Day 05
Standing on the corner...in somewhere Arizona

Today was a day of contrasts.  The first part of the day is one of the most beautiful rides anywhere...the narrow Oak Creek Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona.  In the middle, we closed in on the beautiful mountain that frames Flagstaff.  From there, we started down the interstate and the scenery became vast open spaces of desert type range land.  The only life out there were desert critters and cattle which are spread out over thousands of acres.  I wonder how many acres it takes to sustain 1 cow for a year?  You sure don't see big herds out here...the herds are probably pretty large, but they are so spread out that I'm not sure any of them realize there are other cows in the area.  It's a day's hike to the next cow.

The route started out similar to yesterday...Cottonwood is about 3300 feet and we started a gentle climb for about 18 miles after leaving the motel on Highway 89A to about 5200 feet by Sedona.  Out here the ground just rises and as you are nearing the mountains, it appears to be very gentle and you can't believe how much your legs are objecting to the pedaling motion...I know mine were.  Then you look back and you see why...where you were is waaaaaaay down there behind you.  The good news is that we have a new 4 lane road with a nice shoulder all the way to Sedona...sweet! 

Sedona is a gorgeous area with lots of beautiful red rock formations and is quite a touristy town.  We didn't spend much time there because we knew the climb out of town through Oak Creek Canyon was pretty big as we got to about 6800 feet and to over 7000 by Flagstaff.  The riders had to concentrate on staying upright as it was hard not to gawk at the views and run into something.  The climb out of town through the canyon starts out rather unassuming as the terrain rises gradually but later the  switchbacks start...then you go up pretty fast.  It is an interesting climb as you cross the same face of the mountain 4 times.  I told the riders if they fell from the top road, they would bounce on the road at four different levels.  It takes about 3 miles of climbing to go straight up about 200 yards.  As you can see from the picture to the right, you can almost run into yourself as you are riding up the slopes.  As we got to the top, tourists who had passed us on the way up were very curious as to what we were doing.  We got the same reaction from them as we do usually when people find out we are riding across country..."You're riding to WHERE?"  "WHY?"

The terrain after Flagstaff consisted of large, gentle rollers and was some of the most wide open, desolate terrain you could imagine.  We drop about 2000 feet between Flag and Winslow and with the winds almost everyone was moving pretty well.  We had a slight crosswind that at times became a quartering tailwind that made the riders work a bit more than usual on this day.  The good news was everyone managed to arrive safely...I'm a happy ride leader.

I have a hard time imagining what the early settlers had to go through as they traveled across this waterless land especially traveling to the west into these brutal westerly winds.  You can see for miles and see really nothing except dirt, sage, and that occasional cow for effect.  I'm always amazed at the vastness of the west.  Anyone from east of the Mississippi cannot imagine how open it is out here.  Even people from the corn belt in Iowa and Illinois who hardly see anything but cornfields would marvel at how "big" it is out here...it's hard to describe.  You can see the mountain west of Flagstaff from over 85 miles east of town.

One problem on this stretch of interstate is the shoulder in places is the shoulder from hell.  It has some weather cracks and it's pretty dirty in places.  Did I hear the word "Flats?"  We had several today on the last leg into town...that's pretty normal for this trip.  Interstates give us the most flats, but it's fun screaming down the road at 30+ when we have tailwinds.

Most were in by 5:00 but the last riders didn't get in until about 6:00...not too bad for as much climbing as we had.  I think everyone will enjoy a little recovery time for tomorrow as we Gallup into New Mexico...or ride to Gallup.  It's a long day on the interstate mostly...only 2 more days of interstate...yeah!  See you tomorrow for another update.