Ride Day 25

As usual I started early on my ride. I planned on going from Buckhorn to Silver City today a distance of about 40 miles with a couple thousand feet of climbing. The road started out downhill and then the rolling hills started. The road was good with a nice shoulder but I found my legs were still tired from yesterday's long grueling ride. I took it easy as I went.

I stopped at a coffee shop in Cliff and caught up on my internet while I ate some breakfast. Then I hit the road again. The road disappeared off into the distance for most of the day. Very little traffic for a Monday morning. I did run into five other bikers. A Belgium couple, a lone guy from Georgia, and a couple from Switzerland were all on the road going the other way. We all talked for a while and compared notes on the road ahead of us. I enjoyed the Swiss couple because they were vivacious and trusting. We talked for about 20 minutes before we broke it off and continued our rides.

The road started to climb after our talk. It was only 10 more miles to Silver City but my legs were tired and the road was climbing at a long slow rate. I had to rest often as I am at 6000' and I was getting winded. I would just stop for about two minutes to let my heart and breath catch up and then take off again.

I made it to Silver City but I was tired for only a 40 mile ride and only a couple thousand feet of climbing. I blame it on the elevation but it is just as or more likely that I over did it yesterday on my 90 mile ride with almost 6000' of climbing. Us old men don't recover as fast I am finding out. I hope I survive this ride coming up over a 7200' pass and Emory pass at 8228 feet, then some glorious downhilllllllllll.

Ride Day 24

I waited out the big storm in Safford. I had a good time there. I spent some time talking and hanging out with a woman from Oklahoma. When the storm passed over I left the next morning.

It was still dark when I left. The sun came up about a half hour into the ride. My goal was to get as close to Silver City as I could which was about a 125 miles away. The weather was cool with a light breeze blowing behind me. It started out with a flat ride then quickly started to climb. It was a slow climb until I got to Solomon where the climb to the 6350' pass started. That was a grueling climb for me. I had to rest often at this high elevation. I even walked a little of it because my lower leg started to cramp and I hoped that a short walk would help.

I met a nice 70 year old man riding his bike around near Solomon AZ. We talked for a while and he was very fun to talk to. Very active for 70 also. I like that.

The views along the road were spectacular rock formations and high desert. There was a bit of ranching in the valleys but not much else. The ride was pretty lonely and desolate. I saw very few cars and no other bikers. It had one small store at a place called Three Way but otherwise nothing until I arrived at Buckhorn 90 miles from Safford.

After I climbed to the top of the 6350' pass the scenery changed to conifer forests. I saw some elk but I did not get a pic of them. They stared at me while I pulled out my camera but the second I aimed it at them they vanished into the thin air. I had to laugh. Digital cameras are just too slow for wildlife pics. I prefer the old fashioned SLR cameras.

There was a long downhill to get to Three Way which I enjoyed. But if I have learned one thing riding a bike it is that whatever goes down must come up and it did big time. I was getting tired after fifty miles but since there was nothing around and it was only noon I slowly pushed on. The New Mexico border passed and then the road started rolling up and down for miles. I was dreading looking at the climbs up with my already rubbery tired legs. I pushed on with lots of rest stops. Once I hit the turnoff on 180 the road improved and I sailed into Buckhorn with a tailwind. I pigged out on food at the cafe there and drank potassium drinks, vegie drinks and fruit drinks to try to replenish my tired old body then went straight to sleep in my tent.

Waiting out Weather

I hope I made the right decision to wait out the predicted storm. The weather prediction says high winds to 55-60 mph, lightning, half inch rain below 4000', up to 10" of snow above 4000' and possible tornadoes. So I am sitting in Safford AZ waiting for this storm to pass over. I did not want to get caught up at 7-8000' in conditions like that. It could be deadly.

There are also storms coming up from the Gulf of Mexico into Texas. These warm wet storms and the cold air passing over here will collide near the borders of New Mexico and Texas and could cause weather havoc there also. Texas has been getting slammed lately with lots of bad weather. I hope I get through there safely.

Unfortunately for me I do not trust the weather predictions. They tend to over hype all storms as worse than they turn out to be. I am guessing a few inches of snow up high and 1/4" of rain down at lower elevations. I am still not going to challenge the weather because if I am wrong I could be dead wrong. Such is life.

I am resting up and trying to regain some weight here in Safford AZ as I wait. I am eating five meals a day and resting as much as possible. When I leave here I have some very tough hard climbs over desolate, high mountain passes. I need fresh legs to make it. My friends ahead of me say the ride is difficult but has awesome scenery along the way that makes it worth the effort.

I will be out of touch once I leave here until I rejoin a more populated world on the other side of the mountains in New Mexico. I might find an internet in Silver City but otherwise not likely. More later.

A Weather Delay

I am in Safford AZ right now. I had planned on hitting the mountains in Eastern AZ and into New Mexico starting today but the weather is ugly. As I arrived in Safford yesterday afternoon the winds hit 55mph and they are coming out of the direction I am heading into. There are higher winds predicted for the next few days along with rain and at higher elevations snow is predicted. I have a 6800' pass and an 8228' pass to climb over in the next few days of riding. I guess this weather will force me to wait here in Safford for a few days until this system blows itself out.

I could use the rest. I left San Francisco weighing 210 pounds and last night I weighed myself and I was only 187 pounds. That is too much weight to lose that quickly. I have been trying to eat as much food as possible but also healthy food. I am eating lots of protein and fruit and vegies. I also pack in the carbs to make myself last riding all day.

My caloric burn is just higher than my intake so I am losing weight. I can afford to lose weight but I just don't like it going down this fast. A few days rest might allow my body to rebuild some muscles instead of more fat. I still have a belly roll it is just smaller. I think by the end of this ride my belly roll will be totally gone. That is a good thing I hope. More later.

Ride Day 23

I left the civic center Rv Park in Globe AZ this morning at first light. I had a good day of rest at the RV park. I had not intended on resting there but for the last three nights I have not been able to sleep because I have had really high pain and cramps at night. The pain is not from the riding, I have it all the time but it goes up and down for various reasons. The main thing that makes it go up for me is walking. Almost any amount of walking will cause me to have pain later that day and night. I finally resorted to sleeping aids last night and got a good nights sleep.
On the way out of Globe I stopped and ate breakfast at Jack in the box, now I remember why I don’t eat there very often, sorry Jack. I headed out of town with a somewhat full but not satisfied stomach. The road was uphill at the beginning and would have a nice shoulder to ride in then all of a sudden the shoulder would disappear and I would be in the same lane with big trucks and speeding cars. I did survive without any real close encounters. Road engineers clearly don’t give a rats ass about bicyclists that is obvious from the jack ass way they provide for us then suddenly don’t. How would car drivers like roads to switch from two lanes to one lane suddenly with no warning and then back to two lanes? I don’t think they would put up with it. For a bike rider it is life and death because our vehicle weighs less than thirty pounds and a car is at least 1500 pounds for the smallest one and the big trucks are fifty thousand pounds. So needless to say a collision between a bike and a vehicle is always bad if not deadly for a bike rider. Please improve the roads for bike riders.
I rode hard with my fairly fresh legs after the rest. I was in top gear when I hit my first downgrade. It was a long slow downgrade and with a good riding shoulder in sight I cranked up the speed. It took me a couple of hours from leaving my camp to make it to the first city. I stopped there and took five minutes rest then hit the road again. There were more rolling hills on this stretch of the road than I had expected. People had told me it was all flat or downhill to Safford from Globe. I found it to be a lot more work than I expected. I still made very fast times. On the downhills I pushed it and on the uphills they were short enough to tire me out but not so taxing that I had to stop and rest.
I saw one heavily loaded guy riding west but he did not acknowledge my wave. I understand that mindset when you are working hard. A bit later I ran into two young girls riding from Louisiana to San Diego. They had been riding for 25 days which was about the same as myself. We talked for about fifteen minutes about road conditions in both directions and motives for riding. They were happy and friendly and I enjoyed running into them.
I made it to Safford by noon. My map said 86 miles but my odometer said 102 miles. I felt like it was 102 miles. My odometer and the state road signs that appear every mile and tell you how far from the state line you are both agreed it was 102 miles all together. I considered riding the alternate route to the Coolidge Dam but after reading the map description of rough roads I skipped it. I have seen the dam before and also been to the Gila Cliff Dwellings previously so I am skipping them both.
I stopped at Sunset RV Park in Safford for the night. The lady in charge, Starr was very nice. She let me stay in the Rec Room instead of putting up my tent. They also had showers and a full kitchen and a laundry that were all available to me. I took a long shower, put my laundry in and wrote this.
Tomorrow I head for the continental divide and after that to Emory Pass at 8228 feet. I saw snow up on the mountains today so I guess it might be cooler up at that height. More later.

Ride Day 22

I left Superior before it was light this morning. I thought I would be beating the traffic but I was dead wrong. The road was almost bumper to bumper cars, pickup trucks and mining trucks. I had 2600 feet to climb and the road was narrow with very little shoulder space for me to ride in. I had a few close drive bys but I survived.

The climb was difficult to say the least. My legs felt like rubber almost before I started. I stopped to rest often and even tried to walk sometimes. Walking is hard for me so I knew I was a bit over doing it today. All I want to do is get to Globe. 26 miles does not seem like too much to ask out of these tired old muscles.

The scenery was awesome yet again. It is impossible to capture on my little camera. I keep trying and then I look at the pics and I have to laugh because they just do not capture the grandeur and majesty of these scenes. I will try to focus more on the smaller things that I can actually get in a pic from now on.

I was so tired I skipped taking lots of great pics this morning. My camera battery was also almost dead. I thought I had a fully charged one in my bag but found out that it was also dead. Such is life. I need to plan a bit better I guess. This is not all about pics though.

I am sitting in Globe at a coffee shop catching up on my computer things. My legs are still burning. When I stand up I am not sure I will be able to walk at all. The next couple of days are not as difficult with climbing but then in New Mexico I have one pass at 8,228 feet. I hope I survive that one. Maybe they will find my body on the side of the road dead from a heart attack or run over by one of these big mining trucks. Such is life and death.

Ride Day 21

Today I left Surprise/Phoenix heading East. My rest did not work out so well. I had major pain issues last night most likely from walking too much on my day off. I got very little sleep because I was twisting and turning trying to find some relief by getting in the right position. Position did not make a difference though so I resorted to morphine. I still did not sleep even after all the morphine. When the sun started to come up, I decided to hit the road to attack the pain. It seemed to help getting back on the bike and pedaling, so I took off.

It seemed that just getting out of this big city was a long ride. I took the canal bike path from near the trailer park and then cut through downtown Phoenix to get to Tempe. Once in Tempe it was a long straight road with lots of signals that slowed me down. There was very little traffic since it was 6:00 on Easter Sunday but I still had to stop at the lights. After a couple more hours I got to Apache Junction and got on the Apache Highway otherwise known as US60. The road was rolling hills changing to a long slow upgrade with heavier than I expected traffic. Again too many lights were slowing me down. I got a warning from a cop that was on foot at one light because I anticipated the green light. He did not cite me.

I rode on up the long slow grade of about 1700’ to Gonzales Pass at 2651’. The scenery was pretty much the same as the last couple of days so I did not take a lot of pics. I went past the Superstition Mountains of the Lost Dutchman fame and took a couple of pics. The story is that the lost Dutchman found a very rich gold mine but nobody has been able to find it since he died. He left a clue to where it is but nobody has solved the clue and found the mine. Such is life.

Then I went past Pickett Post Mountain which was nice to look at. I took a couple of pics. The next mountains were the Signal Mountains the site of an Indian massacre by the American Calvary. The Calvary drove 75 Indians over the cliffs to their deaths. The local black semiprecious mineral called Indian’s Tears is named because of this massacre.

I stopped for a late lunch in Superior and after eating, it was too late to try to make the top of the next 2600’ climb so I put up my tent in the RV park for the night. I will go for the big grade in the morning when it is cooler. Right now it is 92 degrees and I have already done about 85 miles today. That is enough for this old man.