Days Five, Six and Seven

I haven't posted anything for a few days because my computer died. Turns out I had a bad hard drive so it took me a little while to sort all that out.

We arrived in Phoenix on Saturday after 60 miles. The toughest part of that day was the Phoenix traffic, roads and drivers... none of which are very friendly to bikers. We planned to take Sunday off so we stayed with some friends of mine that I knew from my days of living in Phoenix. Lori and Rich were great hosts; two nights of great home cooked meals, a fun night out in town and almost a great afternoon at a Steeler bar but the wrong team ended up winning on the last play. Rich and Lori, great to see you again, thanks for all you did, not the least of which was putting up with Brad. Actually, as I suspected, they were quite taken with Brad.

Because the temps have been so hot, the roads are extremely hot too and there are lots of delaminated truck tires on the side of the roads. We ( I ) got a few flats from the debris from the steel belted radials. Brads rear tire went bad, probably from the same thing causing the truck tires to go. So we got a few things that we needed at a bike shop in Tempe on Sunday and headed out again early ,5:30, on Monday to beat the traffic and heat.
We had another tough day of riding on Monday. More 100 + temps, head winds and a fair amount of climbing. We logged 96 miles that day and stayed on an Indian reservation just east of Globe AZ.

Today was to be an easy day, covering 72 miles of reasonably flat roads but we hit the strongest head winds we have had so far and the heat has stayed with us. So our easy flat day turned into an unbelievable psychological and physical battle with the wind. We made it to our intended destination of Safford, AZ. Tomorrow we will cross over into New Mexico and start to head toward scenic Silver City. I have more pictures to put up but I need a cord to upload the photos, since I left my cord where I stopped to change my last flat. Nice !!

It's been a terrific experience so far and , while I knew having Brad along would be great, I can't imagine starting this trip without him. He's been a huge help and a strong inspiration as well as the perfect friend to have on a road trip.

Day Four : 100 miles, 100 degrees and 100 bottles of water

Started early to get ahead of the heat (105) and the winds. We had perfect riding weather for the first 25 miles and then the heat and winds kicked in. We still managed to crank out 101 miles. It was a long day but another great day. I got my first flat half way through the day, quick change and moved on. We are staying in a town called Tonopah, AZ just 50 miles west of Phoenix. We should arrive around noon on Saturday and the plan is to take Sunday off, hopefully to watch the Steelers beat the Bengals, again.

Day Three

We were up at 4:30 and on our bikes a little after 5:00. We had another good but long day. It's still hot and very windy. We covered 88 miles today but had another day of consistent headwinds. Temps hit 102 again. Because there wasn't a water source for most of the ride we had to carry the entire days water supply. In 102 temps that's a lot of water and we wanted to keep it cool or at least keep it from getting too hot to drink.

Last night we bought 4- 50 oz bottles of water and put them in the freezer overnight. I brought a long a blatter from my camelback so I filled it up and put it in the freezer too. We found a way to strap them on to the saddle bags. We both started with our usual two water bottles. The plan worked well, we didn't run out of water and it didn't get so hot that we couldn't drink any of it but , even though it was essential, neither of us appreciated the extra weight...

Scenery was great, lots of changing scenery throughout the day. We ended the day in Blythe CA. Tomorrow we make our way into AZ. Looks like more of the same: hot and windy. Starting to wonder if the benefit of riding west to east is going to show up or not. Should be another adventurous ride tomorrow.

Day two

Today we rode from Jullian to Brawley. 75 miles, mostly flat but 102 temps. We rode strong with just two quick stops. Tomorrow may be a different day. 91 miles to Blythe ( border of CA and AZ ) with a 75 mile stretch with no water source and , again, 100+ temps and some climbing. We think we have a plan that should work but we'll see. Stay tuned !

Day one

We finished the first day, 60 miles which is shorter than most days will be but it was a tough 60 miles. Almost all climbing, 5,500 vertical feet but we also had a constant and strong head wind and the temp was brutal. Took a little longer than we planned but we still got in early in the afternoon.

Kevin,a college friend of Brads,joined us for the first couple of hours and escorted us out of La Jolla which was a huge help because we didn't have to worry about how to navigate around traffic etc... Thanks again Kevin, that was big.

We're off to Brawley, CA tomorrow. While a longer ride, it should be a lot easier with minimal climbing but calling for a high of 104.

The night before

We're in San Diego, ready to go. Meeting at 5:30 am to start pedaling East. We took the obligatory photos,at sunset, from the Beach in La Jolla.

As I start out on this trip I have to acknowledge ALL the guys at Dirty Harry's bike shop in Pittsburgh. Everyone in the shop has been a big help to me in lots of different ways. Barry, the owner, has been a huge supporter of this trip and has been a great inspiration to me. If anyone reading this blog needs anything bike related, Dirty Harry's is THE place to go. If I can figure out how to upload pics ,without help from my kids, there will be a picture of Evan, Scott ,Barry and Josh on one of my last days in the shop. Thanks again to all of you, your knowledge, advice, enthusiasm and support has been incredible.

getting closer

I shipped my bike today to San Diego. I'll probably rest or maybe take a few light rides between now and next Tuesday. I'll be meeting Brad Smith in San Diego. He's a friend I've known since my days living and working in Vail. He lives in Denver and will be joining me for the first two weeks or so. He's a fairly experienced "back country" adventurist. He's been on lots of extreme ski trips, extended sailing expeditions to the south Pacific and probably too many dirt bike trips. But through it all he has learned how to deal with the unexpected so for that reason, and many others, he'll be a great friend to have a long for the first part of this ride.

One of the things that I have enjoyed about the planning of this trip is working through the incredible amount of logistical details. There are more than you might realize and it's been a fun challenge to engage in. I've logged a lot of hours on the bike since starting to train for this ride. I've done most of my training riding by myself, which I find to be very peaceful. But it's also given me a lot of time to think through all of those details. I guess I'll know soon just how well I did or didn't think all of this through.

This is the start of a blog that my daughter ,Emily, helped me create to allow anyone interested to follow the progress of my Xcountry bike trip.

I'll be riding the Southern tier from San Diego to Hilton Head, SC

I arrive in San Diego on Monday september 21st and start pedaling on Tuesday.

More entries to follow.