Saving The World

Thinking so deeply
About how to save the world
Or, how to save me

Postponed...

...for a few reasons:  Patty just got back from Seattle and is in Orem today, the house is a mess (I really need to sweep, mop, and scrub), and, we are meeting with a potential foster child after school today.  The Grand Staircase, Skyline Drive, and Strawberry Peak will wait for me.  The next window opens mid to late September, right after I get back from Montana.

ID-AZ, Maps Days One, Two, and Three

View Idaho To Arizona, Day One in a larger map



View Idaho To Arizona, Day Two in a larger map



View Idaho To Arizona, Day Three in a larger map

Preparations

I'm trying to get my head around the start of Idaho To Arizona and gathering my things together:  bivy, bag, pad, food, tubes, water bottles, frame bags, and maps.  It looks like Tuesday is a go.  My heart rate gets higher just thinking about it.  On Tuesday it looks like I'll start from the Idaho line above Swan Flats, take the Sinks Road to Hardware Ranch and Ant Valley, head up Skull Crack Canyon and down Pine Canyon to Henefer.  There, I will sleep and resupply.  See the map above.

On Wednesday, I will take the rail trail from Echo Junction to Park City, for a big resupply.  I will then go to Midway/Heber via the Pine Creek descent (that's a big climb out of Park City, so I may just stay on the pavement, US 40).  From there it's all mountains up the big climb to Strawberry Peak and down to US 6 via Tie Fork.  Wednesday night I'll sleep near Strawberry Reservoir or Sky View/Tucker near US 6.  There is no resupply there so I'll be traveling light and a little hungry.

On Thursday, there's the really big climb up Skyline Drive which I will take all the way to I-70.  I will have to resupply off-route in Fairview, Utah or Mount Pleasant, Utah (big down and big up to get back on route).  There, I will coordinate with Patty and Lupine and try to update the blog and describe Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's routes, so stay tuned.  By Thursday night I will still be north of I-70, sleeping god knows where without any resupply opportunities.

It's too far out to know for sure, but I plan to be in Loa, Utah some time on Friday, and in Escalante Utah, some time late Saturday.  On Sunday I plan to meet Patty and Lupine in Big Water, Utah (home of polygamists and the Joseph Clan) after pedaling the Smoky Mountain Road Scenic Backway from Escalante through the Grand Staircase National Monument.  From Big Water it's just a few miles to Arizona.  Light and fast, light and fast.  Wish me luck and a strong pair of climbing legs.  Yes, I know the monsoon season is here.  Yes, I'm taking polypro underware.

Time To Go To Work

Hardware Ranch last night
Got my pants handed to me
On a B pace ride

Better than couch time
At least I went for a ride
And did some real work

Old Main this morning
Stairs 8X, cross laps tonight
3 easy, 3 hot

Six Days To Heal

Degenerative
Disc disease, herniation
Facet arthritis

Little time to heal
Idaho-Arizona
Begins next Tuesday

Six hundred hard miles
No paved roads and Sky Line Drive
Grand Staircase or bust

Just A Quick Update

I'm back from Montana.  And, I'm back from southern Utah, checking cameras on I-70 and US 6 for Patty.  Today we are going to Park City.  Drive, drive, drive.  My back is killing me, still about 40% on the Robert Scale (it means I could get 60% better).  The MRI said Degenerative Disc Disease and narrowed nerve channels at L4-L5.  Whatever.  I'm old.  Walking and sleeping are still really painful.  It does not hurt so much to ride the bike, which I have not done much of as of late.  I hope to change that today in Park City.  On Sunday, Patty flies to Seattle.  On Monday, Lupine starts fifth grade, and I will go see a sports medicine doc.  I have to get better fast.  The first Utah Cyclocross race is on October 1, just six weeks away.  When Patty gets back, I'm supposed to pedal to Arizona.  Remember that big ride I have planned, Idaho to Arizona?  Right.

Willow Mountain, Montana

I pedaled up Willow Creek today, up to the Lookout Tower at the top of Willow Mountain in the Sapphire Range, about 3000 feet of climbing.  Then I headed down towards Gleason Lake.  Patty, Lupine, Sen, and Berne were supposed to meet me on the trail.  I looked for them, their tracks, or a note.  Three hours later I found their note, about 3 or 4 miles from our designated rendezvous point.  An hour after that I found my family.  Better me than the Ravalli County Search and Rescue.  Patty may never walk normally again.  What a day.

Utah Wildlife Crossing Structures Videos

Montana US 93 Videos

The Latest In Fixed Gear MTB Downhill

Hanging Out With The Enemy

I took Peter and his Burger King Whopper-soured stomach up Green Canyon.

Then I served up some beer.

Then the sun went down over the Temple.

Time To Post

Where do I start?  It's been a long time since my last post.  It could be a new record.

I made it to Florida.  It's still my home, my heart and soul still reside there.  There are so many things in Florida that have deep meaning:  Like the tenacity of Smilax vine, a summer thunder storm, 97 degree days with 85% humidity and no air conditioning, seeing my sisters and family, pedaling with the guys in Gainesville and Chad. P., seeing 42 swallow-tailed kites in less than three weeks, swimming in Juniper Run and the Atlantic, and seeing the result of a fire that ran through a mature live oak hammock on the edge of Lowry Lake in Camp Blanding.  All good stuff, especially the swallow-tailed kites.  Their numbers have increased tremendously in the past 30 years.  I saw my first swallow-tailed kite in 1978, the most beautiful and strange bird I'd ever seen.  It was flying low over Black Creek.  My father knew what it was, but said he had not seen one in many years.  In the 80s and 90s, you would be lucky to see one or two a year.  Now, they are quite common, and I feel lucky that I got to see so many.

I made it back to Utah eight days ago.  I was so happy to see Patty.  Utah, not so much.  However, the mountains were beautiful and it was nice to be back in town where everything is a short bike ride away.

Last Friday I went to play basketball.  I was killing it, until my back went out.  I could not really move for two days.  Dr. Catfish gave me Prednisone, a steroid, so that I could wipe my bottom again.  I'm still in bad shape.  MRI next week?  I think it is time.

This week, I'm in Montana, working hard, swinging a sling blade and lifting heavy objects to improve my back.  Today we floated the Bitterroot.  Yeah.

Bicycles?  Yes, it's time to start thinking about cross season.  For now, I'm still just riding for fun.  I'll get serious after the back surgery.  Idaho to Arizona?  September, perhaps?  Next week, Peter N., my long lost brother, is visiting Logan.  We are going to do some serious epic riding.  I hope he's ready to climb, because we are going up, up, up.

TSA

Dr. Catfish gave me a jar of cashew butter.  I just love cashew butter.  I put it in my backpack along with some PBRs (Power Bars) for the long day of flying.  In the Salt Lake City airport, the TSA man took my cashew butter.  He said "no liquids, pastes, or gels if it's more than 3 ounces."  What could I do?  I hope he enjoyed it.

Flying. Green.

I'm flying home today.  I can't wait for 100 degree days with 85% humidity, fried shrimp, and familiar forests, birds, and spring runs.  Juniper, here I come.  I'm talking about the spring run in the Ocala National Forest, not Jardine.

My last ride was Green Canyon as the sun went down on Friday night.  I've heard folks complain a little about the raging waters.  For me, it's like a whole new trail, now creek side.  I've lived in Logan for 7 years (has it really been that long?) and I've never seen water run out of Green Canyon before.  Yes, there are 22 wet and cold stream crossings if you go all the way up to the upper parking lot and back down.  Pedaling beside the sound of running snow melt is worth falling in now and then, interruption of flow, and constant wet feet.  Well worth it.

Idaho

I spent 6 hours with the bicycle yesterday in the mountains northeast of Franklin.  Two or more of those hours were spent looking for a trail, getting whacked by bushes.  It was a Robert Ride.

High Country News

Don't do it.  Just be patient.  Wait until August.  Don't be like Justin Simoni (he is riding the Tour Divide without any detours, which means he is doing all the high passes in deep snow while everyone else went around).  Yesterday he got lost, went back to the library in Dubois, WY to find a topo map because he could not find the trail in the snow.  He might be a little hardheaded.

I tried to be like Justin today.  He inspired me.  I pedaled up Card Canyon and tried to find the top of the Spring Hollow Trail.  It is covered in 6 feet of snow, more in drifts, up there somewhere, but damned if I could find it.  My feet are frostbitten, and my back is out from lifting the bike up the mountain a few feet, squeezing the brakes, then taking a step forward in the snow, then repeating.  There's no way I'm going to wear sandals without any socks the next time I pedal up to snowline and then start hiking in deep snow.  I am so done.  I was out there from 11 to 6:30.  I got lost, a little, but found the way down.  It was disappointing to go back down the way I came up.  I think I will drink a Summer Honey from Big Sky Brewing Co. and go to sleep now.  Might as well.  My new dog has licked all the blood and mud from my legs as I typed.  I think he likes me now.

Jardine Today

Two road rides this week
Left me with nothing to say
I don't like pavement

Today, different
Juniper trail, resplendent
Penstamon, larkspur

Between purple-blue
Color uncapturable
On canvas or film

Their color surpassed
Only by the cold power
Of the snow melt stream

Knee deep, numbing cold
Both bicycle and human
Nealy swept away

Sherwood Race Update

It tuns out that the posted times for my race last weekend were wrong.  That sure makes me feel better.  1:22 is so much better than 1:34.  It makes sense now, I really did not think I was riding all that slow, but I do feel a little burned out.  I'm not going to do another race until cross season, and I may not even race then.  We'll see.  I just want to ride and have fun.  That's my training plan for the next 6 weeks, just ride and have fun.  I plan on spending most of my rides on the fixed gear cross bike.

I Wore A T-Shirt On The Group Ride Today