Not really, just really fast & hardly a break, 20.31 miles in 3 hrs 16 min, climbed 2772 feet.

Slept w/o heater again last night. Dawn brought warmth to 47 degree interior when i got up. Let sun warm up and wore my Pisgah wool jersey.

Stopped @ NY bagel store for normal supply of 2 cinnamon raisin and 1 blueberry. I like the bagels. Jimmy & friend Kevin from Long Island told me that there are different NY bagels.

Made Bike & Bean just after 9:00. Say hello to all. Jimmy introduced me to Dave who will be putting on the Turner demo days around the country. Gonzo was supposed to ride w/ them but he didn’t show. I offered to guide him, his wife Bev, & their friend Bob. They were going to ride system trails. I suggested Highline from shop and thought that would be good enough for them. Dave is riding a DW Spot like mine. Both he and his wife’s Flux have 650 wheels which are a bit bigger than 26″ but not quite 29″. Experiment continues of optimal wheel diameter. Bob rode a very old Cannondale hard tail w/ rim brakes, and all but bald tires. Oh well I thought to myself. This guy is in for a tough ride. Turned out he had things in hand.

Pace was brisk w/ just several munchie breaks. Dave is a live wire and just splatters everyone w/ his drive. Let him go w/ request to wait @ every intersection. fast rider & quite skilled. Amazing how he negotiated the tech features first time thru. He & Bob were pretty ecstatic riding the social trails made by mtn bikers. Dave was looking for more riding time. OK, my idea for a longer ride is to ride the Hogs for maybe another 90 mins. They threw down. Rode up easy sleezy wash where my skills were finally better than dave’s. Whoopie.

Off to Chicken Point on Little Horse trail then up & down on Broken Arrow for a ways until the nondescript start of High on the hogs trail. More fun. Bev elected to return to TH. Bob rode in front of me and smoked that ancient bike. I finally rode a tricky uphill left turn exit. Returned on Hogwash which is a undulating sketchy single track a ways underneath High on hogs. Tricky trails. Further diminished the walking spots. Rode chute on Little horse again picking a line around Bob who bailed just ahead of me. I told him to freeze so I could squeeze by down. Challenge is 15 foot elevation drop in 10 feet horizontal and there are 3 rock steps roll downs, rock surface is broken smooth bedrock, I don’t think is slick rock. Confidence to let gravity pull forward, for the suspension to suck up the drops, and  I can steer a committed line.

Rest ride was system trails back until crossing hwy 179 to pick up lower Made in the Shade for a mostly downhill back to shop. Dave & Bob split for parking lot while I choose a longer route back to B & B.

What a hard ride. I have a spent feeling different from others, maybe a bone tired.

Hung @ B & B afterwards. Defrosted the fridge. Jimmy let me put my cold foods in the shop fridge.Down canyon further to Beaverhead flats camp spot. Dry Beaver creek is swollen w/ snow melt from Flag.

Smoked the Spots.

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.

Left Jimmy’s for B & B, bid Kevin safe flight back to Long Island.

Jeff called to say ride w/ Doug around 12:00. Called Nick. We met @ Doug’s. 3 other riders joined us. Ride was Clor Cove, Plumbers Crack, Ledge n’ Airy, Girdner, annaconda, Girdner, & back on road.Rode a few more moves on Ledge and in general riding w/ more confidence. Speared myself again by same branch on ledge making a step up on a boulder. Needed inside line which is guarded by a pine branch with it’s tip cut off,new sprouts hide the stub end. Last time I almost made the move but the branch lightly gouged my left bicep. Today I moved to the inside about an inch. Bam! Speared by branch this time full on on my arm ripping my jersey sleeve leaving a couple small scrapes. Missed move again also.

Trail dumped out onto Girdner that crosses & recrosses flowing Dry Creek which is fed by snow melt from Flag. Crossed it 12 times, I rode 1 or 2 crossings with the h2o over bottom bracket & soaked the hubs. Too deep for bearings so i carried my bike. At the first crossing pedaling across my feet spun under the h20, shoes wet what the heck, save the bearings and wash my shoes.

Jeff commented that I am riding much stronger.

Beautiful day, so gorgeous here.

Hot Springs, AR is 1200 miles straight in I-40 if I need to push straight thru.

As of today i have been in AZ  for 90  days, ridden 46 rides in Sedona for 572 miles.

Heater valve failing rendering heater inoperable, tonight will be chilly. Slept last night w/o heater, turned it on when i woke up. 46 degrees inside seems tolerable.