Attended shop party @ Looking Glass. Partiers were all less than 30, (3) couples, rock climbers. Get any sport specific group and they get full of themselves and their subject matter is a steep bell shaped curve. Not that I wanted to talk mtn bike and didn’t understand or couldn’t relate to their sport and focus but life is full of other things to broaden your perspective on life.
Back out @ Avery Creek XG site. Previous interlopers were rained out. Yea, XM radio reception.
Started raining during the night. Forecast for forecast horizon is for precipitation (no Snow). Slept in.
Plan today is to mount new tires and get a ride in between showers. Parked @ Visitor Center for growler & bike work. Started raining. Moved tire changing operation under a tree on dirt. Mismounted 2nd tire that caused me to remount. Luckily for me as I found leaf matter inside the tire from shuffling it on dirt. Found out also that the rear brake pads were just about at the backing plates. The Formula K24 brakes did not fail like your Shimanos did, Randy. Put new pads on & seated them in the parking lot.
Rear derailleur was not shifting cleanly no matter how I played with cable tension. I figured on riding & stopping @ Sycamore for their ministrations in place of them mounting my tires that I did.
Drove down again to Southern end of DuPont in light drizzle. Empty parking lot. Darn EDGE was discharged meaning no computer to record ride and also no navigation aid. Folded up map in map case velcroed to handle bar that vibrates when i ride making a sound like something is loose on bike.
Trails wet but not clingy mud. Eskimos have like 40 words to describe snow, mtn bikers need more descriptive words for mud we ride in. New tires ran clean shedding mud. Conditions were loose making an evaluation of tires slippery @ best. Didn’t fall so they were not worse than the Velociraptors.
Rode up Burnt Mtn. climbed Cedar rock on slick rock and rode Burnt mtn backwards. A few slight showers kept me water cooled.
Hemlocks are being killed by a parasite that attacks at the base of the leaf. Trees don’t turn brown like Pine beetle, they just shed their needles ove time just like my hair falls out. There is a natural predator like Knapweed enemy. Like Knapweed a large concentration of hemlock is required to satiate the killer.
Back @ Sycamore I washed the Turner. The rear derailleur shifting was addressed and it was discovered that I bent the derailleur hanger, probably on a WVA rock garden fall. The wrench put his back into the straigtening tool and all is better. I do have a spare hanger but as long as it doesn’t break during straightening, keep using the bent 1.
Shower @ laundromat. Dinner @ gravel parking lot. Raining. A bit more internet work & back out to Avery Creek.
Tomorrow I am seeking a PT script for my foot. Get my knee checked also.