BOOM! We finally entered a new state! It feels like Zach and I had been biking california for ever. Today I think we got it right. I think we finally figured out a good way to go about the day in this heat while still conquering our epic mileage. On the west coast we could basically ride whenever we wanted because it was chilly no matter what and we could just layer up if we needed to. However, the dessert will boil you alive.
This morning we tried out our new plan of waking up at 6 and taking breaks more often and having a longer break in the afternoon. I personally think it worked out wonderfully as I didn't get worn out all day really. I had forgotten what it felt like to end the day and feel all right.
So yeah, we headed out of blythe at 6 and imeiately crossed the Arizona border. Right away the scenery changed up for the better. We even saw our first legit cactus a couple miles across the border. I must say, Arizona is MUCH nicer than south eastern california. It is still the dessert, but it is a much prettier dessert with nice mountain views and cacti as far as the eye can see. Also, peoples homes don't look nearly as desperate. Californians seemed to live in whatever items they could nail together out in the middle of nowhere, while arizonians seem to at least have trailers if not actual houses. I know this speaks a lot on the economy differences in the area of course, but it certainly made our ride less dismal.
We rode about 3.5 miles on a gradual incline (I will go ahead and say we were gradually climbing all day for the mos part) and popped up in quartzite where we stopped at a loves mega gas station for brunch. I will admit I was pretty happy to see the modern ass station for a change.
After fueling up we hit it again and after about 10 miles we were greeted with a 15 mile descent with a mega tail wind which had us killin it at about 25 mph basically coasting. It was pretty awesome. At the end of the descent we had to go back up hill where we were trying to get to Salome before 2pm so we could escape the heat for a couple hours before finishing up the ride. Unfortunately, Lenora got a flat which slowed us down a bit and we ended up getting caught in the 2 o'clock heat which, honestly, was the only time of day I started feeling weakend.
We finally got to salome "where she danced" around 3 Where we hung out until about 4:30 before riding the last 30 miles to aguile where we be camping out hard at some RV park. This RV park is banging by the way. Has free Showers, nice bathrooms, air conditioned laundry and was only $10 for the 3 of us. Killer. All in all we ended up riding 92 miles. We are fucking ragers. All you doubters can eat our dust.
Off to phoenix tomorrow!
that's tight.
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