Ah, Another Friday in Sedona under ideal riding conditions. Somewhere it is an inalienable right to ride in shorts in the desert in February, today validated that right.
Quiet night and day @ Beaverhead. Left for VOC for my 11:30 DR appointment. results are there is no external indication of my headaches. Next up is an MRI of my head. No comments needed here.
Over the Bike and Bean for 2:00 shop ride. Some of the same vacationers and local visitors and the locals. 18 riders. Rode Shades to Hiline connector up to Hiline dropping down Baldwin, up Templeton switchbacks, down to Sleezy breezy, to shades cutover, then down Shades back to BnB. Riding better but still leaving the same chunk on the table.
I carried my cell phone that rang 2X, one to schedule the MRI and the other from Absolute telling me my new shoes were in. I rode down to their shop across the street and put on my new shoes, same version, same design, same problem of failure. This failed pair lasted me from Sept in Spokane to Feb here in Sedona. A run on size 40 shoes.
Another pizza and beer night.
New issue of DirtRag mag was on the counter. I paged thru it and found an article written by Nate Shearer from the VA gang visiting here. I snagged his autograph.
Thursday I met Brandon Watts of Freehub mag who was down here experiencing Sedona for his mag. Today he added another ride. He told Jimmy he is coming back. That’s what Sedona does to people.
Back to Danny’s for the night preceded by a salad for dinner @ Pizapicaso(?) then a shower. Another night of city camping.
Today was ritual b-fast @ Wildflower. This after Rebecca and I will do this bike ride I have been wanting to do for weeks out in West Sedona.
The locals here are in the riding center, riders from all over visit for a short while and then leave. These people get to ride this stuff everyday. This is truly a place where one could say, “Why would I want to go anywhere else?” Yes, I am a visitor also but I stay longer than the short term visitors. Every week there is an influx of new riders. I have traveled the country meeting riders in their home turf. Jimmy stays here and he meets more riders than I did on my travels. But then some people I have met along the way come to visit and I get to be the local. It’s just cool.
Sat. Afternoon I picked up Rebecca @ their rental and drove out to the former Cultural Park in West Sedona. Danny joined us. Today is the big route I had been imagining. Mike from Jackson found us in the parking lot and joined. He is in better shape than us. So nice to have my front end being tight and having my Reverb seatdropper back on. Big ride: 17.8 miles in 2 hrs 35 min that climbed 1900′. Sedona riding lacks long grinder hill climbs, all the elevation comes in short grunt climbs, it’s harder taking the punch of short climbs than being beaten by a huge climb. Huge climbs usually lead to a long descent. Here I pedal almost all the time. Our route was: ledge n’airy, last frontier, western civ, cockscomb, aeries, deadman’s. mescal reroute, canyon of fools, OK, AZ cypress, and girdner back to rigs. Mike played w/ us. Danny fought to stay ahead of me, & rebecca’s allergies hit affecting her breathing. Me. I was just my worn damaged self staying in the mix. Again, our ride was on a Sat afternoon under ideal outdoor conditions and we saw fewer than 10 people.
Rebecca invited Danny and me to dinner. That’s how I spent my evening. I drove back to Danny’s for a city camp. Danny, Rebecca and I were played out from our ride. I am not sleeping well because of my headaches which cheats me out of recovery rest after a hard ride.
My debit card should arrive on Tues and I can again gain control of my spending.