After the ugliness of yesterday's ride we had our first serious mountain stage today. The back-to-back century rides in the desert heat the last two days left me wiped out. Today's ride has the 2nd most climbing of any stage of the tour. Once again I started the day with worries.
No need, as it turns out. Today was one of those days that remind me why I love this sport so much. This ride had everything you could hope for: wonderful weather, big daunting climbs, bombs-away descents, spectacular views, and magnificent scenery.
We headed out of Wickenburg with a gradual uphill leading to the first mountain pass of the tour, Yarnell Canyon. Lisa was stressed out. Today was actually a bigger worry for her than the two desert days. Joanna and I gave her some advice and reassured her, but she was still stressed.
At the base of the climb we pulled into a gas station and met two guys who were riding self-supported from Vail to San Diego. They had trailers carrying 50 lbs of gear that they towed behind their bikes. Pretty awesome adventure, but I'm happier having my gear in the van.
So we started up Yarnell Canyon. It's 7.3 miles long with a continuous 4-7% grade. A solid climb, but not torturous. The views kept improving as we motored up the hill. Lisa's fears gradually dissipated and we could sense her getting more confident the longer we climbed. We told her she was going to be the "go-to gal" in Indy when it came to hill climbing. We got to the top and she was absolutely giddy. She was struggling to not get emotional. It was really cool helping her overcome a major fear.
As a bit of an aside, before I started this trip there was much discussion about exactly how many things I would lose along the way. Laurie bugged me several times about not losing my wallet. I heard about it from other folks. There may have been an over / under bet as to how many things I would lose. I got to the top of the climb, realized that the zipper to my bike bag was open, and my cell phone was missing. One of the riders told me he had seen it on the road aout a 1/2 mile down the hill. So I start riding DOWN Yarnell Canyon, and meet Gil, who is coming up. He sees me and says "are you looking for a cell phone?" He had picked it up. Once again, I dodged a bullet. Now, back to our regular story...
We were now in the high desert. The blazing heat of the last two days was gone, and the sparseness of the desert floor was replaced by actual greenery. It was really beautiful riding country, and just got better the more we rode.
We didn't have the time crunch that we'd faced the previous few days, so we could actually enjoy just hanging out for awhile at the lunch stop. Here's a picture with Jose from Guatamala, and Ray, one of our regular riding partners. Notice the lunch of champions: Cup-o-noodles and Dr. Pepper. Prime riding food.
We had one more serious section of hills before the final descent into Prescott. The more I climbed, the better I felt. For the first time on this trip I actually felt strong on the bike, instead of struggling. I just motored up the hills. The road was like my personal playground. I had an ear-to-ear grin the entire way up and down the hill.
The final descent down into Prescott was amazing. I didn't know there were alpine forests out here. I could smell the pine air and feel the crispness. We even got a little drizzle on the final stretch into town. All-in-all this was one of my all-time favorite rides. It re-affirmed why I wanted to make this trip.
I topped the day off with a big slab of prime rib and my first beer of the trip. What a great day.
1 comment:
I told you there were pretty places in Arizona.
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