The forecast has been calling for days of rain starting last Monday. Monday AM I studied the skies from my Beaverhead spot. Clouds said rain could drop from them but inklings of sort of clear sky spot of a sucker hole, I accepted the bait and drove up to west Sedona to ride Chuck Wagon and Mescal etc before rain fell. I replaced the wind jacket for the rain shell and pedaled out under increasing threatening skies. Great trail conditions sort of hero dirt and not a hiker to be encountered or anybody for that matter. I made the early part of Mescal which gave a view shed to the incoming weather. I saw the fronds of rain dropping from the clouds. Rain is coming soon. I paused to consider my shortest option back to the dry van. I turned around and rode back to Yucca, a newer trail, that connects to Canyon of Fools. Yucca is like a flow trail using a narrow wash as its berms. CoF is a narrow deep wash carved in sand. I rode up one of the side walls then back down that almost felt like a fall off the steep bank. I crossed Boyton canyon road picking up OK to AZ Cypress to Snake that climbs out of Dry Creek. Rain hit before I hit Snake. Serious sprinkles. I put on the rain jacket. Below the rain jacket hem line was dampened. I made the van before the real stuff started. Sucker Hole, a short ride, the last for quite a few days as the weather calls for rain the rest of the week.
Monday night I stayed at the Overlook paved parking lot because it is paved. My favorite spot is on dirt. A bit of rain will turn the solid mud into greasy mud which would make for a slithery slide back to the pavement. I chose the prudent safe location. Tues. AM rain continued. I drove pavement back to the Bean. PJ, the new shop owner, does fire for his real job. Yesterday I learned he spent time at Toketee ranger station on the Umpqua NF last summer which is where I was based out of for my summer employment of years 1969 and 70.
Tuesday night I returned to the overlook. Sometime before dawn I was awakened by rain drops pelting my roof. Sort of melodic but not soothing. Then silence. That could mean the rain quit or it changed to snow per the forecast. Snow it was, wet. Didn’t last long and the warm pavement turned it to liquid.
I looked to the favorite spot and spied a white camper shaped object. I learned that Dirt Rag column rider Bama perfers to get way back off the road and I thought it might be him and I was concerned that he might be stuck in the mud. I drove his way but parked on firm broken brick surface. It was Bama and company. He was not stuck. His tires were covered in mud. Later he made it to the shop.
Tonight I’m back at the overlook and pavement. Forecast is for days of wet mixed in w/ below freezing several nights. Trails are going to be too muddy to ride for days.
I spent most of the day at the Bean for companionship.
Dropper post saga: Years ago I bought the first generation Reverb and endured its warranty failure issues. The 3rd new dropper worked. maybe 2 years ago its rate of return seemed slow. Scott told me it needed to be overhauled and it would be expensive. Because of the failure rate I researched posts then bought a KS Lev in Bend. This last summer the LEV lost its erection. Sunnyside in Bend sent it out to be serviced at a non KS shop because it was out of warranty. I installed my rigid Thomson seat post, I did not like riding a non dropping post so I didn’t ride much. Back in ’13 I placed the Reverb in storage at my former neighbors’ barn in Spokane. Doing me no good there. In September I drove up to Spokane for my dentist appointment and picked up the Reverb. I returned to Bend and sent off the Reverb to be serviced to be used as a back up. The LEV was back on the bike. The Reverb came back before I left Bend. At Hurricane I was just riding around (famous JRA syndrome) before starting my ride. I triggered the LEV to perform. It dropped for a last time and just failed. Back up plan: Remove the LEV and install the Reverb. Short story lead me to call Sunnyside who said that I needed to send it to them and they would send it on to repair center to fix. Sunnyside called me last week telling me they had a new LEV for me as KS had never seen my kind of failure. The new in the box LEV arrived today. I prefer the LEV over the Reverb. The LEV failure started me researching other posts. 9Point8 jumped out as my next post but it was only the stealth cable routing that requires a pass thru hole in the frame for the cable, there is no pass thru hole in the 5 Spot. I emailed Turner asking if I could drill a hole in the frame. Dave gave me instructions. In conversation he mentioned the new RFX that so excited me to make a savings account drain to buy one. The RFX has that hole molded in. I’m thinking seriously of selling the in the box LEV and buying the 9Point8 for the new bike. The Reverb is slower than the LEV and the actuator sucks. That’s the dropper post saga.
Another product failure is the Terraduro sole separation. Mine are peeling away but not like the process failure originally experienced. Giro is still warrantying the shoe.
Dry Beaver Creek is roaring foamy muddy brown.
Tonight the left lens fell out of the frame again and I can’t find it. Tomorrow I start shopping for new frames and lens, haven’t found a one day lens crafter down here. Perhaps Flag which will mean prolly snow driving. I am wearing cheaters that aren’t the same prescription which makes typing this challenging.
My chronic headache is not being lessened from the sinus clearing protocol. I’m not sleeping well because of the pain.
So, no pics to share.
I have made several dinners I found recipes for on line. I added left over coconut milk to the left over feta cheese. Hey Abe, what can I make using feta and coconut milk?
You can’t always get what you want but if you try you might get what you need.
next up is electric homemade nutella.