June Bug

We had scheduled a mountain bike tour in south central Utah with Western Spirit, starting May 4. I called to change to Fall 2020, due to the unsettled corona virus situation. As I was talking to the rep on the phone, I noted a date on their website for late Sept, and said I'd like to do that, rather than the Oct 12 date. Rep: "That's just for gravel bikes." Me: "Oh."

Yup, that's where I'm at. My fork -- Fox 32/Float 29 -- was assessed by the Fox guys at a mtn bike festival to have no compression OR rebound. Fox rebuilds "like new" for $175. What are your local experiences? Would a local shop just order a rebuild kit and go from there?

Exactly. The people I know who live in Utah and Colorado have fat bikes as a regular bike in the stable, because snow and bikepacking where you're likely to encounter sand. Don't see too many around Austin.

Came across the guys Tuesday evening working away on the first feature. Looking good!

I see lots of these folks out and about, especially in Central Austin, closer to the UT Campus.

Every business from Study Butte to Lajitas benefited from having around 500 people show up for three to four days, spending money on lodging, gas, food. The state park gets entry fees, people like the park and tell other people about it. Win win. Really an awesome thing. It was too bad that so many people showed up to mooch off of everyone's hard work and ended it for everyone. The RV park was full and lodging in Lajitas was probably close to 100% occupancy, so I don't know why they wouldn't be interested in finding sponsors. I think Desert Sports folks are getting old and tired. I've always had the impression that Desert Sports is a shoestring operation and the logistics of putting on the fest are daunting. They've put a huge amount of effort into building up the trail system and the event and I personally don't think they got much financial benefit for all that they put into it. Really do hope they'll bring it back for 2021.

Gosh, thanks y'all!

It varies by day and each day usually has a combination of riding and hiking; max riding option is 35 miles on the longest day; the shortest day is 10 miles. Mr. JB prefers riding to hiking, and they've assured us that he can pedal some extra miles. Itinerary here. It's considered a beginner friendly tour. We'll meet the tour van in Hanksville, rather than Moab. Big Detour Thread Drift and NOT E-BIKE RELATED CONTENT! A few years ago we went to a little bike festival put on by local mountain bikers in the Castle Dale area of Utah; festival central was the Wedge Overlook to the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River, the start of the Goodwater Rim Trail. The MECCA club (Mostly Emory County Cycling Association) is a totally homegrown club that sprang up in the middle of nowhere, Utah, when a few folks in each little community discovered that they all like to mountain bike. The founding member, the late and very jovial Lamar Guymon, was the Castle Dale sheriff for many years. The small but very well organized fest had a subtle wholesome and very friendly vibe; I saw no beer at any time and there was zero carousing. It wasn't prohibited or even mentioned; these folks are, I assume, all Mormons or Mormon adjacent. They are very good at sociable and mellow. Anyway, the MECCA fall festival is at the Wedge Overlook, the spring festival is based in Green River, Utah. The timing is such that we can do the Green River festival on Friday, Sat, Sun, head to Hanksville and maybe ride at Goblin Valley State Park on the way, then meet the tour van on Monday in Hanksville. Win win. Anyway, I thought I'd throw out the MECCA bike fest because it would be a great event for families with kids or just a fun relaxing interlude. bikepacking.com has a route in south central Utah that's a bit north of where we'll be. Stone House Lands Loop Water caches are highly recommended. One thing to consider relative to mileage is that there is elevation (our tour route is 5,000 to 8,000 ft elevation) and lots and LOTS of cumulative elevation on some of these roads.

Old Ore Road?

This scenario was not mentioned in Western Spirit Cycling Adventure's tour description, or, in fact, anywhere on their website. I'm going to practice saying, "I welcome our new robot overlords!" just in case. Mash up of Andes Survivors + Mad Max 2020 pedal edition!

From bikepacking.com Delta Airlines Removes Fees for Bikes and Other Sporting Equipment

We're doing a tour this spring with Western Spirit Cycling Adventures. I want to see south central Utah up close without the headache of putting together an itinerary and planning out gas, food, water for a long trip in a remote area. Nothing challenging, lots of gravel grinding, rough two-track roads and some pavement. Just checking the website, I noticed this spring there is an e-bike option for the trip we booked. This is the kind of trip where an e bike will allow riders of different fitness levels to participate; however, those who bring e-bikes will be charged $45/day extra. Wondering if they'll have to schlep along a generator to charge the e-bikes for the three nights we'll be camping away from electricity. Most of these outfits have big racks and transport bikes on the roof of a van; that's not possible with e bikes -- too heavy.

This bike has tons of braze ons -- good bike for gravel touring/bike packing/bike path packing.

I'm seeing a lot of e-bikes on my north-south commute to Hyde Park Gym, including and especially, cargo style bikes, using the bike lanes on Guadalupe between 45th and almost to Hwy 183. My impression, based on the carrying capacity of these bikes, is that for many (most?) of these riders, it is their sole transportation. Future? As regenerative braking and new battery technology comes to ebikes, their popularity in cities and elsewhere will expand as their range increases.

€1,299 = Euros, which converts to about USD $1,400 +.

Agree on all points! Also, any older people presenting with chest pain are seen STAT. That said, when I still worked at UT, we'd walk over to the Posse East for lunch on Friday. I stocked up at the salsa bar and by the end of the meal I didn't feel so good, and started shaking uncontrollably and felt awful. None of us had a car (we'd walked) so someone called an ambulance from St. Davids, a few blocks away. The ambulance guys were able to quickly do some kind of test and determine within a few minutes that I was not having a heart attack, while still parked curbside outside the Posse. blood test? I don't recall. Turned out to be some type of incredibly fast acting food poisoning and a 3-block ambulance ride is ridiculously expensive. I did just recall a not-so-positive experience with urgent care at the CareNow urgent care center across from the Heart Hospital of Austin, by Central Market on North Lamar. Mr. June Bug had a laceration that needed stitches due to a tumble at Pace Bend. By the time we were in Austin and decided to do something it was maybe 8 pm-ish. We got to CareNow, everything was going well until the physician's assistant (no doc on staff) discovered that John had a slightly bruised area on his upper right side from his tumble. She stopped everything and said we had to go across the street to the Heart Hospital because "chest!" even though John had no pain or any type of worrisome symptoms, he just had a cut on his lower leg. We did that and the ER doc and nurse at the Heart Hospital ER were furious with them (not us). Apparently, CareNow had been doing this often -- sending over patients to be treated at Heart Hospital who weren't emergencies or heart related at all. This led me to believe that CareNow was staffing un- or underqualified physicians assistants or nurse practitioners in the evening hours to save money. They charged people coming in the door but sent them to an ER for treatment, even though the situation was totally appropriate for what they advertised. It was pretty damned sleazy. The excellent urgent care folks I've gone to are at Tech Ridge, just south of the big HEB at Parmer and I 35. I just checked and they are now...wait for it...a CareNow facility. I think this is the third owner since I first went there a bit over a year ago.

Just a reminder that urgent care CLINICS (not ERs) are an excellent option when something mysterious is going on but you don't want to go to an ER. You can't swing a (metaphorical) cat without hitting one in Austin these days. Reasonable price, good docs (my experience so far). Very little, if any, wait time, although I think they shut down around 10 or 11 at night. Good way to screen with relatively minimal financial risk.

Well, throet that's bad news and good news. Scary Bad that you had a blood clot, great news that you are alive and kicking and able to tell us about it! Healing thoughts headed your way and hope you're home from the hospital. Can you share what your symptoms were?

No. He's on mojo. Just visit him there. His brand of whatever is everywhere these days and it's tedious rather than amusing. I block it on twitter and fb; it's refreshing that he's not here.

Boom! Already sold and off the market. Estimated price (Trulia, Zillow) was $322,000 for 1500 sq ft, 3 BR, 2 baths.

A quibble on the Matt Collins photo of Kirt-Vorheis-high-desert-foot-plant: There are pictographs on the face of the rock he's riding on. Hope no rock art was harmed in the making of the photo. Apparently, this is outside Joshua Tree Nat'l Monument. That one is truly the most mind-blowing, for sure.

Broken Spoke Bike Shop rents bikes and here's their excellent guide to all the Santa Fe area trails: Santa Fe Singletrack

Going for it this summer?

= good idea to have a personal locator beacon -- InReach, SPOT, etc. as your backup.

I've gone to flat pedals on all three of my bikes (road, commuter, MB). I really like the Giant Pinner Lite pedals. Mr June Bug installed a new set on my commuter bike three weeks ago. Last Sunday I was loading my bike in the van when I noticed that a threaded rod was sticking out about a half inch from the end of the pedal. I got home, he used an allen wrench to thread the rod back into the pedal, with a few drops of blue Locktite to keep everything in place. Weird. If you click on this link Giant Pinner Lite pedals you can see where the threaded rod (spindle?) would come out, on the outside of the pedal. The pedal was still firmly attached to the crank, but perhaps if it had come out just a bit further, the entire pedal would have fallen off.