Friday i hung in Fruita waiting UPS to deliver the Reverb seat dropper and for OTE to put it on. UPS delivered per schedule and OTE installed. However, the Reverb had issues in that the return speed adjustment didn’t work and the speed @ which it returned was deemed too slow. It will be warrantied. I wanted to ride Butter knife in Grand Junction then return to camp spot above rabbit Valley then head to Moab on Sat. I deemed it too late to ride Butter Knife so i sat in the downtown Fruita city park reading John Irving’s Last Night in Twisted Rive while enjoying the warm sunny weather. Another beer @ the Tomater then headed back to Rabbit Valley on Interstate 70. CO state patrol had a drug stop check point at the exit for the second day in a row. Didn’t get pulled over. The cops would have had a hay day searching my van. Spoke w/ John on Sat who saw the stop earlier in the day and he said that there was some selection process in checking cars.
Sat i drove to Grand Junction and up Little Park rd to Butter knife TH. I arrived about 10:00 and there were 2 rigs in the lot. John said hello and that he had read the 2 articles about me. he and his buddy rode off on same route I would take when I left. First trail is Twist & shout. Both these trails are dirt bike permitted trails. Neither are very challenging to dirt bikes but to us pedalers they are sweet. they are sustainable and rideable. i used the reverb a bunch of times. The purpose of the reverb is to raise and lower the saddle. Lowering the saddle allows the rider to like squat down into an attack position lowering the center of gravity. There were times when i left the seat down and muscled up a climb standing up rather than spinning to win. When I returned to the TH it was plugged w/ mtn biker rigs.
Got a shower @ Gold’s gym & headed to Cortez down in the SW corner of the state. This kept me away from the drug check point on I-70 if it was in operation.
The drive down to Cortez was scenic and sparsely traveled. Drove up to Lizzard head Pass @ 10,200 where i spent the night in a TH parking lot, complete w/ a Spokane CXT outhouse. Snow had fallen several days b4, on sunny exposures it had melted but in the shade, winter sent a message. The temp @ the pass when I left this AM was 34. The highway dropped down Delores river canyon and the temp dropped to 22 degs. because I was going downhill under no load the engine didn’t heat up which didn’t put out cabin heat. Didn’t sleep well, had breathing discomfort. Took a hit of Albuterol which helped. Hadn’t been this high for several weeks, might have been the elevation.
Drove to Cortez to Phil’s World TH. A few rigs were parked already. When i returned after my ride around 1:00 PM the parking lot was plugged. Popular trail system. Trails are designed to be turn left @ each intersection which I did. Trails are hard packed in from all the bike tires. Fun ride w/ required humping, it wasn’t a spin in the park.
Drove back to Cortez to visitor center where i learned of city rec center for a shower, perhaps tomorrow.
Going to drive back to Delores and ride Boggy Draw tomorrow.
Weather forecast calls for a touch of winter conditions the next several days. If so I am hoping that the roads will be clear to drive to Moab. License tabs arrive perhaps Tues, the day 2010 expire.
Back to standard time. Need to learn when it gets dark. Its 4:00 PM and I should be going.
John Tomac lives in Cortez.