(February 6)

Day 43 - Surprise to Salome AZ

Very Different

 

 

Historic downtown Wickenburg, "Team Roping Capital of Arizona." I'm not sure why the sport of team roping needs a capital city, but thank goodness Wickenburg was available! Note the banner proclaiming Gold Rush Days. It is a major rodeo festival that will begin later this week. I kind of wish I could stay and see the rodeo!

I met this young couple...Kevin & Michelle... just a few miles outside of Salome. They are walking across the country from California to North Carolina. I found them to be such pleasant company I was sad that we were traveling in opposite directions. They began their journey in Newport Beach CA a month ago and are doing very well!

Me and my new rig just after I'd finished a wonderful breakfast with my mom and stepfather Ray, and just before dawn. Note the absence of a trailer (replaced by two rear panniers) and my trial run of a "Da Brim" biking helmet sunshade.

 

I've now determined, sadly, that the Da Brim bike helmet shade I installed is just not working out. It turned out to be quite a large sail; which caught the backblast gusts from every passing 18 wheeler and threatened to rip my helmet off my head. So, after today's ride, no more sunshade :)

 

Also know that I got new biking shoes because my old ones were too narrow and my feet were going numb constantly.

 

 

Today was the day I'd been dreading. The "90 miler" which I couldn't plan around or avoid. The day I'd COMPLETELY changed my rig around for in an attempt to make sure I could make it. A day, frankly, I wasn't sure I could do.

 

But I passed with flying colors (though the ride actually turned out to be only 84 miles...but still my longest so far!).

 

Up even earlier than usual, I had a wonderful "final breakfast" with my mom and stepfather. Then, just as dawn broke in the East I was on my way. I wanted to ensure that I had as much daylight as I could because I knew it would be a long day.

 

Well, let me tell you: shedding all the weight was a GREAT idea! I was markedly faster overall AND could climb hills much faster and easier than ever before on this trip. I averaged over 11.5 mph (my highest so far on this trip) AND that includes almost 30 miles of steady climbing to get up and past Wickenburg. Without that long, slow climb, I think I might have even gotten to 12 mph!

 

I found, with great interest, that my original, rookie distance and speed calculations weren't actually all that bad. My problem was that my rig just wasn't set up to improve my speed and, thus, overall distances I could achieve in a day.

 

Ok, yes, I'm physically tired, but I made it to town with daylight to spare! I was even able to spend a goodly amount of time chatting with Kevin and Michelle on the side of the road.

 

Sure, I just didn't have the willpower to camp tonight, but I'll look to maybe camp tomorrow in Blythe. I think that if I can manage to camp at least a few days in a row, I will...finally...consider myself a bonafide bike tourer :)