Today Danny and I made a ride plan to meet and ride from the Cultural Park. This time we rode backwards to my customary route: we had to ride up Rupp. We rode down Plumbers crack, a social trail to Girdner, a system trail which drops down to Dry Creek then climbs upstream. No running h2o, only a few shrinking pools to show for heavy rain weeks ago.  We turned uphill on Rupp which is an old jeep road so old that there are no longer even double tracks. Grunt up. To me the riding key has been riding in middle chain ring & second largest cluster gear: 2 2. I can lift the front end so effortlessly and I don’t over torque the tenuous traction and spin out. Danny is a granny gear guy w/ high cadence. He tried middle chain ring and found he could do it and there was a noticeable difference. You do what you find works for you. I am getting stronger and able to push the bigger gear. As long as I stretch my legs well after each ride my knees don’t hurt too much. Ride was 12 miles in 2 hrs. We were satisfyingly spent.

Stops in town for h20, groceries, Scotch, and a shower then out to crowded Deer Pass.

Yesterday I hiked up to start of Special Ed behind the high school to see if the trail was signed closed as it is in discriminatory closure to mtn bikes area. No sign there but this one was installed on a no where trail just b4 Special Ed. My guess is the FS meant to post the next trail uphill which is start of Spec Ed.

Is this the official closure sign?

I drank a tall latte 2 hrs b4 ride start. My stomach had not cleared it and let me almost taste it again. The latte also turned on my acid reflex giving me a painful heart burn most felt during the climb back out of Dry Creek. Won’t drink that refreshment again.

Last night I didn’t sleep well. I woke b4 7:00AM alarm. I had the morning planned out w/ time to manage. First up was return visit to DR Pico to check the packed hole in my back. The nurse pulled out the wick. He determined there was more gunk in there to remove. He numbed me up and went at it. He feels that he cleaned it out well enough. Sometimes they come back. The cut is about .5″. The packing keeps the pocket open allowing the wound to heal from the inside out. This cut is painful. The hydrocodone I have taken do nothing to cover the pain. Even my home medication fails me.

Next I drove up to Flag to Discount for a new pair of tires for the front. I drove it a few feet in the parking lot and noticed that the steering was much easier. The drive around town and back down canyon put a lot of fun in driving my tissue box on a roller skate.

There were several things I was shopping for in the downtown funky stores. All right on RT 66. Came up empty.

I made a red curry dish for dinner. I pulled the recipe from a Men’s Health mag. Second time I made it. The coconut can had a recipe that I will make to use up the remaining 1/2 can.

Ride tomorrow.

Driving 89A thru West Sedona I notice quite a few mtn bikes on rigs or being ridden. Not as much as Moab but enough to accept them as being the norm.

As of 3/20 I have ridden 248 times and 3149 miles in Arizona. I have spent the most time stayed any place in AZ. That’s because of the weather being mostly good and the rest of the country experiencing winter and early spring  storms. Here very few days are lost to bad weather conditions.

I took off Thurs, Fri, and Sat from riding. Thurs the cyst was cut open which is right under my hydration pack. Fri I was not feeling well, sore throat and less than normal but high temp for me. Sat I felt the same.

Sat Ate Bfast w/ Danny then went over to Fat Tire Dave. He had a copy of the closure notice. The areas lost to bikes are Bike Path & Sketch area plus Schuerman, Only Ridge and Hurkenham system trails.  Still much dissension as it discriminates against bikers on basis of scientific study ( which doesn’t exist). Notice was signed on 3/13. The FS did not work w/ bike club advocates who were seeking solutions to cancel outright to adopting all exiting trails then work to correct deficiencies. It is in effect until 2015, an automatic extension of 1 year order.

So today the weather was beautiful and I needed to find out if I could ride w/ the wound on my back. Sunday is El Presidente from Johnny’s garage. Today it was a gathering of old time Mtn Bike Heaven riders. And the ride was just like those former rides. Your are never really lost but you can’t always get to where you want to go. We rode horse trails, washes, and desert. Nothing illegal about what we rode. 14 miles which included maybe 4 miles of pavement getting to and from the dirt.

Stinky Doug is still around.

***** software ate more writing. Piss on it.