We are starting two hours later this morning because it is a shorter day and our motel rooms in Cottonwood won't be ready until 3pm - so I have time to do some catching up.
I would say that yesterday was almost my toughest day - maybe just slightly behind our first desert day. The climb up Yarnel Hill ( actually a mountain) was the easiest part of the day. The rest of the day was spent on false flats and moderate grades but we had very gusty headwinds. Many riders had to be sagged forward or all the way to the end. False flats are when one is riding along and it looks like he is on the flat or even slightly downhill but he is in his lowest gear and wondering why he isn't going any faster. However when he looks behind he actually notices that he has been climbing a pretty good grade. We had that most of the day with the gusty headwinds on top of it. I did make it in though so have another notch in my belt.
The picture above is of George and I. George is 72 and is from England. He is the oldest rider, and is the most popular rider on the tour.
Desert riders Achim and his son Alex from Germany. They are riding the only tandem on the tour and are powerful cyclists. Achim is also an experienced motorcyclist and has toured extensively in the United States and other countries.Our tour director, Tracy, says that after we reach Flagstaff in a couple of days our vacation will start. This first week will have been one of the toughest with two desert centuries back to back plus today's climb.
As a side note, I did this same Yarnel Hill route in 1967, forty-one years ago, when I lived in Phoenix for a couple of years. I remember the hill but I do not remember the false flats and the rest of the day. I would say that the explanation must be that I had very favorable tailwinds and so the false flats and steady climb all day did not impress me. This is our largest one day climb of the entire tour at 7500 feet.
One person commented on roommates. I was advised by a friend to not have a roommate unless I was going with someone I knew very well or a spouse. He had gotten along fine with his roommate, last year but if he had it to do over again he would not have one. It is nice to have room to spread one's luggage out and keep it organized. We are also allowed to have our bicycles in our rooms so it can get very congested. I have learned that 2/3 of this year's riders do not have roommates so that seems to be the trend. I imagine that the 1/3 who do have roommates are primarily those who came with friends and spouses.
Sorry, that I haven't had time to answer emails and thanks for the comments.
On to Cottonwood today.
Bob
