Desert life

I was getting bored. Too much computer time, and parsing XML was getting old. Time for an adventure.

Behemoth ready. Temperature is ~100, but clouds are rolling in. Ice water in camelbak, frozen gatorade for salvation post-ride.

Up Gnat’s went well. The challenge factor has cranked a notch thanks to big rains — vibrant greenery obscuring already hidden lines.

At the slime pond, an hour into climbing, I realized my head is on fire.

And it seemed my legs died at that precise moment.

The desert is alive. The weaklings on the planet (us humans) cower in air conditioned spaces.

Gnats. Mosquitoes. Twenty head of snorting javelina scrambling up the cliff. Giant colored grasshoppers. Little bugs sucking blood from my wounds. Rabbits. Deer sipping the slime. Birds. Snake in the grass.

Oops. Normally they don’t bother me, but the greenery changed the rules.

“That looks like a good place to hide a snake.” x 103.

More than a few tenuous moments, sprinting (both on and off bike) through high grasses.

All resources were then diverted to snake detection. Turtle detection off-line, I came too close to this guy, while climbing at, well, barely a turtle’s pace.

Dead legs led to frustration. I stopped and did a little trail work, mini-McLeod strapped to my pack. If I’m not going to feel good, I may as well get something done.

Only on stopping did I realize how hot it was. Duh.

Descending Milagrosa, a few misfired turtle detections, and no snakes.

Another kind of misfire led to a slow motion prediction of what could have been (face meet rock) but was not so. I’m still blaming the heat, but the truth is this ride just smoked me.

Then on the lower stuff I was spot on. So it goes.