Day 4

Today the ride went from Wickenburg AZ to Cottonwood AZ. It is a relatively short ride of 104 miles. However, there are three large climbs and likely 9000 feet of climbing. I didn’t finish the ride.

Last year I couldn’t finish the first climb, but after taking a sag to lunch, did the last two and rode into Cottonwood, having done all but 19 miles of the ride. Today I resolved to get to lunch, however that was all that I could do. As I have mentioned, this year my performance in climbing hills has been poor. This has been evident on this year’s ride, where I have done reasonably well on the flatter sections but struggled in the hills. I might suggest several reasons but I won’t.

On a more positive note, the roads were very nice and the scenery was breath taking. As a friend with Cystic Fibrosis once told me: life is not measured the breaths you take, but by your breath taking experiences. Today had big numbers for both sides, but I will remember beauty far longer than the work. Someday I may forget why I couldn’t finish the ride but I will never forget what I saw today.

The problems with my bike appear to have been resolved although the approach was let’s change the chain because I can and then when that failed to resolve the problem let’s replace the cassette, the gears on the rear wheel, and then lets makes some adjustments to the real derailleur. Personally, I would have chosen a different order. However the chain is not skipping and the noises that I thought were coming from the bottom bracket seem to be gone.

Tomorrow we ride through Sedona, climb to Flagstaff and finish the day in Winslow AZ. I will look again for the girl in the flat bed Ford especially during the last 20 miles of the ride. Last year she did not show up but I will let you know what happens this year tomorrow.