yesterday was a hang out day waiting the late afternoon ride start from Bike & Bean. Shower @ Hilton b4 ride because 1 ride of grit was better on a clean body than 4 days of accumulation.

Shortly after 5 a bunch of us headed out & rode x the hwy to old man and then some other pieces. Brisk wind blowing sand. Chilly and sunny, beautiful light again. frenetic pace by leaders trying to get 2 hours out of a 1 hour ride. I can’t keep up, I just get winded trying to ride hard.

Ended up back @ B & B for a raccaus beer drinking no dinner evening. Slept behind shop.

My gut pain & loose stool moves to colonoscopy this Tues down in Scottsdale. Blood tests came back normal but I have high cholesterol still. I booked pricey motel reservations for Mon & Tues  nights.  I drink maybe 3 qts of h2o a day, i lessened my consumption and stool firms up. Kidneys not able to remove excess h2o I drink? See what the 4″ hose reveals.

Today started as just another beautiful Sedona spring day. researched hotel choice. To be released after the procedure I have to have a motle reservation & a  drive to it. Taxi both ways. I found a room for 2 weeks of grocery $ 4 miles away.

Geared up & rode to B & B to start my morning. Plan is to ride down low by myself @ my speed & working on technique. I had ridden most of the distance several times. I made my tech problems feeling pleased w/ myself. I say pleased because it beat the frustration of not making any of them. At Templeton & Cathedral trail junction I dropped down towards TH & wash that I planned to ride up. Amnesia is so protective as I have no memory of the nasty fall I took over the bar from stuffing my front wheel on landing. I must have rolled a drop that was too steep and lacked a down slope runout. I vaguely remember coming to picking up my bike. A hiker took it away from me, he asked about me and where I was going. I seemed to make sense and could focus my eyes. I was woozy.  He walked my bike dwonhill to TH where I wrestled it away from him and said thatnk you for help. I didn’t ask him what he saw. I rode back to B & B between the bike lane white lines. Hurt but able to pedal. Plan is to get back to van while I could still seeand drive to Sedona hospital emergency room for examination. Pulled it off. At the hospital I packed a clean clothes bag and walked in. I am in my riding shorts & jersey. I am limping from a banged right knee. My left side is way hurting, I can’t close my mouth to chew, a bleeding cut on my left little finger, a gash on the inside of my mouth, and a bloody 1 1/4in gash under my left eye. Cat scan and several Xrays revealed no serious injuries. DR said that tomorrow I will feel like a car hit me. Never had that happen. Do not remember the beginning of the fall nor how long I was knocked out. DR said I was out cold. I am hurting. My right knee had a little swelling but the icing seems to have reduced swelling.

Yesterday i emailed Dave Turner @ Turner bikes that I rode w/ his test guy. DT replied.

Not really, just really fast & hardly a break, 20.31 miles in 3 hrs 16 min, climbed 2772 feet.

Slept w/o heater again last night. Dawn brought warmth to 47 degree interior when i got up. Let sun warm up and wore my Pisgah wool jersey.

Stopped @ NY bagel store for normal supply of 2 cinnamon raisin and 1 blueberry. I like the bagels. Jimmy & friend Kevin from Long Island told me that there are different NY bagels.

Made Bike & Bean just after 9:00. Say hello to all. Jimmy introduced me to Dave who will be putting on the Turner demo days around the country. Gonzo was supposed to ride w/ them but he didn’t show. I offered to guide him, his wife Bev, & their friend Bob. They were going to ride system trails. I suggested Highline from shop and thought that would be good enough for them. Dave is riding a DW Spot like mine. Both he and his wife’s Flux have 650 wheels which are a bit bigger than 26″ but not quite 29″. Experiment continues of optimal wheel diameter. Bob rode a very old Cannondale hard tail w/ rim brakes, and all but bald tires. Oh well I thought to myself. This guy is in for a tough ride. Turned out he had things in hand.

Pace was brisk w/ just several munchie breaks. Dave is a live wire and just splatters everyone w/ his drive. Let him go w/ request to wait @ every intersection. fast rider & quite skilled. Amazing how he negotiated the tech features first time thru. He & Bob were pretty ecstatic riding the social trails made by mtn bikers. Dave was looking for more riding time. OK, my idea for a longer ride is to ride the Hogs for maybe another 90 mins. They threw down. Rode up easy sleezy wash where my skills were finally better than dave’s. Whoopie.

Off to Chicken Point on Little Horse trail then up & down on Broken Arrow for a ways until the nondescript start of High on the hogs trail. More fun. Bev elected to return to TH. Bob rode in front of me and smoked that ancient bike. I finally rode a tricky uphill left turn exit. Returned on Hogwash which is a undulating sketchy single track a ways underneath High on hogs. Tricky trails. Further diminished the walking spots. Rode chute on Little horse again picking a line around Bob who bailed just ahead of me. I told him to freeze so I could squeeze by down. Challenge is 15 foot elevation drop in 10 feet horizontal and there are 3 rock steps roll downs, rock surface is broken smooth bedrock, I don’t think is slick rock. Confidence to let gravity pull forward, for the suspension to suck up the drops, and  I can steer a committed line.

Rest ride was system trails back until crossing hwy 179 to pick up lower Made in the Shade for a mostly downhill back to shop. Dave & Bob split for parking lot while I choose a longer route back to B & B.

What a hard ride. I have a spent feeling different from others, maybe a bone tired.

Hung @ B & B afterwards. Defrosted the fridge. Jimmy let me put my cold foods in the shop fridge.Down canyon further to Beaverhead flats camp spot. Dry Beaver creek is swollen w/ snow melt from Flag.

Smoked the Spots.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a rest day after 7 straight days of riding. Hung around out @ crowded Deer pass camp. My preferred spot has been occupied by same campers for days. Drove into town mid afternoon for groceries & a video, The Soloist. Back @ Deer pass another camper moved in almost blocking access to next best spot. I seek a level camp spot for comfort & for the gas absorption refrigerator to work properly. Sunny day slight breeze, as afternoon waned warmth from sun chilled. Sat outside in sun for awhile wearing my wool poncho reading Under the Banner of Heaven. Mormons.

Slept w/ no heat under doubled up down blanket wearing a bicycle head warmer. Sunup is 6:29. This AM in the daylight I saw my breath when i stuck my head out from under the covers. Put off getting up to face the chill scantily clothed. Once out it I turned on Bob Edwards on XM and lay on floor to start the heater that takes about 2 mins to get going then crawled back under the covers & listened to Bob’s show. As the sun warms the van, it expresses its response by metal moving pops & pings.

Up & moving into town for MBH shop ride around 10:00 ish, more later. Rama, Doug, his friend Kevin, 2 Israelis, a touron, & a returnee. Techish of Sketch & New Ramshead separated the skills. Rama took his planned route home where Doug, Kevin, & I split off for a possible big day… if we could cross Oak Creek on the bridge we made on our crossing several weeks earlier. We located our former bridge location, our bridge was adios. No crossing the creek today. Plan became Pyramid loop w/ much before & after. Rode some new trail. Again, my praise for amount of trail in Sedona. As of 3/22 I have 46 rides 572 miles ridden.

Enjoyable ride.

This AM Ryan from Competitive Cyclist in Little Rock called me… long distance in my response to my request for ride ideas. Got some names. Up north are the Ozarks, near Little Rock it is the Ouchitas. Going to do some woods riding. The Womble is in the latter. Interesting data: Last spring on my Womble ride I split it into two parts & rode out & backs over 2 days.  Day 1) 28.39 miles, 4 hours ride time, 4690′ climbed, 2804 cals burned. Day 2) 39.21 miles, 5 hours, 4690′, & 3607 cals. Sedona rides average 12.44 miles for, say,  2.5 hours, climb 1800′ but burn around 1200 cals. Speed is lower here.

Back out @ deer pass, same crowd again.