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.

Resting Today

Today is going to be a day of rest for me. I need to let my body heal a bit from the abuse I have been giving it. There is a pool right next to my tent so maybe I will work on my tan today just to keep my dermatologist employed.

I was talking with some people last night about my ride so far and they wanted to know what I think about for all those hours. Here are some things that roll around like marbles in a fishbowl.

I think about the people that came across this country by calistoga wagons. Those guys must have had pure honey badger blood in their veins. I have gone through some tough terrain that I just can't believe they were able to get through. They did not even know where they were going or what was on the other side of the mountain they were struggling to get up and over, or the soft desert sand. I tried to walk just thirty feet out into the desert and I was covered in stickers and spines and dirt and insects. Blow that crap, they were out cutting trails for months at a time in that stuff. I could go on and on about the things I think about with the pioneers. I would love to see the honey badger guy do a video on them.

I also sometimes try to ride the white line along the edge of the road. I try to see how long I can stay riding on just the white line. It is harder than you might think. I do that for hours sometimes, especially on the 100 mile long straight disappearing in the distance roads. The key is looking ahead at just the right distance. I am still working on this though.

I also scan for wildlife. I have seen coyotes, california quail, jackrabbits, a gopher snake, a pheasant, a badger, raccoons, bats, wild turkeys, birds galore, deer, frogs and more that I can't even think of right now.

I also look for photo ops. Anything different as far as terrain goes, I take a pic of it. I try to get pics of all the cacti and wild flowers. I look for weird signs. Anything weird really and my camera comes out.

I think I have a good representation of the ride so far in pics. You can go to my picasa web album called jimfrogs and see the pics in the order that I shot them. I have not had time to manipulate the pics to improve the color and contrast and crop them but one day I will find some time to do that. Finding wifi is sometimes the problem with posting pics to the blog.

I also sing out loud sometimes while riding. It is better than singing in the shower and nobody can hear me butcher songs. I mostly sing oldies for some reason. If I am not singing because I am huffing and puffing working hard then I am silently listening to songs in my head. This is about half the time I ride I am doing something with music.

When the going gets tough I get into breathing patterns of double pumps in and out or long inhales with short hard exhales or some other variation to keep me breathing hard and to take my mind off the burn and the I want to rest thoughts. Sometimes I get into a real deep trance doing this. I can push myself way past tired by getting into this type of mindset.

I also sometimes get into listening to my heartbeat. When I first start an ascent and my heart starts to increase its speed I pay attention to its beat as it speeds up. If it gets going to hard I sometimes stop and rest. When I feel like I need a rest I usually try to pick a spot about a hundred yards ahead of me and tell myself I will rest there, then as I approach that spot I pick another spot further up the road until I just can't play the mind game anymore and I stop and rest. I have gone many miles past where I wanted to rest by doing this. I would never get all the century rides in without doing this or make it up any of the long grades.

The other thing I think abot sometimes is nothing. I just go blank. especially near the end of a long hard ride. All that my mind is doing is pushing me to the end spot with no room for any other thoughts except get me to point B.

So am I crazy or what? I think about that once in a while. I question my motives for my riding and question just about everything about life in general. I never get bored because my mind is too twisted to not have anything to think about...so on I go.

Ride Day 20

I spent last night camped next to the Coyote Bar and Cafe in Aguila, Arizona. The locals were complaining about the lawlessness of the little town. They have no police and rely on police coming from 25 miles away they said. Crime has been rampant and lots of people have just left the town rather than try to fight back. Sounds like Clint Eastwood could still find work. I had no problems at all.

I pigged out on food and drank a couple beers while we talked about the crime and life in general. I hope I did not stir up too much animosity with all my questions and opinions about the crime problems. I checked out early and went to put up my tent and went straight to sleep for the night.

I left before 6AM and by 8AM I ate breakfast 25 miles up the road at Wickenburg. The ride to Wickenburg was a long slow climb of about 1000' there were a few smaller climbs later that totalled maybe another 500' otherwise the ride from Wickenburg to Phoenix was downhill or flat on a good smooth road with a nice shoulder. I made it to Phoenix in only 6 hours for an 86 mile ride. Once in Phoenix however there was suddenly no shoulder, a rough road and crazy drivers. This town is not real bike friendly so far as I have seen. Cars were zooming by me with only inches of clearance and usually blasting their horns like I was a criminal for being on their road. I felt like I was back in Florida again where they are the worst in the country.

I tried to follow the directions on my map to a campground and got totally lost when the directions did not match up with the streets. I tried to use my phone but the sun was so bright and I had so much salt in my eyes from sweating that I asked a kid on the street to look at the phone and tell me how to get there. That worked out ok. The campground is nice and clean and quiet. They did warn me that several bikes have been stolen from the park in the last month, never a good thing to hear. I am here though. I did laundry and showered. I have recovered now from my century ride today. My usual burrito for dinner. Now I will catch up with my computer stuff and be off to sleep. I may stay here and rest for a couple maybe even three days...we shall see. I am taking it a day at a time.

Ride Day 19

I left Quartsite early today. My ride started out on the interstate 10. I climbed about 1000' but it was a slow climb and I had very little trouble with it. After a dozen miles on the nice smooth interstate I switched to US60. The ride was nice scenery wise but the road was a bit rough. The scenery went back and forth from high to low to arid deserts with rough rocky mountains. I took more pics today which are all on Jimfrogs@Blogspot.com.

Today's ride was about 75 miles with about 2000' of climbing. I did it without a problem and considered going another 31 miles but then did the math and decided that my tired old body did not need another century ride. I am holding up quite well physically. Other than my slight loss of power and cramps from Oceanside to Live Oak Springs I have felt pretty strong for an old man.

I again was thinking about the pioneers today as I walked out into the desert a few times and got stuck by spines, worried about snakes and scorpions and just tried to picture the first people trying to push through this dry, rough, tough terrain. I was again impressed by what they had to do to get through this area.

Today I saw coyotes, California quail, jackrabbits and a road runner. The roadrunner ran right up to my bike just like one did back in Bakersfield last year. The jack rabbit displayed why they are the main food source by not running away from me but rather posing for a pic. I still have not come across any snakes other than a single baby gopher snake just outside of Live Oak Springs. I did enjoy seeing the various cacti. Everything is blooming as I go through because of recent rains. There are lots of wild flowers but I can only take so many of the same types of flowers.

I am camping here in Aguila next to the Coyote Bar. Tomorrow off to Phoenix...

Ride Day 18

I did my usual early morning start out of Palo Verde today. The ride started out going through farming for the first few hours. I never heard the name of the valley I was riding through but it was the next one East of the Imperial Valley.

The scenery slowly changed after I left Blythe and Erenberg. It started looking dry and rugged as I climbed about 1100'. }I enjoy watching the various desert areas go from low desert to high desert and vice versa. I did not take many pics today. I guess I am getting used to this type of look and I can't take a hundred pics of the same things. I always look for something unusual or eye catching. I also tend to take pics when I am tired and need a rest. I think I do that to make it look like I am not an old man that is too tired to continue but rather like an artist taking a picture. I doubt if anyone is fooled though.

I rode until Quartsite which was kind of a short day of riding for me. Quartsite used to be a big center for dealing in gems and jewelry. Like everywhere else it has lost a lot of shine on its star. The town was kind of empty looking. I talked to some locals and they blamed everything from Obama to too many police for ruining the local economy. I enjoyed listening to their rants. I can be evil getting them started talking and then just sitting back listening while they go off. The town is not alone in being on the skids. I reassured them of that after they finished their rants.

I camped out at the Super 8 Hotel after talking to the owner in town. He was very nice and wanted to support my ride. I slept well despite the noise from the freeway. I enjoyed finally leaving California and entering Arizona. Tomorrow off to Aguila.