Yesterday I drove into Moab and picked up my waiting mail then headed to Hurricane, a place where you can’t get there from here sort of because I did get here, the Colorado River gorge is a monument and it is crossed by 2 bridges. Desert terrain. Snow had fallen heavily going south from Moab. 20 degrees but snow was melting on the highway, what caused it to melt splattered on the outside sheet metal. At Monticello I stopped to put the cover over the bike as the back draft brought the road chemical mist around and dropped on my bike. Funny, from there on the roads were dry and clear. I left about 10 and arrived @ upper JEM TH above Hurricane just after 7PM. Long day of driving.
The road to the TH had been worked on resulting in less eventful drive back to the TH. Dry dirt. 20 degree night.
This AM I planned on enjoying Bfast at Main ST Cafe owned by Kevin and Pam. Place was dark. They are closed on Monday AND Tuesday. Drove to local coffee roaster for coffee and sticky bun. Then I drove back to OTE. Clayton and Jordan catch up. Shop has been expanded. Quinton arrived. Greeted DJ later. Back among another group of friends.
I washed the road grime off my bike. Sunny and warmish. Finally drove up to TH above town. Today is the next test of the Oneup 30X42 gear choice. A long, steep, and loose rock climb was the test bed. I pedaled all the way up just barely using the 42T. The set up passed its last test. What’s so great is I use more gears shifting is just 1 twist. I fussed over the gear chart noting the lost several inches of lowest gear. In pedal practice I did not notice a loss. Flawless shifting.
Previous range fire scorched the land. The trail was burned over in some spots and others it appears to have been the fire break as seen below:
Sunday was snow and below freezing. Today was above and in the upper 50s.
There are several old friends on the trail that are still unrideable to me. Several have consequences if missed and the others are ones that are above my ability. Fun riding coasting mixed in w/ tech both up and down. My rear brake ain’t working again. New brake here this week.
Drove back down into town for a shower and dinner. Drove back out of valley to JEM TH. Van’s performance is now worse than my old man affected riding. 178,000 miles and the wheels are wobbling so to speak. Climbing the hill out of town left me gasping for air for my van.
Forecast for future is dry, temp in 50s and staying just above freezing. No moisture in the dirt so no freeze thaw mud.
The in the mail new Formula T1, same as the one on my bike, is key to my future riding enjoyment. I so depend upon the instantaneous wheel lock to pivot a corner or make a move. Some day I will send the issue brake to Formula for service. Quintin said that they replaced all the Formula brakes that came w/ standard bike build because they could never make them not squeal. When working they don’t squeal for me. Great stopping power and modulation. But then I have been only braking w/ Formulas for almost 10 years.