Hi, everyone. This is Hope. Phil called at 8:45 p.m. central time tonight. He has quite a bad cold (or allergies?)…it doesn’t even sound like him. In addition to that, he and Blake had another hot, hill-climbing day and they were both beat…too tired to blog, so they told me what their day was like. They called from their hotel room and were waiting for a pizza to be delivered…no restaurants nearby.
They jumped out of bed this morning at 4:45 and went to Denny’s to order breakfast and were back out on the road at 5:45 to start pedaling. Within a few miles they were on Interstate 110. Blake took a picture of a sign that said, “Bicyclists, stay on the shoulder.” I didn’t know it was ever legal to ride a bike on the interstate.
They continued a 45 mile climb into the mountains. The temperatures were heading to 90 plus degrees. They said 90º was cool compared to the 105º of yesterday. When they got off the interstate they inspected their tires and found all kinds of stuff in them that was picked up on the shoulders. They removed all of it but four miles later Blake had a flat. They were fortunate to be able to change the tire in the shade and continued uphill until stopping at a restaurant for lunch. Phil had a club sandwich (normal size) and Blake, an extra small (not on purpose) roast beef sandwich. As a result, he ran out of fuel later on. They stopped for something to drink (in the town of Hope!)…saw motorcyclists there and offered them big money for their Harleys.
On toward Wickenburg in the heat and headwinds…very hot and exhausting. They pulled along the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and waited for about 15 minutes until finally, Fran (who has been working at local restaurants and has watched bikers suffer in the desert) pulled over to give them a 25 mile ride into Wickenburg. They had a nice conversation with her and discussed Phil’s throat and nose problem. Being a retired nurse, she told him exactly which over-the-counter medicine to get. He said he feels much better after taking it.
Blake and Phil are both in good spirits despite Phil’s cold/allergies, extremely hot weather and everlasting inclines. They’re ready to rip into it tomorrow morning on their way to Cottonwood….a shorter 100 mile day. The elevation will top off at 7,500 feet with some very difficult climbing to do early on.
Hopefully, tomorrow night Blake will feel up to blogging. He’s much more entertaining than me.
Good night,
Hope
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