108 miles, 3500 feet of climbing. When I went to bed last night I was concerned that I would not be able to get out of bed this morning and ride. I hurt all over! But, when the clock struck 5:30 a.m., I was up and ready to go. Breakfast was at 6:00 a.m., we loaded the gear at 7:00 a.m. and were off and riding. We started climbing and quickly arrived at Sedona. Did not get to see much of the “Red Rock” city but saw enough to put it on my list for a return visit. What gorgeous country. From there we climbed up to Flagstaff at 7200 feet. It was a
VERY steep climb as we climbed from 4000 feet to 7200 feet in approximately 30 miles. Flagstaff was the halfway point of the day and from there we headed down to Winslow at 4800 feet. We traveled straight East on I-40 and were fortunate to have a 25 mph tail wind. With that kind of assistance we could easily cruise in the upper 20's to low 30's mph. When we reached Flagstaff my avg. speed was 10 mph. By the time we reached Winslow it had increased to 14.5 mph. Overall I spent about 7 hr 15 min. in the saddle today. The only downer today was flat tires. When you travel on the shoulder of the interstate you get punctures from the small bits of wire that are part of the blown out tires you see along highways. I had two flats today, which brings my total to four. The current record for the group five. In addition to riding on Hwy 89A and I-40 we also spent a brief moment on historic Hwy 66.
VERY steep climb as we climbed from 4000 feet to 7200 feet in approximately 30 miles. Flagstaff was the halfway point of the day and from there we headed down to Winslow at 4800 feet. We traveled straight East on I-40 and were fortunate to have a 25 mph tail wind. With that kind of assistance we could easily cruise in the upper 20's to low 30's mph. When we reached Flagstaff my avg. speed was 10 mph. By the time we reached Winslow it had increased to 14.5 mph. Overall I spent about 7 hr 15 min. in the saddle today. The only downer today was flat tires. When you travel on the shoulder of the interstate you get punctures from the small bits of wire that are part of the blown out tires you see along highways. I had two flats today, which brings my total to four. The current record for the group five. In addition to riding on Hwy 89A and I-40 we also spent a brief moment on historic Hwy 66.
When I arrived in Winslow I immediately got directions for “the corner” and will head down there tomorrow morning to meet Leisa in her flat bed Ford. If she is not there I will press on to Gallup, New Mexico and say good bye to Arizona.
On mountain between Sendona and Flagstaff. You can see the road we traveled below, in the background.
I am getting good at changing flats. Before this trip I had not had a flat in years. They warned us that these roads would chew our tires up. Looks like they were'nt lying.
Glad you are adapting and able to change flats to get back on the road quickly. I have been busy adapting to many things here at the fort. The cooking, the car maitenance, electrical problems, yelling at Gage for barking in the middle of the night, hot tub repair, recording the royal wedding, etc. etc. But I save a lot of time because I don't have to keep putting the toilet seat down !!!
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Besides not being able to afford the cross country bike trip you have given Trav another reason why he could not make the trip.....he can not change a flat tire! Lol. Glad you are having fun!
ReplyDeletetwo points for mom/mima/leisa!
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