Yesterday, Tuesday, was a rest day after 7 straight days of riding. Hung around out @ crowded Deer pass camp. My preferred spot has been occupied by same campers for days. Drove into town mid afternoon for groceries & a video, The Soloist. Back @ Deer pass another camper moved in almost blocking access to next best spot. I seek a level camp spot for comfort & for the gas absorption refrigerator to work properly. Sunny day slight breeze, as afternoon waned warmth from sun chilled. Sat outside in sun for awhile wearing my wool poncho reading Under the Banner of Heaven. Mormons.
Slept w/ no heat under doubled up down blanket wearing a bicycle head warmer. Sunup is 6:29. This AM in the daylight I saw my breath when i stuck my head out from under the covers. Put off getting up to face the chill scantily clothed. Once out it I turned on Bob Edwards on XM and lay on floor to start the heater that takes about 2 mins to get going then crawled back under the covers & listened to Bob’s show. As the sun warms the van, it expresses its response by metal moving pops & pings.
Up & moving into town for MBH shop ride around 10:00 ish, more later. Rama, Doug, his friend Kevin, 2 Israelis, a touron, & a returnee. Techish of Sketch & New Ramshead separated the skills. Rama took his planned route home where Doug, Kevin, & I split off for a possible big day… if we could cross Oak Creek on the bridge we made on our crossing several weeks earlier. We located our former bridge location, our bridge was adios. No crossing the creek today. Plan became Pyramid loop w/ much before & after. Rode some new trail. Again, my praise for amount of trail in Sedona. As of 3/22 I have 46 rides 572 miles ridden.
Enjoyable ride.
This AM Ryan from Competitive Cyclist in Little Rock called me… long distance in my response to my request for ride ideas. Got some names. Up north are the Ozarks, near Little Rock it is the Ouchitas. Going to do some woods riding. The Womble is in the latter. Interesting data: Last spring on my Womble ride I split it into two parts & rode out & backs over 2 days. Day 1) 28.39 miles, 4 hours ride time, 4690′ climbed, 2804 cals burned. Day 2) 39.21 miles, 5 hours, 4690′, & 3607 cals. Sedona rides average 12.44 miles for, say, 2.5 hours, climb 1800′ but burn around 1200 cals. Speed is lower here.
Back out @ deer pass, same crowd again.