Thursday, September 17, 2015

So Long, California - Hello, Arizona!

Day 4
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Blythe, CA to Wickenburg, AZ
116 miles
3,406 feet of climbing

Today we crossed into the state of Arizona - the second state of our tour!  Today was a long but good day in the saddle.  A stiff crosswind, intense heat, and a couple of flat tires (Art), made it somewhat of a challenging day  Nevertheless, we had a good ride.  Because I.m falling asleep as I type this, I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.   


Elevation profile of today's ride - the climbs were gentle, but the heat made them seem more difficult

Pre-ride prep in the morning . . . Brian getting ready for today's ride

Jim S. - happy biker
Robert pumping up his tires
We crossed into Arizona on the interstate at mile 5.  We also picked up a lot of debris from the road, which caused Art to have two flat tires today. 

Sights from the road
Art & Jonathan at the first rest stop. looking fashionable in their Southern Transcontinental jerseys.
Note: although we're no longer "technically"in the desert, today, we rode in desert-like conditions - very hot, with temperatures in the high 90s. 

Arizona Art
Lynn leading a long pace line
Art
Entering the town of Hope

So very true (despite the improper use of "your")
Riding under a big threatening rain cloud..  It only sprinkled a little.  A nice refreshing rain would have been nice in the heat, but I appreciated the cloud cover.

The desert - only elevated
The last 10 miles of the day was a gradual descent into Wickenburg - fun!

Our map - still a long way to go, but we're getting there!


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