Mosquitoes abated awhile after dark. I have sort of loosely attached netting to my side door and driver’s window, They are persistent and work around edges and stick my flesh. I drove a couple hundred feet out into p pine forest and away from creek, and into Bob Edwards show. No mosq’s. Thought it was because of dry forest.

Today is to find a laundromat in La Pine and buy a few more groceries before dropping into deep woods of Umpqua. Laudromat was a christian establishment. Didn’t have to recite scripture for a washer. Fist one I have been in that was so out.

Mail has been sent to Bend just 34 miles up rt 97. In it is the warranty replacement for the battery charger for my electronics. I need to return the $151 one I bought by 7/22. I decided to drive to Bend and do business. I picked mail from post office sent general delivery from my mail forwarding service, Earth Class Mail. I found a Radio Shack just down the road and pulled in. I walked in. Salesman asked how he could help me. I said I needed to return the charger. He said, sure, you have the credit card used for the purchase. Yes I did. No questions, no balk, just credit on my card. Shopped REI for solar shower replacement; 4 gallon capacity. Picked up brake pads from Sunshine and new issue of Bikemag. My letter to editor didn’t make it.

Headed out of town . Saw a Fitness Anytime club near laundromat earlier. Stopped in to buy a shower. Young woman manager let me shower for free. I was caught flat footed from her offer. Usually it is a sell or dicker and why I want one is never an issue to get a shower. Clean body & clothes.

Hit rt 138 heading straight line due west to climb up out of desert. I stopped below and to east of Diamond lake in a lodgepole forest hoping mosq’s will be somewhere else. I was fine until twilight since then I have been ravaged. They get around edges of netting. They are stacked on roof. I am squishing them on the curtain above the table. It is splotched w/ my blood. Some drop onto key board. XM radio covers up sound of beating wings. I have splashes of dried blood on my clean skin.

Tomorrow starts the Umpqua trail for maybe 5 days. It is maybe 65 rideable miles that I am doing as out & back or looping back on either rt 138 paved or logging roads. Back to Toketee where I used to work. Dread & Terror is 13 miles long, deep in roadless canyon. mosq’s  up high and poison oak down low.

The morning overcast was gone when I looked out @ 6:00. Moisture has left the area. Another brilliant blue sky day.

Today is to be a shuttle ride down Alpine to pull down course markings if any are left after the 2 riders who swapped their own hassle w/ their own shuttle for  pulling down markings on their ride down Alpine. And Scott wanted to check on trail conditions after the race, plus he wanted to finally ride, free from the race duties. Last night Scott planned on riding around 10:00. I drove to Jay’s house to wait. Time went by, several calls from Scott finally put his arrival much later. We hit the trail around 3:30. On the drive up we picked up just a few missed pieces of marking.

Amazing! We dropped onto trail @ Jedi section thru some big old growth and big regrowth. This is the part of the trail i remember from my ride several years ago. The trail was not marked like I rode it before the race. Now I gathered trail information and made my decisions instead of delegating to the course markings. Scott flew a bit faster than me. The volunteers did a great cleaning job and we could concentrate on our ride. Great trail.

I missed saying good bye to Jay. Good bye Jay. Said Good bye to Scott. He has made next year’s Cream Puff attractive for me to race it. This year I would have been the 2nd oldest racer. Seven days of helping on the race.

Stopped @ bike shop for great hug from Catrina. Ahh, yes.

I told Scott I was going to ride Waldo and he said mosquitoes will be too much.  OK, then it will be the Umpqua and its mosquitoes up high. I drove east on 58 and crossed Willamette Pass. I figured if I drove East far enough I would drop down below the hungry ones. I found a road off highway not far from rt 97 and private land. Not far enough East and I fed a few new generations.

I am out of clean riding jerseys and undershorts. Tomorrow I will drive a bit North to La Pine for groceries and clean clothes and then head back South to the NUT ( North Umpqua river Trail).

Sure enjoyed the great trails around Oakridge. My bike rides so sweetly. My ability is improved.

Today I rode the Jedi section plus the lower Alpine for 12.32 miles and dropped 3752′. Understand why brake pads wear down.

Interrupted XM reception where I parked but internet access.

Peaceful night & morning up off road 1910. Down to red Bridge in Westfir for 10:00 meet w/ Jay and a shuttle from Scott to ride down Winberry ridge to remove race markings. Jay & I started  down just after 12:00 and finished just after 6:00. Not many miles ridden but lots of flagging and the race paper markings carried between us. The trail in places was like riding on slippery snow: front wheel wanted a different direction than back one that was sliding around. Got to ride more of the Oakridge trails. These are old hiking trails that have been reopened by mtn bikers and some places renovated. Great big woods riding. Not very technical on tread but narrow trails w/ occasional exposure. Alpine is in top 5 trails of my all time favs.

Scott picked us up and drove us back to Oakridge. He treated us to dinner. I learned that he knows Dean & Jamey from Sedona and rode w/ them. Jay let me shower @ his house.

Going to ride w/ Scott tomorrow down Alpine, maybe even up to Jedi and I will ride it slower this time.

Today before taking off for our ride I checked the front brake pads. Getting worn down. Have a new pair waiting in Bend. These trails eat pads from the downhills, not from the grit on shallow hills of the east. I discovered that my fork travel was locked out meaning that I had about 2″ of firm travel vs the plush normal 5.5″. I wonder if my pel mel ride down Alpine was w/ reduced fork travel. Corrected the adjustment and flowed down what we could ride. We would get in short distances of riding to be stopped by our role of removing flagging , signs, & picking up litter. Poor ride quality. Saw more deep woods & new trail to me.

Its late in Ray’s parking lot. Fed cat another can of food after dark. No extension of friendship.

Bare skin of shirtless body is sunburned from yesterday.