Day 04

Yes, what a difference 20 degrees and a little altitude makes.  Today was warm, but not nearly as brutal as the first 3 days of the ride.  Actually, it was the warmest we've ever seen on the climbs to Yarnell and to Prescott, but the fact that we were using different muscles most of the day climbing and the fact we were between 4000 and 7000 feet most of the day made it much more livable...the furnace wasn't boiling over today, almost everyone had a great day.  I even heard someone say, "This is the best day I've ever had," when he was near the top of Mingus Mountain.

The day started out like any other day on an ABB ride...clear skies.  The winds were light out of the south but that would change before we got to the first climb of the day at 18 miles...plus, we always expect the weather at 7000 feet to be different than where we were but today it wasn't cold like we normally see. 

At 5:30 we started with a hearty breakfast across the street from the motel.  This place really treats us nice as they already have the breakfast prepared.  You go in and sit down and in about 1 minute your food is in front of you...toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, juice, and coffee...what a spread!  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 they departed Wickenburg, their legs felt the steady rise out of town into the foothills and the first climb into Yarnell...which Tom and Mike made look easy (above 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 "mistakes" from next door. 

The road from the summit at Yarnell was brand new pavement and with the brisk tailwinds, the riders were screaming down the backside of Yarnell Pass.  The descent took them 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 they pedal on what appears to be relatively flat or gently rising terrain only to feel fatigue overcoming their already 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 43 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.  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 descent into Cottonwood is a highly technical descent into Jerome, a small mining town that sits right in the side of the mountain about 1500 feet above our destination. 

Historic 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, most were about ready to be done by the time they climbed to the top of Mingus.

It was a pretty tough day both for the staff and for the riders.  I got dinner out of the way on top of the mountain.  Tomorrow we climb some more and I'm looking forward to the ride into Flagstaff.  The red rock mountains around Sedona are almost worth this whole trip.  Tune in tomorrow and I'll have some red photos for you to see.  See you then.