Thursday beer drinking gathering was another wet success albeit sore voice box and hearing loss the next day. The boys get noisier w/ each beer consumed: lots of shouting in a public place. South Hill Spokane. Cal, Tom, and me made ride appointment of 9:00 AM on Fri.

Bed @ Bill’s again.

Fri made drive to 7  Mile for ride rendezvous. I lead on some trails and Cal showed me some either unknown or unremembered trails. Short easy day. Friend Bill from SC called me telling me of a fabulous match for me that is working in their cafe. Quick trip to  Augusta, SC? I would like to do an experiment w/ Kersey / Bates aptitude test sharing both results. Analytical perhaps to verify Bill and Liz’s match?

Back to Butler for shower. Spent rest of afternoon @ This Bike Life.  Ran into Todd. We worked together @ Boeing Spokane for years. He bought my first mtn bike and got into racing. He is training for an endurance race @ Priest Lake, going to be a killer. While there he received a phone call from Paul who was my closing attorney and also worked together. Dinner was @ The Elk downtown. Sure have been driving a lot in Spokane. Paul joined me for 2 beers and intense conversation. I can’t hold a candle to Paul’s intensity, in fact he wears me out.

back @ Bill’s for the night.

Today my plan is to ride Mica Peak above Liberty lake and later visit w/ Randy and Lisa for freshly caught Alaska salmon and halibut. I’m making my waldorf salad.

Have a skritch in my rear hub I think. I called Kevin @ N Div Bike and made appointment for service.

Air quality alert for smokey air here. No rain, dead dry, fires burning at a distance. Maybe I should travel to Olympic coast to put moisture back into my skin and breathe ocean air.

My Mica peak ride starts @ a horse trail head just above the park. Wheel ruts no horses today. Trail down is pretty much on maybe 25 degree fall line on sandy soil that is h2o runoff creating ruts and  hard chine edges. the horses moved over 15 feet and rode in a same grade trail.  Then into park and the climb. This ride is almost all double track wide but no wheel ruts. Big 2600′ climb then abruptly dropping steeply back down over lots of h2o bar launchers. Mostly N facing slopes that created shade and moisture. Did some fast screaming down. Ride data is still in the “can”.

Off to dinner.

No word from heart DR. I’ll call on Monday.

Still no info from heart DR meaning I have no DR orders to break.

I headed to Mt Coeur d’Alene to ride a loop named after Tim who taught it to me. link to ride is below

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224784235

6 mile overgrown logging road climb out but almost 6 mile downhill back to chilled beer. Old hiking trails ride more challenging than purpose built trails. 3 hrs, 20 mile, 3200′ climb. This is one of my more favorite rides because of the trail challenge and the setting excluding the substantive clear cutting. Way down on trail 257 there was a post decaying moose all but lapped onto the trail. No stench, just a big black haired shape. Nice tough ride. There are 3 short steep loose climbs to make that I used to judge my ability. I missed the first one just after clearing it, I looked down and stalled. The last 2 i nailed w/ a burst of speed and power. My seat post is very much securely clamped into the frame. I raised it a bit more so that there is maybe a 15 degree bend in my knee at the bottom of the stroke. I find I am able to put more mash weight on the pedal and still spin when needed.

Next up was the Coeur d’Alene street farmers market and to meet Andy and Jen. Jen owns Mountain madness soap company, she sells soap at a stand there. She spotted me in the crowd and we warmly greeted each other.  Husband Andy joined later. Just nice people. The stand next to Jen’s sold healthy smoothies, the blender was powered by a large car battery which in turn was hooked to a resistance trainer upon which sat a Fat Tire Ale townie bike. You could spin for your drink.

We went to dinner @ a new gourmet pizza restaurant, Fire, Artisian pizzas. Crazy thing was I read a review of them in that day’s Spokesman and wrote the name and address on my note card. Jen said they were taking me to dinner and described the above. We did. Cool. Bigger city version of The Rivers Eatery in Cable, WI.

I spent the night in their driveway. This AM I made a vat of oatmeal for us all.

Back into Spokane. I stopped @ U-District PT in Liberty Lake to visit w/ owner Jeff who kept my body repaired.

So great visiting w/ people who have meant much to me in my past. Time has moved on yet the bonds are still strong.

Tonight is another Lopper get together w/ new additions.

Tomorrow is perhaps a Beacon ride. heavy fire smoke hangs down low. No rain and none forecast. Lots of acres of forest and grassland burning here in the west.

Below is the link to a professional photographer’s work capturing the Maah Daah Hey race in the badlands of ND. He captured the scenery.

http://chadziemendorf.photoshelter.com/gallery/MDH-Epic/G00008Q68FS_SyCM/

Yesterday an irregular heart rate doctor examined me. He said my heart and lungs were fine from his stethoscope exam and another EKG. I walked out w/ a heart monitoring device to wear for 24 hrs. I had 6 sticky pads on my chest connected by wires to this little recorder I stuffed in my left pants pocket. I was to record significant events in a log book and note the time and to click the monitor. The 2 would possibly explain effects of my first beer, my second, 8 puffs, a cup of coffee. I rode Sharp Stick for a heart pounding stress data session. I separated the downhill to see if adrenaline would affect. I dropped both off this AM and am awaiting another appointment to discuss the results. I wonder if what I am feeling is normal valve opening and closing w/ a bit of slop from abuse. Sharp Stick took less effort than Sat’s ride, perhaps from matching Les’ effort on the uphill.

Then I spent the day wandering around.

Today the nonessential part was installed on the van. My van was not washed. I washed it this afternoon. The dessicated grasshopper exoskeletons are a stubborn removal.Hand scrubbing will be required.

I visited 3 different bike shops today that all had one shop in common. Kevin discovered that my bottom bracket install lacked a spacer. This new frame has a wider shell than the previous one; I just swapped the parts straight across w/ no research to needed changes. No slop in the cranks. I also learned of the proper torque setting for the seat post clamping the Reverb seat post. At the recommended torque the seat was too slow. We backed it off and it is still tighter than I ever cranked it to.  Seat post works, may it stay where it belongs.

I joined a Fitness program thru my insurance carrier. I pay like $25 a month to have free access to subscribed health facilities. I tried the one in Spokane that had showers. I walked in today w/ my card saying I’m in for a shower. The owner of the franchise said no wait a minute. I would owe a $25 new member fee. I said that is not what Fitness is telling me. He said that his Fitness contract says he can collect the fee. I left to my van and called the customer help line. I was told I was right. The help person could only gather info and send to management for resolution in 3 to 5 days. They can not call the club. Second time this has happened, this time there was no one offering their home shower. I drove down to Bicycle Butler where I have shower privileges.

Next was tonsorial appointment. I am now a spiffy looking scruffy dude.

Dinner of frozen skillet cooked dinner behind Yokes.

Tomorrow is Andy and Jen’s in Coeur d’Alene.

My knees are hurting less it seems every day now.