At least on this go round.

Not drinking enough h2o as I am not being awakened by a strained bladder. Try as I might. this dry air and hard riding is wilting me.

I hit my head on the cutting board hinge again this AM, really lacerated my scalp this time. No way to first aid the wound, just lightly rubbed a wet wash cloth over it. Didn’t see starts or feel much pain. I have a head ache tempered my big aspirin. I decided to ride anyway.

Drove into town for groceries and h2o. Today is to be a less stressful ride so i drove up valley from Phils to Skyliner Trail head saving myself maybe 15 miles of riding. Filled my hydration bladder @ the camp with ice cold untreated h2o, really sweet. Route was back up N fork like yesterday, snow patches were slightly smaller. I kept my effort down and heart rate reflected it. Nowhere near as many people today as yesterday. Made Mzarek ridge and along to the drop down Farewell springs. Upper part was in forest swinging around tight lodgepole trees. Trail dropped into Bridge creek burn from 1979 that burned 4,000 some acres.

Hit parking lot @ falls and started down creek trail when I spotted Chris and family hiking. Met his family. Renee invited me to visit and dinner. Chris said that the invite is meaningful. Going to visit the SE this winter: NC, SC, AL, & GA.

The parking lot @ Skyliner was almost deserted when I returned. Riders apparently get after it early in day. Temp was in upper 80s. Before I left i hung the solar shower on the van’s hood. And I had another hot shower parked on the side of the road. Washed the scalp scab off and bloodied my towel drying off. Sweat cap between my head and helmet was blood soaked and i noticed a bit of blood on my helmet pad. I made a duct tape streamer and stapled it to edge of cutting board such that it hangs down when board is up. I don’t look up before I step into van and do not see the open cutting board above my head. The streamer will be in my line of vision. Today i left blood on the hinge arm.

Drove back into town to check out REI for whatever. The store is located in the Old Mill development area and the Deschutes river flows right by it. Hot weather and people flock to river in all kinds of floatation devices and ride the gentle current downstream. I saw 1 couple wearing PFDs and skulling w/ their hands, they were just about heads out of h2o. Bought a new bike multitool w/ more usable tools than my existing 1. Necessary for more serious on the trail repairs. Amazing how many tools can be fitted into Topeak’s Alien ll that is smaller than a handful.

Rode 240 miles here at Bend.

At various places around Bend the skyline is populated w/ Mt Bachelor to the S, then Broken Top, S Sister, Middle Sister and N Sister almost together, and around a corner Mt Hood all snow covered still. Back in 1978 on my PCT hike I was just S of S Sister on Aug 13 and it started raining. When I finally dropped off the trail just N of Stevens Pass it had rained all but 13 days. Years ago I skied  from the summit of S Sister on a spring ski trip w/ buds from the Puget Sound.

Drove back to camp spot @ Phils. So nice to have it by myself.

Tomorrow I drive back South and West to Oakridge, back in mosquito land. Bought magnets and contact cement to make attachments for the netting for the door windows. ( Rick V showed me this trick)

Red flag warning for central OR. Late this afternoon the winds really picked up. A fire would have spread like, what, wildfire. Didn’t smell smoke. Less than 20% humidity

Hot, cloudless for most part except during late afternoon attempts to t-storm.

Yesterday I rode 23 miles at Phils working the S side along Cascade highway going to Bachelor. Lots of snow remain on Bachelor. No skis on racks around town so nobody showing their climbing joys. Surprising that the maybe 25 cars @ TH produce so few riders sharing the trail. On Storm King I met a guy on a hard tail w/ a spaniel type dog. I asked him if he knew about the blues festival in Bend. He had no knowledge. I mischose a trail and rode down the whoops again. The trail has tabletops, gappers, big berms, hucks, all w/ a shallow gradient that makes the stunts fun for a cautious person. I’d rather ride the tight twisty shallow grade w/ no stunts trails. Bend lacks almost anything technical on trail tread. What it manifests is the tight twisty between 28″ tree gaps. Places the turns are in loose dirt, many snake thru the manzanita that is just over handle bar height. There are several places where the turns turn back on themselves, whipping around. Up high and far from TH the trails are tighter and less ridden. My new bars are a full 26″ wide. Internet too slow to post pictures.

Something about this big picture that I can’t make smaller.

Finished ride @ van and took a very hot solar shower hung from side of van. I used the shower enclosure to ward off the blowing wind.

Drove into town thinking that Blues festival was downtown tonight. Town was plugged w/ all kinds of people. I walked up to Deschutes brewery hoping for a conversation. Drank a beer; place was too busy and not populated w/ my kind of people. Bend isn’t my kind of place either, or I have not met my side. Night in town was not rewarding, I just couldn’t gen up a conversation. And drove back to camp spot.

Slept well last night. Today i will attempt the N Fork Tumalo Creek. I had heard that it was still snowed in. The trail from the falls is one way uphill. Concened that if inpassable that I would need to ride downhill. The direction is to prevent user conflict and it also protects the trail from brake ruts. Encountered several small snow patches and made Happy Valley, my trail junction for Mzarek ridge trail back towards TH. Tight & twisty on upper part of biker made trail (apparently) and then down to old hiker trail. I planned on intersecting a road and to ride down off ridge & cross Tumalo Creek and ride back to TH. I missed the road, or maybe just chose to ride entire trail down. I rode it out. I sucked my last h2o as I entered the park entrance and was shown a h2o spicket and filled my 70 oz bladder for ride back to van. Today ended being the monster ride day @ 43 miles in 5 hours. Quite dry, temp in upper 80s. Another hot solar shower standing exposed to the world & wind. Clean and tired.

Tomorrow I will ride back up N fork to get a downhill back to falls. Monday AM I will drive back down to Oakridge on a rest day.

Have been tossing and turning while sleeping, or, rather the tossing & turning wakes me up to fall back asleep. Sleeping temps and quiet. Dunno.

Today my plan was to do my shopping before a ride. I marked my site w/ my new chair and solar shower and taped a written message stating my occupancy.

I hit Hutch’s just in town and talked w/ a salesman who has ridden in 40 states, mostly flying to them for races. We shared some rides and I offered him some new ones.

Bought bagels for tghe second time from the same bakery and was waited on by same rising senior girl. She wore t-shirts from colleges she has applied to and visited. Hope for the future.

The shock reducers were loose in the shock, spinning around indicating worn state. I have been tracking down a suspension screech and I considered these the source. Sunnyside Sports nearby is now a Turner dealer. I called and spoke w/ wrench Eric who educated me on metallurgy. I drove over and walked in the front door. What to my lusting eyes did I see but a DW-Spot in the rental line. Inside there was a shiny new built up one. Oh, man. To ride one @ Bend would be supremo. For my pocketbook both bikes were size large.

Mike replaced the spacers and the reducers fit snugly. I hung for awhile sharing conversation w/ Eric. Eric runs a 2.5 front tire and 2.2 rear for flotation in dusty soil.

New bottle of $25.00 10 year old Scotch stored under the sink and I returned to my saved camp spot. The forest was selectively cut anything over 16″ thus reducing shade where I am camped. It was 83 degrees and 17% humidity. I positioned my chair in the skimpy shade and read On the Road. What excitement!. I moved the chair tracking the setting sun.

Tomorrow is Friday, legal holiday for 4th. Expect more riders much like I used to be when working.

Speaking of working, in my case of not working, I have been retired for 1 year now. Miss what $ will buy but digging on being my own w/ a “who cares just don’t break anything ” boss. July 19 marks year 1 of this odyssey. No completion date in mind. I need to reduce my driving to get expenses under control. To date I have driven 26,000 miles and spent $3,000 on diesel. I have ridden 3638 miles on 235 rides and spent $4,000 on bike stuff from new wheels to PUSH suspension tuning. I am living a job stress free life. I am somewhat stressed when I choose to walk something, stressed that I beleive that i could ride it but my self preservation rears its better sense. I am able to ride another day.

Jack Kerouac died @ 47, I have bested him by 23 years. i am excited by On the Road so far.

I enjoy sitting outside w/ hardly a mosquito around.

The organizer of the Cream Puff contacted me. I will be moving on to Oakridge next week to help w/ race.

Tomorrow will be another big ride here, perhaps not 40. Snow is still covering the shaded upper elevation trails that limit high loop rides.

Thunder pealed and a smattering of rain drops fell this afternoon. I was hoping for a bunch more rain to wet the soil making it traction tacky. Ride speed would jump. Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon of 2 guys in a row boat fishing where an atomic mushroom cloud is behind them. The caption reads  something like: You know what that means, don’t you? Yeah, no limits”. Tacky soil would be just like that.