Took me till 10:30 to decide to leave, headed into town for a cafe with internet. Charged up my laptop, which apparently has a battery only run time of about 3 minutes, and downloaded pictures and GPS data and such. I think my SRM battery has given up, time to get that replaced. Spent about two hours there, it's an Italian place with lots of Giro photos on the walls, and TdF on tv, so I felt right at home. It's stinking hot out, and it looks like clouds are an hour or so away, so I'm not in a hurry to ride just yet.
After that I made my way over to Orange Peel to talk 29er specs with Brock, and to get yesterday's crit wear and tear taken care of on my bike. We managed to drag the niner talk out to over an hour... I'm sure in theory it could have been 15 minutes, but with me sitting in a director's chair, and Brock on his stool with a notepad, it had a very theraputic feel to it. He's been working in bike shops since he was 14, save for a year after university when he tried something else. He's the kind of guy who will tell you what's good, and what's junk, aside from profit margins on different products. "It's all about how it rides you know", "why buy a light part when all it's going to do is cause you headaches? This isn't about headaches, this is about a machine to keep your legs AND your soul in shape". He's right. I'm not just buying a bike, I could have done that anywhere. I'm buying a Moots, and have travelled all the way to Moots-land in the process. They're a hand built, piece by piece from the ground up premium product. I've met the builder responsible for my bike, and 4 different people have said that he's known to be one of the best ti welders in the world in the few days I've been here. I've heard stories of the processes, techniques and accompanying tools he's invented to improve the product and the trade. Ti bikes are in some ways "classic", as in "not modern". However many aspects are cutting edge, small improvements that either weren't present or feasible just a few years ago. The big 29er wheels are obvious, but so are the couplers and the Rolhoff hub. Or the invisibly improved gussets, the variable width seat tube with internally welded reinforcing. The YBB design is old, but useful and improved. Old doesn't always mean bad - the internal combustion engine is old too, but it's modernized and fit to each application appropriately. I hope in the end it rides nice and is low maintenance, and accompanies me on new bike adventures.
Over to riding, I was pointed in the direction of Emerald mountain, which has the rodeo grounds, ski jumps, ski hill, skateboard park, and other public facilites at it's base. From Orange Peel's door to 30 miles of winding singletrack covering a thousand feet of elevation is about 150m. I'm not sure how you top that.
I climb a long gravel road up to "the quarry" which is a rock outcrop where you can quench your thirst and watch Steamboat below. I continue upward to the cell phone towers, a steep climb. All in it's 45 minutes, and I'm sort of dogging it. I follow the road to a US FAA signal tower for air traffic, then turn back down the road for a kilometer and dive down into some singletrack. It's buffed smooth and is fun, fast riding. I keep doing loops till I end up back at the quarry, where naturally I turn right back up the lung busting cell tower road and do another couple of laps. The clouds finally open up and pour, so I head down in the slick mud before I get too chilled. The downside of the buff singletrack is that it turns to grease in the rain and becomes unrideable fairly quickly. All in I manage 2 hours of riding... so not exactly a rest day, but without the intensity of the hammer or the crit, I think the legs will feel a little more energetic tomorrow.
I wash up my bike in the river, which is surprisingly warm, and as some kids on inner tubes go by, I take the hint and float long enough to clean myself off as well. I change during the last bit of showers, putting on my souvenir Orange Peel shirt, the only long sleeve I have with me other than a jersey that's in the tent.
I grab a coffee from the shop next to the bike store, and notice a discreet sign on the space next door: Kent Eriksen Bicycles". He's the founder of Moots, and as I understand it, isn't involved in the company any longer. By peeking through the window, it appears he's still got the bug, as he's got a skunkworks looking machine shop with [prototype] frames and parts all over the place. Good location, not far from coffee and suitable test trails...
A quick stop by Safeway for some veggies, of which I now notice there aren't a whole lot available. Amy at Moots said this town was lacking a little on the fresh produce side, and now that I have that in mind, it is fairly noticeable.
3 hour campfire to unwind, then bed! I'll study my map, will start heading north again.
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