-Time to catch up to Paul & Nadine...again
-I think 4 waffles, eggs, and bacon should suffice
-Grocery shopping in a helmet and bike shorts is funny
-I can cross off another item from this trip's bucket list: get a random high five while riding
-Wouldn't have guessed it would come from a shirtless Indian on a reservation
-Why do all good things end once you acknowledge them? Examples: this is a great shoulder, then it gets bumpy. He's hit 37 straight free throws, next shot is a brick. He's never blown a 3 run save opportunity, then a grand slam. You get the idea
-Right when you think the climbing is done...boom...12 miles of all uphill (thank goodness it wasn't steep)
-I hope some of my thoughts aren't coming across as cocky, I'm just trying to keep my confidence up heading into the last week or so
-I can't believe I only have a week or so left...incredible
-Hotel maids must thing 10 people slept in the room when they empty the trash
Today's ride was a solid ride by pretty much all standards. But after the last 3 riding days, it was a piece of cake. I left the Larson's house at 8:45 after a great waffle, egg, and bacon breakfast. Thank you so much for everything! I rode about 3.5 miles and pulled into the Days Inn, and saw Paul & Nadine getting their bikes ready to go. I was pretty excited to get to ride and hang out with them again. Too bad Ricky left but hopefully we'll all get together, with Ed and Katie too, in San Diego. Anyway, we hit the road around 9:15 and after 2 stops, 1 to the grocery store for some food supplies, and the other to a gas station to fill a water bottle with gas...which is a funny thing to watch really. We had a pretty easy ride for the first 50 miles or so then had a little bit of climbing up hills but nothing too bad at all. We had a nice lunch on the side of the highway against a gate to a ranch of some sort. My lunch consisted up strawberry yogurt with bananas, slices of cheddar cheese, and a chocolate chip muffin from the hotel yesterday. I think I ate something else too, but I can't remember. I know I tried avocado and wasn't the biggest fan. One of the rare things I haven't at least somewhat enjoyed on this trip. After that lunch, we had about 20 or so miles to go with 2 big climbs on the elevation map. the first climb was insane. it very well may have been the longest continuous climb of the trip thus far. It was 12.3 miles and 100% uphill. Not even 10 feet of flatness. Thank goodness it wasn't all that steep, but we still climbed about 1500'. I was standing and pedaling the whole time. The second climb wasn't too bad, about 7 miles leading into our destination for the night: Globe, AZ. We found a cheap hotel and it only cost 14 bucks a piece...another benefit of traveling in a pack of 3 rather than 1. Before I forget, we rode through the Apache Reservation today. It had a casino...shocking. Nice people from what I could gather. I did get a high five so that's awesome. I wanted to visit the Coolidge Dam today but the road leading to it is in terrible shape and I was warned not to go on a bicycle, so we skipped it. We had a nice spaghetti and hot dog dinner followed by way too much ice cream for 3 people to eat. Plus a big bag of chips and a few beers. Gotta get those carbs!
Tomorrow should be an interesting ride. I know we have to go at least 8 miles on a busy highway with no shoulders plus we have to go through a tunnel. I'm glad it's Sunday! The plan is to get to an RV Park in Phoenix, about 95 miles away. We will camp there and be joined by my good friend Dan Solway who lives in Flagstaff. He's gonna drive about 2.5 hours down and camp out tomorrow night and leave Monday morning for class. Now that's a friend! It will be awesome to see him and he'll be the first person I've seen from home since I left...even if he lives in AZ now. We have 1 more pass to go over tomorrow...which is bike talk for a big climb and the pass would be the top of the climb. After that climb though, it's pretty much all downhill to Phoenix. Plus it should be a pretty nice day with not much wind. Hopefully my knees will feel better tomorrow, they hurt today. The worst is going from a stand still and starting to pedal. The pain is pretty good. Oh well!!
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