I could not sleep last night. I just laid there thinking. Im not even sure what was racing through my mind because it was all over the map. One minute I was attempting to write poetry the next I was thinking about my cat.
Because I did not get much sleep when my alarm sounded today I did not want to get up. I turned the alarm off and shut my eyes. Today was going to be a rest day. 5 minutes later I was up and making breakfast. I figured I was up so why not get out riding. Surprisingly even with my morning hiccup I was still out the door ahead of schedule.
My expectations were low for the first 38 miles because I was informed that the construction lasted that length. Fortunately I was miss informed and the construction only lasted 5 miles. After that I had a brand new wide shoulder that saved my butt and my legs for a little while. This was important because my legs were cooked and just were not getting warmed up. Adding to this I knew that I had a small 1200foot climb ahead of me.
When I started to climb my legs came into there own. After passing a group of roadies who were not very friendly I was in Wickenburg. Wickenburg is a funny city because there is not one young person in it. When I went to get some groceries I was getting looked at as if I had boils growing from my face. Speaking of which from wearing my helmet so long I have indentations on my head. Now I did not need groceries but I have learned from traveling west that you never roll this dice and hope for things, you go wit what you have.
Getting back on the road I thought I was going to have a decent. Instead I had a little bit more climbing that lead me to this wide-open valley. You could see down the road for miles, which is awesome, if you have a tailwind, but as with most days I had a slight headwind so I just had to keep hammering. I was thinking about the terrain and was confused. Whenever I think of flats I think of sea level. Where as here I am on a flat that is raised at 2000 feet. It is just a strange thing to think about.
As with any day that’s fairly flat you have way too much time to think about everything that surrounds you. Today was no exception. I was looking at the sand shoulder and was left amazed by the amount of bottles that laid in them. It was so shocking that I stopped to take a picture. At one point in a about a 2 metre square area I counter over 12 bottles. If we were in a city that would not be so shocking but the fact is I was in the middle of nowhere. Does this mean I should be concerted with every car coming up from behind me for fear that they are drunk?
With hydration in mind I stopped in at a strange little town. It had three buildings and two of them had groups of people just loitering in front of them. The only one that did not had a woman sweeping the sand swept porch. I pulled in and asked to use the washroom and was met by another woman who did not speak any English so in order to find the unmarked bathroom I had to make a poo’ing and pee’ing gesture, which is as unpleasant as it sounds. When I found the bathroom I had to laugh at the layout. Right in the middle of this bathroom was the toilet (I guess if you wanted a 360 degree view of nothing) then mounted high one the wall was the sink. If you wanted paper towel that was on the opposite side of the door.
By this point it was starting to get warm so I was glad I had water in the tank. With my music blasting I saw this semi on the horizon. As it got closer I saw it pull into my lane. Now im thinking “great another a hole like in Manitoba”. So I was pleasantly surprised when he pulled back into his own lane. Once back in his lane it revealed something strange.. a bike tourist. On this side road in Arizona where cars are sparse two tourists meet up. After getting a nice conversation in and talking about routes, warning each other of dried up homesteads and big hills we parted ways. I had only 15 miles left at 12:30 because I did not stop for lunch.
When I got into the town I stopped. When I stopped in at the less sketchy of the two motels I was again surprised when I saw a motor home with a trailer, and an empty 5-bike rack. More tourists. As I type this I haven’t met this fresh batch of tourists yet because they are still out riding while I relax here with ice cream in hand. That is the beauty of starting my ride before the sun gets up.
Now I am a firm believer in fate because after talking to these two groups I have learned that I am allowed on the interstate at certain points, which means I may change my route to eliminate my 80-mile detour.
Trip Distance: 149km
Ride Time: 6:43hr
Avg. Speed: 22.21km/h
Total Distance: 15567km
Total Ride Time: 721hr
Destination: Salome, Arizona
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Are you in Salome yet? I live in Salome. We get a lot of travelers through here.
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