Sunday I made arrangements to meet TrailDoc for a ride on Monday. I drove to his house near Mtn Bike Heaven. His friend, Doug joined us. Today’s ride is a repeat of Damifino way up on an unamed sandstone peak shoulder like we did Sat after christmas. All snow gone and just several water ice slips back around on the north face.

More of same tech “trails” w/ me still doing a lot of walking. Up high there is exposure that ups the grip factor of a possible fall. TrailDoc is an excellent rider. Several times on the ride those 2 got into a FOX news rant about us liberals loving everybody vs being at war w/ terrorists and the solution is military defeat. They have their points.

Oh, and the Over the Edge company is in Sedona. Quentin, DJ, & Dave are here as is Troy, the owner of the big company from Fruita, CO. John knows Troy and he offered to lead then on a ride Tuesday. I exchanged greetings w/ the Hurricane folks.

John drove to TH stopping first @ his food cache, BurgerKing. Blocking our road was a woman who had backed her car into the ditch. We helper her out.

The ride took us back to BurgerKing where John & Doug stopped for refueling. I picked myself to ride back to TH and drive John’s car back to BK. Upon returning to BK those two were almost sedated, maybe satiated as they ate 3 each whopper meals on a free promotion. Doug bought me an evil order of french fries for me.

John treated us again to his condo spa. We cooked ourselves past welldone in steam bath & hot tub. We were toasted. Walking out to car was walking gumbies.

Drove back to Deer Pass rd USFS campspot.

This AM after the sun cleared the ridge a hot air balloon passed overhead.

Today is a rest day. I made a list of things to do. I rescheduled my frame ship date to end of month to allow for PUSHing the shock & hopefully my new wheel will arrive. I went w/ the 20mm dia axle and a heavier duty rim to take advantage of the strengths of the new frame.

I previously selected a dentist thru the ARRP Deltal Dental coverage. I called b4 lunch and asked to make an appointment. Pam said she had a 1:00 today. I jumped on it.

Drove into town. I stopped @ a clinic to have my BP checked. They wouldn’t do it. I stopped @ a quick check and asked. I was told if it was high I would have to see the dr. Checked w/ the manual method, darn, another 100/ 60 w/ a 55 bpm pulse. Been off the BP med for 3 weeks. Good to go.

Visited w/ Dean who makes the flyswatter $600 flat pedals. Flat pedals appear to be the ticket for technical riding here as it allows for vey quickly putting a foot down. Yesterday I stalled between 2 rocks about knee high. I started to fall to my left. I twisted my left foot to release my foot from my Eggbeaters. Because of the rocks I did not have enough room to twist out. I continued to fall and landed on my side. I am building a case of flat pedals and skate shoes only for Sedona. I bought leg armor for here. No, I won’t spring for Dean’s pedals.

Thorough dental exam & cleaning. Very modern clinic. They can turn a ceramic crown in 3 hours same day thru digital data sent to mill that cuts it from a block. No dental work required. $235 about the cost of 6 months of insurance. Told the dentist about my One Peak a Year experience and how my dental work that time was paid for in trade for me guiding them up Rainier. 8 people split the $235 bill which became my standard charge for other climbs.

Stopped @ Oak Creek brew pub which is in their brewing building. Their Nut Brown is very tasty. While there this guy started a conversation about long distance road riding. We compared notes on his biking and my hiking the PCT. Pretty interesting conversation, much better and broader than nuke the terrorists.

Back out @ Deer Pass. Zags play tonight, watch the TV broadcast on my computer. Speed is slow and quite a bit is lost but better than just listening to radio if I could find it.

Tomorrow is another MBH shop ride. Forecast is for 30% chance of showers.

Haven’t been invited to join the OTE folks for a ride.

Learning some insides to mountain bike trails around Sedona. Legalizing existing trails and making legal ones are looking up. Strange bedfellows is the USFS person & an underground trail builder. And another rider performing 600 hours of community work. Cool. Hard riding here.

Rode Sedona today, later in the ride the title appeared.

Yesterday i did an all day trail build on the Black Canyon trail from Bumblebee and connected to a piece coming from the south. Chopping rock out of trail tread and or raking it w/ a McCloud. Nice day pleasant to work in. Keith, Dale, & Mike dug in also. I was the newby. Trail tread is almost as smooth as a baby’s butt at least to bike tires. What makes the trail interesting is the routing, otherwise it is a boring trail.

Shower @ KOA & drove north to gaydar ridge camp spot. All alone, no propositions.

Today drove up canyon. Stopped @ Bike & Bean and arranged receiving my UPS bike parts and that they will build up the bike. I have to store all the parts until final build.

At Mountain Bike Heaven John, aka traildoc lead. I stayed w/ the last 4 as we wandered hither & yon around Sedona. We rode new trail named Highline. Yes it was. These  challenging & big technical occur high up on sandstone formations. Sketchy single track, you need to be on your game here. Trails were free of snow and wet which inspired some confidence. I rode more stuff than ever. Key is using middle chain ring & 2 largest cogs & power up. Just sketchy in spots, downhill rolling over rock onto loose rubble hung on steep hillside. My courage left me on last downhill. Mentally I was empty. The tiger in my tag turned into a pussy.

SO, I asked John if I could ride w/ him tomorrow. He said yes, maybe we’ll go do Damnifino like we did 2 weeks ago in the snow. I’m going again.

Scott Irons from Indianapolis, whom I rode w/ last year in the Pisgah, knows Gonzo @ Bike & Bean.

Camped out west of town on Deer pass rd.

Tired.

It’s all about me and I smother myself in it. Turner has my new DW Spot raw finish awaiting a ship to address. Whoopie. I have coveted this bike for over a year. I deserve it I have been telling myself. What the heck, I am already eating black beans, this just means that dog food is that much sooner but I will enjoy the ride. I have buying to do, a couple thousand to put the bike under me.

Build kit:

The shock will be PUSHed

Rock shox revelation 150 for 6″ front travel, fork to be PUSHed later this spring once they engineer the tuning, 20mm axle

New front wheel build: Chris king hub, DT Swiss rim

New seat post because of larger diameter frame

new bike rack because Maxle fork eliminates holding the front wheel in conventional wheel holder

Replacement for worn parts:

Front & rear derailleurs, grip shifters

Move over:

Chris King headset to 4th bike, Chris king bottom bracket, seat, stem, handlebar, Formula brakes, rear wheel.

Lots of shopping.

Today i participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Black Canyon Multiuse trail. multi organization celebration for work performed to receive the money and spend it. Photo op.

I was 1 of 5 mtn bikers to demonstration ride the new north bound section of trail. There were a few hilers and a bunch of people on horses. Met the 3 riders, 2 are instrumental in the trail. Keith weld fabricated the fence gates. Short ride out to river crossing. The river can’t be bridged economocally because of wash clearing floods recarve the river channel.

Ate white bread lunch provided, 2 helpings of an apple crisp desert. Too bad food stuffed to go for a ride out south.

Needed groceries beyond the lesser desirable section in the local IGA, drove 17 miles down I-17 on greater outskirts of Phoenix. Looked for laundromat: either Phoenix or Sedona. I wonder how people w/o washing machines get along?

Staying here for tomorrow’s trail work project further north. i asked about camping where they will be working, glad I did which is why I am still in same quiet place as last night albeit w/ interstate traffic noise.

Then head back to Sedona and bike build.

Met trail designer and learned from him about his trail build. Interesting: he doesn’t make outsloped trail in the desert. He said it starts out outsloped but the bikes make a center groove and the horses walk on the outside edge for an unknown reason. I liked his design and the build crews’ implementation , all hand made.

Observation: my evolution of dirtbagging is increasing brazenness in using other people’s property. Absent landlords. At first I was freaked if somebody asked me to move. It only happened once back early on. Now should I be asked to leave it will be gracefully if not obsequiousness. Pride interfers. I’m wrong, I’ll leave approach. Where can I go that you won’t kick me off?