The day started out like any other day on an ABB ride...clear skies.  The winds were light at the start, but they would pick up as the day wore on.  Mostly they helped, but at times in the descents the winds would swirl off the mountain and make bike handling a bit sporty.  Even though the weather was cool all day, it was perfect for riding...sunny, but cool so we definitely didn't get overheated on the climbs.  Everyone is a bit tired after yesterday's strong winds, but today they got to test their climbing legs.  Yes, today was a real challenge, but well worth the effort if you'd ask any of the riders.  Any of the riders except Dana who must have eaten something that didn't agree with him last night.  He spent the day in the van with stomach problems.  Hopefully, after a day off and a good meal tonight, he should be back in the saddle tomorrow.

At 5:30 we started with a hearty breakfast across the street from the motel.  This place is one of our favorite places to eat breakfast...they are fast and bring plenty.  This morning however, they had our contract mixed up with another ride that comes through in 2 weeks so when we arrived, they weren't expecting us.  It didn't take long for everyone to get served and we were on the road shortly after daylight.  Because of the small group, we do our route briefing in the morning at breakfast.  I went over the days route and tried to describe the climbing they would encounter and I finished talking about some of the hazards of mountain riding like wind blasts, high speed shimmy, and "black ice" (black crushed stone they spread on the roads when it snows).  As cyclists, we have to deal with these items in a much different way than one would in an automobile. 

As we departed Wickenburg, our legs felt the steady rise out of town into the foothills and our first climb into Yarnell...which David made look easy (left).  The terrain rises steadily for about 18 miles to the foot of that climb which goes right across the face of a mountain for 6.3 miles hugging the switchbacks as it winds its way skyward to 4785 feet.  

After the first climb at Yarnell, we descended several hundred feet over the next several miles before our next challenge.  Just as we were departing Yarnell, we came across a small gift shop called "Brand New Dead Things" which I thought was a catchy name for a shop.  Then I noticed that it was adjacent to the town's medical offices.  The proprietor of the shop said that it was a great place to set up the business since he got all the "rejects" from next door.  Sounds like a picture I should send Jay Leno.  

The road from the summit at Yarnell was brand new pavement and we started to pick up a pretty strong tailwind so the riders were screaming down the backside of Yarnell Pass.  The descent took us to Peeples Valley before descending a bit more until Kirkland Creek where the party ended.  When they crossed the creek (a dry creek bed this time of year), the terrain began to rise slowly to the next climb.  Actually the terrain started to rise 5 miles before the real hill.  This section is demoralizing as we pedal on what appears to be relatively flat or gently rising terrain only to feel fatigue overcoming our tired legs.  The only way to appreciate how much you are climbing is to turn around and look behind yourself...then you'll see why you are only going 8 MPH and struggling.  The look back is really an eye opener and the riders are always relieved to know there is a reason for their hard effort.  To give you an idea of the amount of climbing we had today, we had the lunch stop at 47 miles, we started before 7:00, and several riders didn't get to lunch until around 11:00...and we had more climbing after that.

From the lunch stop, we climbed to over 6000 feet before we dropped into the mile-high town of Prescott where we found the winds to be howling at our backs...a pleasant ride when you can soft pedal and keep up with the automobile traffic.  As we were nearing Prescott, we witnessed an area were wildfires had charred the mountainside...that fire started about a day after we rode through spring two years ago.  We were lucky to get through in April...now the charred remains of the Ponderosa Pines still serve as a grim reminder of human's careless habits after almost 2 years . 

We rode the wind to the last SAG stop at the base of Mingus Mountain, our biggest climb of the day to just over 7000 feet.  From the SAG we could see precip on the mountain but it didn't look like it was getting to the ground.  I was glad to see it wasn't raining on the descent into Cottonwood since it's a highly technical descent into Jerome, a small mining town that sits right in the side of the mountain about 1000 feet above our destination.  The descent is difficult enough because of the gorgeous terrain without having to deal with wet pavement too.  

Jerome is an artsy town and several riders stopped to eat at the "Haunted Burgers" joint just inside the town limits.  They are famous for their burger cuisine and I think ABB riders all agree it's worth the stop.  From there it was a 14 mile descent into the Verde Valley and Cottonwood.  I think we only had to pedal about 200 yards to get over a rise just before the motel...a nice finish to a tough climbing day.  It was a good thing it was downhill, 6 riders came in just as it was getting dark after enjoying the stop in Jerome.