Sick … yuck. Nasty cold has really taken hold, and I feel like crap, so there’s no way I’m riding today. Well, we may not be riding anyway. Late last night we took The Bear’s bike in to Rim Cyclery to get the front brake fixed. Before we left on the trip, she crashed at Rowlett Creek Preserve and bent the  lever on her front brake. And NOBODY has a replacement lever, unless you want to pay $150 for a carbon fiber lever. They do seem to have those in stock. No thanks. Anyway, she’s been trying to get it fixed ever since, asking at every bike shop along the way. When we were in Fruita, those guys straightened out the lever (I didn’t think that was a good idea, but …). A few days later, the little pivot inside the lever broke, and made the front brake near useless.

Good news! Rim Cyclery called Specialized and they said to warranty both brakes and send them back! So she gets new Shimano XT (to replace the stock Maguras) brakes for $100! Retail was $340, so she’s a happy camper! But I’m still too sick to ride.

I know! Let’s go to Arches National Park! I can walk even if I feel miserable. Yeah.

Why, thank you SO MUCH, Congresscritters! We need to fire every single person in the House AND the Senate, and start over, hopefully with better results. I hate to talk politics, but those folks are each only out to screw over the other party, regardless of what it does to the country. Can you guys PLEASE grow up and just do your damned JOBS? Which, by the way, is to REPRESENT your CONSTITUENTS, NOT necessarily your party. If the two are the same, great. If not, too bad for your party.

Anyway, on to better topics. So, we have bikes, but I’m still sick. I figure the smartest thing to do is to sleep, to try and get better faster. But first, a shower. That always helps me feel better. Do you wonder why they felt the need to post this in the shower? Mind you, it’s only a shower, nothing else:

It’s a tiny room with a shower stall, and outside of the stall is a bench and some hook, the mirror, and the door. Really? Someone felt the desire to smoke in here that they had to post a sign? REALLY? What the hell is it with smokers? What part of “Non-Smoking Building” do you not understand? Does EVERY ROOM have to have its own sign? Really?

Oh, and guys, while I’m on the subject of bathrooms – if you ever see one of these:

DON’T OPEN IT! I’m serious! You’ll wonder what it is, and if you read what’s on the lid:

It’s VERY misleading! “Rubbermaid” is the manufacturer, not a trade name to tell you what it is! It has NOTHING to do with … well, anything you want to be involved with. TRUST ME! DON’T LOOK!

Phil’s World today! Not an early rise, ’cause it was COLD again. Late breakfast, but when we finally got going just after noon, we were primed for the ride.

We’d heard rumors from a lot of people that this was a great place to ride, and have been looking forward to it for a long time. The good news is that The Bear is mostly over her cold (it’s been with her a few days), the bad news, of course, is that now I’ve got it. I’ve felt it coming on for a couple of days, but today I had a serious sore throat and a hellaciously runny nose. I rode anyway. Not a lot of miles, only got in ten … actually I wanted to ride a bit more, but since we didn’t know the trail, I took an early out, lest I got on a loop that went too far.

Phil’s World is Phun! It really is – no monster climbs, biggest elevation gain in the whole park is about two hundred feet, and they never take you up for that long before they give you a break. And the downhills are sweeeet! Lots of slaloms and dips – almost really scary, but not quite, just really huge smile-makers! I wish I’d felt better, I’d have put in twice as many miles. I can’t wait to come back, but it won’t be this trip – tomorrow we head for Moab, UT.

Oh, yeah, I did leave some DNA there:

About a half-dozen other bushes tried to get me, but none of them did as good a job as the last guy – looked like he would give way like the others, but not so! Can’t believe they led that much – they’re actually pretty small scratches. Well, long, but not very deep. But they did bleed! That’s ok, chicks dig blood and scars!

Onward we go – as I said, tomorrow we head for THE mountain bike mecca – Moab, UT. Can’t wait!

COLD this morning, but we were roasty-toasty, thanks to the electric mattresses on The Beast. What a great idea! Because these are “tent” trailers, so really no insulation. Took until almost nine to get the nerve to get out of bed. It’s that old 747 thing again …

Anyway, The Bear is feeling better, but better not to push it. No riding today, but we did go visit the bike shop in town, Kokopelli Bike & Board. Pretty good selection, considering how small the town is, and friendly staff. We already knew about stuff in and around here, so no info needed. Tomorrow we’ll go ride out at Phil’s World. Heard a lot about it, we’ll probably spend a few hours out there, if The Bear can hold up. Need to watch that, of course.

Ok, this morning I got brave and tried the furnace … no fire! Well, ok, there WAS fire, but only where there was supposed to be fire. No unexpected fires anywhere else. And it put out heat – a LOT of heat, so life is good! We’ll still use the electric heater, because it’s a lot cheaper. Gas furnaces use gas – a LOT of gas, and gas is not cheap, so it will only get used when we need extra heat on super cold days or nights. Could have used it last night!

We also went out to Phil’s World, to see what we’re in for tomorrow. This place looks really cool! Reminds me of the Texas Hill Country. Can’t wait to come back and ride it tomorrow!

Well, no riding today – The Bear is not feeling terribly well, so we decide to stay off the bikes. What to do? Let’s go to Mesa Verde! It’s just down the road, so what the heck! It was on the itinerary anyway. I’ve been there before, but it was a quick trip, so maybe this time I’ll actually stop and crawl through the ruins.

We stop at the Visitor’s Center:

where I see this sign as I’m using the rest room:

Ok. “Do not flush anything other than toilet paper.”. Really? So, I do my business in the sink? That way I only flush the toilet paper? Really? I think this could be worded better.

Anyway, as we head to the ruins, I see a sign we need on the trails in Texas:

Only downside? The signs would be EVERYWHERE! This was at Spruce House. After that, we went to Cliff Palace. This is where I came last time,  except I didn’t take the tour. It had only been a year since my surgery, and I didn’t know if I could do it. Good decision! Tough hike, but worth it!

And a closeup:

Cool ruins. There’s a bike ride out here Saturday – might happen for us!

Ah, get up early, let’s go hit the bike shop! We go to Mountain Bike Specialists on Main, because it’s a block away from the Irish Embassy. No. Not the REAL embassy – it’s a pub … and it has … Guinness on tap! We went there for dinner last night. So today, the bike shop! Super friendly folks, great shop dog (Ruby!), we buy a map and a book, get some really good trail advice (one REALLY good thing the guy did, was tell us what direction the trails should be ridden in!), so off we go to ride. We decide to ride Horse Gulch trails Well, Horse Gulch is a dirt road (almost – well, ok, it IS a road, but it doesn’t look like it!), and there are many, many trails that come off of it.

Anyway, we get there, saddle up, and start the ride up the road. It”s hard! VERY rocky, and quite steep, and even though we’re 2,300 feet below Crested Butte, I’m still having trouble breathing. The Bear gets ahead of me, and starts to widen the gap. I hear a woman’s voice … “Are you from Texas?”. I stop (gladly! I already need a rest!), turn to look back, and look for the truck … maybe they saw it … nope, it’s too far away, out of sight (though just barely!), and again she asks “Are you from Texas?”. Ever the smart-ass, I answer as I usually do … “Maybe …”. She says “It’s Mo. Do you remember me?”. Mo … yes! “Mo Monahan? Yes, I remember you!” I yell to Barri, tell her to come back down. She’s maybe 50 yards ahead, and doesn’t want to come back down – she just climbed this! But back she comes, and boy, is she ever glad she does! Twenty years ago, they were both racing for the same bike shop, and each is very happy to see the other. Mo is with her husband Randy, they’ve been here a few years, and love it (duh!)! We chat a little while, do a lot of catching up, and promise to stay in touch. Yup, that definitely has to happen! We’ll stop by next year for sure, and get together. Looking forward to it, especially because next year we’ll be in much better shape to ride.

We say our goodbyes, and continue our ride. It’s a grinder of a climb, but we get there. Start out the wrong way, but soon discover our error and turn around, going the way we’re supposed to. Well, it’s not required, it’s just more fun if you go the right direction. Here’s a view of the area:

Reminds us of Austin. The hill country in Texas, actually, not just Austin. Except this is a mile higher. A bit harder to breathe up here. The ride is fun for me, for The Bear, not so much – she’s having stomach cramps, and lets me know she also had them during our last ride in Crested Butte, is why she was so slow. Nice to know. Wish I’d known then. We cut the ride a bit short, though we still get over eight miles in. Eight hard miles, so it does count. Good ride. On the way home, we stop by Home Depot – they’re closing, so I can’t get what I want, but we see this outside:

Yes, solar panels! Actually, a totally self-contained solar power center, almost a kilowatt! I need to find out why we don’t have this in Dallas! Good day, but it’s time to go home and rest.

I do have a beef about Durango. Nice town, but not if you have a real truck. Junior is too big to park on the street, you have to find a parking lot! Here’s a shot of a Subaru in a parking spot:

It barely fits! Junior, with a front tire up against the curb, sticks out about two feet! And signs everywhere tell you you’ll get a ticket if you hang over the white line. You gotta love it – a ranching State, where if you own a ranch truck, you can’t park it! Ranchers don’t buy little trucks, they buy REAL trucks. We had a hard time finding Junior – it’s hard to find a four-door long-bed Dodge in Dallas. In South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Idaho, you can’t swing a dead cat that you don’t hit trucks like this one. Oh, and you know how Ford is number one in Texas? Not up here! Up in all these States I mentioned, Dodge is the big hitter! Not a lot of Fords or Chevys, and just try to find a Toyota Tundra! You find the smaller Toyotas, but the big ones? Yeah, one towed the shuttle, but in the real world, Dodge diesel is king.

ARGH!!! Just can’t catch a break! Yesterday, the mountains got a dusting of snow, but no big deal, we could still go four-wheeling. HAH! Until last night. Last night it was NOT a dusting of snow, it was full-on snow on the mountains. Looks beautiful, and I got some great shots, but four-wheeling is out. DAMN!

Well, at least try to enjoy what it looked like:

And another:

And another:

Beautiful, huh? Here’s more:

And my favorite:

Mount Crested Butte. Looks like a postcard, huh? Willy did good on that one – four shots from my D700, panoed in PhotoShop, a little clarity and vibrance in Lightroom. Click on it to see it bigger.

Went for a walk, but it was COLD. Jimmy went for a ride, and even with layers of bike clothes, jacket, long pants, he froze his ass off! And that’s exactly why I didn’t ride today!

I did receive my stuff from Amazon, though – a couple of meters, one for the trailer as a full-time Voltmeter and Ammeter, the other a clamp-on ammeter so I can troubleshoot some stuff on the trailer. I want to rewire the lift system winch when I add the power jack I bought.

Ok, enough torture, tomorrow we head a bit South to Durango.

Ugh! Dreary day today. Rainy, cloudy, yuck! Nothing to do but stay indoors, and really nowhere to go, so a wasted day, though a rest will be nice. Can’t even go sightseeing.

Ah! But tomorrow, we go four-wheeling! Woohoo! Looking forward to that!