Quiet night in parking lot. Got up, fixed bfast, did dishes. Drove down to park office and paid camping fee.

Today I drive to Cave Creek to meet Graham who drove down from Flag @ Phat Tire. I walk into shop where a man, Joey, introduced himself and that he was told by a blog reader I would be by and to look for him. He is a friend of Paul who is from my home village. Sam from Tuscon joined. He took lots of video from his Go Pro. Joey gave us the entire 20 mile loop instructions all in one blow. No map and not well signed on the ground. He said if we get lost call him. I took a shop card. I found a Garmin gps track that wouldn’t load into my EDGE 305, problem w/ unit. Graham had a shrunk version of a GS map. Too fine print.

Ride started w/ pavement for 3 miles to the preserve. Horses. We crossed Cave Creek on boards for dry feet. Trail in the preserve was like metamorphic clay. No such thing. Basalt rocks.

We kept figuring out the trail until we exited from Go John trail. Trail in park was mostly smooth. 3 groups of horse riders passed us going in the opposite direction. At the TH we couldn’t figure the map out. I said I was told to call the shop if we needed help. I called and spoke w/ Joey. He gave us a bunch more instructions until the call was dropped. We rode 2 intersections but needed help for the next sections. I called Joey again. This time we had fewer instructions: Cross the creek, ride to a fence, turn left climb up to a pass, drop onto the road down to town road back to shop. Water is creek was cold and clear to me amazing.

20 miles in 2 hrs 20 mins ride time, our total out time was almost 5 hrs. Lolly gagging.

Thanked Joey back @ Phat Tire. I  bid Graham and Sam good bye. They were heading to Tuscon to start the Spring fling ride carnival. I drove up to Black Canyon City KOA for a $5 shower. Cleaned, I drove over to Rock Springs for a piece of Jack Daniels pecan pie w/ scoop of vanilla ice cream. I need to be @ PJs in VOC by 6 for the WCC championship game between GU and ST Marys. I scored the table right under the big screen just before the start. Great well played game. The Zags prevailed. They won the conference and conference championship. They swept the conference. Next up is seed for the big dance.

I need 6 more rides to reach 1000. Early next week.

I only have the 7AM Bob Edwards show to listen to. My alarm has been set for 7 for all normal days.

My shoulder is not happily healing.

I actually took a road trip from Sedona. Nothing struck me from the sky.

Saguaro, cholla, and prickly pear , oh my. Sedona adds yuccas and agave in place of cholla and saguaro.

Rain fell just after 4AM. Intermittent lightly, intervals w/ less rest till solid I am going to soak you rain. After bfast I drove the driven over desert dirt to get on the all weather gravel road. The driven over packed the dirt. Un packed stuff gets really gummy. Bought propane in the rain. I waited for a slight clearing for the attendant. I bought 2 weed forks that I will use to  kill goathead plants. I gave one to Dave @ Fat Tire because I saw him dig plants out w/ 2 screw drivers. Participate in your local eradication effort. darn right nasty day w/ rain and occaisional wet snow falling. Chilly and damp. Hung @ BnB.

To those of you who have ridden Sedona: you prolly have ridden some biker built non FS recognized trails. Hiline for example is now a system trail, when it was created it was called a social trail. Hikers are hiking on some of these miles of trails as seen by seeing just shoe prints in the dirt. The local Ranger has responsibility to manage and care for the land. The position the local FS is taking is mtn bikes are making all kinds of new trails that are not approved and possibly environmentally destructive. Local riders whom I have spoken with do not know of these trails. In order for the FS to prevent these renegade trails is to issue a temporary closure order. This order will ban bikes from any trails that are not officially recognized by the FS. The FS says there are 211 miles of system trails. Bikers claim that another 200 miles will be lost. However, other heart propelled activities will still be allowed to use the biker built trails that, per the FS characterization, are destructive.  Blatant discrimination to 1 user group. Below is the link to a petition to make our all trails open to mtn bikers voice.

https://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-forest-service-stop-discriminating-against-mountain-bikers-2

Fri eve I drove out to Beaverhead. Windy and wet snow that melted on contact w/ the ground or whitened colder objects.

Sat AM the weather was still wet. Another rest day. Tonight GU plays LMU in semi finals staring @ 7. Going to watch it @ PJs. Today I just let the day slip by. Plan is have dinner @ PJs and finish b4 game start, watch the game, then drive down to Black Canyon City for the night.

Scrappy LMU team that hung around till end of first half. GU tighten the screws and increased their efficiency for the 2nd half to win, next game is Mon championship against St Marys.

Drove I-17 in the dark down to BCT TH. Early arrivals shared my morning.

Today I needed to be @ Gold Creek TH which is just East of Apache Junction @ 9:00. Made it.

Consternation: I wear non prescription sunglasses while driving. But I need correction to read close up. Driving into the sun but needing glasses to read the GPS data.

TH already has numerous rigs parked. The Tuscon riders start arriving. Abe is the leader whom I met and rode w/ back in early ’10. Setting is pure Sonoran desert. My GPS battery lost its charge and collected no data. Trails are pedal. Twisty using vegeation to create turns. Keeping single track single is the only choice to stay out of contact w/ cholla, those glistening stalks seen below. I ran a spine into my left hand and toe of my shoe. I enjoyed someone else navigating. There were spots of wet mud that created a flat tire steering sensation. So many sharp things to puncture your tires. Stans is prolly the item that is most common to all bikers.

Next effort was to drive to McDowell Park for camping and a shower. Campground was full. Overflow camping was a gravel parking lot. But the water was hot. Clear skies, chilly.

Tomorrow I am meeting Graham,  friend of Tomas from Flag, @ Phat Tire bike shop in Cave Creek for a ride.

AZ does not do daylight savings which makes us Pacific time zn vs mtn.

The Pats drove away b4 I made the TH. I continued into town to the laundromat. Everything clean, some dried others drying. A clean body to slide between my worn flannel sheets.

Will and I met @ agreed upon time of 1:30 @ Cultural park. We hashed out ride details to be Last Frontier to Western Civ to Cockscomb down Rupp to Girdner back to Cultural park. Will moved along pretty well for being off his bike for ages. I kept him in range, I was never too far ahead. I heard metal hitting rock then an Oh Shit. I turned around to the sounds of snapping branches. Will hit a boulder that launched him arcing head first down the hill side. He came to rest 10 feet down slope. At first his biggest discomfort was the sharp awls of oak leaves sticking into his flesh. Then he sneezed. Ouch. Sore ribs. Numerous scratches bled on his skin. Nothing that we bandaged. He decided to go onward. I shorted the ride at the junction of last Frontier and Western Civ then on to Girdner. Will finished a sport. Sore ribs and maybe other body parts await him tomorrow morning. He treated me to a Montana beer back @ TH. We drove down to Oak Creek brewery for dinner, his treat.

I left dinner and drove back up hill to Snap for a shower then out to Deer Pass.

Forecast is calling for heavy rain and snow starting tonight. I put the rain cover over the bike.

The ortho Dr said my shoulder joint is tight. He gave the steroid shot to reduce bursa swelling. I experienced a slight reduction in pain. Danny’ lady friend Ellie turned me onto to the castor oil I wrote about previously. Today while waiting ride start I applied the wool patch saturated w/ castor oil on my shoulder and topped it off w/ a hot h2o bottle. Amazing pain reduction. As long as the source of pain is inflammation I will pursue snake oil. Castor oil is not snake oil.

7 rides short of 1000.