Saturday morning, we leave at 5 a.m. and go one block. "Crack. Bang!" Steve runs over something--broken beer bottle we think--and the rear tire is slashed down to the rim. We walked back to the house and Steve put on another tire. You would not want this to happen out on the road because it would certainly be a "show stopper." I might consider taking an extra tire with me on the brevets because there's a good deal of night riding and you can't always see things in the road. So we roll out at 5:30 a.m. It will make for a bit of a longer day that's all... I could have crawled back into that bed and Kim had put flannel sheets on the bed in my guest room--yeah... That would have been alright with me...
But I am looking forward to breakfast at our new favorite place--U.S. Egg. The food is excellent and the waitresses are all 'lil hotties. We had the same waitress as last time. She remembered us as the bike guys and flashed her Baby Blue eyes! Cool. If only I had time to stay longer and visit with her--like find out her name! But the food arrives fast! I am starved. Eat Bruce!
How can the all-female jaw droppin' gourgeous babes at our revered breakfast place forget the visage of the Randonneur avec cool bike and flight jacket? They cannot, mes amis!
You might notice how grey the sky is behind Steve, Star of this Blog. It started out okay in the morning but as soon as we were rolling out of Tempe, rain began sprinkle on us. It wasn't so bad.
As you might expect, we had a headwind going out Riggs Road to the Maricopa Hwy. Our plan was to ride to the town of Maricopa, a way to Casa Grande we don't usually go, and then ride SouthEast to Casa Grande on a 20 mile stretch of road Steve A told Steve, Star of This Blog, about. It was not a great ride down to Maricopa, Gentle Readers. In fact it sucked--mainly because of all the traffic, the cold, the wind, and the surroundings were kind of ugly. This is truly out in the middle of freakin' no where.
Arriving in Maricopa, we were amazed at the thousands of new homes built up everywhere--butt-cheek to butt-cheek--which means they are built right on top of each other. Wow, and a busy place! We got directions from a local at the Circle K to turn left at the NAPA Parts store. I rode right past it of course. I thought I'd see a sign for the Hwy at least! Nope, just the NAPA store. Steve caught me and said, "Turn around, Dude! You missed it!"
The 20 miles to Casa Grande on this road from Maricopa sucked big time--and I never want to ride on it again. The road was shit. Tons of traffic. Miles of stockyards so every breath you took you got a lung full of shit. Oh, and the head wind was kicking our asses. As we neared the end of the 20 miles of "Atkins' Speedway" there loomed up a huge Fritos Factory. I was struck at how clean and beautiful the campus of this place. The road was suddenly pristine--something to ponder I suppose--then Pinal Hwy and Casa Grande.
On to Sacaton!
Ira Hayes was from Sacaton. We stop at a memorial to him and take a rest. He was one of the Marines that raised the flag at Iwo Jima.
My bike set up for the brevets.
Clouds and wind--the air is crisp and clean. But headwinds will be with us the way home. Storms are on the way!
We ride North and we were really hoping to get a much needed tail wind. Not sure the name of this road to Chandler, but its pretty desolet reservation. Suddenly there's this pink house and you're on the Hunt Hwy. The dirt and trash and burnt landscape right at the Hunt Hwy turns into Suburbia--big houses, green lawns, and mini-malls.
Our ride was going to be 150 miles, and was to prepare us for the 300 km brevet coming up February 3rd. That's about 190 miles. I believe we road pretty strong and put in a respectble 130 miles--we made the 1-800-call-kim decsion and Kim showed up in the Mystery Van to fetch us.
A fine gourmet dinner was waiting back up in Scottsdale so it was time to get off the bikes and eat. When we got home and walked in the house, the pork roast Kim had made seemed suspended in mid-air--seemed to hover there on by the stove. It was cooling and looked golden brown! After being on Atkins' Speedway and riding in a headwind laced with the stentch of 100 stockyards (not kidding!) the aroma of the golden roast was such that I wanted to kneel and pray. But you're not supposed to bow down to false idols and stuff, right? That movie that Charleston Heston played Moses--the Hewbrews did that and God got really pissed off...
We sat down to eat. Roast as stated above... Brussel sprouts... Carrots... things are starting to blur--oh, and some very good red wine. Kim said she'd read where you need protein after a ride like that, and boy did we ever put away the protein. We ate everything.
I slept for about an hour and half to recover for my drive back to Tucson. I had a very large piece of peach pie with vanillia ice cream, and a large cup of coffee to go, to keep me awake.
Owt!
1 comment:
Hey Bruce! Next time head south out of Maricopa down to Stanton before making the run to Casa Grande, much less trafficed road and you get get better shoulders for farther (Susan thought I was crazy when I originally thought of routing my permanent up the road you took between Maricopa and Casa Grande). The spare tire is a good idea too, I usually carry one under the seat on the longer Brevets. I need to start packing a spare derailleur cable too come to think of it, time to visit the bike shop!
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