Sunday March 30, 2008, 100 miles (161 km) - Total so far: 357 miles (575 km)
Today started off terribly (but ended wonderfully), I'll get to the highlights and lowpoints after explaining how the morning started.I woke up at 5:30am, not feeling particularly well... Had some intestinal distress issues. Got on the road at around 6:30 still feeling bad and just trying to tough it out, hoping I'd feel better. Without getting into too much detail, it became apparent a few miles out of town that a bathroom might cure my ills. I only had about 16 miles and 1200ft-ish of climbing to get to the next town. No problem. I slogged and slogged up the hill, feeling awful and wishing I was doing something else, and finally made it to the exit for the town (I was on the freeway). Town was supposed to be a quick 4 mile gradual downhill coast. Easy. Well, just as I got off the exit ramp, my rear tire went flat. Shoot. No problem! 25 minutes later I was all fixed up and ready to go. 30 feet later, bam. Front tire goes flat. What is up with that? 25 minutes later (I know, I am slow at tire changing. But I meticulously search and research for the culprit so it doesn't strike again). Just as I am reattaching the front wheel, I look down to see that my rear wheel has a peculiar bulge.. the inner tube is slowly expanding before my eyes, sticking out of the side of the tire. Come to find out, I didn't seat it well. The sun was hitting it and warming up the air, expanding it. About 10 seconds after looking at it, BAM! Sounded like a gunshot, the rear inner tube explodes. Another 25 minutes later and the rear is now fixed. Meanwhile, I feel terrible. Still no bathroom. I crawl along into town and take care of business.
Ok, so now that the story is told, I guess there really weren't any other lowpoints! So I'll skip the normal lowpoints section, after the highlights.
Highlights:
-Getting my bike fixed and making it to the first town.
-Seeing Ed again at the first town and telling him my story. He seemed to have had a much nicer morning.
-Another 84 miles of the smoothest road you could imagine.. perfect!
-TAILWIND. Ok, I can't emphasize enough how much of a boost this gives someone on a bicycle. Especially at 30-40mph. It's like... the difference between wind in your sails on a sailboat and hanging out in the Doldrums (an area with no wind). Or for a non-wind comparison, it's like your teacher giving you all the answers to tomorrows test and you don't have to actually do any work. You just show up, go through the motions, and somehow you get a perfect score. Today, I just showed up on my bike, and Wickenburg just appeared after being scooted along 84 miles.
-Mach 2.5 ... Today I went about Mach 2.5 for an hour and a half, or 25mph. There was a section where it was so smooth and so flat (no, not downhill, flat) I was able to cover 35 miles in almost no time. I got on the bike, and never felt the need to stop. I don't think I dropped below 22 or 23mph and there were times I got up to 31mph. So yeah, Tailwinds.
-Solitude. It's hard to find solitude on road rides, but today at the end the road was pretty low on traffic, and I felt like I was out there alone and it was nice.
-Lunch. Dang. Good stuff in Salome, AZ at the little diner. it was your classic been-there-forever diner where you're either going to get amazing food or garbage. It was one of the best turkey-bacon melts I've had! Their milkshake machine was broken but I will cut them some slack on that.
-Dust Devils. I saw a few of these today and I really like them. It's like a tornado only you don't have to worry about being thrown around like a house or cow. (like they do in the movies. Think Twister)
-Geographical changes are starting to change. I left the low desert and made it into the high desert, which is much more pleasent. For those without desert travel experience, here's a brief explanation; The low desert is hotter, drier, has fewer plants and animals (relatively) and fewer people. The high desert in contrast is full of plants, mainly schrubs and small trees and is cooler. In general, the high desert starts around 2000-2500ft and goes up as high as the mountains may go. That's not always the case but is a good enough rule of thumb.
-Peacocks. Yes, they're here. At the hotel. No really, on TOP of the hotel, behind the hotel, pretty much all around the hotel. The people who live behind the hotel have peacocks, and it's now their mating season. The lady at the front desk warned me that I wouldn't want a room near the tree they like to Roost in. It sounded intriguing though, I wanted that room. Then she mentioned they start screaming at 4:30-5:00am. Hmm. I changed my mind quickly. Maybe if I asked for a discount I could have saved some loot. I even have an amazing video documenting the wonderful, enchanting cry of the peacock who is looking to mate. If you want to see, go here!...
Peacock Mating Call http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMGPmIxYfEQ
So overall the day went well, once I got past the morning's shannanigans. Actually it was probably the best day yet, after I thought it was going to turn into the worst day yet. The town I'm in now is also really nice. Probably the nicest I've stayed in so far.
I rode 99 route miles today, but I couldn't pass up the oppurtunity to do another century, so I rode out of town half a mile and rode back, just so I could say I did the 100 :D After all this biking, 1 more mile doesn't take any more effort. Tomorrow I'll be in Phoenix.
By the way, this post was made from a real computer! Not my little awkward blackberry.
Additionally, I'm going to put up a post next with photos from the past few days.
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