I’m On Fire

Jon Scott
Sep 7, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Dec 11, 2022

“At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet

And a freight train running through the middle of my head”

- Bruce Springsteen

Heat, heat and more heat. There is no escaping it. As I sit here and write at 10:15pm, the outside temperature in Boulder City, Nevada is a face-melting 98. For much of the day today, the thermometer read 111. Fortunately, I got out early this morning and had completed my ride before 11am (when it had only reached 93). I would have been out and done earlier if it hadn’t been for a minor issue with the bike this morning. The bikes are stored standing up in a pull-out tray in the van. I had removed the front tires at those the other day and loaded the bikes in. They stand up by using fork mounts. After the tire is removed, the front fork is placed on this mount and an a dummy axle is threaded through to hold them in place. This morning, I removed the dummy axle and took the freshly repaired bike out of the van to put the front tire back on. Only the tire didn’t fit back on the bike. I couldn’t get the real axle back in. I sat there for several minutes trying to figure out what had happened. I was just about to give up and take out the spare bike so I could get going. Kelly walks around to the back of the van and quickly observes that I was trying to put the front tire from the spare bike onto the good bike and that the tire still hanging on the wall of the van was the one I actually needed. I’m really not an idiot. I just manage to look like one, more often than not! Not exactly my shining moment, but reason number 101 why it’s awesome to have her with me!

The ride itself this morning was fantastic. I left from Page and had a generally gentle 19 mile climb. Kelly met me at the top and then as I started down the much steeper 4 mile descent, she got behind me in the van so no one could pass me. I was going a solid 35, so I wasn’t holding up traffic too much. At the bottom, the road turned and continued on a gentle downhill for another 14 miles to Marble Canyon, where it crossed over the Colorado River. This is essentially the start of the Grand Canyon, below Glen Canyon Dam. Many years ago (before kids), Kelly and I went with my mom, my cousin Maggie, and her then-12 year-old daughter Michele (I lose track, but I think she might be 39 or 40 now) on a float trip in the Grand Canyon. I think the trip started right around this same area. To this day, still one of the top 2 or 3 trips we’ve ever done. I highly recommend it before the river dries up and it’s no longer possible. From Marble Canyon, I rode another 9 miles or so to a small community called Cliff Dwellers, home to a lodge, gas station and convenience store and where I found Kelly and the van, parked under the only shade tree for miles around. The scenery on the ride was some of my favorite of the entire trip. One of the nice benefits of riding like this is being able to “high grade” the rides and not have to spend too much time in less desirable spots.

Once the ride was done, we took off for Vegas. We ended up taking a little detour to Valley of Fire State Park, another very worthy boondoggle. The Southwest is by far my favorite scenery. I could do with a little more water in the rivers, but the geology is second to none. There’s a reason why there are so many national parks in this area.