Big ride day

Windy night @ Deer pass camp, in this case I was still in bed and the van was rocking, come on in.

Drove into west sedona to laundromat for last wash. Bid owner George farewell. When i add my riding clothes to my regular week’s worth of clothes I step up to the big $5.00 washers. I hang my Pearl Izumi shorts on my clothes line stretched across the width of the van back up against the far end. I delicate temp dry most jerseys and wool socks. I final dry them on the same clothes line. For a day or 2 i have drying clothes hanging. AZ like 12% humidity & upper 70s baking temps finally evaporate all the moisture.

Drove down to VOC. I made an appointment w/ an acupuncturist for Mon AM to fix my tingling feet.

Geared up and rode to BnB. Craig… was sitting @ the counter. We previously met and chatted @ the shop. He is repping Caffe Latex , another tire sealant compound. Previously he gave some to teh shop to try. Previously I read less than glowing reviews on MTBR. Today he asked me when i was going to put the stuff in my tires. I told him of the negative reviews. he said the mix has been improved. I said give me the stuff and I will try it. He put up. Tomorrow I will empty the Stan’s then put his stuff in. Stan’s leaked. Jimmy’s tire still holds air after he put sand in the Stan’s in his tire.

Jimmy, Jason, and I headed out for the Hogs out near Chicken Point. Beautiful day, windy, dry, and not too hot. The Hogs is a lesser known area and has its technical hike a bike pieces for me. Exposure, slick rock, consequences for failures.

Agave shoot, this year's flower then plant dies.

Got lots of sun for 14.9 miles in 2 hrs 21 mins of riding. Big elevation of 1849′. I rode up my 2 nemisi in the wash. There are moves on the Hogs that are above my skill level. The consequences of failure are too great to risk riding. To that end I am sensible. My seat dropper lowers fairly quickly and dependably and the return speed is nut smacker. I use it quite a lot. Benefit is that it lowers the seat out of the way so that I can squat down on the pedals thus lowering my center of gravity on downhills. I have used it on slight uphill tech sections and it works real well in the rocky washes. Once you become comfortable w/ a dropper, you won’t go back to fixed.

Late afternoon @ BnB this guy pulls in driving this. He said it cost $150,000 to build. He bought it from the owner for less than half price. 10 mpg diesel until he spent $6,000 revising the engine to get 22 mpg. This is the kind of rig Jimmy wants to own.

Jimmy and what he wants

Dashed off up canyon to the spa for a shower. Dinner @ Mexican restaurant. Ordered Mole for 3rd time, every time the Mole is a bit different.

Out to Deer Pass camp.

8,177 MTBR readers have opened my post, “My life is better than your vacation”