Last night I navigated per map to Faulty TH and found it was gated as private property but the map showed a road i perceived as public. darn. Drove back down & back up Canyon to stay @ cedro XG where I stayed the night before. A pickup was parked in lot.

Fixed dinner and was working on computer when riders showed up. One was Steinar Smith, the author of the Gallup trails and I met the day before. Chris, his buddy, treated me to a cold Fat Tire brew. Big 3 beer day. Stan gace me some more ride ideas ands spoke of White Mesa I need to ride. Will research.

Quiet night w/ almost full moon. fridge cut out several times during night.

Plan today is to ride Tunnel & Otero canyons right down the road. Arrived @ TH right along highway and read sign about break ins. i searched the gravel parking lot and found several piles of shattered window glas. Darn and more. I parked the van so that both sides were visible from road and put my computer, camera, & pistol in the paksafe and locked it up.

Getting warm in low 80s when I took off up canyon. desert rocks and hard clay tread w/ a little shade from junipers added. Didn’t have a lot of snap but my heart rate was back where it should be and my puffing was commserate w/ the 6,000′ elevation. This trails system extends way back into Kirkland AFB but after 911 the trails were closed because of claimed unexploded muntions. People have been recreating on these trails for years and there has never been a report of explosion caused injuries I have been told. Government secrecy. Effort has been underway to open the trails back up.

Back @ TH and all windows were still intact. Did stretches and mitigated pain in right knee. What I am afraid of is I tore more of a previously repaired meniscus by twisting my foot & knee while getting up from my table inside the van. Not ready to make a dash back to Spokane for treatment from Mike Cody, my body repair man.

Drove down out of mountains on rt 66 staging myself for evening ride w/ John & his buddies.

Dateline: East side of Sandia Peak

I broke the frame of my riding glasses. Called Rudy customer service and they never called back. Found a retailer in Albeq. Called and asked if they had replacement frame for sale. No, just entire glass. I asked how much, I told him I saw a pair on Rudy site for $120, he said he would sell me his pair for same. OK, another unplanned bike expense but a replacement pair of glasses. I tried riding w/ my prescription sunglasses corrected for distance but I wasn’t satisfied w/ vision. Troy, the eye glass person, is an avid mtn biker.

Yesterday I left REI and checked out Fat Tire Bike shop and sought out Stan, the writer of the Gallup trail guide.

Found Fat Tire, good most times gps. They are a Turner dealer which is why I was interested in them. They had Formula brake pads. Met Eric who shared many ride ideas and of places we had ridden beyond here. Nice guy & conversation. The DW SPot wasn’t completely built.

GPSd High Desert bike shop and first store employee I meet is Stan. I presented the guide book and asked for his autograph. Another signed copy.

Headed back to I-25 to I-40 to hit FS land for camp. Asked for info @ RS visitor center. She gave me primitive camping suggestions. I picked the 1 up the canyon near Cedro group camp. No h2o and slept in parking lot. Tried cell phone to call John and  no coverage. Drove back down canyon watching the  icon on the phone for coverage. Obtained signal & called John and made arrangements for ride today. He lives just a little ways away at Juan Tomas.

Yesterday I really bashed my head on the cutting board again. I had my hat on so the skin wasn’t broken but I really hit it hard.

Drove short distance over USFS gravel road to John’shouse following his directions. He lives back in the sticks. He is an engineer and did a short stint w/ Boeing before they laid him off. 2 other engineers started their own company and they sell services to Boeing. We hit it off.

It was off on a tour of trails from his house. he showed me loco weed and pinyon pine nuts. On a downhill I brushed right wrist against a said pine and stripped my magnetic braclet off my wrist. Couldn’t find it. Lost for good now. Might make a good prize for a raven.

John told me aout a drive N on rt 14 to madrid, an artist enclave where dogs, people, & kids walk in the street. It was an old coal mine town. I had time and off I drove. Stopped @ a hostel along the hwy for a shower. Stopped @ Triangle grocery for some food. High desert junipers & pinyon pine dispersed as h20 allows life to exist. Arrived in town. Old buildings exist and the highway obliterated the old wooden sidewalks. Picked jewelry store that dispalyed a Sale sign and shopped for a silver braclet that won’t fall off. Found 1. Nice. A store on Main advertised ice cream. I walked in, an old fashion soda fountain he said was made in ’35. Enjoyed a chocolate malt hard ice cream shake.

I did the tourist drive speed soaking in country side. Stopped in parking lot in shade to write this. Tonight I am going to check out a TH this side of I-40. Tomorrow eve John and some inyterwsting folks are doing a ride that I will attend on the Albeq side of Cedro mtn.

Hot & dry. Bath towel dries in no time. CXT outhouse made in Hillsboro, TX.

Dateline: Albuquerque, NM

DTR: down the road

Noisy night @ Ameri-gas w/ switch yard nearby and trains announcing their intent.

Made PO and after searching a second time my pedal package was found.

Drove out to Mentamore TH for High desert trails that I rode on Sat in high winds. Installed pedals and the wings seem to be as loose as they were before but now I have stronger springs to keep the loose wings inn place. Not sure that my early release problem has been cured.

Decided to change the yellow tinted lenses to the colored lenses on my Rudy glasses. I broke the frame of the second lense. cyanoacrylate glue won’t bond pieces together. Will call Rudy to learn glue & to order replacement frame as I have usable lenses for this frame. decided to try my prescription sunglasses.

Headed out into a bit of wind and less than  blue skies. Just felt flat, no snap to legs climbing. Right knee is bothersome.  Enjoyed trail on flats, downhills, and beginning of uphills. Turner carves turns. Trail is on mesa tops and winds around trees & rocks. Sometimes the tread is hard packed cured clay, other sudden places wind blown sand covers. Sometimes the turn radius changes from “normal” and then add some sand and the line becomes challenging to hold. Well designed & built trail system. I rode a 13.26 mile loop & climbed 1252′ in short bursts.

Enjoyed post ride beer & PB & J sandwich and headed to red rock xg to try luck for free shower. XG host was there and gave me the key. I offered him a beer for freebies he gave me. He refused saying that he would be driving truck on Res and he couldn’t have beer in him as they have a tight tolerance against alcohol.

Headed East out of town driving on as much of historical RT 66 I could find. It runs almost as a frontage road to I-40. Less traffic & slower Sprinter speeds past rubble of past traveler business establishments. Must have been quite the experience to drive 2 lane highway back in the day and required food and overnight stays. All gone, replaced by interstate system and chain motels & fast food joints.

Drove onto an Indian Res searching for 66. A sign posted declared no recording in any kind of what was seen other than mental images, not even a voice recorder.

Missed rt 66 and took rt 6 angling SE to I-25 and North to Albuq. Saw green belt to East which is the Rio Grande. Green broadleaf trees in leaf and portent of shade.

Found a city park past Kirkland AFB and did some internet work. Found bike shop & REI. Checked out REI: new store like all their new store look alikes.

Drove to nearby albertson’s for grocery store food dinner. Called Gracie’s friend, John Dunbar, to meet and learn of rides. While I was talking to him a guy in a car pulled alongside me and said that I picked a very dangerous place to hand with my door open. he said he was car jacked with a gun to his head in the same lot recently and warned me the same might occur to me. I cut off conversation w/ John and bolted. I drove back across I-25 to big box store neighborhood and parked in a business parking lot for the night.

I wasn’t going to stay @ Albertsons so wasn’t evaluating safety concerns. Wow, big crime if the guy was telling the truth which I have no reason to doubt.

So today is a rest day here in A-city. John gave me some camping suggestions I will follow. I am to call him this evening to arrange a ride for Wed.