(Fri, 3/7/25; 47 miles, 4018 feet of climb)
Today was a day of fierce tailwinds, long climbs (including a surprise crossing of the continental divide) and barely BEATING THE SNOW!
I tried to start as early as possible given the winter storm warnings, but the hotel breakfast doesn’t open until 6 am. I was biking by 7:15 — not quite as early as yesterday, but my second-earliest start yet.
The first hour of sun was glorious! The winds had not picked up yet, and the sun was bright so I even snuck in a little drone flying. It made me wish I had started an hour earlier.
The first ten miles featured a long, slow climb at 1-2%. With the tailwind, it hardly even seemed like I was going uphill. I thought, wow, maybe the whole day would be like this!
Then it got steep. It brought back flashbacks from some of those climbs in Tonto Basin a few days ago. One hill was 7.2% for quite a while, and when my heart rate hit 171 bpm (higher than the theoretical max), I had to get off and walk. The first of many times today.
I even crossed the continental divide! I knew there would be a difficult crossing in a couple of days at Emory Pass, but this one was 2000 feet lower at 6355 feet.
I was kind of expecting a relatively easy day with that direct tailwind, but at mile 22, almost halfway, my total average speed was only 7.4 mph. Yikes, this might be a long day.
Then came the screaming downhills. I braked a bit so I didn’t hit 40 mph like I did yesterday, but still got up to 38.
Even with those high-speed downhills, I could only lift my average to 8.9 mph for the day. It was the most climbing of the trip, at 4017 feet. And my third-highest heart rate, and third-longest time in the saddle (5:16). I worked hard.
So I was very happy to make it to Silver City before the rain hit! I stopped at Gila Hike and Bike to properly fill up my rear tire after my repair two days ago. They had met the father-son duo that I camped with in the desert east of Yuma 12 days ago.
Then I decided to take the bike mechanics’ recommendation and celebrated my accomplishment with a beer and fish & chips at Little Toad Brewery, to kill time before my hotel checkin.
As I left the pub, it started to rain. It was light rain, but bone-chilling. Then, in a plot too predictable for a movie, literally right when I was standing at the hotel checkin desk, it started to SNOW!
I thought maybe the “snow” in the forecast would be just a few stray flakes. But this was really coming down. (Check out the video.). I can’t imagine what those grinding climbs or flying descents would’ve been like in a snowstorm.
It was surreal to watch the snow from the indoor hot tub. I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved to be in a hotel. And now for the first time in two weeks I get a REST DAY! I plan to exceed six hours of sleep for a change, and get a bunch of errands done. And watch more snow tomorrow morning from my window.
And not sit on my bike for 40 hours.
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TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “CANTBIRD” = CA-AZ-NM-TX Bike Ride, my own nickname for the 1000 miles on the western half of the Southern Tier Bicycle Route, from San Diego to El Paso, using maps from ACA (Adventure Cycling Association). (I did the 1500-mile eastern half in March 2024, which I called GUMBIRD [Gulf of Mexico Bike Ride].)
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LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):