Tues eve I rode w/ the Gila Hike and Bike shop ride on Gomez peak 4 miles n of town. Mostly older guys that got after it. Riding in P-pine, alligator juniper and some prickly pear mixed in. Tree cover higher than me. Short ride but intensity made up for shortness. I hung @ the back pushing myself harder than when i ride by myself. We rode part of the Continental Divide trail. The ride finished like it started: wham bam these guys were ready to ride and ready to drive back home. I drove up to where we crossed the CDT to spend the night.
Wed I drove back to town and bike shop to learn of other trails. I learned about Signal Peak trail that was GPSed and put up on their web site. I loaded the course onto my edge 305. No map to purchase forcing me to rely on the gps. Casual review of ride showed 3105′ climbing, just under 3 hours ride. I can do. The ride started @ 7165′ topping out @ 8990. First 8 miles climbed on logging roads. I was beat on the climb from the exertion and not eating. Elevation is a factor. Sedona riding is not about long slogs. Logging road up and CDT down then a mix of old trails and roads. Evening was getting close and I did not know where I was other than the icon on the edge screen. I was managing energy stores and time. i was becoming concerned. Finally i hit the paved road i drove in on. I decided that I would ride the road back instead of trying to follow the course. I misunderstood where I was relative to my van, I had 2 direction choices, I picked the wrong one and road 1 1/2 miles downhill in the wrong direction. I parked @ mp 14, I saw 16 up to 17 which told me I was headed away from rest and beer. I climbed back up the paved road, finally the course joined the road and I saw my van. Whew. I was beat to submission. I sat in my chair for minutes b4 i sipped a beer. remarkable that I did not cramp afterwards. My data was 24.46 miles, in 3 hrs 42 mins, climbing 3507′. Finally a calorie burn of 2042 cals.
I spent the night @ the TH.
Friend Jason from Sedona turned me onto these healthy supplements i have been eating. I noticed that the fat deposits on my body are shrinking. I hope my body is changing stripping fat from my body. Headaches are strangely occurring still, I have discovered no discernible pattern.
Today so far I have driven into town, filled fuel tank, bought shirt, and done my wash. Plan is to drive to Alamogordo and learn about riding in Cloudcraft and Ruidoso. Hi to 2 readers who volunteered riding around Albuquerque.
Mountain Flyer mag had an advertisement for 24 hours in the canyon, Palo Duro, near Amarillo, TX that I will check out on my way to the Ozarks.
Quite a refreshing experience to see h2o flowing in creeks and big tree cover indicating h20. yesterday i crossed the same flowing creek maybe 5 times, cold temp.