The snow is all but gone as last night’s rain melted most away. Today I went for a hike up to a pass above the shop. I encountered a young couple hiking back down. I learned that they were rock climbers and were looking for new routes. I asked when they would climb them assuming tomorrow. He said that rain weakens the glue holding the sand grains together to make the stone  brittle and break away. Perhaps our bike tires are wearing the sharp edges off the rocks?

Bunch of days to catch up.

I recounted pavement riding. Thursday became a blue bird day that put the serious hurt on the shrinking snow. I planned another pavement ride but Jimmy said he was going to ride dirt and I was invited. When trail conditions turn to shit the shop does not rent bikes. It also cuts down on the non rental riders. Hanging @ the Bean looking at returning riders and their rides told of trail conditions. Thursday was the day to check out for ourselves. We rode up Shades that still had refrozen melted snow in the deep shade sections, albeit very few. Places the sand was hero dirt as much as sand can be. Choice was made to ride Templeton then drop into Easy riding up the wash & dirt trail leaving @ Templeton to ride back to new trails @ Yavapai TH finishing on Shades down. Their are known places where the trail has no pitch to spill the water. We put tracks down that will soon be ridden out and our bikes sustained no mud damage. I exhibited muddy water mud sort of, there was more water than dirt. No pics taken. I balked @ my previous balking features but made 2 tough ones first time. I washed off m y bike and washed the mud off in the shower.

Gonzaga played Thurs night and televised on an esoteric ESPN channel that PJ’s didn’t get. I knew that anyway but hoped that by looking at the channel coverage again that it might be turned on. Not so. Two women of my age were sitting on bar stools right next to the servers’s station where I talked to Joy about the TV. Something started a conversation that I chose to engage in. Repartee. I was not drinking.  The more ageded one offered to buy me a drink that I turned down. She was drinking tall mixed drinks. I should have walked away. I won’t share the story but no animals were hurt and no human incarceration. She freaked out and was causing a spectacle. I walked away finally. I returned to PJs on Sat and asked Joy and my server of what happened on that night. I’m good is what mattered. Joy advised me to be more selective of the women I take to my house.

Friday back @ Bike and Bean. Friday is shop ride. Somehow 2 different time rides happened, the first leaving @ 1 and the second @ 3. I was not told of the finalized rides as I was in my van in the shop parking lot. They took off w/o me. I didn’t want to wait for the 3 so I took off on my own as am wont to. I rerode what Jimmy and I rode the day before. Today more evaporated water meant sticking mud. I enjoyed my own company but willingly shared it w/ Wally, a local. Wally is 72 and in remission of a nasty cancer. We met in a sunny spot and spent many minutes about mountain bike issues.

The first group of riders were back and drinking beer already. Jimmy said 31 people were at the Friday ride party. Danny of world road racing performance pulled a fifth of Jack Daniels out of a bag. The party just spooled up. Crazy. Several other locals and I greet each other. All say, Welcome Back. I prefer my beer and liquor. I am searching for better moonshine for my sharing.

Forecast was calling for rain starting Sat noon. A visiting rider rode Chuck Wagon et. al. in west sedona and said it was dry. Good enough for me. I figured to get a ride in b4 rainy noon. I park on the shoulder of Dry Creek road right where Chuck Wagon crosses. Today I replaced my wind jacket for a rain shell. I geared up and pedaled away right on climbing single track. No warm up. Shortly I encountered several people doing trail work. It was Jennifer the FS recreation officer, Plumber Phil, Robert, and Kyle. Warm welcome back from Jennifer and Phil. Chuck Wagon was almost completely water free.

Amazing what hikers will do:

My rib was sending discontent signals so I rode pavement back to my van. I put the bike on the rack and covered it in anticipation of forecasted rain. I was inside changing clothes when the rain started falling just past 12:00. Great fate.

Drove back to VOC for a shower then dinner while watching the Seahawks. Jimmy and Jan joined me for dinner. Seahawks won. After the game I drove out to Beaverhead.

The rancher moved his cows from the ranger station to the N side of Beaverhead. I have driven out to a favorite spot on the S side of Beaverhead rd. Pretty rutted from rigs prolly caught after the snowfall.

I slept in this morning. Today is a rest day after 4 days of riding. Another day at the Bean. Overcast. rest day. Football on TV. I hiked up to the pass above VOC meeting the climbers. Hiker built social trail.

Made it to PJs for the second half of Indianapolis / Denver game. Luck prevailed.

Cursory exam of data retrieved from the hard drive is grim.

Seattle plays next week against Green Bay for the NFC championship and Indy and Patriots for AFC. Moday is NCAA football championship pitting OSU against Oregon. Conflicting schedule pits the college game against participating in a trail planning session open to the public but Jenifer invited me to. I’ll hide my smart phone catching the game behind a document. Gonzaga is ranked 6th last week, they won their 2 games in the last polling. Duke, ranked above them lost to an unranked team. Zags should move up in rankings. Imagine a mens basketball team in Spokane, WA is a top 10 team. National recognition.

Running the furnace at night at a low setting which makes for comfortable snuggled sleeping. And the furnace is cycling. Before I crawl out of bed I reach up and turn the temp setting high then settle back waiting for my bedroom to become comfortable.

New issue of Bike magazine is The Bible of bike testing. This year the test was based in central Oregon: Bend and Oakridge. I know several of the locals featured and have ridden most of the trails they wrote about. I have met so many riders and ridden in so many places. When a magazine publishes an article about where I have been my heart beats faster reading about it.

Allman Brothers eat a Peach album, Mountain Jam cut. Pretty darn good. Listening to music on my iPod recorded from my collection when I had a house. Muskingum College, the school that helped shape me today, hired them for a concert back in 1971 just as they were becoming big. Several of us campus hippies scored front row seats. The brain cells that stored that memory have long been flushed like Cliff Clavin said about beer and brain cells. In 3 states it is legal. The music is still satisfying now 44 years later.

Trails are drying out but still on the whole too wet to ride. Some of us are turning to riding pavement to scratch the itch. Today I rode from the Bean out Verde Valley school road to red rock crossing that I renamed Pink feet caused by the cold Oak Creek water on my feet. I watched a rider gingerly cross on the stones. Gingerly because he was wearing Sidis and on wet rock.

Turning 90 degrees to the right this is the view

Back in the parking lot I practiced the high speed cornering Simon taught. Simon says.

My parents named me “Craig” for their reasons, I was not consulted. I have worn the moniker from the birth certificate entry till today. My dad died 2 years ago; my mom preceded him by 37 years. Who named me is no longer around to be asked if they like my name change. Not saying I will, just a thought: What would you change your name to after your parents are gone?

Tomorrow is Thursday, my wash day. I have so few anchors to attach time to.

It’s almost 10PM about normal time for writing this. I have fixed some thing for dinner eats and cleaned up which is about 7:00. I might be sipping a Scotch while preparing dinner. My vaporizer converted solids to inhaleable vapor, perhaps sublimation? Extensive web research finds no fault w/ this method of ingestion.

More friends to the Bean crowd: Gonzo. He used to work @ the Bean. He built 2 sets of wheels for me. He is from Indiana. Today he told me he is moving back to work in his friends bike shop right outside the N entrance of Brown County park. Brown County is an IMBA epic that I have ridden several times, lastly w/ friend Phil. Ian showed up. Sedona has so few local riders. It seems the population is divided among the 4 bike shops in town, little crossover. You are identified by the place you hang.

My captured data from my crashed hard drive arrived today. Will take some brain power to figure how to manage the data to this computer. I put that off, certainly not tonight. Tomorrow I will buy  a plug in USB storage drive to use as back up. The data I lost is meaningful to me: All the pictures, my bike log to learn how close I am to 20,000 miles ridden.

Springsteen’s Thunder Road, another one of the best.

Youth and age. My parents liked their music from Big Bands. Rock and roll was happening on late Sunday AM broadcasts. I was in such a hurry to be my age music that I didn’t learn my parents likes. I am older now then when this happened to my parents. I am still identifying w/ musicians of my 60s youth. And technology. I wonder how many of the young have listened to fading reception on an AM transistor radio at night catching the bouncing radio waves. In Ohio we could pick up a Chicago station if I turned the radio just so, a steel bed frame at boy scout camp was a phenomenal antennae.

Shrinking snow patches still lurk in the deep shadows here @ Beaverhead. Hi Line because it is north facing is still snow covered. Riders coming back are way muddier than they should be riding on the trails. Just hanging.

Today was my 9:30 appointment w/ Floyd to groom my mane. He was the last to cut on me since last end of April. See what a cleaned up guy looks like, You have no choice.

Hey, I’m 65, the white and wrinkles just grew. Lack of hair runs in the genes.

Then I drove up to Sedona to connect w/ people. First was Dave @ Fat Tire, another favorite place to hang out. His shop is also a magnet for other riders, today there was a guy from Mass that I met last year. Dave is good for an intellectual conversation, he the knowledgeable professor and me the questioning student.

Next was Shama, a woman I have visited w/ in the past. Success. She wrote her phone number for me. Tea after her work as a graphics designer. Be still my heart.

Next was the computer shop to figure out external data storage. I am known there. Tomorrow i receive the restored files from my crashed computer. What is there will be there, I do not know of what was lost.

Then the physical therapy office to set up an appointment after my DR appointment for the script next week.

Connections made I drove back down to Bike and Bean w/ the driver’s window down and no heat. 72 degrees.

This small Southwest corner of the US  is where good riding weather is in the entire US which is like a candle for a moth as riders I have met elsewhere come here. There are many others that visit here that I do not know. Today it was Heidi sort of living in her Dodge van which is a Sprinter like rig. Then Fuzzy from Bend escaping snow.

Scott at the Bean serviced my Lev KS seat dropper post returning it to out of the box condition. Deteriorating performance takes so long to be noticed that it becomes accepted. The seat drops w/ just a gentle push on the lever. He also service the Industry 9 rear hub. I see very very few I9 wheels. I9 is in Asheville, NC. Beth from same city riders them. A trek rep who lives near Brevard uses the hubs instead of the hubs Trek supports. back east you just ride I9s.

I ordered on line a bottle of Hawaiian moonshine like I brought back. $32 for the bottle and $25 shipping from the island. Very smooth and made from the Ti plant root.