Me still being in the analog state. The new phone is sure better than the worn out one but frustration in not being able to move all the mapping data over. And also setting this phone up. Technology is moving faster than I want to come to grips with it. Why, I don’t remember this like it was yesterday but back in like 1959 my family moved to a small rural community 7 miles away from major industrial city of Mansfield, Ohio. Ball point pens were an oddity and not accepted in the rural school, we were required to used fountain pens, at least the ink was in cartridges not the ink wells stuck on the wooden desks for naughty boys to dip the hair of the girl in front of them. Life required you to write clearly for others to comprehend. Today with this software I can’t  figure out what the programmers are attempting to do to deny me access to my stored data.

Something else about age is during our aging we have had more chances to fly and many places to fall. To an older person to us back then shaking their head about what we as youth were attempting. The olders had learned lessons that we perhaps would soon to be learning on our own. Oh, so you are driving that rusted out VW van to the west coast says the older, I said what can go wrong with that? I proved them wrong by not only making it out I made the return trip. Today I am the older who is more cautious in my proposed actions because of having fallen in the past. The VW has been replaced by modern 15 year old Dodge Sprinter with 272,xxx miles now on it and not rusted. I am more cautious about where I anchor, I keep a water back up, I have a gauge on my propane tank, I run tubeless tires. Lessons learned and wanted to pass down to the youngster who shakes their head at my bald head and gray in my beard. Dude, what can go wrong?

So here I am with my future progress stopped back with fountain pens. But then I hardly ever write. My signature is harder to write but I know the 3 digit code on my debit card.

Anachronism in digital world but just a possible few upgrades to my mountain bike. Don’t see myself using crush core inserts.

Regarding the Revel Rail: today’s ride was its 100th in just 146 days, 1512 miles.

Here in Moab I bounce between N Klondike and Navajo Rocks areas with resupply trips to town. Last 2 rides were up past Horsethief XG. Temps are becoming chilly with clear skies. And no one to share a trail with. Today I rode from the Chisholm TH over to the Mustang area.

I have shortened my rides for the benefit of my aching knees. PT is helping the 1 issue but on the whole both knees creak and crack. Wearing out, perhaps replacement is in the future, unfortunately the engine is not rebuildable.

To me what sets this bike apart from the RFX is its pedaling efficiency, Going down not much difference other than this one is more agile and I might be faster.

Fewer minutes of daylight and the light is low angle. Way fewer people out riding. Today, entire ride all to myself, yesterday riding Chisholm out and back I encountered 2 riders.

Reflecting on the Freehub film is that I was not asked to be anything other than what Freehub chose to tell of me. I did repeat riding scenes but got no retakes on the spoken words. What is shown is me. I think about actors, as seen in their acting, they are not telling about the real person hence I never learn who they are. 17,XXX views of the film in 9 days. I am hearing from people I have met along the way.

Creative juices are immersed in 40 weight crank case oil.

Chilly 41 degrees at 8 PM with the heater running, burning about .6 gals a day supplying fridge, cooking, and heater.

Tomorrow is clean clothes day and a PT session on my knee. Weather forecast is still sunny with lowering temps, no precip, very comfortable riding conditions. I did rest on Sunday instead of riding.

KP duty.

 

An object in motion remains in motion until acted upon by a greater force, or something like that. Go fast and zoom with stability. Slow down and the forces of the rocks and gravity are stronger affecting balance. My right knee hurts from over use. Slower speeds lessens pedal strokes which makes my knee happier. Also I see more and enjoy the handling of the bike. I continually learn how the bike and me negotiate less than smooth tread. Back in the 70s when I raced hare scrambles and enduros I learned that wicking it was a real solution. Twist the throttle, speed and/or power on the rear wheel spelled success. Mountain biking has no twisty, just pedaly with power coming from my body. My engine is age affected, not burning oil stage, but not having the needed 1 or 2 pedal strokes to get up over something. I do what I can get my body to do. On the flats I do OK. On the downhills others ride faster by enhancing their speed, me, I let gravity do the work. We do what we can do.

My right knee is protesting again. On Thurs I was cared for by a PT, I learned that Rhonda guided for Western Spirit here in town for 9 years. As a biker to biker she has a handle on my issue. She gave me homework that has minimized pain while pedaling, however, off the bike my knee really hurts to walk. Next session she will add strengthening exercises that should further make the knee work correctly.

Thursday was laundry and PT then I drove out to N Klondike for 3 nights and days of riding. Not as crowded as last week.

On the Arches side of the wash there are Dino and EKG trails that traverse the rocky sloped side of the wash. Turn upslope at any of the cross trails then begin a climb over slick rock patches with step ups and downs to finally gain the top end of the slab. Baby Steps, Mega Steps, Little Salty are ups or downs determined by direction.

So few riders out here to enjoy primo conditions: temps chilly enough to minimize sweating and sunshine, sometimes breezy.

I scored the same anchor spot at N Klondike. Riding from sleep spot. Shorter amount of solar energy doesn’t fully charge my batteries to stay ahead of the electrical demand. Running the heater at night competing with outside temps of low 40s, sometimes into the 30s. I ran the engine for 25 mins tonight for battery health.

The film was released on Tuesday, tonight the Youtube counter showed 11,800 views.

During today’s ride I was stopped at an intersection on Mega steps. I heard a rider coming near, he rolled out onto slick rock piece where I was, I watched him ride, he was on a hard tail, I watched his body jolt absorbing the bumps. Youngster. So much more body friendly riding a squishy bike.

Zags play now. Only receive XM broadcast, no free streaming. I would have liked to see the game but putting the logistics was involved. I needed to find a viewing location then establishing an anchor spot. Stasis, more enjoyable to remain out in the desert at N Klondike.

My replacement phone screen is sharper and more visible which lessens eye strain. So far much of my mapping data will not come across. Anxiety for successful import.

I bit the tip of my tongue during breakfast, right on the tip, it hurts. It hurts while clearing out food remnants. You can’t tell not like you would know the effect of a disabled finger.

Gonzaga is ranked number 1 in the country starting the season like last year. Tonight they are playing 5th ranked Texas at the Kennel, Texas will have a long trip back home. Zags are HOT and talented and coached.

Rode 5 out of 7 days this week. Tomorrow starts a new week with another ride.

Utah liquor laws control retail sales etc, I have an open spot in my fridge for a wine box that remains open because of my lifestyle not aligning with the state. Abstinence.

Memory stroll back to riding in Du Pont state park near Brevard, NC.

I’m done.

Yes, writing here. Procrastination is putting something to later, avoidance is finding a bushel basket to hide under. Writing means me creating and saving time tor record. I find many attention grabbers and holders that don’t require me to hack at keystrokes for this.

However, as this is something of a journal to myself, and y’all reading this is your choice. I tell stories as I remember them that are publicly shared. As many days of experiences have passed since last posting I will be rattling in porous memory recall and more than likely non sequential.

Here goes.

Ah, yesterday starting at wake up with later context to the previous day.

Peter, who is a few years younger than me, and his younger wife, Janet, and I participated, in riding the new Raptor trails up above Slick Rock trail above Moab. They drove their home conversion van down from Fruita on Sunday, we met out where Chisholm crosses Dead Horse highway. We rode Chisholm to connect to Rodeo which we rode. This needed for context. They came down for 2 days of riding. Peter came with the idea of riding these 2 new trails. Yesterday I drove down from the spot past Horsethief that I turned them on to for grocery stop in town. My plan was to drive up to TH, ride, then camp at Sand Flats, then meet them at the Falcon Flow TH way past and up from Slick Rock trail. These new trails offer a “saner” descent from Porc rim trail. We rode that Sand Flats road up and more up climbing 2.077′ ? miles, like an hour of humping to the upper trailhead for Eagle Eye, which was also where the Freehub filming happened in the opening scene of the film. Oh, the film is now live, later I will post that link. New hand built purpose built desert single track. The trails closely parallels the road climb. Attention was sharpened as short sight lines presenting reaction conditioned moves. Janet is buff at 59 yo, me, I’m 72, she rides a 29ner Revel Rascal with I9 hub. She bubbles with speaking which plays havoc with controlling breathing. I gave up talking when climbing as I focus on breathing to make the climb. She made the climbs still talking. I stayed close to her the entire climb. Peter pedaled his pace.

While the distance was short a big effort was spent. Weather was overcast but warm enough on the climb to shuck my long under wear top down to short sleeve Pisgah jersey. However it went back on at the top. On the descent I stayed ahead of Janet. Recall fuzzy about constant purple paint stripe tread markings. Yes, they were there. Purpose is to locate the safe line, either right or left is on you. Trail is turny twisty with a ridden in quality berms. But pay attention. Great bike and components enhanced my experience. Seems the suspension quality is such that it can roll over many features before effort required to weight shift. This makes for plowing. This trail is 2.2 miles dropping 758′ ends at a jeep road dropping lots of feet.

No trail line markings for guidance: eyes ahead to pick my line and figure out the hidden drops. This piece was the most dangerous of the ride. Then Falcon Flow for 5.4 miles dropping 1098′, there was 348′ of climbing mixed in for additional effort. Towards the end we were each beat in different pains, the ride in totality was demanding physically and mentally. Our ride was 16.5 miles climbing 2297′ pedaling for 2 hrs 38 mins. Yeah distance and time were mid range rides but beat down factor was higher. Shortly after we arrived back at vans 2 young men coasted in on hardtails, they rode the same route. I bid Peter and Janet adieu then drove down to campground above Slick Rock trail. I scored the spot I like in an uncrowded campground. All the legacy open air outhouses have been replaced by concrete buildings, these are not CXT from Spokane.

I made today a rest day after riding 4 straight days. Next avoidance task was retrieving my replacement phone form shipping center in town then walking across the street to the Verizon store for their expertise transferring data from old Note 8 to new Note 8. My avoidance to the swapping was not being able to import all my backcountry navigator mapping data. So far Verizon is stumped, I have reached out to BCN and still have the old phone. The new phone needs to be set up that I am struggling with.

So, that was yesterday and some of today.

Sunday Peter and Janet  and I rode Rodeo up at Horsethief. Fun blue level trail. Again, we shared my preferred anchor spot. They visited after dinner inside my van. Peter determined additions to their van to live in it: Kitchen for inside cooking.

Fri and Sat I was out at N Klondike. I rode EKG out on Friday all alone. Trail has more elevation changes than Dino which is lower down of the rock but it has more tech things. Crowds are on Dino. EKG connects to Miners loop to Malachite, Azurite, Baby Steps, to UFO that I wanted to ride, then down to Dino for return. 17.2 miles climbing 1220′. Warm short sleeve day.

Broke for dinner process. Zags on XM detracting me, way ahead, I will switch to Outlaw Country. Back now.

Back When: Pedaling effort was described by used chain ring: Small being a grinder, Middle a pleasant effort, Big, a screamer fast trail. Today: No knowledge of what riding 3 chain rings was like. I have not heard anyone giving an effort rating for a trail. Trailforks shows a rating, I favor blues and will use both green and black to make a ride. With monster 1X12 gears giving greater gear inches than the past multichain rings there is no effort said, you just find whatever gear then pedal. I ride a 30T Absolute Black oval chain ring with a Sunrace 11_46T cassette eleven speed. My fast twist muscles turned off years ago leaving me muscular power strokes. This last ride climbing Sand Flats road, which is desert dirt except for 3 short sections of old pavement, I used granny 46T cog, on same angle gravel I used the 40T. So, how to put an effort value on the trail? Back when I rode here in 1992 I rode a Klein Top Gun, a rigid aluminum frame, rim brakes, think rigid fork, 3X, toe traps, no dropper, the bike optimized for XC racing. I pedaled that bike from downtown up the road we rode yesterday then turning onto the jeep road up to join Porcupine Rim then back to town. I did what I did because of my age and I was riding a state of the art bike. Ah, today reaping the benefits of state of the art bike build.

Anyway, riding out at N Klondike offers varying degrees of tech and elevation gaining trails and linking trails makes for enjoyable riding. The west side is beyond the rock slab that is Klondike, it is open with some undulation, it is what would be a big ring trail for the most length, there would be some mid ring climbs.

The other side offers this:

I found a bush that the cows did not graze back. It is not sage.

I’m back out at Willow Springs anchor spot. Crowded. Plan on riding Klonzo tomorrow and staying here then driving to town for laundry and PT.

I noticed some desert pieces seeing that there was almost a crust on the sand. Crust formed by rain wetting the clay making it sticky. When moisture leaves hardness remains: a crust anchoring sand grains that do not blow away.

Freehub article: https://freehubmag.com/videos/solution    I did link it

Daylight savings time back to fall back alters my timing. 9:35 3 days ago was 10:30 which is past my sleep time.

Say good night Gracie.