Rained Friday night during OTE party. Big Al brought a shelter that he set up outside sheltering the party goers and a 50 gallon drum fire place. Enjoyed 2 shots of a nice scotch and better chocolate that I provided last year. A tradition has been established. Maybe 15 people showed.  Met Bill & his german wife who are the race promoters for the Ididarod (?)bike race in Alaska, the course is the sled dog race course. Helped clean up then left back for upper JEM. As I drove onto the TH road i heard clay sticking to my wheels. Maybe I should not be driving on this to be soon wet and slippery road. Drizzled & rained all night. Sat AM I awoke to leaden skies and precipitation. I decided I needed to get back onto pavement. I walked the gravel road out to the highway evaluating the road. The worst was the slight uphill to the highway where there are 2 small cross wheel jarring washes. My success would be  to jar the suspension on the washes to keep my speed up to coast up the slope. My mud caked LL Bean shoes are on the inside step of the van. I battened down the hatches and made my move. Slither slightly like in snow and bumped across the washes and made the highway. I left a 4 wheels trail of mud on the wet pavement. The clay which loosened by the wet let loose from the tires that rattled on the under carriage. Back on hard surface, no more JEM parking on this stay.

Back into town to hang @ OTE. Dan drove his 15 miles of desert dirt road into town and met me. His pickup undercarriage gets coated w/ the mud. He drove repeadly thru a water puddle in a parking lot making it a mud puddle.

Drove down to ST George Chillies to watch Gonzaga Baylor game.  Air time was an hour later than schedule. I choose to watch just the first half. The Zags were better than holding their own. Drove back to Hurricane, hung @ OTE till closing then parked behind the store @ the dance studio property. I am wearing a path in the grass.

Forecast is just for more cdays of rain. Rained during the night. Slept till almost 8:30.

Dan told me about local history @ Silver Reef N of town. I needed to drive some charging time on the batteries, it was raining, I needed something different and a driving I did go. Silver Reef was unique, per Dan, because silver was found in sandstone. Little remains of the settlement. Several small sections of building walls are standing. Walls are true and composed of chunks of rocks, none as thick as the wall, held together w/ clay.  Leeds was the site of a CCC camp. Of the standing buildings the rocks in the walls were mortared w/ cement. Pioneers did not have cement, if they did perhaps more buildings would be still standing?

Drove up past Virgin towards Zion NP to view the Virgin River @ Sheeps Bridge road.  Rain has swollen the river. Color is muddy brown and moving. Weather forecast is calling for stream banks full for the Virgin.

Drove back roads back to Hurricane and socialized @ OTE. Eddie, the shop dog, a Border Collie is  allowing my friendship. I pet him on the hardwood floor which makes it easier to pickup his hair that I remove.

Another night behind shop. More days of hanging here till Thurs AM split for Sedona. Wed I have my followup dr appointment in ST George.

Just rain and more rain.

Two rest days in a row, weather affected. I can make a day pass while remembering little of what happened. Oh, I did my wash, went to library and read SC paper, hung @ bike shop, bought dinner @ other Mexican place, visited Baristas for $4.00 ice cream, then drove back to Upper JEM for night. Roda back to TH is holding up well as it appears to have a gravel base above the dirt.

Today OTE is having a blowout sale. I was first customer in. I bought a Shimano XTR cluster reg $209 for ridiculous price. Super light, may it wear well. Bought Dan a bottle of Squirt. I will have Shimano cluster, cranks & chain rings and SRAM chain & derailleur. The XTR cluster will be the first XTR stuff I have owned since I quit seriously racing back in mid 90s.

Forecast had hope for dry skies for a ride down @ Santa Clara for the trails that drain well. On way out of town I spotted Dan and pulled in to listen to. As normal a lengthy conversation. He went his way exploring and I drove south. I pulled into TH. A few rain drops hit the windshield, I watched as the frequency & quantity increased to a light rain. I changed into my warm riding clothes and waited, hoping for a sucker hole that would allow me to get onto my bike in the dry. Didn’t happen. I waited for over an hour. Ride window closed. Changed clothes and drove to rec center for shower.

OTE is having a birthday party after the shop closes. It is raining now less than an hour b4 party. I am making my standard Waldorf salad.

Forecast out to Friday has rain. I checked Sedona weather which calls for possibility or rain, dried but not sunshine. Looks like I will be leaving on Thurs morn for Sedona.

Off to fix salad. Eating apples from Washington.

Yesterday was a no ride day that added trail building workout. Slow easy AM. Stopped @ library to read paper and a few magazines. I was a recipe clipper and fixer back when i had a kitchen. The recipes require more resources than I have in my kitchen. I no longer read recipes that I can’t prepare. I have several “go to” dishes that i eat once a week. No, I needn’t write a recipe book.

Made the trail building @ entrance to Quail Lake SP. Land is managed by a water district and the contact is a mtn biker. He said one of his sons rode Red Bull years ago. He has injury issues as a result. Trail building is almost scrape and ride. desert dirt needs to be packed down. The result will be a trail designed & built by mtn bikers which will be a hoot to ride.

Back out @ JEM after dark.

Weather forecast is calling for precipitation for week.

Today it was the pulmonary DR appointment in ST George. Diagnosis is COPD meaning my bronchi are scared restricting my ability to empty my lungs after breathing in. Great going in but poor going out. Concern is over the noticeable blood clot scar in my left lung. Perhaps in 2005 I had knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear. recovery laid me up for several weeks. During that period of inactivity a blood clot formed in my left leg. Some of the clot passed to my lung resulting in a blockage that created the scaring. Concern is I am not getting enough O2 @ night to support body functions. The DR ordered chest Xray and echo cardiogram and prescribed Advair. Follow up appointment next week.

Dan and I rode Barrelroll. Almost where I part was a cow elk carcass. A guy arrived and walked over to it. He called the Sanat Clara PD.

Dan is a year older than me. I lead the ride working to ride within myself. I pushed middle chain ring. These trails are so well designed and built such that going up is the same as going down they ride so well. Climbing turns usually preceded by a grade reversal for a few pedal strokes breather b4 the turn followed by a small dip again. Trails drain well. Way better than Ice House to my way of liking a trail.

Rain forecast for tonight. I’m camped back out in desert. I will keep an ear peeled to how hard it hits my roof to determine if I can stay the night. Too much rain will make road greasy and there are 2 small washes it crosses, if they run I will be here for awhile.

Friday Over the Edge is celebrating their 3rd anniversary w/ a party. Last year I made the party w/ my scotch and chocolate. Quentin has it covered this year.

Been at the life style for 29 months.  MBA described me as, ” a guy who retired to the full time position of mountain biker.” as written in Jan issue on MBA. Grace and I were mentioned in the same sentence.

I have ridden 8717 miles on 557 rides. The XT cranks, Chris King headset, and Sram gripshifters are all that remain from original bike build.

Oh, fresh oranges. Last year down in Santa Clara a guy w/ a horse trailer full of pallets containg just picked CA oranges set up a road side stand. Today is his first day this year. I bought a bag of almost right from the tree oranges.