One last ride in Bend

At least on this go round.

Not drinking enough h2o as I am not being awakened by a strained bladder. Try as I might. this dry air and hard riding is wilting me.

I hit my head on the cutting board hinge again this AM, really lacerated my scalp this time. No way to first aid the wound, just lightly rubbed a wet wash cloth over it. Didn’t see starts or feel much pain. I have a head ache tempered my big aspirin. I decided to ride anyway.

Drove into town for groceries and h2o. Today is to be a less stressful ride so i drove up valley from Phils to Skyliner Trail head saving myself maybe 15 miles of riding. Filled my hydration bladder @ the camp with ice cold untreated h2o, really sweet. Route was back up N fork like yesterday, snow patches were slightly smaller. I kept my effort down and heart rate reflected it. Nowhere near as many people today as yesterday. Made Mzarek ridge and along to the drop down Farewell springs. Upper part was in forest swinging around tight lodgepole trees. Trail dropped into Bridge creek burn from 1979 that burned 4,000 some acres.

Hit parking lot @ falls and started down creek trail when I spotted Chris and family hiking. Met his family. Renee invited me to visit and dinner. Chris said that the invite is meaningful. Going to visit the SE this winter: NC, SC, AL, & GA.

The parking lot @ Skyliner was almost deserted when I returned. Riders apparently get after it early in day. Temp was in upper 80s. Before I left i hung the solar shower on the van’s hood. And I had another hot shower parked on the side of the road. Washed the scalp scab off and bloodied my towel drying off. Sweat cap between my head and helmet was blood soaked and i noticed a bit of blood on my helmet pad. I made a duct tape streamer and stapled it to edge of cutting board such that it hangs down when board is up. I don’t look up before I step into van and do not see the open cutting board above my head. The streamer will be in my line of vision. Today i left blood on the hinge arm.

Drove back into town to check out REI for whatever. The store is located in the Old Mill development area and the Deschutes river flows right by it. Hot weather and people flock to river in all kinds of floatation devices and ride the gentle current downstream. I saw 1 couple wearing PFDs and skulling w/ their hands, they were just about heads out of h2o. Bought a new bike multitool w/ more usable tools than my existing 1. Necessary for more serious on the trail repairs. Amazing how many tools can be fitted into Topeak’s Alien ll that is smaller than a handful.

Rode 240 miles here at Bend.

At various places around Bend the skyline is populated w/ Mt Bachelor to the S, then Broken Top, S Sister, Middle Sister and N Sister almost together, and around a corner Mt Hood all snow covered still. Back in 1978 on my PCT hike I was just S of S Sister on Aug 13 and it started raining. When I finally dropped off the trail just N of Stevens Pass it had rained all but 13 days. Years ago I skied  from the summit of S Sister on a spring ski trip w/ buds from the Puget Sound.

Drove back to camp spot @ Phils. So nice to have it by myself.

Tomorrow I drive back South and West to Oakridge, back in mosquito land. Bought magnets and contact cement to make attachments for the netting for the door windows. ( Rick V showed me this trick)

Red flag warning for central OR. Late this afternoon the winds really picked up. A fire would have spread like, what, wildfire. Didn’t smell smoke. Less than 20% humidity