PUSH Elevensix

Sometimes life gives you lemons, how you make lemonade is up to you.

Rolled into Tomichi Cycles with my bike on back and my shock inside. Put bike in stand then unbolted Monarch air shock. With the shock off we wiggled the swing arm to learn how tight it was. Put the shock on and pedaled in the parking lot. Skritch was pronounced so the shock wasn’t the problem. Removed shock and cycled the rear end. Detected hestitaion and drag indicating bearing issue. Bill determined required bearings, none he had. Called to 2nd bike shop in town. He had 2. I walked 2 blocks to pick them up and return. Needed a 3rd one. Called the 3rd shop, they had one. Walked 3 blocks to pick it up. Bill removed and replaced the 3 bearings. The 4th is a different size. It was frozen. We deduced that’s where the skritch came from. Nobody in town had that bearing. Bill reassembled the bike. I called OTE in Fruita to learn they had that bearing and that I would be rolling into their shop Friday about 1. Forewarned.

Susan fed me again. Night forecast said 4 degrees. I bought propane refill earlier in the day. Furnace was turned on during dinner while I was inside their house. At bedtime I entered a warm house. Outside the temp followed prediction: the furnace couldn’t keep up and my summer double layer down blanket was short of loft. Pulled down the 20 degree down bag from the cubby above my bed. Unzipped it and spread it over and crawled under. Snug as a bug under down. 4 degrees in the AM, 47 inside.

Bid Bill and Susan adieu then drove away. Yesterday I parked in front of this church with the reader board filled out:

How uncomfortable would some attendees be? How could they square dump with the sermon? Did the preacher survive?

Fall colors were really on the Salida side of Monarch. Driving west towards Fruita was heading to desert.

Rolled up to OTE side door, I opened mine and walked in to greet the shop. Bring the bike in. Mine was the next in a stand. Joel replaced the last bearing. At last, the bike would be right for learning shock performance. Except the skritch still reported it was still there. Joel traced it to the derailleur clutch,he sprayed lube and all was quiet.

Still early enough in afternoon for first ride. Drove out to Kokopeli TH. Geared up. Pedaled Wrangler out then Mary’s back. First off the joy of a coil spring became apparent: joy. felt like the first PUSH tune on previous shock except damper. Sharp edge hits rolled. Pleased at improvement. Fast ride to beat dinner rush at Hot Tomato. Another ride tomorrow for more evaluation.

Hot Tomato for Sedona salad joining a packed place. Very popular eating place. Walked around the block to Copper Club, a small brew pub for a beer and visiting. Satiated and tired I drove off to city camp spot. Warmer night.

Sat AM was cloudless bluebird skies but chilly, below freezing. Drove out to Loma exit to ride new trail, Hawkeye. Knee warmers, knee socks, wool jersey covered by wind shell, still regular finger gloves. Pedaled up Hawkeye. Enjoying how well behaved the bike is. My proprioception let me down second ride in a row: a boulder point extended into the trail corridor, right at handlebar height. Today my left hand got squashed then my right side as I slow motion came to rest against a boulder on other side of trail. These slow motion falls can be body damaging as no time for reflexes to execute a safe landing. Picked up, shook it off and continued. Hawkeye is maybe 3 years old. Parking lot at bottom indicates how popular it is. Climbed up onto Mack ridge then down it. Lots of features to roll over and down. I am enjoying a better fork with a RUNT and the new Elevensix, both ends are small bump compliant. Very stable descent. Then nasty on Lyons at the start challenging rocky single track with several drag a bike features. Then a beat up 4X4 climb that becomes a jeep road for final climb to ridge. Amazing: road climb is over patches of small loose rocks that with the previous shock my rear end would bounce causing loss of traction and forward motion. Today we, the bike and me, climbed easily over the same rubble. Another success.

Fruita Kokopeli trail system is spectacular:

I am satisfied with my purchase.

Back into town. Kokopeli TH was packed. Town was populated also. Many rigs in town sporting full blown mountain bikes. Conversation with Troy at Copper Club. Spent night at same sleep spot. No extra layer required but furnace did run all night. 58 degrees in morning.

Today I made a short loop riding backwards what I rode the first day. Mary’s out then mix of rocky ascent up to top of Wrangler. Smiling is baseline. Seems easier to lift front wheel.

Bought new chain as the present one just might be at stretch length. Had 328 miles. Checked it with stretch gauge: just squeeze the .5 distance between the rollers. Put new one on then pedaled to listen for tell tale gritty sound of worn chain ring. All was quiet. Saved the ring. Sure liking the 30T oval ring.

Drove out to exposed sleep spot above Mack on BLM land.

BLM has to figure out how to manage class 1 ebikes on natural surface trails. Fruita trails are on BLM land.