Phooey. My right cheek is a pin cushion of prickly pear spines as I rear ended sat down on same on botched attempt on Llama problem. I hit the approach with speed carrying me some ways up the ramp then I stalled and started sliding downhill. To stop reverse direction I sat to the right blindly as stopping was paramount. My right cheek was the stopping part on a prickly pear. I stood back up removing a generous quantity of spines attached to my shorts into my skin. The larger spines were easy to pull out of my flesh, others were either embedded in my liner or my skin. I dropped my drawers then felt for spines to pull out. I pulled out the spines that were on my saddle contact patch. Afterwards and still to now I bare my butt and feel for spines and blindly pinch what i hope is a spine. Nobody willing to face my naked butt to pull the remainders. Hazard of the locale.

Tues Doug lead 3 newbies to pleasures of social trails out western gateway trails. Matt and Alex were new to what they rode, they also put s hurt on Ground Control and Shithole, very skilled riders. Beautiful day, shorts top and bottom.

Monday I drove up to Flag via the canyon to visit primary care DR. A law breaking driver almost changed my locomotion to the DR by passing a truck on a double yellow line and only by me stopping did he avoid my grill. Could have been an ambulance ride. Flag is about 7,000′, above town is the highest peak in the state.

Weather here is now in a wet wash cycle. Yesterday forecast wanted rain at times during the day. Doug and I hiked other side of 89A down then returned up nasty herkinham. I stayed at the park for dinner. A short lived thunderstorm settled in shortly after we completed our hike. We beat the wet by less than 30 mins. Desert is now prolly to wet for my travel so I will be mixing pavement spots of the mall and Doug’s city driveway. I put the rain cover over my bike while the skies were still blue.

Zags host ST Mary’s tomorrow night, televised on espn, bar side watch at PJs.

Hunkered down at mall. Occasional squalls intermixed with teeny patches of blue.

Saga of house building on La Pine property as last 2 contractors I connected with are more expensive than I have funds for. Prices are in $300,000 for my small house. Sheesh how expensive small is.

Creating this at 11AM with much of the day ahead but I need to make time now to write.

Monday and Tues were wet so no riding, hung out on pavement inside with heater on. Wed I hiked up Rabbit ears from Jacks canyon TH for getting outside. As I was hiking uphill a woman mountain biker was carrying her speed towards me. Never a squeeze of either brake lever as she flew by. She did say thanks. Rant: etiquette, yes bikers are to yield to hikers, I did not assert my hierarchy. To me, all users are sharing same resource such that neither party is more privileged, I stepped off trail, she should have slowed down before me, or better yet would have stopped and asked to go by. Should I have stood my ground I would not be using all my fingers for this.

Another issue bothers me. The Forest Service has not allowed motorized travel on non motorized trails. Several of the Sedona Mountain bike patrollers ride these M bikes in violation of law. When their legs don’t go in the same direction as their lips, why should I listen to them for advice or information?

Thurs was laundry day in the rain.

Friday Doug and Leia drove down to the Village for a hike on Transcept out and back. Beautiful day. Per Trailforks the trail is 3.1 miles, it is not a linear trail as it goes in and out of several gulleys dropping from the summit mesa. I rode / scrambled myself and bike years ago when it was a social trail, it has since been adopted into trail system. No way would I accompany my bike on this trail.  As we were hiking back 2 mountain bikers were wrestling their bikes towards us climbing up a particularly nasty face. I wondered why someone would be riding this? A touron that read about it and was learning how hard / nasty it was? No it was 2 locals who know what it’s about. Duh.

Zags played Turs night but just espn+ that PJs doesn’t get, and XM played it on a station I do not receive. Watched on espn word version.

Sat Ian invited me for a Black Canyon segment ride for Copper Mtn cherry stem route. Trail here is full on exposed to sun so best to ride before season heat.

Trail tread is broken chunks of sharp edged hard rock. My rear tire hooks up on the edges as the rock seems to move to lock onto others for traction climbing. Descending I am not as comfortable as same type of rocks move when I corner. Ian smokes it all. We rode it counter clockwise as it climbs better and descends better also. 14.6 miles climbing 1503′ pedaling for 2 hrs 8 mins. I was worked.

Back in daylight to sleep out at Beaverhead. On the drive in a rig had parked on the established preferred track that my van needed. I stopped and waited for what I hoped the driver, if behind the wheel, would move. No. I got out and started walking to the rig, before I got there the driver moved out of the way. I continued to the spot I wanted. Shortly the driver, a woman, walked up to me and started a blabber conversation, I had interest to remain as far away from her as I could. She parked about 50′ away which is too close to my liking when she had lots of distance to chose from. Later she drove several more feet to almost block the preferred rut out. I drove out at 8  AM to squeeze by her. She had something up her sleeve to park to partially block access.

So today at present is sunny, 57 degrees with noticeable wind velocity. Doug is leading me on a ride shortly.

This morning my resting pulse was 51 beats per minute with 99% O2 saturation. But moderately high blood pressure.

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.