Another red rock connection

Today on  the Sunday social ride I misjudged a rock / tire interface which rewarded me with a short distance slam drag fall landing on my left leg, right on the knee cap and a impressive scab on that shin. Red from the rock and a darker color of flowing red blood. My right shoulder is tweaked from the rotation. I finished the ride which was up Old Man’s wash over to Rabbit ridge descent the along the front side of Horse Mesa. Mostly loose basalt rollers, lots of walking over the rubble. My crash was about 100 yards from the church of the rotating something and a stashed tequilla bottle. I carried my bike to the gathering. I started converting tubeless to tubed when jimmy jumped in and pretty much took over the change. Better proficiency. I pulled out my slime tube last used back riding the Back 40 at Bentonville. I put the valve stem between my lips and blew to start tube inflation. Mr. Eck, nasty, the taste still haunts my taste sensation. Pumped the tube up and finished the ride ending at Mark’s house for end of ride beer.

There were 9 riders including 3 newbies, the remaining 6 are the standard cadre of locals.

Back up to go forward.

Friend Steve from Sun Valley is here and we ride together mostly. Friday we rode what I call the Llama loop which is more than just Llama trail. We encourage each other. He usually climbs better than me but i am faster downhill so we swap leads. Hero dirt after Thurs heavy rain. The sand was tacky. We finished at the Bean as the Friday social was starting. Steve left to move to his new BnB Airstream trailer domicile. I parked on the road shoulder. I put the bottle of corn and walked to the shop. I put the jug on the counter for sharing, I kept a splash in my cup. Gathering stayed till maybe 8. I packed up not needing to take the empty jug back. I drove out to my now preferred camp spot on Beaverhead. Only after almost arriving at the spot is it possible to spot occupancy. Damn, occupied. I pulled onto the desert over previous tracks. A van pulled up behind me and a woman greeted me, a mountain biker. Some exchange took place such that she invited me to join the camper in the spot as they are friends. Later I walked over and socialized inside their canvas cover pop top camper over their truck. Liz and her friend Sabrina and husband. Liz is a professional mtn bike racer, world wide. She wrote a story about volcano riding in Guatemala. I seek to learn from people about why they do what they do. I think it comes down to doing what I want then making it happen. Not a carefree life but with enough freedom to overcome little money. In the morning I hung around. Liz set our 3 rigs up for photo shoot for an article she is working on for a magazine. I left to meet Steve for our ride.

We finished our ride in time to make PJs for the Zags Elite 8 game, wining it will put them in the final 4, the team goal for the year. The Zags smeared Xavier to make the Final 4. I ate a turkey dinner at Mileys before driving out to Beaverhead. This time the sun was still up. rats, vehicles parked. I looked harder to learn that the same people were still there. I parked in the same spot.

My rear brake was not performing. Observation revealed that both brake pistons extended equally. I pulled the pads and scrubbed the pistons with a q tip wetted with alcohol and messed with the pad wear adjuster. i put the parts back together the squeezed the brake lever, just movement, no pump up pressure. again and again. Brake suffered my attention. Dunno how to fix. No problem other that the remove and replace this brake with my new spare, working in gathering darkness. Got the brake on which worked with power. Success. I joined the group for an outside visit. I was wearing sandals and shorts and my thin Pisgah jersey. They were bundled up. I am refusing to change my warmth clothing due to cold temps.

Today i drove into VOC parking behind the sheriffs office. The supervisor rolled in and geared up for a mountain bike ride. We chatted about bikes and such and he rode off as I did later. back to the start and you will be fine.

This morning I drank a latte at village eatery before the ride. It did not set well with me as it seemed to be almost free to leave my stomach. That felling caught up again with me at dinner. I bailed on an unfinished plate for the floor of my van. Why or why did he swallow a fly? I guess he’ll have to die.

Sleeping behind the Uhaul yard snug back among the trailers, trucks, and vans. My van does not match the Uhaul fleet color.

A banner appeared on my computer screen at start up informing me to delete and reinstall the software. It appeared to be real as I checked for performance but a concern struck me that I should check with software support. I called and was sent to a technician named Frank that didn’t speak a language that frank would come from. He took over my computer and did a bunch of stuff. He said that the service would cost $19.95. I repeated the amount several times and he agreed. He tied my computer up delaying me for socializing. He said he would call later for the billing charge which he did. He said the cost was $99.99. I yelled we both said $19.95. Problem was not to cleared up at our level. i hung up and called customer service as his calls came in which I pressed ignore. The customer service person tripped all over himself to correct a business mistake as the tech was not following protocol. He extended my service contract and threw in some lifetime security features and said that Frank might be out the door at cob. Computer is protected again. You gotta know how to solve problems at a greater level than where they were created.

Friday chiro DR Dave set my back straight. The 3 falls landed me hard on my right forearm which twisted my back out of alignment. Leg length didn’t match which caused a very stiff back. 2 twists and I stood up straight with a smile on my face. relief from pain.