March 19, Wednesday: life on the road

No pain, no gain. We rode 48 hard miles today on the eighth day in a row of riding. Am I ever ready for a rest!

Here's a little bit about life on the road. We are staying in namebrand hotels for the most part, for example, a comfort inn tonight.  In the morning we have the hotel breakfast, pack up our stuff and then go over to the van and trailer for "snack table" after tossing our luggage into the trailer. The fast riders roll out about 7:30 with the rest of us following. The group naturally spreads out over several miles according to the pace at which each individual wants to ride. Some people pair up, some ride in a group, some ride by themselves and it varies day by day.  A few people will take a "boost" and ride in the van for the first 20 miles, then hop on their bikes for the rest of the day's journey.  For the most part we are on well-traveled highways. We ride the shoulders when it is possible, otherwise we are out there with the traffic.  The SAG vehicle meets us about every 20 miles for replenishment of water and snacks. The SAG driver also make sure that everyone is accounted for at each stop and when we arrive at our hotel for the evening.  Every rider has the cell phone number of the SAG driver, the guide and the chef.  There is no "sweep" rider who follows the very last guest along the route.  Meanwhile the van and trailer go ahead to the next night's town and shop for groceries for dinner.  We all arrive early to midafternoon, check into the hotel, clean up, have a beer, and then have dinner about 6 PM after which there is the "map meeting" to review the next day's route.  Nearly all of the group rides every day.  We are a strong and determined bunch.

March 18, Tuesday: Desert or dessert?

75 miles from Safford AZ to Lordsburg, NM.  After the first 20 miles when I was admittedly dragging, the wind came up and pushed us the rest of the way.  a smooth, low traffic, sunny, lots of downhill route.  Whew!  Rode quite a bit in 53/12 (that's biggest gear in front, littlest gear in back).  Scenery is more desert, stops are more dessert.  We have now ridden 576 miles on 11 of the last 12 days.

March 17, Monday: Happy bumpy saint Patrick's day

78 miles today in beautifully sunny weather from Globe to Safford Arizona along a 2 to 4 Lane Hwy.  We rode on the shoulder a good part of the way. Unfortunately, the shoulder had ridges in it. I counted 30 per 1/10 of a mile so 300 in a mile, and say 30 miles was like that:  over 9000 bumps.  I feel somewhat addled.

WomanTours guide Carol got us in the St. Patrick's Day spirit this morning as we were discussing the route.

Most of us had not brought anything green to wear, so my green backpack had to do.  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

We rode through the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation, and a town called Geronimo. The vistas were magnificent; closer up however, the sides of the road were littered with bottles and cans of all shapes and sizes. Apparently, they don't have recycling here.

At the 68 mile mark we ended up at this great ice cream place where I ate most of this giant banana split.

We then got a tailwind of about 20 miles an hour and we hammered to our hotel.  Dinner was various Irish food (not corned beef thank goodness).  Note the truck behind our dinner circle!

March 16, Sunday: Up, up, up…

Out of Apache Junction and Gold Canyon climbing most of the 48 miles, average 6-7% grade, to Globe, AZ.  After 12 miles I had my second breakfast at the Buckboard Café with a mix of bikers, RVers (very big in Arizona), locals, and us cyclists.

Route 60 is a very busy road so our SAG car escorted us through the Queens Tunnel.

By the way the SAG (support and gear) car is a small Subaru station wagon called Bo Peep. It appears by the side of the road every 20 miles or so to give us water, Gatorade, bananas, oranges, cashews, candy bars, protein, etc.  

 Some interesting rock formations along the way…

This is also mining country.  Freeport McMoran has a huge gold and copper mining facility in Miami, Arizona. In the pictures below you can see the plant as well as the pile of tailings that is quite high and extends for miles on one side of town.

Today's climb was difficult, but as usual I was energized at the end and looking forward to tomorrow, which will be 78 miles.  Every day I pinch myself, amazing that I am riding my bicycle across country.

March 15, Saturday: city riding getting out of Phoenix

No fabulous pictures today. No selfies.  Just a cycling joke at the end of the post. Today was a fast 58 mile ride out of the Phoenix metro area through Scottsdale, Mesa, Apache Junction past the Superstition Mountains. (Isn't the West romantic?). Once again, we were cheered on by friends of one of the women in our group.  Having that additional support for our epic adventure is energizing as well as warm and fuzzy.

It was a good day of friendship and bicycle repairs on the expressway.

Bicycling joke: how many cyclists does it take to change a flat tire? Answer: 11. (Or in our case, four.) One to change the tire and the rest to watch.  

March 14, Friday: Into Phoenix

Another 65 mile day with some great riding, a screaming downhill, sunny weather, and good company.  

Some of us got a little bit too much sun and needed some zinc oxide. 

I was taking a selfie at lunch, but my selfie got invaded by one of my fellow riders.

  My fascination with Saguaro cacti continued as there were lots and lots of them on the ride today. I was counting arms, one cactus had 12 arms! That means it is hundreds of years old!

Friends of Karen met us along the route.

We ended the day at the Exhale bike shop in Phoenix where it turned out I needed a new chain. They greeted us with coffee and donuts and a 10% Discount.

March 13, Thursday: More desert

55 miles today from Salome to Wickenburg Arizona. Some chip seal riding and bumpy shoulders. The map below shows our travel through southern Arizona. We are now in the third bubble from the left and have four more nights after that in Arizona before we cross into New Mexico. 

Interesting cacti and flowers only partially captured because my iPhone camera was on the fritz.  

A second breakfast at a dusty café that looks like it belongs in an old western movie.

So how is Lynn doing after more than 10% of the trip?  300+ miles.  Spirits are good.  Legs are good.  I am sleeping well.  Anything else would be TMI.  See you tomorrow!

March 12, Wednesday: Clear sailing

A great 60 mile ride today in sunny cool-ish weather from Blythe California to Salome Arizona.   Crossed the Colorado River and then rode through pretty much desert.  Saguaro cactus, chocolate Mountains, Lots of RV parks, and finally Don's bar across from our extremely modest hotel.  We celebrated the crossing of the state line with many pitchers of margaritas at the bar!

Here we are entering the town of Hope.  I think this was also featured in a recent Jack Reacher novel. In the novel, it was followed by a town called Despair, but we haven't come to that one yet.

 If only they could spell…

Not much for hotel rooms out here. My room is the Square building on the far left. Don't worry, I will live.

March 11, Tuesday: a Rest Day - Pictures of Life on the road

A layover day in Blythe CA, much needed.  Blythe is very agricultural, growing alfalfa, lettuce, and other crops in huge irrigated fields; the water comes from the Colorado River which we will cross going into Arizona tomorrow.  spending time repacking, cleaning bikes, doing laundry, getting the grease out of our hands from changing flats.  Also a few pix from the evening dinner a couple days ago.  Food is marvelous - always a protein and a salad, then maybe one or more dishes of root veggies, potatoes, quinoa, lentils, etc. seasoned wonderfully.  Beverages include WATER and lots of it, and honor system sodas, beers, wines.  It is amazing what our chef can do with a tiny kitchen and a Dutch oven and some charcoal. And each night after dinner we have a map meeting, where the guide goes over the route for the following day. Just in case you're wondering, I am having a blast!

March 10, Monday: 87 miles in the desert

Rolled out of Brawley At daybreak.  Pretty chilly to start, but the sun warmed things up pretty quickly to a high of around 90°. Thank goodness there was little wind as we crossed a desert and then into more agricultural areas.  There was a great expanse of sand dunes which provided a recreation area for dune buggies, ATVs, and dirt bikes. Fortunately, It was a little early for them as we passed by.  The last picture is lots of lettuce near Blythe.

 I changed out my saddle for the spare that I brought. But that put me behind everyone else today and I rode nearly 70 miles alone. It is an odd feeling being in that vastness as a solitary figure.  Also had my second flat.  Grrrr.