Warm sunny clear days melts snow , night time temps were dipping below freezing stopping the day work. Night time temps are now above freezing and most of the snow has melted away. Ground is giving back moisture to the sky. Dry Creek is moving water.

Tuesday was blue bird day. Trails too wet to ride. Hmmm, I avoided exercise of serious effort. I decided to ride pavement. I pumped tires to 20psi then pedaled away. Some reacquaintance to reflexes and convincing the legs that this would be good for them in preparation of the next day ride on Black Canyon Trail. I pedaled down to Red Rock Crossing at the end of Verde Valley school road. Oak Creek crossing which is perennial.

I rode 17 miles in about 1 3/4 hours. Legs worked.

Plan was to drive down to Bumblebee to ride north on BCT to the tank then turn around repedal the trail. What went up would go down and vice versus. Van drives well. I parked at the small parking plat where the trail crosses the road. Today it was crowded with mtn bikers, Rim Tours from Moab and I9 from Asheville among the population. I pedaled away, sunny, almost 70 degrees. First big day of sunshine. I pedaled with gusto. 2 women riders allowed me to pass. It was Ash who runs a woman’s skills clinic and a friend. I met Ash years ago and it seems that we run into each other. Further along I ran into Kevin and Marty form the VVCC. At the tank turnaround spot I ran into a whole gaggle of riders. Beth from Rim, Andy, and racer Liz. I didn’t know any of the guys. Enjoyable hugs. They headed back while I rested. First part of trail goes thru maybe a 2 year old burn. Poppys and lupine bloomed as green was the grass.

21 miles pedaling for almost 3 hours. Full on sun. My knees were uncovered but did not redden. My legs did get worked. I have a better understanding what visiting riders go thru when they show up to ride after being snowbound and no riding and I was only off less than 2 weeks. I drove back to Beaverhead for another night on pavement.

Monday bright and early I drove down to Camp Verde to RV repair shop. Their project was to check the propane pressure downstream of the regulator. Guy removed the regulator, out of which poured trapped lubricating oil. New regulator. He blew out the feeder line: more oil. Checked the furnace orifice: cleaned it because it was out. Put it back together and set the regulator pressure, test the furnace: success, burns steady and seems to make the air hotter. Joy having the furnace back on line. Next is having the tank removed, flushed, and remounted. Propane has to be vented first at a propane depot then drive to repair shop for tank work.

Today was another trail build day. This time we met at Aerie then walked in on Cockscomb for a ways. New trail will be on the west side of Cockscomb. Our effort was to connect with the ACE crew building from the other direction. We connected.

I just retired my old pre TG camera for the newer TG5. Above pics are still former camera.

Today as per normal, a sponsor, REI, raffles off a few trinkets. Today Specialized was in attendance, the rep kicked in a bunch of helmets. My number was pulled while a small Ambush was available. I had no idea of their helmets, could this be better than my Troy Lee? I had a never worn back up helmet taking up space. I told the gathering that I didn’t need this helmet and I would give it to whomever needed it. Nary a taker. I drove away to do laundry. Back in town looked up this helmet, it is top of the line my kind of riding helmet. I will give away the Giro and move the Troy Lee to backup. Amazingly light for amount of coverage and protection.

Tomorrow afternoon I work a shift at the VVCC beer ticket booth.

2:20 PM down in VOC facing the sun. Last several nights the temp dropped into the teens, today is first scorcher after snow quit falling late Thurs night. Ground is not frozen underneath the now melting snow which becomes slippery mud. I waited until Sat morn to learn about traction when I drove out of my snow hole. I drove away when the frost was still on the snow. I made it out w/o incident. I needed propane as my motivation. 89A was bare and dry, the ACE store lot had frozen wheel tracks to the propane fill. Laundry was next. Closed, note on door read Thurs and Fri. Today is Sat and still not open. Needed clean clothes. Drove down to Cottonwood to a laundromat to change once worn to fresh put away in the drawer. Bare pavement, beautiful day. returned to Sedona laundromat which was now opened. Owner said hired help interpreted that she also had Sat off. I borrowed his ladder and broom to sweep off remaing snow on the van roof. Wiile in Cottonwood the XM reported No Signal. Hmm. Came to conclusion problem was built up snow covering the antennae on the roof. Snow free again with proper reception.

Sedona received 18″, Flag was buried under 40″.

The Propex heater makes rumbling sounds, my concern was maybe it would go out. Thurs warm inside temp switched the furnace off. At relight it would burn for maybe 5 seconds then shut off and go thru its relight cycle. Burner would catch for same amount of time then shut off. This cycle repeated itself enough times to demonstrate it wan’t going to light. Shit. I fired up the cat infra red heater which caught. Not as warm as Propex and burning produces water vapor making a humid living quarter, moisture condenses and freezes on the inside of the windshield among other places. But I had heat to withstand the 16 degrees outside, a balmy 45 degrees inside, my breath was visible while still under the covers. Good frost build up. On Fri I texted the Propex guy who told me he suspected clogged regulator. I called the RV shop who has serviced my burners. I asked how quickly they could solve my propane problem, scored Mon at 9. I do prefer the Propex to the cat heater.

Friday was cloudless.

Thurs night I watched the Zags game on my phone. TV broadcast was a few seconds behind the real time game. I wanted to listen to Morrison’s comments at the same time. Wouldn’t sync up. Last night their home game against BYU was on ESPN. I walked in the bicycle lane down to Old Sedona to watch on bigger screen. Zags destroyed BYU again. The Zag players appeared to be really enjoying their cohesive playing. I walked back home about 11 maintaining balance over the melted snow turned frozen.

Yesterday as I was driving on the west outskirts of west Sedona I caught a fleeting sight of mountain bikers riding on a parking lot. I saw traffic cones on the lot which clued me to a skills clinic. Today at Basha’s parking lot Will, who owns a mtn bike store which is right near said parking lot. He said it was a women’s program. They built a snow quasi pump track and he shared a short clip of a rider working the hard but slippery tread.

Mountain bike festival this weekend. I volunteered for a stint exchanging one currency into another. Money for beer tokens.

I ordered a new Olympus TG5 camera to arrive this week. Sometime when I will be receiving a new Wing Nut hydration pack. Things get worn out.

Today I drove out while the snow and ground were still frozen. I tested traction again successfully. Later in the AM after temp climbed above freezing the Uhaul owner drove his 4X4 truck up to where I park to retrieve a trailer. It took him several gos to find traction enough to climb what I did when frozen. I would have been spinning my wheels.

I have been on no exertion vacation since the 16th. Sloth. Snow is too deep for my short top boots which is prolly good because covered rocks would be slippery.

don’t belong in same sentence. But in nature’s world it does happen. Above ground weather forecast delivered in inches and more to come. 31 degrees at 12:34PM. Solar panel not energized because of a) sun blocked out by snow clouds or b) solar panel covered by about 3″ of snow. Possible c) cumulative effect of a and b. I ran van engine for 22 mins which resupplied batteries to power radio, fridge, charge electronics, and most importantly power the furnace fan for inside comfort. Yesterday I bought propane which will last till Sat when snow stops, temp forecast to lower 40s. This AM I put on LL Bean short duck boots and rain parka then walked the maybe 3 blocks to Whole Foods to use their inside outhouse. 89A slush covered with defined wheel ruts, sidewalk was under the snow somewhere slopped over by traffic spray. Falling snow obscured going out tracks. Yesterday VVCC cancelled scheduled trail work today with work on Sat possibly cancelled also. PT office called b4 appointment to cancel. Many darkened store fronts here in west Sedona. City deployed mobile reader boards last night at several driving hazard spots warning on slippery conditions. Going down Cook’s hill has gravity pulling lost traction vehicles onto unsuspecting contacts. For prolly the first time ever I will not be doing laundry today on Thursday.

I planned on using this snowed in time to do some computer work, when I fired up the laptop a browser hijacker did its namesake function. I called MS tech support who then took over my computer an exorcised the malicious malware . Creating this on smart phone. Computer control returned to me.

3:15PM I swept off about 6″ of snow off the solar panel: result is a trickle charge because of blocked sun. 25 mins of engine run buys about 3 hours charge. Suspect battery depletion during the night. I could switch to catalytic which doesn’t use electric.

Reading Jungle is very troubling learning about money abusing the no money people. I can’t get lost in the book. I bought another book which is a little less stressful.

Snow depth is over my shorty boot tops, like maybe 8″ on ground. In 10 years of traveling about the country this is the most snow I have ever been snowed on and I am in Sedona, AZ.