Van transmission turned its gears to arrive at Bend. Grocery shopped at Whole Foods. Bought Grisham’s new book, Sparring Partners at B&N nearby. Finished drive out to Phils TH then continued to score my preferred tucked in spot for the night. Geared up then pedaled away picked up Marvins Garden trail over to TH picked up Ben’s which is 1 way climbing trail. Forest management occurring on upper trails here. Ben’s ends on resource extraction road where on the other side Pine Drops is closed preventing further climbing. Trail EXT parallels the road then ends at the road. Phils is closed here also, could descend Phils but jumped on the road, I had never ridden on it. It joined another road then descended to where I picked up Voodoo Child which goes over several rock gardens. The CBF suspension and I9 Hydra hub worked for instantaneous pedal engagement and the suspension moved forward over the rocks. Confidence inspiring handling. Next was down Grand Slam. I noticed leaf rake scratches on the tread. WTF? Shortly I ran into the raker, Kent. We visited. On to ELV to expressway to KGB with the climbing turns which I powered up. Strong legs. Finished on Marvins back to van. Cold enough at night for heater, 28 degrees at wake up, frost.
Tuesday morning 8 AM was van service date. Drove to Import Performance shop. Shop had transmission and drive shaft. Plan was for the shop to do work then drive out to selected parking spot for me to spend the night. They kept my van and gave me the keys to a small Subaru SUV. I was overwhelmed with all the tech advances then driving it. I made visits to established contacts starting downtown for The Hub, the shop that built up my bike. Sign on door showed new location. I drank a chocolate malt. Next was Dudley’s bookstore where I buy my books. Visited Kevin at his shop Web Cyclery, then found TJ at new location. Then David at Crow’s Feet. Planned on dinner at 10 Barrel however they are closed Tues and Wed. Street tacos at The Lot for dinner then drove back to Import shop for the night. Permission allowed stress free sleep however street traffic provided background sounds.
Wed AM the shop checked over their work. They were satisfied with their work and my debit card transferred funds. Handshakes around. I climbed behind the wheel and fired the sucker up. I drove maybe 30 feet when van started bucking. Not good. The shop took it back then began their trouble shooting. They identified a suspect part and ordered it but it would be in later in AM. The part was put in but it still had a problem. Landon ordered replacement part plus other possible unhappy parts. Landon offered up the shop truck so I could transport my bike to drive out to Phils. Toyota Tacoma 4X4 short box. I lifted my bike into the bed which was a real challenge because of my inability to lift even a beer above my shoulder. Another ride from Phils. Back at TH I forgot how I positioned the bike in the bed to shut the tailgate, I ended up just jamming it in. I started the truck and drove away. There are 2 levers for the transmission shifting. I must have shifted one of them or both such that the engine reved but the wheels didn’t move. I moved shifters but still no wheels turning. How do I overcome this intransience. I looked back at parking lot and saw a larger Toyota pickup and the driver was driving towards me. I flagged him over and asked him to move the gears which he did. I think I drove it in 4X4 back to shop. Another night city camping. Dumpster trucks were banging things at 5 AM.
Thurs the shop retook the van. Thurs is was day, I decided that I could do my wash while the shop was figuring out the problem. I asked for a loaner, they loaned me another car, the third different rig to drive. Drove over to west side laundromat owned by Doug whom I met last summer. He wasn’t there. I wash 1 load on cold. At finish I separate cotton to be dryer dried from wool and synthetic for line drying inside van. Shit, no van. Dryer load finished, folded clothes and bagged wet others then drove back to shop. Van problem sorted out, van given back to me. Drove away. Cleared shop lot and kept going, van is healthy, the transmission and drive train are working together. Good to go.
Stopped at Newport Market where several of the staff welcomed me. Homecoming.
Drove out of town and up to rd 41 parking spot. Geared up for a ride. Warm enough for light clothing. Catch and Release, Ticket to Ride, Upper COD, Storm King, finish on Catch an Release. Back at van for late dinner but now will be sleeping with nature.
Forecast had been playing with precip forecast for today including a T storm. I packed my raincoat and wore a heavier jersey to manage the chill. My route had been planned last night in the comfort of my van and Trailforks app on my phone. Climb would go up Funner to trail closure then ride a FS road to connect with Tiddlywinks. Shit, the road kept on mostly climbing. Sprinkles had fallen and new batch fell. If precip would not be drenching I could put off wearing the rain jacket. Road climb with no protection. Climb climb. Finally the single track. Hail started perhaps teasing of impending downpour. I put my jacket on. Short lived as clouds parted, packed jacket. Sunshine did not last but no precip. My plan was to ride Tiddly to Larsen’s then back on Storm King and Catch and Release. Rain threatening, lure of longer ride, I have a rain jacket, how bad could I be? Revised plan to go longer to ride Tyler’s all the way down then finish on Catch and Release to van. Which I did. Tylers traverses with mixed in short ups and downs to finally turn downhill, 6.7 miles dropping 1658′. One way trail. bermed corners. Flow trail. Finished on Catch and release which parallels rd 41 back to van. 20 miles pedaling for 2 hrs 50 mins climbing 2234′. Burned 1130 cals. GRIT value of 99 is highest score of all rides collected on the EDGE 530. GRIT is value of how hard the ride was. This was higher than Bull Canyon at Moab.
Wed was dentist exam to learn tooth health. My understanding of the pain was validated can be from cold swollen sinuses squishing nerves from the tooth. The dentist removed some packed in food. He discovered cavity below the present crown line. The repair is to drill out the crown, drill out cavity, make new crown. $2,000 bill.
Signed up for a COTA trail work project tomorrow.
Import treats my van very well. They keep an eye on its health which is considered excellent. I expressed my appreciation to the owner. Landon, my service contact brings to work his 2 year old Golden retriever, Bailey. She allowed me to be friends, she received minutes of my finger rubbing her coat which let loose much shed hair. Landon swept the floor afterwards.
43 degrees at 8:11 PM Pdlt, at 3932′. Back to wearing flannel shirts but still shorts and Bedrock sandals.