Day 05

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.  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...I'm not sure any of them realize there are other cows in the field.  It's a day's hike to the next cow.

The route started out similar to yesterday...a gentle climb for about 18 miles after leaving the motel on Highway 89A.  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.  Then you look back and you see why...where you were is waaaaaaay down there behind you. 

Sedona is a gorgeous area with lots of beautiful red rock formations and is quite a touristy trap town.  Luckily, it wasn't open for business when we went through so Barbara didn't have time to shop...my credit cards were safe another day.  As far as the scenery was concerned, every time you think you've seen the most beautiful red rock formation, you turn around and see one even better.  It's hard to ride through there and not be amazed at the beauty of the area, but as cyclists we are concerned that the motorists are not gawking at the scenery as they drive past us.  That aside, we stopped at an Episcopal church for a rest stop as we entered town.  The priest for that congregation is my son-in-law's mother and her congregation supplied goodies to nourish us along the way.

We didn't spend much time in Sedona because we knew the climb out of town was pretty big...and then some more to Flagstaff which is around 7000 feet.  It 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 the switchbacks are so tight that 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 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?"

We had a scare as we ascended up the narrow Oak Creek Canyon.  Linda hit a rock laying in the roadway and fell sideways into the guard rail.  Emergency crews responded and escorted her to the ER while we rearranged our support to accommodate her departure.  After a thorough checkout, she was released from the ER basically none the worse for wear with only a couple bruises and a little road rash.  Chalk up another save by a helmet as she cracked it pretty well.  She spent the rest of the day in the vans, but will ride again tomorrow with the doctor's blessing. 

Lunch was at Flagstaff and even though it was a beautiful day, most everyone was looking to sit in the sun to stay warm.  After lunch we picked up some pretty good tailwinds as we started to descend out of Flagstaff toward Winslow on the Interstate 40.  The winds and the descending terrain made it easy to hold in the 30s without too much effort and even on the uphill portions our speed was near 30 as the miles clicked off to the sound of our tires whirling along on the tarmac. 

Even though we were on interstate, several riders said it was one of their best days (even with the short stretches of rough shoulder).  I'm glad they enjoyed it because tomorrow's interstate is not so forgiving.  But now it's time to get some sleep...it's 10:00 PM.  We're having the usual aches and pains associated with a ride of this magnitude, but everyone seems to be handling the physical part pretty well.  They are all getting tougher everyday...I see it.  Today turned out to be a pretty easy day...tomorrow is another 130 plus mileage day, but if we can catch the winds right, it could be an easy day too...if riding 130 miles is ever easy.  We're expecting the temperatures to stay cool over the next few days and it's hard to believe that just two days ago we were baking.  Now that it's cooled off a bit, it's getting easier for this bunch...next time we have mileage in the low 100s, they will want to sleep in.  See you tomorrow.