Long Live Rock...Day 5...Cottonwood to Winslow...Thurs 28/04/11

On the road again and on the way from Cottonwood to Winslow, through Sedona and Flagstaff...only 107 miles despite what my mental GPS would have you believe.

Red rocks...artsy...er, that's about as much as you need to know about Sedona itself...those rocks are staggering to look at though. I drove through here 10 years ago after visiting Yosemite but I never imagined that I'd be cycling back up the climb to Flagstaff.

Sedona's just around the bend.

The main drag with galleries, coffee houses and that. Bit like Wesham, to be fair.

Hard time keeping your eyes on the road but an even harder time drinking-in the view.

Told you they were red, didn't I? Or is that terracotta. Whatever, just don't ride into them.

Ahh, business as usual...getting dropped as soon as the gradient rises above 0.1%. Just like yesterday, this was sheer joy, all the way up to 7000'.

Switchbacks'r'us.com

Bless the good people of Flagstaff and their well-spent tax dollars on this fine stretch on new road. You'll see that this can often be the exception...

I'm backing the A.B.B. Train against the Santa Fe Railroad. Bad call.

And this is what I was mumbling about earlier: we have to keep to the shoulder which is unswept and has variety of debris on it, not to mention being as rough as a badger's arse in (thankfully few) places.

Your actual tumbleweed there. Not known if Jim Davidson was in the area.

I can see for miles and miles.

At last as we roll into Winslow, we happen upon the historic...ah, you can read it for yourselves.
I can only assume that the 'be nice to berks-on-bikes' sign is Winslow's idea of irony. Good on them!

And here are those winning numbers...GPS went doo-lally but the stats are kosher in the main...

River Deep, Mountain High...Day 4...Wickenburg to Cottonwood...Weds 27/04/11

Up and away again from quaint Wickenburg and into a sporty North wind blowing against us on roads that appeared flat to look at, but that really were bringing us to our first real climb.

There's always someone spoiling the view.

These ascents are not steep at between 6-8% and I actually loved riding up these, which is some admission from a hater of gradients. What made it was the views that actually had you saying "wow", the scent of the pine trees and that everytime you thought you were almost at the summit, there would be another switchback to transport you another couple of hundred feet higher. Just fantastic.

Before all that there was some sound advice...

Find your own pace. Then find that that one isn't fast enough, hah-hah!

Smug feeling inevitable when you look down and see some poor sods below you. Git.

Great flag but it would look even better if the wind was blowing from the other direction. Just a thought, like.

Was it 'Bonznza' or 'The High Chapparal'?

Back into flaming headwinds on our way to the last climb. Still, the sky looks nice.

Actually smells of pine, and not in a car-freshener way either.

With Steve, Manny and Bob on the top of Mount Mingus (named after Charlie? Nah, thought not.), which was the final climb.

What followed was the most beautiful downhill stretch which my wee Canon can never capture: this is spectacular stuff. You'll just have to take it on trust.

Fair to say that apart the super-fit people, everyone else had a tough but remarkable day. Let's not even think about tomorrow just yet.

And here are your daily numbers...RIGHT HERE!

I Fought The Law...Day 3...Blythe to Wickenburg...Tues 26/04/11

After yesterday's late-doors implosion the plan for today was to, quite frankly, hide. Recovery and conservation to the fore because tomorrow will be bad. Fact.

So we kicked-off early again and headed back onto our beloved I-10 (note to self: next time you're on here make sure you're in a car) and headed across into Arizona.

Oh really? Is that all?

 Lame photo op.. That's never stopped me before though.

After a couple of miles on the Freeway we saw flashing blue lights up ahead: yep, a police car with some of our group. Well, it was only a matter of time as some of the guys do look like absentees from Folsolm, hah-hah!

Turns out that Officer Manly (and she was a bit...well, judge for yourselves) said that we couldn't continue because of recently completed road repairs that hadn't cured yet.
Somebody rang Mike (tour leader) and he duly arrived as did the second support van: they put the bikes on the roof and we squeezed ourselves in to be ferried the five miles to safety. Mind you, a couple of our speed merchants had caned it through this section earlier without any bother.

The rest of the day was spent on an arrow-straight road with just an incessant drying crosswind for company. Nice. This is a tough and unrelenting landscape...stark but beautiful.

So, so nearly the tailwind I was praying for! We got help a little bit towards the end to be honest, and I was plenty glad of it.

One of several cactii around, I believe.

Always a good sight- the 100 mile marker means Wickenburg is only another 10 miles over the crest. Hello Best Western, hello McDonalds, hello handwashing. Did I really take that much of the desert with me?

Stats...the tale of the tape!

Shattered...Day 2...Palm Springs to Blythe...Mon 25/04/11

Away by 0630 and we make our way through manicured Palm Springs: 135 miles? Should be ok...

Great to see The Chairman Of The Board accorded some respect around here...

Rare shot of me leading things: no turns required, thankfully.

And our first unscheduled p-stop, which isn't surprising give how much you drink. Some of the chaps are taking a chance out there with the wildlife...

And what this season's well-dressed Stones fan is wearing. Take note of the relatively kempt appearance after 40 miles...

A fantastic, sweeping climb to take us through to luncheon. A privilege to be doing this.

And this is beside our lunch stop- The MacArthur Museum. Nah, we didn't nip in.

So to I-10: we stayed on here for about 60 miles, or so...it was reasonably clement for this time of year, or so I was reliably informed.

I felt good until 105 miles and then the motor died and it was a bit of a struggle to keep concentration and all that...anyway, finish we did.
Compare and contrast the well-and-truly finished article...

And no, I don't think I would fit inside that bin. Oh yeah, and who says Americans have no taste and refinement? They loved that jersey. Mind you, the state it's in right now they are welcome to it, hah-hah!
An early night? You better believe it.

You want stats? I'll give you stats!

Surfin' Safari...Day 1...Costa Mesa to Palm Springs...Sunday 24/04/11

In all honesty, that was about as pleasant as 110 miles on a bike can ever be, with 'champagne cycling' for thirty miles until the first stop. Obviously everybody was a tad excited, if not giddy at having finally started this madness!

The twenty or so of us set off from the hotel about 0730 and made our way down to Huntington Beach where tradition was observed i.e. you got your feet wet in The Pacific and dipped your back wheel in. No, me neither!

As you can probably see we a bit lucky with the overcast conditions- thankfully it wasn't baking-hot, hah-hah! Our luck held all the way until about 30 miles from the end: well, the sun has to shine in Palm Springs...it's the law.

Random landmark no.1...Anaheim Stadium, home of The Angels.

Plenty of that below... 

 When you see the turbines you know that Palm Springs isn't too far away. Well, that plus the road sign said so.

 Our Tour Leader, Mike, had told us that we could expect an insanely easy finish for the last 15 miles: the man wasn't lying. The speedo says 39 mph near enough (and I for one believe it)...and that was on the flat!

So we did indeed showboat-it big time to the hotel. Tomorrow though is gonna be quite a bit tougher so the preparation (H) starts as soon as I've stopped typing this rubbish. Cheers!

Stats...always with the stats...What Garmin reckons!