Thursday Evening 14 September
Day 5
Yesterday I was so busy driving the lunch rig, setting up for lunch, cooking dogs, tearing down, I had little chance to chat with other riders. Everyone enjoyed a strong tail wind pushing them west on US 60 toward Wickenburg. Nevertheless, three consecutive days with temps above 110 were taxing on everyone. I was exhausted after a day of lunch duty so I’m sure people who were riding felt worse.
I was starting to feel a bit antsy after a third day in a row not riding – more like an observer than a participant in this adventure. It’s easier to relate with riders like Captain Jack who know me from other trips where I actually rode my bike. Jack and I savored the experience riding Seattle to Boston last summer.
This morning I chatted with Eastside Matt, a guy I knew from another trip ten years ago. He sports a typical climber’s body, lean and wiry. First day of this trip I saw him flying up the mountain climb to Julian. Third day of this trip, I saw him sitting glassy eyed on a lunch bench in 116 degree heat with ice around his neck. He would get up, walk over to his bike, then walk back and sit down on the bench. He said he did this three or four times. Each time he looked at his bike, he just said, “No.”
Amazing what the desert heat will do to a strong guy. Eventually his buddy Rich accompanied him the final twelve miles into Blythe. I expect Matt enjoyed a much more pleasant ride today, climbing in cooler temps over Mingus Mountain to Jerome.
From what I could see, everyone was enjoying themselves today. We had a 30 mph tailwind pushing us up Mingus Mountain.
The unsung hero of today turned out to be my wife Martha. Arizona drivers are jerks. We know this because we live half the year in Arizona. Perhaps they had a jerk convention in Cottonwood today because there were a bunch speeding over Mingus. She was driving the van and wouldn’t let one obnoxious driver pass because she didn’t want him harassing the riders in front. Coming into Cottonwood, she was driving behind another group of riders when one of them crashed. She stopped her car behind them and threw on the flashers. A jerk driving a red Corvette behind her screamed at her that she was breaking the law by stopping in the middle of the road. She shrugged her shoulders. Martha does that sometimes.
Bike Tech
Back to me – Martha and I borrowed the Pactour Van and drove to Scottsdale to pick up a replacement for the crank I broke the first day of the trip. The new crank is a Shimano Ultregra 8000, which replaces my older 6800. The spider on the new crank will not fit the 6800 chainrings. The new rings have the same teeth as my old ones – 50 x 34, but the crank arms are 172.5 mm, slightly longer than my old 170’s. I noticed a difference mainly when I was standing out of the saddle to climb – they provide a longer lever arm for rocking the bike. I might need to lower the saddle a couple mm to avoid any knee problems.
Climbing Mingus on platform pedals was no big deal. (Oh yeah, that’s right we had a tailwind.) I’m still thinking that for long tours, or possibly even most riding, the advantages of platform pedals might outweigh the disadvantages. More on that as the experiment continues…
