I rode from Tempe, AZ to Payson, AZ today – a monster ride
going into the mountains east of Phoenix.
The ride was 81 miles, basically all on Hwy 87. The ride has 4 meaningful, multi-mile climbs
to it as I passed over a number of mountain ranges – 7,300 ft of vertical
climbing – by far a new personal best!
My legs were just a bit burnt by the time I entered Payson… The weather was again perfect (ok, I’m
redundant but at some point I’m sure this sentence will change in future days…)
– in the 60s when I left our hotel and up to 80 throughout the day – perfectly
sunny the entire day, with no humidity!!
Very little wind again today.
As with most other days, I saw another long haul cyclist –
this one traveling from southern AZ all the way to Salt Lake City to see his
grandchildren – cool. This was the first
time I’ve ever ridden in an area where you pass from one mountain range to
another; up, over and down and then repeat it again. A ton of work – I drank 180 ounces of liquids
(all that I had – there are no services basically from Tempe all the way to
Payson) and could have used more like 200-220 ounces.
Flat tire #1 for the trip (my “old friend” the 1” metal wire
from a blown truck re-tread got my rear tire).
This was a beautiful ride with the mountains, valleys,
tremendous numbers of saguaro cactus and then those giving way to plenty of
green shrubs and finally trees! The road
itself was like heaven for a cyclist – divided 4-lane hwy with bountiful
amounts of paved shoulder for cyclists – very nice!
On to the pictures. The scenery was so beautiful today, I'll let the pictures do the talking below for the most part.
Salt River - dry going thru Phoenix...
Colorado River water headed around Phoenix and on its way to Tucson.
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