This morning, we left Silver City, NM with our sights on Safford, AZ....about 113 miles away. Yes, that is a long day. However, we had a little dose of extra energy as we knew Carl Ames and his posse would be waiting for us at the AZ State line.
Leaving Silver City we had some mild hills and a little wind. It was chilly. In the picture below I am wearing my rain jacket to keep warm.
We had a pretty good climb today and then the breeze picked up. Yes, I am calling it a breeze. Kind of like those of us who live in Arizona don't say it is Hot out until the temps hit 100. I no longer call it a wind until it is above 25 mph, sustained. Its a physiological thing I guess. Mind over matter - if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Something my high school science teacher, Mr Robert Furlong, always used to say.
We did have something odd happen in the morning. At one stop, Kyle noticed he had a thumb tack in his front tire. I looked and had one also. I spun the tire again and found I had TWO thumb tacks in my front tire and the tire was still inflated. Crazy!
By lunch, I was about done. We had already ridden about 60 miles and I knew we had almost that many left to go. We ate a quick meal and then headed out again. What did we eat? The normal - either turkey or ham, potato chips and a Coke. Why mess with what is working!
We rode about three miles and then saw Carl and his Posse waiting for us. What a needed boost they were. Carl Ames, Casey Knight, Jake Knight, Kyle ????? and Keith Barr. Not to mention some of Carl's family. They had made a HUGE sign (sorry I didn't get a picture) and were all pumped about riding.
We left the State Line, headed up a couple of small hills and then enjoyed an incredible 20ish mile descent the locals call the Devil's Backbone. It curves around and drops into a town called Three Mile. At that point, what else is there but a several mile climb. Of course! About a mile into the climb, Carl and I stopped at the SAG and filled up with water and I reminded him we have a long road ahead and he should let us know when he needs a break. We left the SAG and about 50 yards up the road Carl stops, looks at me and says, "I've already done this hill, I'm going to take a break." I was cracking up. A great Carl comment.
Once we cleared this hill and another one we were then riding on flat ground. The wind really picked up and about 10 miles from Safford we turned directly into the wind. Someone asked, "How do you guys ride in this?" We told them, "Go into your drops, put your head down, turn your iPod up on some good music and just pedal."
At the end of the day, Shannon, Kyle and I had ridden about 113 miles and Carl's Posse completed 63 miles and we were all tired but excited to be riding together. Shannon, Kyle and I have written a lot about the wind and hills but until you experience it; I'm not sure you can appreciate the work needed to keep moving. I'm not saying this to say we are oober athletes cuz nothing could be farther from the truth. Carl's Posse had read our blogs and, being cyclists, had an idea of what we were accomplishing. But until they rode those 63 miles today and experienced it themselves, I think they would agree they didn't have a true understanding of how awesome our adventure has been. The really cool thing about all of the riders, no one complained. We had a job today and we did it as a team. Someone always stuck with Carl. Some would pull so others could recover. And, no one complained.
In Safford, Carl's Family was there waiting to welcome us all to AZ. We took some pictures, showered and had a great Mexican dinner. Thank you to Luke and Tiona Hoope for opening your home to all of us! We all appreciated your hospitality.
A couple more pictures from the day.
Bolt, aka "Carl", you are an amazing man. It was a blast having you along.
Home is two days ride away!
Shane, what a great experience this has been. Thank you! Bolt
ReplyDelete