Part More.

Once I went back through the Village and started out East toward Desert View and The Watchtower, something that may or may not be my IT band on my left knee started getting very upset. I thought - "Oh, I'll just go ten miles and turn around" - after 7 or so miles I was more like - "Dude, I need to turn around Now".
And so I did - and so my ride was just a bit over 37 miles. And when I put my bicycle back in the car it still hurt and I limped around for awhile. It wasn't great. But after sitting around, was quite subtle. I'll be investigating this further... can't be falling apart at the forty mile mark - that is no good.

The other bit that wasn't fun - was the melting snow on the sides of the Desert View road as the day went on. There was no way to avoid it, on the fairly narrow road - which allowed my wheels to spray a large quantity of it all over the place - including my back.

This is the back of my pants (luckily I brought jeans to change into later) - the spray soaked through my semi-water-resistant pants (shown), my thick fleece tights, and my cycling shorts... from the bottom of my pack to my bike seat was all soaking wet with sludgy ice water. Luckily this small problem only materialized toward the end of my ride - I didn't realize how wet I was until I went to change. So no complaints. (Though it makes me think about how to handle a similar situation where I'd then have to manage riding through the night in that condition).

I read till D got back - and then we ate a wonderful plate of Navajo Nachos - they use tortilla chips made out of Navajo flatbread - just look how thick they are!!!

D's funny ensemble (he did not change his clothes when he got back) incited two different people to come up and talk to us in the Lounge. One then described a "secret" trail to us, after I inadvertently implied that D might be a more experienced Grand Canyon hiker than said stranger. It was fascinating. Chips Yummy.