Ominous dark clouds fill the sky on Day 4. |
I can't believe I actually made it to the hotel today, but I did. Last
night after I logged off -- after just having written that the coming day
seemed ominous -- a storm like I've never seen blew quickly through town. The
wind was blowing trees sideways, thunder and lightening filled the sky, and
rain poured down in buckets. A swift waterfall started off of the roof of the
building across the street from my hotel room. The carpet in front of the door
in my room -- which is at the bottom of a ramp -- even felt squishy. When I woke up in the
morning the sky was still filled with dark clouds, so I dug my rain jacket out
from the bottom of my gear bag and attached it to my CamelBak for the day. It
did rain in the afternoon -- actually it poured enough several times to soak
me -- but I never got cold enough to put on the jacket. I was glad it was
there, though. Rain is much better than the excessive heat that is more
typical for this area. I had such a hard day as it was I'm not sure how I
would have fared with high temperatures.
Flat three of the trip |
Charles from Minnesota is a vegetarian and always went out of his way to let me know about the good places to find food in town. I think he knew the food preferences of every rider on the trip. |
On a training ride at home, 130 miles with 9,000' of climbing would be no
big deal. After several days of riding, however, knowing that I'm still at the
beginning of the trip, it was a really hard day. I blew by three rest stops
in an effort to save time, but I still had a really long day, with a steady
trickle of riders passing me throughout the day. We were supposed to be out of
lunch by noon and I made it out by 11:45, so I had just a little time to
spare. Toward the end of the day Randy from Oklahoma passed me going up a
hill and I was riding so slowly he asked if I was okay.
I felt so badly, but
was still capable of continuing, that I couldn't even begin to think of how to
answer the question and I just started giggling for the next five minutes.
Moments before he passed I had contemplated stopping the bike, wrapping myself
in my raincoat, and curling up in a ball on the side of the road to see how
long I could rest there before somebody bothered me. I did get another flat at
about mile 111, which didn't help much, but Charles from Minnesota got five
flats today, so I guess things could have been worse.
Sweet rewards -- The scenic view outside my hotel window at the Mountainside Inn. |
I spent most of the day feeling like my gas tank was empty. I actually felt
like I was eating enough, but I think the altitude -- 7,000' here in
Williams -- slowed me down a lot. Even in the hotel parking lot talking to
people after the ride I felt like I was having a hard time catching my breath,
and walking up the flight of stairs to my room winds me. I asked Lon and he
said our highest point on the ride is 8,000' somewhere in New Mexico, so I
may have a few days yet before I get back down to a comfortable elevation.
Even the name of our hotel -- Mountainside Inn -- sounded foreboding; I would
have preferred to be riding into someplace like the "Lowlander's Lodge." Our
hotel is beautiful, though. Williams is more of a tourist town like
Wickenberg, rather than rest-stops-along-the-Interstate towns like El Centro
and Blythe.
Tomorrow should be easy, more like yesterday -- 100 miles with 1,500' of
climbing. We even get to sleep in an hour -- breakfast is at 6:30 instead of
at 5:30. If I get in early tomorrow that means I can get through with my
evening routine faster and maybe even get more sleep. I hope I can recover
enough from today and can deal with the altitude well enough to have a fast
day tomorrow.
"Life is all a matter of perspective. You really learn that as a doctor. If your
life were going along well and you find yourself walking with two guys who look
like Metallica rejects, you might think you were having a bad day. But if your
life were in the toilet, you could say, "What the hell, I
am at the beach."
-- David Duchovny as Eugene Sands in Playing God