That is the name of the AZ state park we ride thru to get to USFS land.
Yesterday I had an appointment at the shop that installed struts and shocks last year. The work today was to replace what they put on last year with ones they really recommend. All for warranty, no charge to me. Sounded too good to be true, I was skeptical of free until I was handed my keys. True to their word. The shop was perplexed as to why they recommended what they did or that the quality of the OEM was not up to snuff. I left my van in their hands then rode my bike to meet Doug to ride the Dead Horse trails. 3 mile pedal on busy highway to meet Doug outside the park.
The tread here is mostly lime based which makes for an even nastier mud problem sticking to wheels gumming them up such that wheels won’t turn thru frame. Question was had sufficient water evaporated to eliminate that mud. $3 entry fee to pedal thru the park to get to the trails. We found that mud was on the north facing slopes and infrequent enough for our riding. Elevation is upper 3,000′ and drier than Sedona, mostly creosote bushes.
The invasive species bovine continues to lay waste to our public lands.
Doug created the route which worked for me. We pedaled 19 miles climbing only 1381′. Tread is chunks of limestone mixed in with red sand. Small system. Location suited my van service.
Pedaled back to service garage to pick up my van. Service required access to both front wheel wells which is where I store books on the passenger side and shoes on the driver’s side. The library underwent a massive shuffle, I saw books that I either have partially read or intend to… someday.
I drove the van off the lot while immediately noticing how much better the ride was. Put a big smile of pleasure on my face. The ride is way much better and at no expense to me. With the turbo fixed for more power and less Sprinter rumble strip vibration the van rides like a big car. Next is the coolant service and I will be more confident in health of van.
Our ride took longer than I planned as I wanted to buy coffee beans in Cottonwood and buy propane. The coffee shop was closed and I forgot about propane. I drove back to Sedona passing the closed hardware store where I buy propane. I parked at my in town spot. I opened my calendar to check propane data. Shit.. I counted the days since the last refill and did the math of 1 gallon burn per day: I figured I would run out some time during the night. My bad. I turned the heat down low and went to bed. During the night I woke to see the flashing red diode indicating the furnace did not light which I took to mean the propane was empty. I looked at the fridge control panel diode that I interpreted to not running. No heat, no hot food, and no refrigerated food. 3 AM. Hardware opens at 7. At 7 I slid out of bed and put the van in driving mode to drive to hardware which appeared dark. I ate restaurant breakfast food then returned to store. Their sign stated 7 AM open. I checked the tank gauge which showed fuel. Guy pumped fuel, I had a gallon in the tank. Chalk it up to another case of not paying enough attention to facts. I own it.
I drove back down the VOC to Bike and Bean shop which is usually lacking customers to have them replace my shifter cable and housing as shifting down to smaller sprockets lags. The resident wrench spoke highly of his repair knowledge such that I chose to steer my business to the shop. His knowledge is incomplete as at present he can’t figure out how to detach the cable from the gripshift.
rain started falling about 5 AM this morn and has continued off and on throughout the day. Forecast calls for sunshine tomorrow. Dirt will be just a bit more moist than hero dirt.