting read. Thanks Steve.
La Sals have a visible dusting of snow up high. Cloudy today. Forecast weather is for above freezing at night and low 60s daytime and clear. Good riding weather.
I might head to Hurkin on Fri or wait till holiday traffic clears on Mon. Their conditions are still favorable. I have been here for 25 days.