As in noun. June 7, 41 degrees this morning. Chillin strikes me as something you do to consume time when you are comfortable more or less. Today I wore a short sleeve wool long underwear top under my mid weight long sleeve wool jersey and knee warmers. Started with wind shell. Wore shield coverage glasses to block the cold air on my eyes which tear up. Ride started uphill and in a short while I was comfortable pedaling not chillin.
I made yesterday a rest day after having ridden 6 of 7 days, Chilly enough to move to wind shell puffy from normal light weight wool shirt. I hiked for 2 hours on Phils trails. Most riders were accommodating me hiking. What really fries my body fat are the riders who literally sneak up on me, they never announce their presence. When I hear them I almost jump out of my skin. I even wore my gloves. Windy.
Today I needed water. I know that there is a well spigot up at Skyliner lodge, I needed to learn if it was open. Well water here is just enjoyable. Drove up Skyliner road to lodge, checked the parking lot, open, spigot was not locked. Score. Filled sink tank and 2 gallon drinking jug. Returned to Skyliner TH which was almost full.
Ride today was starting down low and climbing from the get go. Pedal up Tumalo Ridge grinder then out onto former haul road where previous ride I knocked 50 seconds off. Today I chose not to record or put in the effort. At the shelter almost all of the elevation gain was complete. I did shift to 42T gear, resisted the 46T granny. Swede ridge escapes the shuttle riders. Never been logged.
Viewshed.
Pedaled on W side of Swampy Lake to junction of South Fork which is what I pedaled this distance for. 3.07 miles dropping 912 feet taking non stop 16 mins. Tree cover is like above. 15 mins was just about right, very grateful for purchases of the RUNT and PUSH Eleven6 shock. Not that the ride was baby butt smooth, it was manageable. The shield glasses kept my eyes dry to focus on what was approaching at a very fast speed. Some of it is so fast my eyes are unable to fully focus. Finished off on little brake on Tumalo Creek trail where my new speed record is 26 mph.
Riding the loop this way saves the long uphill drive. The downhill reward is the carrot for effort of 4.75 miles gaining 1027′, more than Sedona 100′ / mile . Driving up and starting at the top gets after the fun almost right away but only the faint calling the cold beer in the fridge motivates this climb.
Drove back to town to complete several tasks. Stopped at shipping place to print septic maintenance agreements which need to be presented to county at time of septic permit request. Short drive to Safeway for Clif bars. Parking lot required cruising to find and empty spot. Next was drive to Bend Battery to learn performance of my electrical system which I perceive as not holding up its end. This shop installed the camper batteries like 2 years ago. Battery check revealed performance now is better than when new because that’s the way the agm batteries behave. Nothing defective in my system and the diminished performance is a function of seasonal poor solar gain. Didn’t need to spend $.
Back out past Phils different spot. Forecast is still chilly and possible rain.