Camped for 3rd night out on Sand Flats rd BLM land just above Slickrock TH. $10 a night includes $2.00 day use pass to ride Slick rock.

Yesterday’s forecast was suspect after raining the night b4. I was concerned that the sandstone would be slippery. Well, duh, this is the desert that is so dry no plants grow on the sandstone that absorb the rain and make the rock slippery.  So I didn’t ride but hiked around on the rock. Beautiful day. Snow fell on La Sals.

Drove down to town. Stopped @ Western Spirit just downhill from Sand Flats and said Hi to Ashley Korenblat. She remembered me from Augusta.

Checked another bookstore for Massacre @ Mountain Meadows and scored. New copy. Bought my own copy of Pulp Fiction elsewhere.

Spent last night again @ Sand Flats. Forecast again calls for wet in PM. Out here by myself. Chilly @ night but inside I am comfy w/ heater on low.

Last night freeze left frost. I enjoyed comfort of van while waiting for frost to thaw. Going to ride Slickrock b4 weather change.

Drove short distance to large parking lot @ TH. 2 rigs in it. Chilly, wore tights, long underwear top & long sleeve jersey & fingered gloves. Headed out. Rode practice loop and flowed into main trail riding it in easier direction. Trail as it is is marked by white rectangular paint blazes. Purpose is to lead the rider on a proven “path” avoiding the deadends & unrideable pieces. The surface is sandstone which is petrified sand dunes from 150 million years ago. Friction climbing. The trail subjects the rider to all kinds of acts of faith that if you have the lungs & legs you can climb almost vertical and traverse sidehills that you trust the side lugs on your tires to stay stuck to the rock. Most times if I couldn’t ride the white line going straight up I could tack across the line picking my own shallower line. I wear Specialize shoes that have a sole that provides grip on the sandstone, not like the Seddis that are plastic and slip like you are on ice. I still walked some nasty steep sections as I did not trust my lungs to gut out the grunt move. I played w/ traction going downhill by braking holding myself against gravity. The Formula brakes are strong enough to hold me and the tires stayed stuck.

Again, my breathing is of concern. I am strong but my lungs give out quickly. I did manage to force myself beyond what i thought I could do because to bail would have meant not making the top of a climb. I  ight have finally cleared up the bottom of my lungs as a result. Climbs are short, some were quite steep.

I watched clouds coming in during my ride. I was concerned about getting rained on. Maybe the rock wouldn’t be slippery but it would have been miserable to be in. I saw just a few riders. Again I saw 2 riders w/o helmets. How stupid & inconsiderate should they hit their head and have to be rescued. Riders are attracted to Slickrock because of it’s reputation and notoriety. Many riders lack skill. The rock has many pedal & crank arm scars from bad moves.

Made van b4 weather broke. I was beat and mentally exhausted.

I rode Moab first back in’92 and over the years have returned many times. I spent several thanksgivings here driving down from Spokane when there was no skiing snow. In ’92 Sand Flats camping was what you made out of it which caused ecological damage. I pass by my original camping spot each way going to TH. I slept on the slickrock, just threw out my sleeping bag and pad. Spot is closed off now.

After my ride I drove into town for a shower, propane, & groceries. Found Lazy Lizard hostel for $3.00 shower. Roughest hostel I have ever been in. Clouds were moving in w/ precipitation falling. Temp in town was @ 40 degrees. Bought propane, 4.6 gals, full tank is 5.6 gals. i would have run out during the night. Rain started falling. Bought groceries. Still raining.  I want to ride the Sovereign trail north of town and could camp out there for free. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for more rain and if so, i wouldn’t ride and I would come back into town. I decided to camp @ Sand Flats again because it is a short drive to town and road is possibly easier to get out of when wet or snow covered. As I drove uphill the rain changed to snow which is sticking only to things that are above the ground.

Snug inside my heated van. It is dark out. Nobody around me.

Outhouses here are roofless.

Dinner:

Hunkered down in an empty camp ground @ Sand Flats outside Moab. Rain and wind buffeting on the outside, inside the heater is on, I am warm, dry and powered to write this. Must be the shits to be tent camping, but didn’t see anybody actually doing it.  Moab is a seasonal town, this being the off season. Stores are closed for the season, some look like they are closed for good.

Last night I camped @ Boggy Draw above Delores, CO. I rode Maverick’s & Italian Canyon for short ride. trails were like old cow paths thru the long time ago logged over P-pine forest. Not very interesting or challenging. Plan was short ride (check), then drive back to Cortez for a shower, groceries, diesel, & visit LBS. Cortez has a new rec center for a senior citizen discounted $3.00 shower. Visited Kokopelli bike shop located in an old Woolworths store right downtown on Main street. Floor is linoleum tile not the wood floor I remembered in the store back home.

Drove to Moab counter steering against the wind. Slick rock country. Arrived middle of the afternoon. Walked the streets checking out bike shops. Bike shuttle is down for the year so no shuttle for the whole enchilada down porcupine trail because of snow and no riders. Bought my own new copy of Pulp Fiction.

Forecast is for some wet and below freezing temps at night. Plan is to ride Slick Rock tomorrow. The slick rock drains water very fast and the forecasted temp is above freezing tonight.

Watched a video of Thunder Mountain on MTBR taken like last week. Snow has fallen and this rain might be more snow. Bummer will miss riding it again.

Mail arrived today from Earth Class Mail, my mail service. My license tabs were inside. It is now on the license plate 1 day b4 expiration. I could have stayed in Cortez for several more days if it weren’t for the tab.

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.