Last night my sound system was affected by the vortex energy here in Sedona. It hit behind Picassos. Anyway the tuner’s mind went on a bender and has since failed to respond to controls and gone into flat line land. Order a replacement tomorrow.
Yesterday Danny and I met for usual Sat Bfast. Canadian Bacon stopped by and shared his spin on the trail closure. There is so much one sided conversations. I would so much like to have several of these people in the same room to hear from their lips.
Danny and I created this route (mostly Danny) where his GF would shuttle us down to BnB and we would ride back to his house in West Sedona. Danny wanted to ride Rabbit Ear Ridge climb in 2:2 @ his own pace. He did. I stopped once to remove my glasses and put them on my helmet because of the sweat dripping into my eyes. What a hump. The early part of the ride was like we did previously on Fri. We dropped onto Llama over to bail route to Bell rock pathway. We turned onto Easy Breezy which is now an adopted system trail being loved by removing tech features. Shit. We climbed Templeton to share the trail w/ mobs of hikers. Much easier to ride down the climb out of the creek bottom. We crossed @ Red Rock crossing getting our feet wet because of the h20 flowing over the stepping stones. We rode thru Budda beach then made a hike a bike up to Ridge continuing all the way to the Recycle center then rode the road back to his house. 19.86 miles climbed 2285′ in 3 hr riding time. We were out for almost 5 hrs, I did not pee once. dehydrated.
A beer and shower @ Danny’s then I went to picassos where the sounds freaked out. I was too dehydrated to really enjoy dinner. I drove out to Deer Pass camp that is still crowded. An FS LEO truck checked the occupants out but didn’t stop to talk to me.
Today was a Johnny’s garage ride w/ many of the old MBH riders. Rhama rode today. Maybe 12 riders of good technical ability and cardio. As the ride went on riders split off. Maybe 6 of us lasted to climb back up Special Ed. Rhama put on a clinic for riding slowly the entire trail. The trail is basalt rock buried leaving exposed maybe the top 10″ in places. Then there is the prickly pear penalizing a rider for making the trail wider. Too bad as this trail is in the closure area.
Today I drank almost all of my 70 ozs of h2o on our 2 hr ride time ride. Still didn’t pee.
A road ride back to Recycle center. I drank a recovery beer then recycled the bottle @ the center. I drove over to Dannys to pick my forgotten wash cloth from yesterday’s shower. He and his GF, Ellie, just returned from their hike. I ended up socializing for a bit. My plan was to shower then drive down to BnB to check out the Santa Cruz demo scene. I stopped @ New Frontiers for groceries where I ran into LA. She thanked me for the red rock blog pictures she saw while overseas. On the way down to BnB I saw 2 mtn bikers slowly pedaling on the road. One stuck out his thumb. I pulled to the curb. They were finishing up a long Sedona ride on the road back to BnB. It was Zack from Fri. night. I loaded them and 2 bikes inside my van. A guy runs up to my window and asks if I could take him down to VOC. He waived $ that I refused. I ferried 2 riders and their bikes and a walker to BnB. The shop was closed, the demo was put away, there was nobody to hang w/. Bummer. I drove out to Beaverhead and called it a day.
Tomorrow I order replacement tuner.
Tonight I copied my Sedona 2013 ride map. I will take it to a print shop for an enlarged print.
I am replacing the Ardent rear tire w/ a Conti trail king like I used to ride which I think climbs better.
Rest day tomorrow.
Wichita is in the final 4 after beating the Zags last weekend then OSU yesterday.
Pleasant weather. No heater @ night, a slight short lived chill in the AM. Mid 70s for the high.
My time here is running short. Sedona has really been my home for 4 years while I travel. What a place to leave from. 8 months from now and I will return.
Cover story and pic of new issue of Dirt Rag is about Sedona.