Day 5: More Desert and Into Arizona

Dad just called. Today was a real hard day for everyone - "everybody agreed it sucked." It was clearly the hardest day of the entire tour. (The tour does seem to be front-heavy, with the first week being the roughest). The day was supposed to be 115 miles through the desert, but they ran into a fresh oil spill and had to turn back The van gave everyone a ride over the affected area (34 miles). Upside is that the van ride resulted in some good pictures. He held up well - there were very long stretches of NOTHING, several long, difficult climbs of 9-10+ miles each, and it was 103 degrees with ambient air - in the shade. They crossed their first state line today, and are now in Arizona.

After three climbs, around mile 45 and off of I-10 to Rt 60 to Wickenburg, the road was fairly bumpy, slightly uphill, and they had a strong cross-wind. They came across a junction called Hope, which had a convenience store - he got a $6 t-shirt reading "You're beyond HOPE."

He reports that Wickenburg is very picturesque and VERY western. Has a very nice restaurant (which is always important).

His butt is pretty sore - most of them are having butt issues. Even those who are retired don't train by riding 70-100 miles every single day. A friend suggested doubling up on the biking shorts, which he'll try tomorrow. Tomorrow should be nicer than today, though still no picnic - they'll be climbing all day, with a 7,000 ft total elevation gain, 5,000 in a single climb (it's their first mountain pass). The upside is that it's only a 59 mile day.

You can see Gil's long-john-esque outfit in the first picture. Thinking that his legs are faring better (sunburn wise) than some of those wearing shorts through the desert. Wouldn't he look cool in his long-johns and doubled bike shorts?!

Pictures added to this post and yesterday's late Wednesday night. Chris posted yesterday asking how many people are on the tour - we asked him that last night too! (We realized we "felt" like it was in the 30-50 range, but that really we were guessing and had no actual idea.) He said there are about 35 of them, which I think is before CrossRoads staff.