I spent Fri and Sat nights out @ Deer Pass rd. Deep cold snap moved in Fri. Sat @ 7:30 AM it was 17 degrees, the temp just made 40 during the day. This AM same time it was 13 degrees and 42 inside. Last night i rolled in the thermal blanket under the down blanket. My hat had been a bike hat. Tonight the temp will be a tad warmer but I am upgrading my hat to my wapiti woolens ski hat. I’m going for toasty.
Sat I drove into town to Wildflower for b-fast w/ Danny. Social catch up. Afterwards I drove to Fat Tire to visit w/ Dave. Hang out. We engaged ourselves all the way thru lunch. I finally left towards 4. An NFL play off game was on that I caught part of and a beer @ Oak Creek brewery. I can sit among people and not feel left out. next was grocery shop @ New Frontiers. Dungeness crab. I bought a nice one. The meat counter guy cleaned his first crab. Back to Deer pass for the night, same crowd is still there. I deemed the day too cold to ride.
While @ Dave’s I remet Roger. He is a few years older than me. He talked of a Sunday ride. i asked if I could go along. He called me later w/ ride info.
As I stated, Sun AM it was 13 degrees. My hat kept sliding off during the night. Annoying and chill inducing. Hunkered under the covers. Again, it was 42 degrees inside. I envisioned this desert clime to be maybe in the 50s @ night and heat would not be needed.
Roger called to change the ride to 12:00. I arrived early and enjoyed comfort inside the van. I got ready to ride. Roger missed the 12:00 start time. I finally left @ 12:15 alone. I rode system trails to Bike Path over to the high school and picked up Special Ed that traverses and drops down to Oak Creek. This is a challenging trail not for the big hits but the almost constant basalt giant baby heads and prickly pear and yucca edging the trail to keep it narrow. Chunky. I dropped down the shoulder of Pyramid.
From Pyramid saddle looking North. Scheurman peak is high point. Trail traverse this way part way down.
I crossed the road and began the climb out of the valley to Ridge part way up to Sketch which misses a little of the climbing on Ridge but makes up for a system trail with it’s exposed hand built bench cut tread. Loose rock rubble. Crazy, horse shit on it. Chilly pleasant day. A short drive to Snap for a shower then down to BnB.
Forecast is for another lower teen night. Wed night temp are forecast for lower 20s.
Tomorrow AM I have a PT visit to work on my sore right shoulder. My left leg hurt is all but gone.