Steve left early this AM heading back to Wood River Valley anticipating preparing the homestead for winter. Me, still enough propane for another night.
Thursday we drove back to town for resupply and tasks, me, laundry day. Took on water and propane plus some eats then rendezvoused at Bar M trail head. We rode lazy out to deadman’s ridge trail. Steve is riding the new Revel frame with his pick of components. I am interested in the suspension performance watching him ride over terrain features. Pretty smooth. Deadman’s is a chunk, suspension challenging and white knuckles are hidden from view by long fingered gloves. Test of nerves making some moves. Consequences are abruptly making contact with bedrock. Left Deadman’s over to Easy. Steve’s bike is a 29er, mine is 27.5. We coasted on a piece of trail, Steve is faster on the coast. Then we rode the Back 40 which has its own problems. Back to the trailhead. 10.5 miles climbing only 820′. A short drive to Willow Springs sleep spot.
Late in the ride on the 13th I started hearing nasty noises coming from my bike. I checked trhe headset which was suspected: correct tension, Hmmm… had the sound of a rear hub bearing like I experienced this fall back in Spokane. Concern was a bearing failure which could seize the rear hub locking the rear wheel which would mean a drag a bike home. Made it back without failure. I pulled the wheel off and spun it around: grinding noise. Rear hub bearing(s) squawking. I called Poison Spider bike shop and scored a morning repair to replace bearings. Dropped bike off. Mark who works there asked if I wanted my bike washed. Huh? Charge? No, we are going to work on your bike. He washed off the red dust. I left to take care of my list of things. I returned to the shop as the wrench was finishing. Learned 2 bearings were replaced, both on drive side. The non Endura bearing was fine. I bought spare bearings. Wheel is happy. Made it out to Bar M to meet Steve for our ride. I bought the I9 wheels on 6/13/14 for the Spot. The hubs were later laced to Ibis 741 rims for the RFX. My ride log calculated 14,960 miles and 1083 rides on the hubs.
Friday Steve drove to Durango to have the RUNT installed in the fork of his new Revel bike. I made a rest day. I drove back to town. My front hub has a small squeak, I gave it to Poison for their fix. I drove out to the Horsethief view spot for the night. Listened to the Zags game on XM. Off to a smashing start, 4-0.
Sat Steve met me at Horsethief spot. We rode from here to connect with Rodeo. Steve wore satisfaction smile from the RUNT.
Rodeo is a fun trail. It’s one way which keeps the tread narrow as it eliminates the opposite direction rider widening the trail when passing. 12 miles climbing a scant 679′. We finished early enough to enjoy the low 60 degree temp and sunshine. About 3 PM the daytime warmth is replaced by fall chill which causes us to seek comfort in respective vans. Spent the night. Steve left before sunrise for home.
Today I figured out a big loop ride. My pipe dream route was start Chisholm from Horsethief down to Navajo Rocks trail loop then climbing back up on 7 Up connecting with start of Chisholm back to the start. Only way to learn if I was just dreaming or if I could complete the loop was to start pedaling. Today I eliminated the road pedaling by driving to the selected TH. Another drop dead perfect day. Chilly at the start but as both me and the temp rose I shed my wind jacket. Chisholm is another treat albeit patches of deep sand are appearing from all the traffic breaking up the rolled firm sand. Shit, I turned left on Big Lonely per my route and experienced even more patches of sand. Big Lonely connects to Big Mesa. Lots of sand patches.
For such a nice day I encountered prolly fewer than 20 people during my 2 hr 59 min 21.4 mile ride, climbed only 1788′. I worked myself to fatigue such that I bobbled the tech climb moves I made riding with Steve previously. Together we took view breaks, today I pretty much kept my head down and pedaled. During our ride I was anaerobic for just 11 mins. Solo, on the longer ride, I was 1 hour 20 mins above my threshold. Why my motor didn’t propel me up the steps.
Drove back to Horsethief view spot for the night.
My damaged right shoulder has been barking from all the upper body twisting and pulling. Last night while laying in bed it sent signals of unhappiness causing me to take 2 tylenol brand pills, sleep still evaded me. I still rode today. 3 hours taxes my tolerance.
Showers are forecast mid week. Wonder how much or how long the rain must be to bind the sand grains together.
Maybe a rest day tomorrow.