Steve and I press onward to Picacho Peak.
The infamous Picacho Peak Dairy Queen lies ahead. Mike Alexa has ridden on ahead--he must have at least three chilli cheese dogs in order to complete any brevet he rides in Arizona!
Mike and Steve rode brevets together in Indiana for 15 years, and Mike has two or three PBP rides under his belt, as does Steve.
We had to face the evening headwinds, and as you may know, Gentle Reader, that can make for lots of work--headwinds can be demoralizing. A headwind can break your spirit, and for a few days more make your body ache from all the energy needed to finish. Steve and and I took turns drafting each other--until that wore us out--but as we neared the DQ, the winds let up.
While Steve met Mike and John, a strong rider from Pheonix who rode with us, at DQ, I went to the store next door to get a Irish Cream coffee out of one of those automatic machines. They're great and I love them--and I need the caffine to keep me going. When I pulled in, I found a gallon jug of water on one of the trash bins. It was still ice cold and hardly used. I bet that the three other riders on the course, about 45 minutes ahead of us, left it for any randonneur that happened by--that would be me, and I filled my water bottles and camel-back. This saved me some valuable minutes and got me back with the other riders in no time.
Everyone felt re-freshed, strong, and ready to get this brevet done after chilli cheese dogs, hamburgers, Dilly Bars, and coffee.
All the difficult hours with gusty winds were forgotten, as we sped to the final controle, and back to Casa Grande for the finish. I was pleased with my time and with the ride in general... 300 Killometers is 190 miles--that is quite an accomplishment. I need a day to sleep and recover.
Allure Libre
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