Last night I bailed and drove down into town for the night. There were just too many park closed @ 10:00PM signs. Slept in parking lot in front of business in small business park.

Drove back to Bootleg Canyon TH for breakfast. Made pancakes and then took off w/ a belly of undigested food to beat heat of day. Rode Girl Scout up and then down backside on Caldera. Trails are not well marked and map is too big & fragile to carry. Trails are a result of hard work, all done by hand in rocks, no soil. I rode the more tame trails, not the hellish downhill trails the canyon is known for. No shuttle which keeps the coaster geeks out. Rocks fracture in non uniform shapes like sharp edged crushed rock of various sizes and they move a bit. And there are many places where a fall would be downhill and very painful. I am just a conservative rider riding inside myself. I might, and probably am, be able to ride more trail but I do not trust my ability and don’t want to pay the price for incompetence. No shade, not even a raven in the wind.

Quite colorful rock and rugged terrain to hand build sketchy trail:

Mother trail climbs, dips, traverses, finally climbing up over a ridge to rejoin center of canyon. I rode to where I saw the trail climb to that ridge and bailed. I lacked the map and my memory recalled an out & back ride and I did not want to climb up to only turn around. On way back i chatted w/ a young woman trail runner and she told me the trail did indeed loop around and down into canyon. Too late, i was on m y way back. I am riding in 80+ degrees, cloudless skies, spit evaporates before hitting ground. Good time to find the barn.

I found my van dwarfed and blocked in by big RVs that were supporting  a reality show shooting. Apparently the players were riding a zip line and throwing h2o balloons down on targets as they zipped by. Lame.

I hung @ the rest rooms deciding if I wanted to ride some more. Speaking w/ a young man who was sitting on the concrete in the shade lamenting about how hard it was to ride uphill. He just bought a mountain bike, a full on downhill rig. He was seeking a definition of a trail bike like mine and his was not a ride uphill bike.

And a rider rode up, looked @ me, and called my name. Who? It was Michael, the beer guy from the shop last night. He was looking for a shuttle ride but none showed. he lead me on a brief high intensity race pace arouind the lower trails. I stayed on his wheel until the trail turned steep and long. He is 43 yo. He was number 1 in BMX nationally 3 years ago. We rode under the zip line several times but no h2o balloons dropped on us.

Back @W the blocked in van we beered up. He had a return ride and I was done for the day.

At the restroom blockhouse there are (2) 3 sided open warm h2o free showers and I luxuriated in washing off sunscreen & dust.

At the parking lot I flagged down a support person who found a driver to move a van for my escape.

This reality show is fully supported w/ all the RVs for important people and lesser rides for lesser persons. Almost every RV had a generator running for the air conditioning. There was a bountiful tasty food cater, and the eaters were all overweight people. And I ate my P-butter & honey sandwich.

Drove back into town, about 8 blocks away to laundromat beside bike shop. I completed my wash and then hung inside shop. Played w/ Joey’s dog Maverick for pet fix.

Found a small parking lot in shade of 2 story wall for shade to write this.

I believe that i will ride here tomorrow again and then head West to Red Rock / Cottonwood. Michael gave me a name of another beer & bike shop.

Thermometer in van reads 100 degrees, Outside it is 86.

I have quite the biker tan, take my shirt off and can you say paste? Gnat bites are shrinking but not my distaste for mesa riding. I like the desert but I am maxing on my fill and am looking for higher elevation conifer forests.

Nevada makes the 46th state I have ridden in on this odyssey. I need CA & OR and the country has been ridden in.

Michael demo’d a Turner SPot DW and crashed breaking his wrist. the DR said on a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 9 1/2. He faulted himself and really liked the DW link. It remains active under braking and has great traction climbing.

Hot Scotch.

4 range horses kept me company during night, one dump was all but in the grill. Pleasant night w/ wind & mild temp. Almost a full moon.

I woke just after 6:00AM by a slamming car door. I looked out and a pick up disgorged a rider and he split for the trails. Short while later 3 rigs arrive and riders split. i am dallying as I have all day and the forecast is for lower 80s. I needed to be back in Santa Clara about 1:30 for a shower and whatever else.

Desert riding: not even sage, no trees, and rocks. Trails well made to mtn bike standards. Barrel Roll is the main fame. Fun riding desert ST. Not as tech as Hurricane Loop, it was more open and spin type trails except for a few tech features. Ran into a guy riding an old Pro-Flex elastomer rear suspension and a Girvin fork. That bike hung in the garage for a long time. During my ride I had views of the parking lot, there was a turn over of riders coming & going but never a crowd of more than 3 riders.

I timed the drive down from TH to pavement: 1.4 miles & 12 mins. The van has been over some rough stuff.

Made Anytime Fitness in time for shower. Chatted w/ manager & trainer about my ride and adventure.

Stopped @ Rock City bikes to learn about the new eggbeater replacement clips. I put my new ones on for this ride and was bothered by a looseness sound. The pedals never prereleased which is good but they didn’t have the tightness sound. We looked @ their replacement cleats and they are the same as the ones I bought in Hurricane. Somethings has to be figured out.

Headed to Las Vegas and on to Boulder City for Bootleg Canyon. But a side trip to REI for Smart Wool socks. I took a GPS tour among all kinds of glitz & casinos. Lots of people & freeways to support. Scored 2 pairs of wool socks.

Last night research for Bootleg Canyon yielded All Mountain Cyclery and I GPSd their address. More freeways and aggressive drivers I parked in their parking lot. I walk in and there is a dog laying in doorway that yielded after some scratching in his secret places. Drew greeted me and laid out some trails @ Bootleg that is virtually behind their store. I asked about Chris King hubs, they said I-9 is the better hub. I asked if they could service my hub. No active bikes were in a stand and Joey, the wrench said OK. He cleaned & greased the hub. He said that it really didn’t need it. I am content that new grease is where the old grease was. The rear wheel needed some truing. Michael, the beer man, discovered my crank arm was loose that might have been the creak i had been searching for.  Good to go.

I started my visit staying on customer side of counter. I am talking to Drew and trying to watch the hub service. Finally I did an end around of the counter and watched Joey work. A non shop employee was behind the counter and he was drinking beer. before long I was offered one and I was in the thick of it behind the counter. More stories all around and more beer. What a hoot. Passed on 3rd beer because I needed to drive up to the TH and there were no gutters to drop the right side wheels into.

Drove up to TH passing several signs saying closed after 10:00. If I stay here I might be rousted. I am above Boulder City that stretches below me. Free hot showers @ TH after tomorrow’s ride.

Clean body, new wool socks, waning snoot of beer, good time @ bike shop, cool evening: life is good.

ST George sits on a plateau. I-15 drops down Virgin River Canyon. What an engineering feat to squeeze 4 lanes on interstate traffic thru and then spit out into desert.

Time zone is Pacific Daylight that I left back in July.

Explanation: This blog offers a chance to share my life and  it also captures for me my history. I write these blogs in the evening usually or whenever I have internet access. At times I would rather be sleeping or whatever other than doing this speed writing. I hardly edit it for which I am embarrassed. Posting pictures takes minutes per picture. I am pressed for time and I nix the pics.

I am tired living on mtn time in Pacific time zone. I liked Arizona as they do not do daylight savings.

I should probably drive out of park. But then I can gamble and crawl into bed and see if tghe rocking of the van is the brisk wind or the percussion of a night stick.

Hot night in river valley. Sleeping better now that my neck is straightened.

Drove back into hurricane and out rt 59 to TH. Overcast, low 70s, windy. Almost perfect.

Loop links several trails together including part of the JEM trail I rode yesterday. Trail is in treeless desert, the rider is the tallest thing around. Trail twists & winds its way around gullies and washes, somewhat serpentine. The ride data as Google earth is on Page: Ride data. Narrow, mostly ST, few technical challenges other than staying on narrow hand cut bench trails. 20.72 miles & 2315′ lots of 100 to 200′ climbs.

Stopped @ shop in Hurricane and bought new pair of Eggbeater cleats; my left foot kept disengaging try a tech move. Small shop had them.

Drove to ST George to red Rock cycles where I bought the tire and map previously. I was searching for local data on their trails which I got. Have tomorrow’s ride figured out. And then head down to Bootleg Canyon beyond Vegas.