Windy night out @ Upper JEM TH rocked the van. Warm night,

Plan today is to get up @ at it to do my wash prior to 10:00 gathering @ OTE to depart to Little Creek.

Made the laundromat & have clean clothes and sheets. Met the owner whom I met back in ’09. He remembered me and commented on the stickie display on my van. Nice laundromat. Clean rest room opened early for my need.

DJ lead Jeff,a guy I never knew his name, 4 brothers from Idaho, and me out to Little Creek. Sure is a treat to ride in another rig going over the bumpy roads. The 4 brothers were a hoot. The oldest was 61 down to late 40s. All had good bikes.

Little Creek is a quasi marked trail system. Rock cairns mark a route over the slick rock w/ lots of moves of step ups and roll overs. DJ is a skilled rider. We rode the same route that Rick and I rode back in ’09 in reverse. I found the location of my fall. I knew it was out there somewhere and had a slight sense of apprehension of riding it. It rode better going our way. I was just so close to going over the edge into oblivion.

Little Creek is slab and broken rock that requires slow churning pedaling: keep your speed up and under control then pedal wheelie up a face. My riding skills are vastly improved over even last year’s ride here. I not cocky, I still keep a conservative ability call but following DJ and Jeff I found that I was willing and able to ride stuff that I would have walked. Great bike and tuned suspension. I did cut too close to a dead branch that ripped a gash in my left forearm. I kept riding as the blood seeped down to my watch band. I told myself if the blood went under the band I would stop and bandage it. We stopped before that happened.

Finished the ride. Beautiful excellent riding conditions. GPS battery died right @ start.

Drove back to Hurricane. Jeff and I made plans to ride the Zen trail down @ ST George tomorrow. I drove to liquor store, its location speaks volumes on Hurricane’s acceptance of liquor as it is way out in the non town toolies , for a scotch resupply. In the parking lot a Hurricane cop was field sobriety testing a woman. Later she was placed in the back seat of a the police crew cab truck,

Next was drive to Washington rec center for a shower. Ran into Ken who works there, we are  facebook friends. Clean body on clean sheets. Sleep will be good tonight w/ heater on low. Temp didn’t get to freezing last night.

Drove back and up to JEM TH @ 4200′.

Another lily pad of friends in Quentin & DJ, owners of the Hurricane branch of Over The edge Sports(OTE).

Quiet cold night out near the airport. Ran the heater on hi and used double down blanket until the van warmed up then I kicked off the double blanket layer. Ice on inside of windshield.

Today i finish the drive to Hurricane. I drove rt 143 over Cedar Breaks and BrianHead up & 10,400′, bit of snow but road was cleared. i drove up here on my first trip here back in 1998 car camping out of my VW Golf GT. Today I just drove thru. Views down in Bryce Canyon but I was like a horse w/ the bit in its teeth as I scurried to Hurricane.

Drove to Over the Edge Sports(OTE), Hurricane location. Greeted owners Quentin and DJ warmly. DJ said I was dressed the same as last year. Well… yeah. Dog Eddie remembered me by rolling over onto his back exposing his belly for a rub. They are nice folks.

My plan was to do my laundry then go for a ride, or go on a ride then do my laundry and share a sip of scotch w/ Quentin after closing. Time passed and it became a ride on Hurricane Rim, I made the store at closing and helped DJ put the bikes back in the shop. She asked me if I wanted to join them for sinner @ a Chinese restaurant. I said yes. There went the laundry chore. And Quentin accepted a rain check for a later Scotch. I then drove out to the Upper JEM TH where I have stayed over the years until precip softens the road to impassible. I am here for the night under the shadow of Gooseberry and sunset lit Mollie’s Nipple peak. Life is good.

So, back to the ride. I parked at a TH just above town, and I mean above town as there is an ancient pour over dropping maybe 100 down. A newer crewcab  pickup truck pulled in and out stepped 5 women dressed in the Polygamy garb. Maybe a mother and the rest younger. They walked to the precipice edge and took pictures. The FLDS sect is just a short drive away. My thought for the attraction to the drop was them evaluating life’s choices: Being married off to an older man and becoming one of his plural marriages,   or the leap to escape. Warren Jeffs crowd.

Yesterday I cleaned the dried mud from my bike. Today i lubed it up. Crazy warm as I rode in summer clothing. My summer sun tan returned to pale white months ago. Today I scored a little sun burn. I worked the ride and enjoyed myself. The ride goes thru where I camp. Today i spied a pair of riding gloves on the ground. Women’s small. I put them in the register box and rode on.

At this point the trail becomes the JEM trail that slowly drops to the Virgin River. There are 2 switchbacks separated by a piece of steep bike wheel rutted track. The first switchback has a sizeable bench to turn on. However, the outside drops down canyon. last year I finally rode it but walked the steep section and following turn. Today I froze on the bench SB but nailed the steep and the next SB. It’s all courage and conviction.

Down the ways the JEM connects back w/ the Hurricane Rim and I turned onto. I saw 2 riders just above a tech step up. I mangled my way up it. 2 women. One was a nice small size and was bare handed. I pegged her as owner of the gloves. She was astonished and pleased that i saved her gloves. We ended up visiting for way minutes. they both work on salmon fishing boats up in Alaska. The smaller woman (excuse me if she reads this that I misplaced her name) is a boat cook.

I finished the rest of the 20.65 mile ride still being bested by 2 tech moves that occur on a climb where I don’t have the wind to get thru. Late afternoon sun played havoc w/ be able to look down the trail. Several times I bashed the move because i was blinded. I experienced strong winds several places which added another tricky dimension. I am just a guy balancing on 2 wheels.

Stopped @ PO  and picked up my license tabs and flannel top sheet to correct my engineering error.

Sat. DJ is leading the shop ride out @ Little Creek and we might ride where I fell 3 years ago. I need to get going early because I want to do my laundry b4 the ride.

Fixie Dave moved down the road to Red Rock cycles in ST George.

Camped @ 4300′. Quite warm.

Heard from Ardelle for GJ that she enjoyed her visit in Sedona and skipped here.

In the freeze thaw mud and old snow. I drove back highways to Panguitch escorted by a county sheriff for a ways as I oogled @ the scenery. Again, resources stolen to put beef on consumers plates.

Stopped @ FS station and asked about Thunder mtn conditions. Long talker told me trail would be OK except for patches of snow in the shaded areas. The soil drains well. Long talker.

I drove to TH. Beautiful day: blue bird skies supplemented by goldens of rock formations, white snow, and green trees. Temp in low 40s. Geared up. I added an extra long underwear top just in case I might spend the night out. Should have added a dry pair of socks and maybe worn my over booties. I rode the 5 miles up Red Canyon on the paved bike path. Encountered old patches of snow w/ frozen bike tracks. Pavement under the snow. made the gravel road that lead 2 miles to the upper TH. Old vehicle tracks among old bike tracks. Freeze thaw mud on the road. Signal being sent that I ignored as I have some sweat equity invested.

Made the upper TH, the van was trail miles 7.8 miles away. The bikes who preceded me might have had a better ride in the fresh snow. For me I slid across their frozen tracks. Worse was the freeze thaw mud where there was no snow as i either pushed my bike up or slid it down. Beautiful day, great colors, outside burning calories getting fit all on the good side. The 7.5 miles and 763′ climbed to reach the upper TH. The 7.88 miles back took 1 hour 48 mins and climbed 972′. I was glad i started early for all the time the ride took.

I saw fresh bike and shoe prints most of the way down. They had ridden and pushed their bikes up then turned around. I wondered what was going on between their ears as they climbed into worsening conditions. They beat themselves enough and slide their bikes back down. At the TH I saw 2 camper rigs that I checked out. One rig had the 2 muddy bikes but clean riders. Ah, shower in the rig. I spoke w/ them: Europeans on vaca.

My bike was a mess. The pedals were so continually jammed w/ snow and mud, sometimes I couldn’t click in and rode them as flats. However, I couldn’t pedal uphill. What a mess. Down low the trail traversed under a ridge that sloughed off torrential either rain or snow melt that scared the hillside the trail traveled. I like the big 2.4 square profile Ardents for snow traction.

I drove back to the FS and told the info guy about my experience. he still didn’t get it.

Driving in to Panguitch in the AM I saw a campground that was opened and had showers. I paid $5.00 for comfort of mud removal. I stopped @ a service station and scored hot h20 to wash my bike off. 3 gallons, the most ever needed.

Camp spot was to be the local airport. I figured this small of town would not have a control tower which means no traffic and a quiet place. I drove out in the country to the airport. The road was blocked by a locked gate. Darn. No camping here. I drove a bit further into BLM land and found an ATV parking area.

Both my tuner and XM are crapping out. I ordered a new tuner and XM shipped to Hurricane due next week. I listen to XM all the awake time. Strange to have silence.

Tomorrow is Hurricane. License tabs at the USPS.