It’s relative. Today @ 7AM it was 15 outside and 50 degrees inside. Sun entered the windshield, I pulled the insufficient covers back over my head. The furnace ran all night never getting warm enough to shut off. But I was inside protected.

OK to Les’ comment about riding in Spokane yesterday in day time temps that were the lows here. Les, I used to do that when I worked and it was my day off. Your lifestyle during retirement will offer you choices, one could be I don’t want to live in the cold, another is tomorrow the weather will be better.

The sun warmed up the van outside temp to 41. I drove back towards town to ride Bar M trails. During the drive the temp dropped below freezing. Today i am riding in the sunshine. Just a few bike rigs in the big parking lot. Monday and cold. I only shared the trails w/ a roving herd of grazing cows. Deadman’s Ridge is a nice challenging trail w/ lots of rock moves along w/ short climbs. I am connecting w/ my Industry Nine hub w/ its 3 degrees of engagement for tech moves as I can back pedal a small amount to put the pedal in the power position for a front end loft. Great wheel set.

I made scratch pancakes for breakfast using brown rice flour: gluten free. Added blueberries. I’m not gluten free, never intend to, it’s just that it was the package size I needed. Wheat flour is in 5# bags which is too much. Buckwheat was too grainy. I would have liked oat flour. Small pot is my hot water maker, it was a wedding gift to my parents back in 1948.

In Bend I finally bought a nut grinder that grinds the walnuts easier than my hand dicing. When I find a cup size container of buttermilk I buy it for the pancakes. Not many stores sell buttermilk in that size. Grinder eliminates the hand work, better to turn a crank.

I drove back to town for a shower, propane, groceries, vacuumed the red dirt from the carpet, established Chile Pepper to accept my mail, laminated the paper temp license tag, and found a bar to watch the Zags tonight.

Weather forecast is still sunny and warming a bit, still below freezing at night. No moisture to create freeze thaw mud.

Fruita OTE tagged me w/ their sticker. One too many.

Trail work on Wednesday.

I burn about a gallon of propane a day, that’s w/o running it during the day. I have both heater and furnace on now while sitting in parking lot outside Chile Pepper. Will burn too much fuel.

Yesterday my plan was to meet Mark out near Pine Furnace SP @ 2:30. I made it happen.

Per PA regs a camper must have a valid camping permit unless developed. I stopped @ the forest office on rt 30. Only open Mon to Fri. Then an LEO opened the door. We exchanged greetings my first day there. I told him about the downed trees. I sent him my pic of a tree jam. I asked for a camping permit for last night. He said I didn’t need one and he would contact other rangers about my approval. I insisted on a permit that he wrote for the entire mtn, not a specific spot.

Filled solar shower & put 3 gals in the sink tank.

I met Mark on the dot. The Michaux is his backyard.  There is something to a 29ner hardtail single speed bike. He finessed rock gardens. Single speed means more pedaling which suits rock gardens where success is spelled by forward momentum. No marked trails, not mapped, just a big green spot on the map. A local or a good gps track required for navigation. Way more network of rabbit runs than Sedona could imagine. These are old school minimal trail development tread. My 31″ handlebar presented a memorable count of not enough space between trees. Won’t cut them down for the tight tree clearance but for proper fit. Very hot humid day under tree cover was 15.99 miles in 2 hrs 36 mins climbing 1956′ (the year I started first grade), I burned 1182 cals. Of the pedaling time I spent 1 hr 39 mins above theoretical aerobic threshhold bpm of 136. I like the rockiness of these trails albeit I walk in places. Rhodendron thickets, clear flowing streams and streamlets. Tight tree cover mostly regrowth. The state bought most of the land in the 30s prolly after robber barons stripped the trees and defaulted on the taxes. Also, there were 2 operating iron furnaces that demanded incredible amounts of charcoal that came from the standing tree source.

Mark told me about an IMBA epic, Rattling Creek, nearby. I spaced the connection. Today i am parked downtown Carlisle, PA w/in internet range. I researched the ride and found a gps track of a race course & downloaded it to my Edge for tomorrow’s ride.

72 degrees @ 1400′ on Piney mtn. riding in the 80s. Humid, leaf shaded no views of even the sky. It is what it is: an enjoyable experience because I can have it. Anybody can ride here in the fall w/ a light underwear top and see things and not required to perform full body tactile examination post ride. The East is enjoyable. I travel the lesser traveled roads slowly and look. Old farms, just oldness interspersed w/ newer houses. Houses made of brick, big lots of bedrooms. What was the income source? Old cities houses were built right on the roadside back when it was all about horses and no commuting to work. Row houses sharing common walls, streets not wide enough for curb parking which butts the paved sidewalk that butts the house front wall. Usually 2 stories. Must have been a common architecture style almost universally of the time. Quaint. I will chose not to live in one hard on a street. Heritage. Way of life. Farmers displaced by productivity gains.

Off to Rattling Creek over by Lykens, PA near Tower City where I used to ride my 250 WR Husqvarna dirt bike back in the mid 70s. The land had been underground coal mined and the land was abandoned.

I raised my saddle before the Sherando ride when my knee pain started. The pain was on the front of the knee which says the saddle is too high. I raised it to get more leg extension which i thought was proper. Knee pain contra indicator. Before yesterday’s ride I lowered the saddle using the sit on the bike supported, place heel flat on pedal @ lowest point while keeping the pelvis level: no rocking. While clipped in my leg is not fully extended, slightly bent sort of like firing b4 top dead center. Yesterday’s ride was chunky pedaling, non spin. My knees were mostly happy when finished.

I drank quite a lot during the ride. Back @ the van I drank a beer them 4 mugs of EFS electrolyte iced drink. Way dehydrated. And I cramped viciously in both legs when i changed sleeping positions.

Pit racing noisy ATVs in gravel parking lot. By design the grass camping opening was separate from the gravel parking lot. As long as I am first I experience nothing but clear air and only the roar of my engine. The riders are fatter than the horse riders. Motorized wheel chairs.

Mariners are playing great baseball. I catch games on XM. I prefer the hometown announcers but XM broadcasts the local announcers. Seattle home games start @ 7PM local time. Doing the math, the game starts @ 10PM. I listen to several innings laying in bed b4 I turn it off.

What? Me? No, the trails after last night & this AMs rain. Bike shop would not rent bikes for rides today as the clay just sticks and cleaning is a chore plus possible replacement parts. But that is today. Yesterday was another story.

Woke up early and drove down to Scottsdale for Sprinter service. GPSd the dealer. Charged just more than Hendersonville, NC charged by $120. They hand washed the van.

Yesterday’s ride I learned that my handle bar was too low which makes the front heavy for going downhill, for lofting the front wheel, closes off my breathing, and costs $ to fix. While @ dealer researched a Phoenix area shop. Found DNA w/ Chris who is a bike fitter. 2:00 was my fitting appointment. He remeasured my knee bend and reported 30 degs because he measures bottom of pedal stroke @ about 5:15, the PT measured at full bottom of pedal stroke. He said knee bend is OK. He raised my hands and shortened my arms by a shorter stem and a wide riser bar. These parts made the shifter cables too short so I now have complete new shifter cables & housings. I surrendered my wonderful shaped composite bar ends because the shape of bar negates benefit. I was given a pair of Specialized bolt on grips. I test rode in the parking lot. Yes, I sit up higher and more comfortably but my hands are like longhorn’s horns. They were great in working my cable replacement in and doing it like right now. I was told about Red Mtn just down the road.

I parked @ Walgreens instead of TH along side hwy because of break ins I was told. Rain storm threatened but it was in low 70s, perfect bike ride temp w/ h2o cooler. Light faded and rain fell. I really dug the upright position and am adjusting to greater leverage w/ longer bars. I smoked some technical uphills because of seat height and new bars. Just wandered on trails, missed junctions and bailed exiting into a multigated community. I turned right and rode a short distance to an intersection and flagged down the first driver by to ask for road directions back to van. She gave them to me and I enjoyed a cooler in rain downhill pavement ride to van.

Originally I had no ride intentions for Phoenix because of its early season 100 deg days. I wanted to solve the hand problem & return to Sedona to reride somethings previously rode to learn of handling improvements. Temp was cool and then it rained. Soil on trail appeared to be large grain decomposed rock which drained h2o right now. Saguaro cactus.Land between mountains is flat & heavily built up but newer houses I saw were stucco neutral color & 2 story staying about tree level so none stuck out on sky line. Elevation about 1400′.

Arrived @ van rinsed off & cool. Washcloth dryoff was my daily cleanup.

Drove back to Sedona in rain most of way. The desert takes on a unique smell when wetted. More noticeable down low than Sedona.

Slept last night to rain tapping on the roof. Rained till mid morning, soft but steady. Crunched spending numbers to income. Come on social security in 2 1/2 years. Bike is there as long as I ride carefully so as not to break parts.

Drove back to Bike & Bean to learn of possible ride. They don’t rent bikes in these conditions. Enough for me so I hung visiting w/ Gonzo who was looking for a ride also. We have ridden same places in Pisgah.

Early afternoon the rain let up. Bought propane & groceries & drove back to same place on ridge. I look right down the canyon onto road is less than 3/8 mile on skyline interrupted by juniper trees just higher than van and same color. The unwashed green blended in better than dull green sheen presently.

Gonzo told me about Black Canyon 50 miles to South. The soil is to be similar to Phoenix and it is elevation lower. Bikemag said it is best in AZ and I know that value. Plan is to ride it on Sat, Ride the shop ride @ mtn bike heaven on Sun and then head for Flagstaff. I am thinking Grand canyon beyond that and then slip back into SW UT for St George, Gooseberry, & Cedar City. Then North to Lake Tahoe. I am not keen on driving over to ocean preferring to stay E of Sierra.

Forecast is for less than 50% possible rain storms. If no rain falls tonight the trails tomorrow will be fast in that the sand is bound by h2o &/or damp clay. No dust. Sunday will be special. Bike riders told me these storms are not typical for this time of year but they will take all the rain that falls which is not much and they never will get what the SE has been getting this spring.