Keeper of the Statistics

 

Week 2:

Kim’s Birthday is today October 9, 2015.  Her birthday wish was a day off, so we end week 2 with a day of leisure.  In six days of cycling this week, we cycled 345 miles with 13,998 feet of climbing.  This is the same distance as last week with one day less of riding and 1,000 more feet of climbing.          

That means 22.2% of the time for the trip has passed.  We have ridden 22.5% of the total miles of the trip.  We have completed 32% of the vertical climbing on the trip. 

Day 8 was 73 miles from WIckenberg to Tempe.

Day 9 was 55 miles from Tempe to Superior with 1654 feet of climbing and a 15 MPH headwind for 35 miles.

Day 10 was 32 miles with 2000 feet of climbing in an Arizona rainstorm.  Superior/Apache Gold Casino.

Day 11 was 70 miles from the casino to Safford AZ.

Day 12 was 54 miles with two mountain passes and 4900 feet of climbing.  We boon docked on the side of the road.

And, day 13 was 61 miles over the continental divide and into Silver City NM.

Tomorrow we ride about 30 miles and then climb the 8300 foot Emory Pass.  The highest point on our journey.  From the top of the pass at around 40 miles, it is about 100 miles downhill and flat to Las Cruces and El Paso.

Keeper of the Statistics - Week One

Week 1 is history with seven days of riding.  No one has gone crazy --yet. (Or if they have, they haven’t acted on it.)  No one has beaten the other members of the group to death with a bicycle pump--yet.  No one has stuck the business end of the pump in his or her mouth and (quite literally) blown themselves up--yet.  I call that success.  If not for the sag support getting us to and from our start/finish points each day, this trip would have already ended.

We have learned that we really enjoy the cool serenity of riding in the predawn hours.  We have learned that tailwinds are the three eyed unicorns of cycling the Southern Tier. 

We did not get as far as we hoped, but we are still on track.  The tale of the tape for the first week: Miles 348, Vertical feet climbed 12,900.  We have added about 3 miles to the trip with a few wrong turns.

To put this in context, 11.1% of the time for the trip has passed.  We have ridden 11.3% of the total miles of the trip.  We have completed 15.3% of the vertical climbing on the trip.  We are stronger and feeling better (except for some sore bums).

 

Day 5

Reverse Travel Day

We've decided to try a new approach. Here's how it works:
First day: head east as far as we can go. Karen picks us up in the RV and we head to a town about 50+ miles from where we stopped.
Second day: head west from the hotel covering on bike the distance we covered yesterday in an RV. Karen picks us up and we return to the last night's hotel.
Third day: we head east from the hotel as far as we can go. Karen picks us up in the RV and we head to the next town 50 miles away.

This approach allows us to spend two nights in the same hotel saving time because we don't have to load and unload the RV. It also solves the problem caused by the lack of services between many towns out here. It's hard to believe you can go over 100 miles in the west and hit nothing but dust.

We had a beautiful sunrise at our back as we rode west. Also saw the cutest group of wild donkeys milling about on the sand. There were two females and their babies. They looked very healthy.

I saw a lone cactus in full bloom on the west side of the road. It's flowers were the most beautiful shade of magenta I've ever seen.

After 52+ miles of rolling hills, flat farm land and bumpy roads, we called it quits just outside of the Mesquite Gold Mine. It was a good day of riding. We all felt strong and healthy. Things are starting to look up!

Maps 5, 6, 7

Day 4

We awoke at 3:00 am this morning while it was still nice and cool (mid 80's) and dark (except for the full moon). Riding a bit off-route, we headed out of El Centro on Old Highway 111 North. Then we turned east on 78 towards the amazing Glamis sand dunes.

Breathing deeply, we enjoyed the scent of cow manure filling the morning air.  It was a joy to be riding in "cool" temperatures followed by the gentle moon. We made great time hitting the flats east of town with mostly smooth roads and decent shoulders.

Finding a place to commune with Mother Nature while in the desert is a real challenge. The boys had it easy (as usual when it comes to these things). But I was a little more challenged to find a spot that would allow me a small bit of privacy for a potty break.

Riding along we noticed a patch of old, untrimmed palms next to a home. The trees erupted with white cranes as we passed. It was beautiful. The yard was full of domesticated rabbits content to run to and fro in the dusty earth. There were also chickens and some very noisy roosters.

Another potty break found us in the Orleander bushes next to a corral holding a bull. The irrigation ditches also provided relief for those with outside plumbing.

We ended the day about 7 miles past Glamis. Hot, sweaty, but not as miserable. We'd found a solution to the brutal heat!

                           

Glamis Sand Dunes

Map 3

Day 3 route map.