Forecast wants showers over the next 2 days. Nature will give what nature will give. Desert sure can use a dunking. Using wet time for rest.

I have been paying attention to my battery power lately, concerned about batteries either getting full charge or are not holding that charge. Spoke with shop in Bend that sold me my last batteries. Plan nof action is to install another controller which is to allow more charge from my panel to enter battery. Found a supplier and installer in Price. Working on perfect plan to drive up there during the wet here.

Read short article about Shimano filing a patent for gear box e bike. Premise is performance will outweigh the weight. So it be. In essence e bikers want to ride on non motorized trails because they prohibit motorized vehicles (dirt bikes) which are too fast for the e bike to keep up with, plus dirt bike trails are built to dirt biker needs. E bikes will be faster than heart propelled riders. I am heart pedaling uphill and an ebiker gets on my wheel and asks for me to yield the trail. What will be the ethics should e bikes gain access to heart powered trails? You can pedal the Tour de France, I suppose you could ride a motor bike on the same. What would be the point? Does the ends justify the means? Yeah I made The Wailer climb, oh, I only used 50% assist. will there be another activity reflective of engine? Did you go mountain biking or e mountain biking?

Yesterday I picked up my altered sheet from USPS and today I washed them. Just in time as my current bottom sheet is suffering from a worn hole caused by my left foot toenails. I know it is my left foot because I sleep on my left side because my right shoulder can not stand being slept on. High thread count sheets, oh boy.

Zags survived a squeaker.

Installed new chain. I totaled the miles on the present chain from my spread sheet, almost 400 miles, changed before it stretched to .5. Intent is to replace the chain before the chain ring wears out.

I have listened to many minutes of the impeachment proceedings.

I read another chapter of This Land, this one about the sage ecosystem. Cows are an invasive species on public land and should be removed. Carbon fuels should remain in the ground. Money is the root of power which destroys public land to benefit moneyed people. Man will kill the planet within next 2 generations. Current shareholders won’t be here to receive the wrath of their grandchildren.

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.

There was no second mouse. 2 nights ago at Willow Springs sleep spot I was awakened by little noises that I have associated with mice chewing. Shit, how are the buggers getting in? I slid out of bed then rooted around in my junk drawer and pulled out the Woodstream made traps, baited 2 of them with almond butter, set them in likely spots, then crawled back into bed. I fell asleep still hearing the chewing / scampering noises hoping to hear the snap of a trap. Nothing. Under daylight the trap triggers were eaten clean. Hmmm… almond butter didn’t adhere to the trigger hard enough to not trip the trigger. I caught a glimpse of a mouse scurrying up under the dash. Baiting changed as I stuck on a piece of cheese of the triggers. No takers. Yesterday before my ride I smeared almond butter over the cheese then rode off. No capture. I drove out to sleep spot with Steve. Later in the evening I visited him in his van listening to the Zags game on radio. Back at the van I saw that between the 2 baits a mouse was captured by the trap. I found the piece of cheese indicating that either another mouse didn’t like it or there was no second mouse. Last night I heard nothing. No second mouse. I pitched the mouse and the trap out the door. This AM the trap was not where it landed. I searched and found it under the van. The mouse was just skin as the mouse had been eaten flesh only by a critter.

Sort of excitement.

So about other living experiences.

I hung out at N Klondike for several days in anticipation of friend Steve’s arrival. I visited with the camp next door to my spot. Characters. Steve arrived Sat evening. Sunday Steve and I were joined by Brian from next door. We rode like Dino, Little Salty, Mega steps, Alaska, Homer, returming on Dino.

After post ride wind down Steve and I in our own vans drove into to town for resupply. Plan to manage Steve’s time here after resupply we drove out to Willow Springs for the night and to ride Klonzo the next day. Chilly nights and a strong headwind greeted us for the pedal out Willow Springs road. Brian finally joined us. We pedaled Klonzo stuff.

Steve’s and my plans continued to evolve. Seahawks played undefeated 49ers on Mon football. Enough said. I drove us back to town leaving Steve’s van and my chair as holding places for our spots. Dinner at brewery which was not conducive to watching the game. We relocated to The Rio a more local spot to finish the game. Seahawks won after nail biting overtime. We returned to our saved spots.

Yesterday we drove up to Horsethief area for planned 2 days of riding. We rendezvoused at the parking lot right off Horsethief rd. Ride plan was simple out and back on piece of Chisholm. Steve had not ridden this piece. The land here and trail routing is different from chunky Klondike. Even for me after having ridden this stuff before this was a reconnection to this tread. Big smiles. We arrived at the Navajo system anticipating returning same way. Steve studied the map then proposed a different return route. Ah, some of the joys of sharing a familiar trail with someone not knowledgeable. I had never ridden a piece of 7Up that he proposed. What could go wrong with our route? Big Lonely crossed the highway becoming Coney Island. Ran into George, co owner of OTE in Fruita. Then the climb out on 7 Up which for most part is a beat up jeep trail which was acceptable, not the sand I was lead to believe we would ride over.

Just another gorgeous day and ride. Mostly all to ourselves. Steve did experience a rider who did not practice trail etiquette to yield to uphill rider and was run off the trail. We intersected with the single track system at Mustang and began more climbing to join the start of Chisholm back to our vans. 15.6 miles climbing 1214′ pedaling for 2 hrs 13 mins.

Steve is 66, we are just aging men still enjoying physical activity and being outside. Our speed is reflective of enjoyment and not visiting the pain cave. My heart rate will stray into anaerobic rates but this ride was almost pain free. Just being outside in this desert soaking up this version of nature. Wide open blue skies that are clear, most times cloudless as seen in the pics. When wind is calm my ears hurt from not hearing anything. Living out here continues that exposure albeit escaping cold by being in our vans. You can buy an expensive house in town then drive out to play in the outside but you return to your house. Us with fewer resources remain behind, you can not buy these locations…. unless dump gives it away.

We are heading off for today’s ride at 11:00 under sunny skies, temp at 10:25 AM is 55 degrees.