Good technical workout on Agua Caliente this evening. Paula was in tow, on foot. We really enjoy this trail since a bike is rarely an advantage. If it were a race from the bottom to top, she’d cream me any day. I would win on the way back down, but not by too much.
We park our automobile (yes I drove to a trail) about 2 miles from the trailhead so that 1) we can get some warm up 2) I can get a head start on Paula 3) we drive less, including some dirt road.
The dirt road was completely dug up, making it challenging to ride. More desert will be replaced by domiciles, it seems. At least access to this brilliant trail has already been established by Pima County.
I hit the trail and with new fork (to this bike) and had a great run, including cleaning one section that, to my memory, I have never cleaned before. Paula caught up to me then told me she was going to turn around (tired from the 10k race yesterday). I kept riding past the cattle tank and up to the climb before the saddle.
The wind was blasting out of the east, making some of the ridgeline riding extra interesting. Several pitches brought my HR into the mid 170’s, and even on downhills it never dropped below 130. There’s no way to ride this trail moderately.
If I can ever advance to a point where this trail can be cleaned without much difficulty, I will have made serious progress. Until then I struggle, dab, sweat my eyes out and sometimes, cry. I do seem to be improving on it, but perhaps only because I am memorizing the lines, approaches and areas to recover. It’s hard to say.
I almost ended up in a prickly pear on the way down. I was able to get my right foot out and stamp right on an outside pad. Thanks to metal plates in my shoe, no damage.
Logistical woes continue for this trail. Last time it was Al and I forgetting that Paula had the keys to the car as we rode up to fetch it from the trailhead. This time I left my front wheel on the side of the road. I came back 30 minutes later (after realizing on the way home) to find it gone.
Ugh, stolen in 30 minutes (and near dark).
The next day I got a call from the note I left on the ‘adopt-a-highway’ sign.
“I understand you lost a wheel.”
“Yes, did you find it?”
“Yes, in front of my house.”
“I assume by your tone that you aren’t happy with me parking there. Well, now I know and will not bother you again.”
“Well, we didn’t throw the wheel in the garbage.”
Wow, thanks. The rest of the conversation was one-sided. I tried to be apologetic and nice, but this crusty man was obviously very bitter towards those that drive on the side of the corner/road where he lives. I do not believe that he owns all the way up to the road, nor does he own the utility easement on the corner. But, I will find somewhere else to park since it annoys him so much.
He must have been watching us as we left, since we were only gone 30 minutes and he managed to take my wheel in that time. My guess is that he went out to check if we had driven over any vegetation (which I would never have done), then saw the wheel there, planning on taking it to ‘get back’ at me. As far as I knew the shoulder of a public road is a perfectly fine place to park. His attitude was definitely “serves you right, and I’m doing you a big favor by giving you your wheel back.”
People can be so nice sometimes. It really warms the heart. I’d let him keep or destroy my wheel if it would make him into a kinder person.
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