Cross-Country Ramble 13: Real Mountains

Sent: 96-04-26 03:08:32 EDT

 

We set two new records today.

  1. We got up to 4800 feet between Superior and Globe, a new altitude high.
  2. It took us four hours to go the first seven miles, a new speed low.

What can I say? We each started out in our lowest gear this morning in Superior and neither of us got out of it for four hours. Route 60 is a wonderfully engineered road: It has exactly the same slope for seven miles. Unfortunately, that slope, whatever it is, is just over what our pedaling legs can handle for more than 100 yards at a crack. Our morning consisted of pedaling some, walking a lot and resting a lot. If someone with a pick-up truck had offered to take us to the top, we'd have accepted. As it happens, our virtue is preserved, but only for lack of opportunity.

Someone else's picture of the loooooong 7-mile upward grade east of Superior, AZ. Someone else's picture of the loooooong 7-mile upward grade east of Superior, AZ.

We're in real mountains now. The rock-wall-on-one-side and sheer-drop-on-the-other bit. The rocks look like real mountain rocks, hard and reddish. The desert blooms we've been seeing since we got into Arizona are still with us. Today, we see some particularly striking cactus blooms, including Saguaro with flowers perching on the top of each arm and some short barrel-shaped cacti covered with brilliant red blooms. The Palo Verde trees, with their green branches, almost invisible leaves and yellow blooms have become just part of the background.

 

We heard on the tube tonight that it was 100 degrees in Phoenix. Happily for us, the temperature and humidity are lower where we are, there are shady spots next to rock formations and we always seem to have a nice breeze. Yes, we do get hot, but all we have to do to cool off is stop in the shade.

 

Ken

 

PS: Our current average daily mileage, including rest days, is 33.7. I did a linear regression on our daily mileage and determined that we're now increasing our mileage by .19 miles day. Using the results of the regression to predict future mileages and using those calculated mileages to predict how long it will take to complete future legs of the trip gives us a prediction that we'll arrive in St. Augustine on June 30, on the 88th day of our tour. But, as all the mutual fund ads say: Past performance does not predict future performance.

 

The above is provided to give some indication of what a person who would buy a laptop to take on a bike tour would do with it in the evenings....

 

Ramble 14: Harleys.