Pedaling on Pot. Until maybe 4 weeks ago I would never consume a mind altering substance before or during a ride. At first when I started consuming it would be almost at the end of a ride which would make for a small amount of time buzzed in case I was overwhelmed. That was Sedona on familiar trails. Now here in Moab riding familiar trails I moved up the buzz time to ride more minutes and miles altered. To date I have not started a ride buzzed. My last 3 rides have been out here in challenging Klondike trails, home of EKG, and more tech stuff. I am able to ride all the trails here except for spots where my engine lost power and now just several tech moves I deem better left walked. I work on tech moves with special attention given to the step ups: lift the front wheel and getting the rear wheel over. Why this is a wonderment is I don’t remember what condition I was in when I learned that move and I believe that my riding is affected either way. I am working out which state I want to spend the more time in. I think when I am ripped I over compensate and become more focused and aggressive? Altered lends itself to just ho hum and walk. But getting the bit between my teeth so to speak and making moves successfully is rewarding. I ride in control with confidence either state. And big miles also, no slacking.
This will be my fourth night here at the same spot out at N Klondike where I stayed last week. Again driving in Thurs afternoon I picked this same spot as it was only shared by an RV. I woke up the next day and a people were camped next to me. I am at almost the first place to camp. As the afternoon wears on into after dark when I pay attention rigs pass me by to fill in already occupied spots. Rule is get in by mid afternoon on weekend and don’t move till after Sunday mid afternoon. yesterday I climbed up a ridge above the camping areas and studied the occupancy, all were filled. Today as I pedaled back to van I saw only vacant sites except for the RV that seem to have posted up.
Back at it, now Monday AM in Moab.
Yesterday afternoon while I was writing this a truck pulled up beside me, guy got out, it was Dennis from lander, friend of folks back in Spokane. we connected last week same place. He furnished an enjoyable reason to put this aside and visit. Later he brought his lady friend over and we continued to visit. How to solve conflict. He gave me a beer to loosen my tongue. By the time they left for dinner I was done creative writing. Not saying that I am better at it than yesterday.
On my ride yesterday I encountered a couple about my age. I stopped to visit and they engaged. Jim is working with a group of people to create positive results. Pretty topical. I seek to learn how to communicate corrective action without causing a negative response. We visited for many many minutes out under full sun. We attempted them visiting me after dinner. We went in our own directions. Later we met up again, and again trying to firm up visit as I wanted to learn more and he was willing to share. Darn, no visit. I fixed dinner and cleaned kitchen and my body then went to bed. Last night was warm enough to leave the side door open until I crawled under the sheets.
Vibrant red colors stand out. Red deciduous leaves in the fall after being green during photosynthesizing time. In the desert the spring time brings out the red and the fall is bland. Indian paintbrush and hedgehog cactus are bright red.
There are just widely distributed plants, never over dosing like red maple red.
Mock orange perfumes the air
Yucca is displaying its reproductive splendor
On the west side of the trail system the mostly flat land is covered with these white flowers
Then on a ride out and back on Dino flow I stopped because this was stretched full length across the trail. I stopped to watch as the snake worked itself into a striking pose. I spit water on it which caused it to stretch back out and slither off the trail.
At a tech feature on Dino Flow I stopped to session it. An older couple, I am older than them, rode up. The guy said he would walk it. I rode down it then described the line I would chose and what moves I would make. I made it. He gave it a go and made it. He was tickled. I watched him and looked at his bike set up. I coached him on always covering his brakes with just one finger. I noticed that his levers were angled up which caused his wrists to bend as he reached for the levers. He allowed me to adjust them in a more friendly position. He rode away with a smile and thanks. Just something I do.
I stayed parked for 4 nights at north Klondike, I rode for 3 days. I even “enjoyed” riding pieces of formerly dreaded EKG to connect other more challenging trails. I added ridden trails to my GPS map. I created my route to pick up the hard to reach ones. There are some harder ones out there. The local trail map rates them all blue with some black moves.
I managed 4 days on the 7 gallon sink water tank and 3 gals of drinking water. Solar panel charged the batteries. Squirt lube kept my chain quiet.
Today I’m in town resupplying then having dinner with old friend Terry and Meg from Spokane. Terry used to be a HS basketball ref and he follows the Zags, he has a much better handle on the game than me so I look forward to a discussion about this next year’s team which is mostly new players. Then out to Horsethief area ti Thurs then back to town for laundry and supplies.
Should be making my move north shortly. temp here fluctuates between nice and hotter nice. yesterday at 3:53 at 4646′ elevation it was 81 degrees. It’s in the 80s here in town. Horsethief is almost 2,000′ higher. But then the tempo drops back into the 60s later this week. Wood River trails are mostly snow covered and unrideable. Such is the life of living on the road as a mountain biker.
I started a conversation with the local trail building organization, Trail Mix, and the trailforks electronic map makers about inconsistent identification of trails that allow ebikes. Just something I do.