Since I had to use a good old fashioned disposable camera it will take a few days to get pictures on here so please be patient.

4/7/06

Well,  I have been on a roll this season with sickness and Brevets but at least this month I got sick a week and a half before instead of a few days before.  My wife thinks it's my body telling me something but I think it just comes of having 4 kids,  one of which is in school and 3 too young to understand the good side to cleanliness, so germs are aplenty.  That being said I didn't get any long rides in last month and figured my strategy to get more rest between Brevets this year was in fine form (a little finer than I had intended I have to admit).

Having checked the weather beforehand the weatherman said I should have a tailwind both ways.  Apparently he had not checked in with the Mischievous Chuichu wind god around Casa Grande as I was to have a headwind from Casa Grande to Marana,  but after the 400k what is a little 12-15 mph headwind?   I didn't get out of Casa Grande until 4:22 but managed to hit the Picacho control 2 hours later at 6:22 just after Sunrise where I stopped to snap a quick picture.  I managed to avoid any trains through the transition to the frontage road for once.  Maybe it was because it was a weekday?  

Rounding the Corner at Marana I could feel the cold affecting the tendons in my knees and ankles despite having tights and a jacket on.  I really should have put more of my warm weather gear on before leaving Casa Grande but oh well,  lesson learned for a future Brevet.  I was managing to stick to my resolve to spin a little easier than normal and keep my cadence up.  It was around here that I started seeing schoolbuses which was kind of funny because I don't usually see schoolbuses on Brevets due to their being on Saturday.  I would be attending the school of Randonneuring today,  I wondered what I would learn before the ride was through.  The nice thing about seeing the schoolbuses was just that in that I didn't get stopped by any,  just passed.

Despite my cold weather gear being insufficient for the frigid Casa Grande terrain I found it to be more than adequate for climbing Picture Rocks and Mile Wide road.  I was too lazy to stop though.  I had originally planned on stopping at Picture rocks but decided I would push on to a Circle K on Kinney road I had read about in someone's ride report from another Brevet.  I got pretty hot climbing Mile wide road but enjoyed having the jacket and full fingered gloves on still for the descent that followed.  I really love the descent through Saguaro National Park and by Old Tucson and just enjoyed the beautiful morning as I cruised through the nearly deserted park (Saturday would be quite different). 

I found the Circle K successfully and replenished my water and started my 2 day banana binge.  I also took off the balaclava, jacket, and long fingered gloves.  I left the tights on in the hopes that the tendons in my ankles and knees would warm up and get happy again.  Cruising down Kinney road I was passed by a guy on a road bike motor drafting an unsecured load of pretty big logs stacked in a very ramshackle fashion.  I imagined what he would do if the truck hit a bump and he managed to catch one of those 2 foot diameter logs in the front wheel......

It was on Mission Road that I realized I had forgot to apply sunblock so I stopped at Valencia and put it on.  I was too late for my nose but managed to catch everywhere else in time.  Mission road was in very pockmarked condition after last months storm.  I made a mental note to be careful on the return trip.  A funny thing that the 400k changed for me was my perspective of Mission road.  Before I used to get really bummed keeping 10mph up it.  Now I think 10 mph is cooking and the climb went really fast due to my recently warped perspective.

Going straight at Helmet Peak and not turning was a new experience and boosted my morale as I was now on an unridden part of the course for me.  I did know that according to my elevation chart there was a pretty good little blip of a hill out there somewhere.  True to form I found it and found it a bit of a push (due to having to ride self supported on this one my bike and gear and water probably weighed in at about 50 lbs so the steeper hills really slowed me up) to get up,  glad my granny gear is really low, still controlling a recumbent at 4 mph is a trick let me tell you!

Turning down Duval mine road it looked like there was a vast white lake out in the desert.  Then I realized that what I was looking at was a tailings pile.  It's amazing how much junk they can dig out of the ground and even more amazing is how they can pile all that stuff out there in such an organized way.  I think I'd rather see the desert personally but it still is quite a sight.  

At the control at I-19 I finally resolved to ditch the tights.  It was about now that I realized a small weakness in my strategy.  My bag was full and there was no place in it for my tights.  I ended up having to tie them to the top and look kind of trampish I guess but they were still in my wind shadow so I don't think it hurt my time anyway,  besides after 8 or 9 hours of riding everyone gets looking a bit trampish anyway.

Cruising down the Nogales highway I managed to keep it above 20 for awhile.  This passage was particularly pleasant as there are a lot of trees by the side of the road and you get a bit of a break from the desert.  Unfortunately riding faster also meant it was over faster and I was not to see faster speed again until sunset.  Sahuarita road wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be though.  I managed to hold 12 mph or so most of the way up it until Houghton where I stopped for a banana break.  Interestingly enough this was the first convenience store I found with a bench out front.  Kind of funny that it was so many miles into a ride before finding a store that was really convenient.  I'd been tiring pretty good through here and decided that this might be a good time to take a page out of Mike Enfields book and try a lunchable.  The ham and crackers really hit the spot.

I'd been dreading the coming hill all day.  I made sure I had 70 oz. of liquids before starting up it.  In the end it wasn't that bad other than two close calls with semis on tight curves on the upper half of the hill.   I found the altitude feature on my GPS very handy as I knew the hill went up to a little over 5150 feet so I got to monitor my progress.  The first 700 feet or so weren't too bad but the last 1300 feet of the climb got steep and I slowed to a crawl to try and keep my spin up.  Around one of the tight corners I had a semi pass me right as an oncoming car came around the bend and knowing that the driver would likely rather hit a cyclist than go head on into a car I steered into the guard rail and prayed he didn't overcorrect when he slid into the space I was occupying a second earlier.  As I am wrting this you know it worked out.  This would happen once again before the top but the second time there was just enough shoulder to get out of his way without stopping.  The last half mile was brutal but as I saw I was at 5000 feet the thought that what I was seeing was really the top gave me enough of a push to finish the climb.  I had originally planned on resting every 800 feet of elevation gained but found I didn't need the rests after all.  After cresting though I found there were some pretty big rollers between me and Sonoita along with a hill that I had to brake down because after going 4 miles an hour for so long 40 mph seemed like 100.

I ran out of gas between here and Sonoita and slogged into town around 6 ish.  At this point I really didn't feel like eating anything at all but forced down some fig newtons and refilled my gatorade.  The next section interestingly enough was the toughest for me.  I was spent and after the sunset I went into a funk and was thinking about how there was just nothing left and how cold it was and how there was going to be no way I would be able to stay warm in the morning if I was too cold at Casa Grande it would be much worse up at 4800 feet, etc, etc..  At some point in here I remembered thinking of advice I heard somewhere that went along the lines of if you are discouraged or grumpy try eating something.   So I ate something and not too long after I perked up and started enjoying the ride again.   After crossing the San Pedro river I knew I had crossed my Rubicon so to speak and had a nice climb up into Tombstone passing a closed Border Patrol checkpoint on the way.

Whoever laid out Tombstone was not a cyclist.  I mean what genius would put a town on top of a big hill?  Maybe he wasn't the randonneuring type (or maybe he was and was a climber).  Anyway,  I rode through town along the good old law abiding citizen route (it was nighttime so I figured there wouldn't be much to see anyway),  noticing on the way a larger than average Harley population and made my way down 8th street to the Slither and Crawl.  Not seeing a sign or anything I asked a neighbor who had come out to see what this weird spandex clad guy with a weird bike and a really bright light was doing walking around the neighborhood.  He had no idea (this is funny because it turned out he lived almost next door to it).   I remembered it was 802 fulton street and finally managed to find the street number of the Slither and Crawl.  I knocked on the door and heard two dogs going crazy on the other side of the door.   I waited,  knocked again,  and a third time after a bit.  It didn't appear that anyone was home.  I figured if anyone was there the dogs would have woke them up.  Anyway,  there must have been some miscommunication or something so I headed off to Circle K and the Best Western.   I refilled on batteries and bought dinner and Breakfast and put the receipt in with the control card.

The desk clerk at the Best Western took pity on me when she found out I only needed the room for 3 hours and gave me the "Military"  discount wink wink.  Now I know what you are thinking,  but I told her about the ride and why I only needed it for three hours before she quoted me the price, so get your mind out of the gutter! :)    I soon made the discovery that what sometimes seems like a brilliant idea isn't always.  The cup of noodles I bought didn't workout as good as I thought they would with hot tap water,  and without a fork or spoon it was an interesting trick to eat them.  In the end the quart of chocolate milk I drank did me a lot more good.  The shower was really nice too.  Around 10:30 (an hour after arriving in Tombstone)  I laid down to go to sleep and just as I was drifting off,  my wife called.  I had left her a message earlier standing outside of the Slither and Crawl.  So,  around 11:00 I drifted off for my 3 hour, 2 90 minute sleep cycle nap (shhhh, don't tell my body it was really only 2.5 hours and not 2 full sleep cycles).  At 1:30 the alarm went off and I felt awesome.  It was amazing what a little rest did to my whole attitude and energy level.  I had a good breakfast of 2 old bananas and some Powerade.  

I was back on the road at 2 am and enjoying my descent with every last scrap of clothing I had on including 2 sets of socks and a pair of rain pants.  Amazingly enough I was warm.  When I started climbing out of the San Pedro I was really warm but not to much.  After getting over the steepest part I settled into a good pace and slowly made my way toward the lights of "Whetstone".   The roads were deserted and the moon was out and the night was just beautiful for riding in.  After a brief stop at the corner of hwy 90 I headed off into the night to climb up to Sonoita.   Thankfully it wasn't steep just long and I settled into a good pace and just enjoyed the morning.   When I crested and started the descent into Sonoita I kept hitting cold patches of air and the descents were chilling to the bone but fortunately they weren't long enough usually to get me real cold before I would warm up going up the other side of the roller.  I had originally intended to stop at Sonoita but since I had stopped in Mustang corner and since it was probably less than an hour to Houghton road I figured I could just wait.

I saw a whole heard of antelope in the predawn light approaching the big drop.  I also saw a whole bunch of cars with Tandems on the back or the roof,  there must have been some ride going on up there this weekend.   Interestingly enough I found the ride from Sonoita to the top of the hill a lot easier than going the other way but perhaps that is because I was not exhausted and the sun was coming up just in time to warm the air for my big descent which was a very good descent and I managed to keep in the 30s or above most of the way down.  Still getting down to Houghton I found I arrived at 7:00 which was about when I thought I would but I would have rather had a little more time as I had to get to the next control at 9:50 and Helmet Peak was between me and there.  

I made a rather distressing discovery at Houghton,  the store's bathrooms were closed due to a plumbing emergency.  I plead with the guy,  telling him I had been holding it since Sonoita,  and aside from being impressed with my biking ability and bladder endurance he could not relent but said he thought there was a store down the road.  And so the search for Potty began.  At this time I must inform you that there really isn't anywhere to go to the restroom all the way down Sahuarita road (and maybe it added to my pace a bit).  Anyway,  I passed a construction site and my hopes were dashed when I discovered that that construction site must be saving on their budget by using workers that never had to go.   Salvation was found at last on the side of Helmet peak road where thousands of green restrooms grew on the side of the road.

Climbing Helmet Peak road was hot.  I didn't dare stop to take all my warm clothes off for fear of missing the control time as it was getting near 9 o'clock and I figured even if I cruised it was going to be close.   Descending Mission Rd. was an interesting experience.   Because of my hurry I played a game of Randonneur Roullet.  Was I going to make the control on time or smash a rim in a pothole?   I kept thinking of C3P0 quoting the chance of negotiating an asteroid field successfully as I shot down Mission road at over 35 mph.  In the end I only had one really nervous moment when I hit a rough patch of road patch and the bike did the funky jiggle for a second but I was out of it before it got too bad and managed to pull into the control at Drexel and Mission with 18 minutes to spare.... Whew!  From here I had 5 hours to get to Marana so I was planning on taking a good rest when I spied what could only be another Randonneur across the street.   He was on a nice road bike with a large bag on a seatpost rack.  I suppose at this point I should explain why I was riding self supported,  those of use who volunteered to help with the Brevet next week were allowed to ride solo up to 8 days before so I started on Friday and Susan, Steve Atkins, and Steve Jewell started on Saturday.

Anyway,  having missed the riding with other Randonneurs experience on this trip I determined to go over and chat it up a bit with Steve Atkins as he made a stop.   He was just starting and Susan it turns out was not too far behind him.  This is where I shed all my warm clothes and put on some more sunscreen.  It turns out they had had a cold start too and were well underway.  Susan stopped to say hi and then reminded everyone they should get going and Steve followed her a few minutes later.  I sat for another minute or two enjoying the sun and it occurred to me that this day was definitely hotter than Friday had been and I thought Susan's logic about moving along made a lot of sense (as it should as she is very experienced at this sort of thing).  I was very glad I was on this end of the ride with the heat as opposed to the other one.

Climbing Irvington road I ran into Steve Jewell and had a brief chat with him.  I let him know the others were about 20 minutes ahead and wished him luck (and encouraged him to get an early start in the morning as the ride to get to the Drexel control was a hard one to hit with sleep if you arrived at a later hour in Tombstone).  The climbing probably wouldn't slow them down as much as it did me so perhaps, they wouldn't find it a problem in the end.

Riding through Saguaro National Monument was really cool because there were Motorcycle clubs everywhere.   There had to be thousands of Motorcycles out on that road in probably 20 or 30 different groups.  On group was behind me as we started the descent down Mile Wide road and I was kind of the leader of the pack as we went through the dip and hit the straight away where they of course passed me when we hit it.   Climbing Kinney road was where I had really started to feel the heat.   It was a hot day,  not as bad as the scorcher Susan, Bruce, and Steve and I had when we road the permanent last September but it was warm enough to remind me of that.  After a nice descent down Picture rocks road I developed a "Scorching" case of hot foot.  As I was so close to Marana I determined I would stop there and take off my extra pair of socks as I figured my feet were probably squished.  Well, the stop helped more than taking off the extra socks did.  I ate a Scooby Doo endorsed orange push up pop and a frozen Strawberry bar and they really hit the spot.  From here on out I would have to take increasingly more prevalent breaks to relieve the hotfoot in my feet.  

Of course the frontage road marks the re-entrance into the mischievous Chuichu wind god's domain and I had winds from every direction in the next 20 miles.  I had to constantly be shifting to maintain a proper cadence.  I managed to make it past Picacho peak before noticing an interesting cactus and taking a break on the side of the road for a picture.  From there on out I would need to stop every 10 miles or so.  I remembered the cemetary on Milligan had some nice tall trees and I fooled myself into thinking how nice it would be to rest in their shade at the side of the road.  Of course their shade falls nowhere near the road that time of afternoon and I figured a tired Randonneur sitting beside a gravestone would make a poignant picture but probably would not be too respectful so I soldiered on. 

A funny thing happened on the way to Casa Grande.  I was cruising along when what should I see up ahead?  A cyclist,  and I was catching up with him!  I smirked to myself,  "ha ha you weakling,  you are about to get passed by a guy that has over 360 miles in his legs and a load of stuff on his bike".  As I approached I noticed he was pedaling almost bowlegged and I thought to myself "Dude,   in this headwind you aren't going to go very fast with your knees splayed out like that!".  Then I passed him and saw his girlfriend sitting on the top tube laughing at him as I passed.   That guy was pedaling well over 120 extra pounds on his bike and keeping a decent pace into the headwind on a beater bike.   I had to retract all previous thoughts of course.

I stopped under the freeway for a few minutes to relieve my hotfoot and enjoy the shade.  A nice breeze was blowing through and I downed some powerade and enjoyed the stop.   From here I pedaled easy and figured I would take another page out of Mike Enfield's book and purchase a dilly bar for my receipt at the Dairy Queen around the corner to prove my finishing time.   I have to say that dilly bar really hit the spot.   I made sure my control card was in order,  put the last receipt into the bag and put it in the back of Susan's truck.  I paused a moment and realized everyone was probably climbing the big hill right now in this heat.  I was pretty glad I wasn't there,  I hope it wasn't as hot up there on the mountain as it was down here.

Well, in the end I wound up with sore knees,  but nothing bad enough that a little Vitamin I couldn't fix (ibuprofen).  That and numb toes on both feet but this morning the numbness is starting to fade.  I think I may have to switch to non-lace shoes at some point so I can relieve the pressure on the front of my foot better in the future.   Anyway,  it was a great ride, a good adventure,  and I am glad I get a break before doing it again!  :)