Heard from Dad around 5 pm local time. Today was 46 miles (43 by the schedule?) with a 5,000+ foot elevation gain. A shorter ride than most so far, but intense.
Gil's cliff-notes version email: "Short but intense day. 46 miles. 5000+ ft. elevation gain total for today. First 8 miles rolling, next 12.5 false flats and then 5 miles of steep climbing on switchbacks. Coasted last 20 miles into Cottonwood, AZ. What fun. Stopped on way down in Jerome, an old mining town for burgers and lounged around a long time on the resturant deck. It overlooked the valley where Cottonwood is located."
He has a pretty steady riding group at this point, about six of them (Gil included) who ride at about the same pace. (His roommate, Richard, and Tom and Jose (both pictured elsewhere in blog) are part of the group.) For the first 7.5 miles they rolled up and down through a large basin towards Mingus mountain. Then 12.5 miles uphill on false-flats. The last five miles were quite steep - one sign showed a 9% grade for that stretch. Most everyone took short breaks during that stretch; Dad's group set a pattern of stopping for a few minutes every mile to rest and drink some water. That's Gil in the charming picture to the right, playing dead on a railing at one of those stops. (Doesn't his butt appear well-padded in the full-size version?) Someone else has a picture of Tony (another member of their group) pretending to use an air pump on Gil's butt. He explained that the joke was that he was a limp doll needing blown-up. I'm including that clarification in case anyone else is as sketched out as I was by the mental image. It's all perfectly G-rated fun.
Anyway, the top of Mingus was at 7,023 feet and 26.6 miles, then it was all downhill. Rode five-six miles to Jerome, an old mining town (now boutiques, etc) - had a good restaurant there. I'm pretty sure Dad's judging towns across the country based on the quality of the restaurants along the bike route. It also had nice weather going for it, since it's at about 5,000 ft in elevation. Then it was just another ten miles into Cottonwood, with the temperature getting progressively warmer as they descended.The ride was tiring - he's not quite as peppy as he was after yesterday's ride, but he's fine. Just not feeling real energetic.
Tomorrow they ride to Flagstaff, AZ (a 46 mile ride). Jim H, who's done the tour before, mapped it out on his handheld GPS - he can tell the elevation gain for the day, how the bike will be inclined, etc. Tomorrow will include 7,000+ feet of climbing through Sedona, where the red rocks are. (Family: Did we go there on the four corners trip when Jase and I were little? I remember really big, grand walls of red rock. And it being hot.) Then they'll go up Oak Creek Canyon. They'll have their first rest day in Flagstaff on Sunday.
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