Wed was a recovery day. Eric serviced my fork and opened a few bad news issues. Needed new seals, OK I can accept. He test rides the bike. He comes back marking disheartening comments about my Chris King headset,  again, the last remaining original part. The upper cap and the lower crown race needed replacing. King warrantied the upper. Now the front end does not creak or rock. Walked up Main st just seeing what i could see. Found a big patch of salsify weed just needing pulled. i was wearing my riding glasses and my prescription glasses were loosely held in my shirt front pocket. I pulled lots of weeds making a small dent in the population. I walked away; I padded my shirt pocket to check on the glasses. EMPTY!. My glasses fell out in the weed patch.  Searched the patch and finally found them in the last place I looked.

Drove out to camp spot on Democrat Gulch. B4 arriving @ my spot I saw a snake writhing on the road. I straddled it, passed it and stopped. I grabbed my camera and walked back hoping for a rattler shot. Was a dying rattler suffering from a fatal drive over. I cut its small rattle off.

Rain squall passed over @ camp spot. Watched a SSS rider heading up Lamb’s Gulch. I believe that he had a wonderful ride w/ just right temps and a spritz to keep the dust down.

Thurs evening is Sun Summit South (SSS) shop ride that I plan on riding. Did my wash 1 day early because Fri will be a drive day to Boise then get too busy for wash. Eric who builds custom hard tail frames and works 2 days a week @ Chip’s shop worked on my bike. Wed night he took a nasty fall resulting in 10 stitches to close a wound on his forearm, big gravel road rash all over, and a smashed helmet. He rallied to come to work to finish my bike.

Chip put together his new Ti 29er hardtail that Eric built and rode it Thurs. Ride was another lung buster climbing up Mahoney, then Lodgepole, drop down to Greenhorn, climb up and finish up and down on Imperial Gulch, 15.63 miles in 2 1/2 hrs climbing 3277′.  Mostly last the entire uphill but not too far behind the 2nd to last guy. This is a guys only ride. Riders sort themselves out by ability. On the downhill I was ahead of 4 riders and right behind the pack. That felt good. Seat dropper.

Kyle made the ride having just flown in from Boston after a 2 week visit. Great to see him. I have some good friends here. SV is definitely a lilypad on my travels, good vibe places to hang.

Hung out drinking beer and surviving the on slot of mosquitoes. I used eucalyptus base repellent that seems to work OK.  Drive out to camp spot arriving about 10:30. Late night p-butter sandwhich and some tomato soup.

Fri AM it was up and on the road for Boise. Nice low key drive. GPS located LinCare to pick up blood test strips. Parked in the store lot and set up the test process. I don’t produce a big drop of blood after the lancet puncture. I went thru 4 test strips. 2.1 INR.

Drove to Sierra Trading Post outlet looking for a special shirt. Hardly a small size population then the fit is huge, could hide me and a watermellon. Then drove down the road to the new Performance Bike shop managed by Matt whom I met in FT Collins. A familiar face.

One clerk was tripping over himself to tell me about rides then finally asks Matt for the rest of the day off to guide me. Cool, a local to show me around. We met down in Hyde Park @ Harry’s just 2 blocks away from TH. He is Bob Anthony who is the weekend meteorologist for a  major Boise TV station. He humped me on a climbing trail working our way up to trail high point. Trails are out in open. Boise has less dense sage cover. Non technical. I stayed on Bob’s wheel on the uphills but smoked him on the downs. He rides a Turner 5 Spot like my previous Spot. The city is built right up against the foothills. We looked down on the state capital rotunda.

Finished ride on old town city streets to Harrys for post ride recovery drink. Bob grilled me and took notes.

Finally broke away after sunset to drive uphill into the foothills on 8th ave extension to camp @ a TH. Late sandwich and soup again.

Today is the drive to Bend as I do not see the joy of another grinder ride day. Drove hwy 20 across dry eastern OR. Up and down. About 20 miles east of town I broke over a rise to see a snow peaked skyline of the 3 Sisters, Brokentop, and Bachelor ski hill. Even shorty Tumalo is snow covered. Back on Pacific daylight savings time. Sundown will be more sensible 8:47PM.

Found that I saved the community center in Bend for a shower on the GPS which put me in the parking lot. Need to reacquaint myself w/ Bend again.

Drove out past Phil’s to spot where I normally stay. Empty. Wet spring as h2o is still in the big mud puddles nearby. I saw several vultures gliding down to a big puddle. Looked over and counted almost 20 vultures down on the ground perhaps for h2o. They started taking off one by one then searching for thermals to get them up. Several 4X4s have been playing in the other mud puddles just over a bluff from me. Mud bogging.

Going to hang here for several days, maybe leave from here for Oakridge. Comfortable temps.

 

Stayed up last night till 11:30. Every day now the sun goes down earlier. Chilly sunny morning again waiting for sun’s warmth.

Made a cherished scratch pancake recipe for first time in way long time. Still recalled recipe from memory.

Drove into Hailey to visit w/ Chip. He gives a big smile and says what am i doing back after they sent me away? I just said that I can. Asked Chip for a ride suggestion that I followed today, hence I played too hard. 3 hr ride for 17 miles and 3587′ vert. Killer.

Rode up Greenhorn gulch for a not too unpleasant climb. Next was a nastier climb. Route is to climb out of Greenhorn and traverse over to Mahoney drainage then climb out and over to Lodgepole Gulch and down to TH. I misunderstood what the map and trail signs were trying to say by climbing up Mars Ridge trail, hit snow and big alpine. No more climbing here, I’m done and I turned around again dragging my bike thru corn snow which will pack up between the tires and frame and fork. Feet postholing to my knees. WTF. Turned down Mahoney Gulch like I should have. Found trail climbing over to Lodgepole Gulch. Starting to bonk in addition to breathing issues. Need to eat during ride. Then picked up last downhill to bottom. Rounded a corner to face a cowboy bent over facing into the hill lopping brush. His mule was behind him. I powerfully braked to a non skidding stop while quietly exclaiming Whoa. The mule didn’t blink. The cowboy finally looked up startled at me at dead stop. I dropped off the downhill side of the trail and he lead his mule by.

Trails here that I have ridden are not technically hard, they excell @ grunt factor, most of the climbs are less than 10% but there are some memorable steep 22% pieces. Ride up a drainage traverse across several other drainages perhaps w/ trails then drop down back to TH. Hard ride today that spent me.

Seat dropper is a hoot. Long downhills. Drop the seat then deep knee bends lowering my center of gravity. Big handlebars and butt way low makes for flipping body english thru the turns. Pretty cool.

Back @ TH beat. Drank some chocolate milk that I have read makes the perfect recovery food. I don’t drink milk as a beverage but the chocolate milk turns me on.

Down low on Greenhorn a youth group is installing bridges at the creek crossings. Whoopee! Dry feet.

Wash cloth rinsed mud and sweat off. Drove back to Hailey to buy dinner fixings and h2o resupply. Then back out to Democrat gulch.

Van pulled the hill w/o faltering this AM. Believe issue has been solved.

Tomorrow Chip will service my fork. Take a rest day after today’s cooker.

90 degrees forecast for Boise tomorrow. I need to be in Meridian near Boise by eob on Fri. I plan on staying here till Fri AM.

Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons died today from complications from a stroke on Fri. Great sax player in the E street Band. Bruce will figure it out.

Flat out chilly in the AM. Turned on the heater for b-fast until the sun crested the ridge warming up my world very quickly.

This AM @ 8:30 the hoses are to be installed. I am dubious that they will be at Pro Tec. B-fast, clean up, and make ready to go for the drive and I arrive right on time. I ask Scott w/ cynicism that the hoses wouldn’t be here. He said they came in Sat via a auto parts shipping service. Hoses installed which will eliminate the diesel smell and the stuttering on cold engine.

Drove back to Hop …. park for starting point of self directed ride working from what Steve lead me on. Kitted up then headed out. By myself I can huff and puff up the hills. On the grinders I get into a gasping rhythm to climb the steeps on the Croy Canyon trails. STEVE: I cleaned the switchback on the 3rd try. 26″ wheels allowed me to steer thru the turn. Rode up 2 dog. Part has been rebuilt by Tony in some role. A rattlesnake made its presence made it’s warning noise just once. Climbed Bulldog. Like 15 miles @ 2100′ climb. Good spinning trail system.

Riding terrain.

Close in

Back at the van I turned on the Springsteen channel on XM and very quickly learned that the Big Man died today. I am tight w/ Bruce’s music.

Drove to Hailey aquatics center for a shower. $2.00 in an open locker room. $5.00 @ health club.

Checked out SV Brewing CO in Hailey for a beer. Several locals arrived separately greeting each other like buds. Visited w/ 1, a rider, we shared ride info. Lots more riding when the snow melts out.

Back out @ Democrat Gulch camp spot. Shortly the sun will drop behind the ridge between us. Light will remain in the valley reflected off the peaks to the south. Temp will cool.

Forecast calls for HOT 90 degs in Boise on Wed, Thurs is mid 80s. Hailey is high 74. No brainer: Going to Boise maybe Thurs.

Tentative plan is to ride the North Umpqua trail (NUT) to finish on July 4. I will plan backwards for the start. But there will be snow mosquitoes till end of July. I could hang here longer then ride Bend a few days then Oakridge then NUT.

On my ride I ran into Doug from Twin Falls parking lot conversation. Got into a discussion about personal impact of mountain biking and why it is good for others.

After dinner I hiked up the road away from the hard road. Viewed a small lake, maybe 2 acres, held by man. Further up the incoming creek beavers had made their stand. Mosquitoes are from the lake. My camp spot is the first on Democrat Gulch and the next one I never made walking. My spot is above the heavy concentration of mosquitoes. This AM I did squash a blood gorged expectant mother.