Day 04
The word of the day is...UP

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.  The weather was mild 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 3 days in the desert, 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. 

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.  By the time I arrived a mere 4 minutes after opening the door, everyone was basically in the middle of the meal.  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 James made look easy (right).  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.  I was in the van until the top of Yarnell and started riding there.  I hitched with Frank until lunch about a third of the way up to Prescott.  From there, we picked up Karen and rode through Prescott and to the third SAG.  I got to stretch my legs a bit today and am feverishly trying to ride into form.  Just can't seem to get comfortable in the saddle, but hopefully I'll ride smoother soon.  Maybe I played too much golf this spring.

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 three 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. 

On our way out to the west coast last week, we drove through Prescott to see if we could find a better route around town.  We did find a new highway they had just finished and the new routing was a great improvement from what we had been doing.  The navigation was easy and the tailwinds made it even easier.

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.  The road rose steadily from the SAG to the base of the "real" climb.  After the first two climbs of the day, everyone was well warmed up for the final assault on terrain we'd face today.  Mingus is significantly steeper than the first two but everyone finished with ease...well, they finished and eased down the backside through a gorgeous red canyon to Jerome.

Jerome is an artsy town about half way down the mountain.  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, after filling up on Haunted Burgers, I don't think they would have been able to pedal much anyway.