I met Kevin at his and Pam’s cafe @ noon

He’s holding pages from Bike mag article about Hurricane and his cafe. He negotiated a pic plug for his autograph on the article.

Shuttle ride was from downtown out to the upper JEM TH where I have been staying. We rode the new trails up top then crossed the road and rode Goulds Wash down to the highway then down into town. There was only 1 grunter hill climb.

Little Creek in the background. Raise your eyes, Kevin. Look ahead.

Ran into Jeff from up state whom I had ridden with over the years several times. He was in town putting a new bike deal together. He and Kevin are friends.

After the ride I took a shower @ Sunday deserted Anytime. Next move was to drive to Jacks in Springdale to watch the Seahawks late game and food. Draft beer is 3.2 for $4.5 and Moose Drool heavy beer for $5.50. Place had a bunch to TVs tuned to various afternoon games. Head bar tender is the wife of Bill whom I met several years ago when he was filling in at OTE. No Bill tonight. I watched the first half sensing that the game was in Seattle’s favor and drove to Rockville and crossed the Virgin River towards Grafton to a camp spot. Furnace trick was an oddity as it starts sometimes and others even after repeated restarts it still shows me its blinking red LED. I ran the catalytic over night. I am now several times a day pushing the fuel knob in and listen for the hiss of escaping propane that tells me it will light. At times I think about buying another catalytic heater and cycling this one thru factory repair to fix the sticky valve that they claim is from the bad propane west of the Miss.

I did not sleep well last night because of the pain in my mid back and now on my left front rib cage. I can expand my chest for a killer breath and a gentle sneeze. I am uncertain if all I did was damage muscles or worse case some internal organs. Tomorrow when i get up I will decide if a DR needs to evaluate me.

This AM I drove back towards Hurricane stopping at a local coffee roaster for a latte and a baked good. In walk 2 Jeffs: one from yesterday and the other from my crash last week. I was wearing (what else) my Pisgah jersey. A woman strode positively towards my table and making eye contact, I searching memory if i met her. She said no but she just got back from MT Pisgah in NC and is a mtn biker. She has a very firm handshake.

I drove back to OTE to wait for mail delivery of a hub part from Industry 9 and wrestle w/ tech support from Startlogic and MS to make this new computer like Outlook. Mail delivered the part and the 2 tech people I worked with took up almost the entire afternoon to make qa partial fix. This time an MS tech took over my computer allowing him to make the changes.

Joe Cocker died @ 70. Other musicians from the glory days of the 60s are getting up in their years and are dying off no longer from drug overdoses but maybe caused from years of that lifestyle. I’m 65 and not a musician, I am a mountain biker who is wearing out his parts, I will prolly die as a result of my activities. Keep pedaling I hear the devil on my wheel. Maybe an e-assist bike will add a few more years to my life.

Weather forecast said mostly sunny however late this afternoon a storm made a forceful entry dumping snow on Pine Valley mtns and a few drops of rain here. I decided to stay in town and not risk a forecast blunder of rain on the JEM TH road. I am camped (parked) back end facing Kevin and Pam’s  cafe.

Gooseberry is right above the JEM trail. A new trail up here is named Goosebumps that intersects JEM and allows an uphill trail to avoid blind hike a bike sections on the JEM. Quite a lot of work to make this trail:

The trail descends from here down to the left edge of the ridge then around to the right. The trail is visible below. I walked one night almost to the ridge snout that took 25 mins, riding will be much faster.

My new laptop does not have a CD drive which allows for a thinner computer. I bought an external CD drive that i will test tonight to watch Anchorman as i wanted something stupid to entertain me.

The furnace seemed to function correctly all night. several days ago I spun the control knob while it was trying to start to off then back to on. Furnace started on next spark and seems to be doing OK since. Last night I turned down the thermostat once I crawled into bed. Furnace must have cycled several times while I slept because when i woke up I turned the setting higher and the furnace kicked in.

Fixed Bfast and cleaned up then drove down to OTE for the Saturday shop ride. Down because I am camped @ 4265 and the shop is 2,xxx something. 10AM meeting time. 5 of us piled into the Old Farts shop truck for the drive out to Little Creek. The road has nasty parts in it that I don’t want to drive my van over and I don’t want to ride there by myself. Quentin squired the truck around and over truck tech features on the gravel road.

Little Creek is not recognized as a legal trail system. The riding area is mostly slick rock slabs, different than Moab. Quentin is a very skilled rider and he seeks the hard lines. I rode last as it were and sought more sedate lines. I am still very sore that the upper body moves caused me to grimace. Area is said to have the highest density of  Indian artifacts. Petroglyphs:

Typical tread. Ponderosa pine forest. We were at 5,600′ 8.87 miles of tech challenges. I walked a few. My left upper rear back is hurt so that any upper body moves sent pain signals. ( I repeated myself).

Back to town for a shower and groceries then headed back to JEM.

Zags are on XM tonight, no TV coverage. Zags are ranked 8th in US and are playing a small school in Battle in Seattle, so insignificant that there is no national TV.

Tomorrow Kevin and I are going to do ride he wanted to do last Sunday: we will be dropped off here then ride the new trails up here then Goulds back to town which is riding the Hurricane Cliffs route backwards. I wonder how it will ride as this will be the first time to ride backwards.

Furnace just cycled on its own. last night it was 31 degrees outside and 56 inside w/ furnace running. Battery volts dropped to 11.42 volts the  lowest I have seen and everything was working. Solar kicked in reversing the battery draw. I have a deep cell wet battery under the passenger’s seat and a gel battery underneath the floor. The solar collector charges these batteries; the alternator runs the engine, charges the engine battery and left overs go to the 2 camper batteries. Years ago the stereo was wired to the rig battery that ran down the battery 2 ties that required road side assistance to jump me.

Zags are on the XM.

s

Last night i drove out to the JEM counting on the road being dry enough after the showers to get back to the TH. Made it. There is a wash that has run several times carving the road away. On the way out the ruts cause the front left wheel to climb for the sky. Same issue same ol same ol: no grade out.

Furnace ran but b4 bed I switched to the catalytic as it would run all night. Muscle relaxer enhances my sleep by over coming the pain I still feel. My left rear rib cage muscles as still protesting. The great chiro work has been undone but I must wait until the pain is gone before I allow him to reef on me. Hope to see him right b4 I leave for a last straightening.

I walked a bit last night checking the trail condition. Going to be super tacky: hero dirt.

This AM frost was on the ground which would make freeze thaw mud. I dillied b4 driving down to the corral for my start. I figured the sun would dry up the mud quickly. My 11:30 start was just right. From the corral I pick up the trail that skirts the boys school and is part of the Hurricane cliffs IMBA epic which continues an arc of the loop climbing to join the JEM across the highway. I rode JEM down till the new trail Cryptobionic joined. Plan today was just to learn how I felt and work out some kinks, not a long ride. The first uphill tech move brought out the pain in my rib muscles.  I still hurt after Sunday’s splat. Short 15 mile ride.

Looking into Zion NP.

Cows continue to pock mark the trails. The tread is getting rolled in.

I came up w/ another approach to eliminate cattle grazing. In a conversation w/ Rick Moon @ the Summit that mtn bikers say we are stewards of the land and that we should build trail that goes to man made environmental destruction. Hope is that an awareness would arise in riders as they saw what impact their desire for something does in extraction. In this case the cow destruction is on the trail. I suggested an advertising spin to celebrate riding in the old west among grazing cows destroying the public land that we as tax payers support so 1 ranching family can have an income. Need to age the manure droppings by year just to see how many years it takes before their droppings weather away. Be amazing how many years it takes for a pile to degrade. And more shit hits the ground every grazing year.

Forecast is for no rain but perhaps seasonally cold meaning light long underwear tops and knee warmers. Prolly frost overnight.

Yesterday afternoon into the evening I sought tech solutions to my lacking email in Outlook. Strange thing is Startlogic, my web hoster, doesn’t play well w/ MS Outlook. There is an email answer that I will use the next time I call Help line. Yesterday I mailed off my fried hard drive to the data extraction center.

Tomorrow is the OTE shop ride that I will make this time. Hope it is one one of the mesas that I won’t drive my van to get to.

Found a jug of Sippin Moonshine @ the ST George liquor store. It goes down easily if drinking 90 proof is you ability. The touch pad disabled mitigates the moonshine effect.

My Core watch band finally arrived today to replace the torn original. It broke during the no debit card time and shipped via free shipping USPS. The band attaches to the body using small thru rods that are threaded together. I needed tiny screw drivers. I filled up w/ propane. The service man asked if there was anything else I needed. I said 2 small screw drivers. He went of to search and came back w/ 2 but they were too big to fit the head. I tried OTE w/ the same result. Next was the local ACE Hardware store. Male clerk greeted me in the tool secrtion. I showed him waht i needed and told him it was a once and done use. He said put the screwdriver away and follow me. He lead me to the front of the store where he retrieved a tool box from under the counter. He found 2 of the correct size them almost by himself removed and replaced the watch bands. What customer service and I was appreciative.

Today riding down JEM I encountered 4 women riding. They told me that the trail was now complete to the upper JEM TH which avoided the switchbacks. Going to be a great loop w/ this and the other new trails here. I have a loop in mind that I am looking forward to ride.

I followed them down the JEM. I learned from my 3 day Better Ride clinic 2 real important skills, prolly the most important skills you can master. 1) look way ahead down the trail mentally taking in what you will be riding over, you see it in your peripheral vision. You will be prepared for what you will be riding before your wheels hit. 2) Bend your elbows out like doing a push up. This keeps your body centered over the bottom bracket and gives you some slack when rolling down a drop. Bent equals flexibility, freedom of choice. Locked elbows means just that: locked and your weight is behind the bottom bracket. Your riding will so much improve learning and applying these 2 skills.

Sheriff’s truck patrols this TH. Deputy said it is because of break ins. No broken glass in this lot. Comforting to know that it is patrolled. We know each other.