forty nine

LONG DAY

My one day and night hot one hundred fifty four mile ride home. I camped in Chino Valley just north of Prescott, Arizona. My plan was to reach Wickenburg and camp in a public campground. 

I found some really great coffee and a giant cinnamon roll in a quirky coffee shop in Prescott. It was a lazy morning because I was planning a short day. About nine thirty or ten AM I headed out of town. 

What I thought was the last climb turned out to be four or five climbs but it was still green with pine trees. 

The afternoon head winds kicked up along with the temperature. This picture was after the last brutal hot climb with a stiff headwind, I really wanted to quit. I then dropped from 4000 ft to 2000 ft in just a few miles where the air was hot but thicker. 

The desert was over 100 degrees but I don't mind heat. The headwind was still tough until I changed directions toward Wickenburg about thirty miles later. The wind shifted again and began to help, so I thought I would use it as an advantage. 

I hit Wickenburg and bought a gallon of water for the night to free camp in the desert outside of Phoenix. I stopped once and asked a guy about camping in the area. He said that I would probably get shot so I moved on. I rode on to the end of the sunlight. My small battery powered lights are to be seen, not to see. 

I don't mind riding in the city where there are street lights but this far out it was becoming dangerous. 

I found a store and planned to cat nap until first light. I was wired so I rested a little then continued on a few miles until I reached a small strip plaza with lights and then another. 

I was still over fifty miles from home. My GPS said it would be three AM before I would get home. Phoenix in the dark is quiet. The occasional interruption were characters in cars, on bikes, and in the shadows. 

There are friendly women or men dressed like women were yelling something at me while I ride through the dark streets. I just smiled and kept riding. 

The police chased drunks and met in clusters of flashing lights. All of the stores open at these hours had the usual colorful nuts hanging out. I knew this because I was one of them. 

Empty dark streets are my favorite, but tonight no one had any idea of my long odyssey. I reached home at 2:45 AM in silence, carried my eighty pound bike up the stairs to the second floor, opened my hot apartment and sat my weary bones in my favorite chair. 

I showered, drank a gallon of cold water and ate a bag of pretzels. After winding down I crawled into my own bed. 

Why I rode so far is still a mystery, but I knew at 54,"I still got it".