Meteorological conditions have created several high wind warnings which became reality. 20 to 30 with gusts in 40s. Sand on desert floor is dry, ammunition for sand blast. I am parked at spot off Willow Springs where there are small patches of open sand, a nasty gust blows over that sand carrying it to me, on me, and inside the van. Most surfaces have a grit layer. I have watched video of the dust bowl which appears to be way worse than what I live in. Anyway, wind.
Yesterday I drove down to town in that rapidly moving body of air. Kleenex box on a roller skate I describe my van. Both hands on the wheel as I compensated for course deviation caused by hardy gust. I grocery shopped, poured 6 gallons of water into 7 gal water tank. I walked into Chili Pepper bike shop, my preferred shop, where I greeted the first sales associate who greeted me telling her that my bike sent me to buy parts. New chain and new bottle of Squirt chain lube. I let Excel tell me how many miles I had on current chain: 411 miles. Ooops, too many, should have changed when miles were in low 300s. I checked chain stretch with chain stretch tool: I was able to force the .5 stretch tang between a link. Not good, maybe stretch wore gear cogs. Way to find out was to put the new chain on and pedal under load to learn if chain skipped. I performed my bike work out at Willow Springs in the high wind and blowing sand. Install then pedal. No skip. I told her also my body asked for new Oury grips. Hands were disappointed. Recovery plan was to visit the other shops seeking those grips. No sale. I drove away from last stop onto the block of a bike shop I had forgotten about. I pulled into Visitor Center parking lot and parked, walked across the street, clerk greeted me, Oury grips I said, he pointed me to the shop display, hey, red Oury grips the color I wanted but were lock on. The left hand grip is full length as opposed to cut down right green grip to match the Gripshifter. Never used lock on grips. Bought the pair.
I walked back to van. I saw a woman standing near it. She greeted me. I looked at her and immediately recognized who she was and I told her to give me a moment to retrieve her name from the memory vault. It was Ingred, wife of Cal. I worked with both of them back in my Spokane days. We visited for catch up on Spokane people we both know. They left to visit Arches, i invited them to visit me as they were staying further out Willow Springs from me. Later they stopped by. We have much history from my Spokane days.
High wind warning was forecast to expire at 9 PM, and the wind complied stopping about 30 mins before. Warm night, no heater needed.
Change: I park at first track off Willow Springs which in the past attracted just several other campers and they parked off at the edges. What’s happening now is more campers are crowding in and even making new spots. What used to be the distance from first to second base spacing has shrunk to being caught in a pickle. Not door banger closeness but close enough to listen to conversations. Me and too many other people competing for space.
Last night and this morning the forecast called for another wind event, gusts to 50 starting at noon. perhaps I can ride Klonzo and get back to shelter before wind start. I parked my van pointing strongly to the west for wind. I overslept this morning, like 6:30. I raised my head and looked into the rear view mirror to see a wild sunrise, Sailors take warning, Before I could get outside to view the earth had moved away from that show. Gentle wind.
Fed myself and cleaned up then geared up. I pedaled away a little past 8 with the wind at my back. 2.73 miles of dirt road to single track. Guy was standing at kiosk, I made a wind comment and he responded. I pedaled away on my ramble. I wanted to ride TopSpin again and get there quickly to stay ahead of impending wind. I ran into him out there. We struck up a conversation, he is executive director of park City recreation. Long chat about bike advocacy. He is staying on Willow also. He said he might swing by for a visit later. I finished my ride beating the high wind. He visited later, we sat outside visiting until winds and dust drove me inside and he drove away. He has a long history of mountain biking and advocacy. Education will save our sport from itself but how to bring unknowledgeable riders up to speed? You can lead a rider to education but you can’t make them learn.
Change: back in the day there were trails that went somewhere. The tread was prolly not bike wheel friendly. That’s what was available. Then mountain bikers organized and became advocates for trails resulting in biker friendly trails, in some cases, were just for riding that didn’t go anywhere. Klonzo is an example in that it is a small chunk of BLM land with a trail network, you ride a loop and you end up back at the start. Riding as a result has become a sport and not a life style. It is what it has become.
Sheesh, it’s 5:30. I rose from my chair to start dinner, I looked out the windshield to see Charlie just drove up. More stimulation and exchange of info. Wind was blowing sand making it no fun to sit inside with shelter a step away and the door slid shut. he bid adieu to go fix his dinner and I turned to fixing calories. Then my sister Lynn called and we chatted for a while while I fed myself. Did the dishes and it is now 9:6 PM. Evening cup of sleepytime Celestial Seasonings tea is nightly custom.
Rain is forecast tomorrow.
Above is on the east side of the continuation of Willow Springs that enters Arches.
Below is on the other side
Managing the users. I paid attention to the below as a go around was being created. On the right, where the loose rock is, is the build tread, you will see in that tread a small rock outcrop, to the left is the ridden in go around. I believe the go around was not caused by the out of place rock. But if it was that rock could have been removed by anybody but if nobody did riders will go around it. I stop and remove those kicked in rocks for safety of rider and health of trail. I saw bike tracks out of tread to avoid a rock on the trail.
I’m communicated out.
I am planning on leaving here next Monday for Fruita. I set 5/27, Thurs b4 Memorial Day, to be in Bend. I am figuring out where to stop along the way and for how long a visit. From here to there there are few riding places.