June 10, 2010
Start: Goodyear, Az
Finish: Casa Grande, Az
Distance: 84.5 miles
Ascent: 290 ft
We left Goodyear around 4:15 after saying by to family, and got onto the rode. We took a few highways outta Phoenix and around a mountain to get away from the 10. It was a pretty simple way no climbing at all, just lots of desert and some pretty views of the mountains around. The wind started coming up around 9 or 10 in the morning so it slowed us down but it has gotten much cooler then the past few days. All in all it was a good day except Peggy getting a flat at about mile 50 or so but we got it fixed up and ready to head out again. We made a few stops in little towns getting more ice and water. We purchased some new bottles fro REI yesterday that are insulted and keep our water much cooler for much longer than the standard bottle so that has definitely been helping. When we got into the center of town about 7 miles from our hotel we stopped at a place called Barney's for lunch which was like a sizzler back home. The owner was actually a super nice guy that let us keep our bikes in the back of the kitchen while we ate, and he was also headed to Jacksonville, Fl for vacation around our same time haha. On our way to our hotel I actually ended up getting a flat about 3/4 from our hotel and just as i was about to pump it up a nice man stop his truck that was on his way back from mountain biking. He let me throw my bike on his truck and gave me a lift to the hotel which was very nice! So tomorrow we are heading to Tucson which should be a 70ish mile day. Stay tuned!
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Day 9
June 11, 2010
Start: Casa Grande, Az
Finish: Tucson, Az
Distance: 75 miles
Ascent: 1270 ft
Our Ride from Casa Grande to Tucson was very slow, the wind was around 20 - 30 mph! So we were barely riding along at like 7 mph. We took a few roads next to the freeway so we never had to get on the 10. We stopped at about halfway to get some lunch at a pretty good mexican food restaurant. After that we tried to get a good distance into Tucson, but we ran into more long wind and a 10 miles detour. after we got into town we rode through downtown that had some pretty cool architecture and colorful buildings. As we got to the outskirts we had another 6 miles to our hotel. When we finally got to the hotel we were exhausted from riding into the wind all day but the weather has been much cooler around the 90's.
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Day 10
June 12, 2010
Start: Tucson, Az
Finish: Benson, Az
Distance: 50 miles
Ascent: 1475 ft
Today was probably our easiest day, we took our time because we only had a 50 miles day. We woke up round 5 got some breakfast and left by 6:15am, for the first 5 miles we were riding through big cactus farms with cactus everywhere! We finally saw about 10 rode bikers today, I believe they were out because it was a Saturday and its finally cool out. After that we took some pretty cool scenic road for the first 20 miles or so. We took as many side roads that we could until we had to jump on the freeway for a bit, a few miles onto the freeway we had to get off onto a dirt road for a few hundred yards because the shoulder was being worked on. But as we got back on we got another 8 miles or so until i got a flat, we pulled off and fixed that. We got a pretty nice 2 mile downhill into Benson when we arrived stopped at a nail place for my mom to get her nails done. As she did that i went and got some supplies from Walmart next door. Then we stopped by the Safeway down the rode for my moms Starbucks and supplies for the next day!
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Day 11
June 13, 2010
Start: Benson, Az
Finish: Lordsburg, Nm
Distance: 120 miles
Ascent: 1785 ft
We left our hotel in Benson, AZ. around 4:30 A.M. It was 56 degrees out, first time we had used our pants and wind breakers. We started out taking a great little back road, very country looking. On the road we saw 2 deer, I think we startled them when we road by where they were grazing. When they saw us they jumped over this 6 foot fence and went right in front of us like it was nothing. It was the most graceful beautifuI thing i have ever seen, we both agreed it was worth getting up early for. We had to get off that road, it was going to take us into these hills that we didn’t want to go in and also lead to a dirt road. So we jumped on the I10 again going east obviously. We got a flat after riding for a little while through the hills of Texas Canyon, we had fixed it and were getting ready to put some air in it and get on our way, but this car pulled up with a RAAM(race across america) sticker on it. They got out of the car and ended up being two nice people named Pete and Kristin. Before we knew it Pete was checking the air in all our tires and pumping them up, they were offering us tubes and co2’s, and even gave us 2 payday candy bars! Pete has ridden in RAAM (Ride across America), so he was familiar with what we were doing and the roads we were taking. We exchanged numbers and they drove off. Another fellow cyclist loving what we r doing. We just kept moving down the freeway until we hit Wilcox. We stopped at a Chevron station to freshen up our drinks. We then went a little further and found Bowie where we stopped again and had our crustables for lunch. We hit the New Mexico border around 2 p.m. It was a good goal/accomplishment for us. We took pics and sat in the shade under the Welcome to New Mexico sign for a little while and had a snack. It was heating up a little and we needed to keep going. We road another mile or so and got another flat. We finally hit our hotel, little later than anticipated. All in all we had a good day, and put in 120 miles. Most miles that we have went in a day so far!
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Day 12
June 14, 2010
Start: Lordsburg, Nm
Finish: Deming, Nm
Distance: 61.5 miles
Ascent: 115 ft
Today was a rather easy day got started off pretty late after a good breakfast, but we weren't worried since we only had 60 mile sot go and it was supposed to be good weather and a slight tailwind to help us out. After about 20 miles we stopped at a cool little trading post/gift shop store and got some fun gifts for friends and family, and chilled with some snacks for a bit.We got back on the rode and went another 20 or so and pulled off at a Dairy Queen at around noon because it just sounded very good to both of us and my mom was craving a root beer float for days. After hanging out in the ac for a bit we hit to highway literally on the 10 again which is basically the only way to get from Tucson to El Paso. A few miles in a man pulled in front of and got out and offered us a night stay in Las Cruces but we were going all the way to El Paso the following day but it re assured us that there are some nice people out on the road. And of course like everyday my mom gets another flat about 7 miles from our hotel! and we were out of co2's, it took us awhile to get the tire pumped up with the standard hand pump but we got about 80psi in it just enough to get to Deming which was our nights stay. We have also switched time zones which took us awhile to figure out haha, so we are an hour ahead of everyone back home!
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Day 13
June 15, 2010
Start: Deming, Nm
Finish: El Paso, Tx
Distance: 107 miles
Ascent: 530 ft
Today was a long one, we left our hotel in Deming, Nm headed for Las Cruces around 4:45am. We got the first 50 miles out of the way pretty fast and got to Las Cruces at around 9:30am, and ate at the Fork in the Road cafe. As we were about to leave my moms bike ended up having a flat, we were out of co2's and the little pump we had was not working very well. I had to hitch a ride to a local bike shop to get it pumped up and get a few co2's for the time being. As we took off headed for our hotel in El Paso it was already 1:00pm we had lost about 3 hours with all the flat tire problems. It had also gotten much hotter then this morning, we started riding and had to stop about every 10 miles to refill our drinks and just take a breather. We got all the way down to the border of Texas and stopped at a nice little liquor store and hung out under a tree to cool off and have an ice cream. We headed for the border and crossed into Texas and into El Paso we took some busy streets right through the center of town. On our way to the hotel about 6 miles away my mom got another flat, the second one of hers that day i got one earlier as well. We were both just way over it overheated and tired it was around 6:00pm now. So we called a taxi to just get us to our room so we could get some sleep and sleep in for the next day.
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Day 14
June 16, 2010
Rest day in El Paso, Tx
Today was a well needed rest day we have road 500 miles in the last 6 days, in a row. We also needed some bike maintenance and to send and receive some packages from home and send stuff home. We also got to sleep in and just relax for a bit in the morning before we started our errands, we got really lucky because they had a shuttle service at the hotel that took us to Fed Ex/ Kinkos and also to the bike shop. After we did some laundry and got subway nearby, went back to the bike shop to pick up our bikes and to Albertsons to get food and what not for the next day. We then just chilled and got some good food at a nearby steakhouse! Tomorrow we are starting our trek across Texas, wish us luck!
Check out Week 3!
