Sunday ritual: scratch made pancakes and a second cup of cold brewed coffee. Many years ago I clipped the pancake recipe from the Spokane newspaper and am still making it with added blueberries. Back when I lived in Spokane I would pick huckleberries and blue berries to add, now berries are store bought. Pure maple syrup tops the stack. The the rest of the day is pretty much the same as every other day. Here in AZ liquor and pot can be purchased on Sunday and bike shops are open. Sunday just means additional weekend people populating the trails. Today skies are drizzling such that I am hunkered down inside warm and dry so I’m 1 less person affecting the weekenders.
Back in 1978 when I was thru hiking the PCT the weekend crowd was called Wally Weekenders. I became one of those when I was employed. Now I let people living their life have the trails.
Friday I rode Rabbit Ears loop down at VOC. 9.12 miles climbing 935′.
The pic is on Little Rock that mixes climbing and traversing to join system trail Rabbit Ears. Rabbit climbs “gently” but taxing climb to high point then drops more back down to Big Park. I needed blow breaks on climb as muscles exceed lung capacity to fuel them.
Spent the night out on the desert with no blocked windows or people.
Sat I drove up to Sedona to join Doug on a ride. Doug’s routes are always creative mixing system and social trails. This ride pedaled for 1 hr 52 mins covering 11.5 miles climbing 1198′. Rides here run about 100′ / mile. Ain’t no picnic. Doug is younger and pedals faster than me. He stops along the way, I don’t know if he does it for me or he needs the break because he pushes himself. He will describe the entire route to me before starting but my short memory is unable to store that info. I keep what’s to come in manageable chunks. Collective Western Gateway trails start from Cultural Park up high with trails descending to cross Dry Creek to other trails with a climb out route choice. Axis is the preferred climb which takes about 20 mins of continuous pedaling. This ride I kept my pedals churning non stop to parking lot. Effort. What goes down has to come back up.
Sprinkles just turned to rain. Next several days forecast calls for showers. Too warm for snow. 46 degrees.
Heater is persnickety in that it sporadically lights on first spark, other times a second ignition creates warmth. Last night’s outside warmth exceeded the need for heat inside which turns off the heater. Being too warm, I covered myself with just a sheet. I found a seamstress to sew lines of stitching on my 2 summer weight down blankets so that I can cut off overhang of each so I can stack those blankets for needed warmth. Night life will become more enjoyable… to sleep.
Zags won again last night, however, they are no longer rated in the top 25 teams in the country after 144 straight weeks. Game coverage is mix of straight TV coverage and espn+, an internet app that my watching location does not buy.