Several days of wind events. Thurs the winds stirred up a massive dust cloud that hung over ST George. In the morn after weekly laundry I drove to ST George to run several errands then a ride out at Barrel Roll. Errands went well: dropped my new percale 400 thread count sheet at Pam’s to be cut to size. The GPS missed her building address. A mailman was delivering mail to a outdoor mailbox. I asked him if he could help me find Pam’s as he would prolly deliver mail to her. He pointed up higher than I looked on the front wall of the building in front of me: there was Pam’s sign. I asked him if he wanted to give a message to her. He said that the PO workers miss her. I shared that with her. Sense of connection. Sheet to be finished before I leave. Dropped my shoes off at a shoe repair to put in new laces as I have not been able to figure out how to snake cord thru the blind spots in the lace routing. Scored a bag of large tree ripened oranges from the orange man in Santa Clara. Deemed dust count still higher than I wanted to inhale.
Tues Kevin and I rode Church rocks after he finished work. Finished in deepening darkness, We made a weekend camping plan to camp out off Gooseberry road Fri night.
I made arrangements with the local library for me to view Ken Burns’ Vietnam. Friday I arrived at opening then watched almost 2 hours of video. I asked the library to hold the dvd for me till Mon for more viewing.
My Raceface Turbine dropper is still not quickly and not full extension in spite of what has been tried. I have my new micro ratchet set with the proper allen size to back out the seat binder bolts and using Phils shock pump gift I checked the air pressure: 3psi, not 30. The other 27 psi joined the atmosphere. Before the last 2 rides I pumped the thing up to 30. Sat was a 3 1/2 hr pedal ride its length was greater than the leaking seals could hold in which meant that the post had to be hand helped to return to full height. Today I dropped my bike and my KS LEV dropper. They said that the Turbine release lever can be used with the LEV which is cool. The LEV is not as fast a return. The Turbine will be sent in for repair.
Friday I rode the Lakeside trail on the W side of the lake as an out and back. Remarkable amount of work required to cut bench cuts.Kevin moved the camp out to Sat. Having free time I hiked up the Goulds Rim trail that Quentin was involved with creating. I helped one afternoon. The trail climbed up out of the valley requiring route finding to climb thru the cliff face. 1.5 miles each way. Another fine piece of work.
The Smithsonian road has been reworked into a very passable all weather road. And the road to Gooseberry has also been improved. Our camp spot was somewhere off Gooseberry but before the nasty road climb up to the mesa. I found a spot Fri night and Kevin joined in the morning.
Sat’s ride plan was similar to last Sat’s ride of riding up the mesa road then Kevin leading the Gooseberry trails. He said tjhat the slick rock is fossilized volcanic ash.
We made a long day out of it enjoying the mesa, views, weather, and friendship. 22.9 miles pedaling 3 hrs 30 mins . We finished after sundown at our camp. What was so cool was we were staying here and not driving away like most other people. My energy and skills were rapidly being depleted while on Gander return trail.
Kevin brought firewood as he wanted the heat as he was living outside. I joined him at the fire.
Today our plan was for the sun to heat the environs then drive down to Wire Mesa ride. 43 degrees but little wind. Morgan’s rig was at the TH. Wire Mesa is the easiest of the mesa rides. We ran into Morgan which meant a long visit. I asked him what his favorite trail building tool is, he said a good leave rake to which I concurred.The wonderful radiant sun energy did not thaw out Kevin’s joints, we made only 1 lap around the mesa.
Still no forecasted precip. Temps are lowering into highs in 50s. The furnace runs all night establishing a comfortable 55 degrees when I crawl out from under the warm covers. Better than being outside.