We are now once again in Wickenburg after having traveled a much shorter route from Chandler this morning. We managed to get on the road around 5:30 a.m. and were able to enjoy riding through the neighborhoods of Phoenix with relatively little traffic with it being a Sunday morning. My riding group today consisted of Allison and Andrew. Within the first hour of the ride Andrew had two flats (apparently there are tire sharks in the streets of Phoenix!) I gave him a patch to repair his second tube and luckily it seemed to hold up the rest of the day. After stopping for the second flat we figured that we were most likely a ways behind the rest of the group, however to our surprise we were soon caught by the “coffee boys” (Mark, Mike and Sean) who unbeknownst to us had made a detour to Starbucks shortly after we left the Temple in Chandler. We followed them for awhile until we reached the canal path at which time they turned it up a notch and took off. After riding the canal path into Phoenix two days ago I realized that we were entering the canal route in the middle of the route rather than the start where our first water stop was so I called Dan (today’s driver) to tell him not to wait on us and that we would be fine until the next stop. At this point we thought we were still playing catch up however about 10 miles after we got off the canal path Allison got a call from a group who had just gotten off the canal path meaning somewhere we managed to pass about ¾ of the team without realizing it. Andrew, Allison and I then stopped at a gas station for a mid-morning snack and to refill our water bottles before proceeding on to meet Dan in Surprise, AZ for a quick water break. Soon after we left Dan we got a call from the group behind us telling us to flag Dan down as they were having trouble with flats and needed van assistance. We successfully flagged him down and refilled our own water before continuing on and sending him back. At this point we were only about 20 miles from Wickenburg so we decided we would finish the ride and wait to eat lunch once we got into Wickenburg.
When we arrived in Wickenburg we stopped at the library to see if it was open before realizing that it was Sunday and most libraries are not open on Sunday. It’s easy to lose track of time/days when you’re on the road. After stopping at the church and finding nobody there we called the pastor to have him come unlock the church before heading downtown to find Mark, Mike and Sean who were relaxing in a coffee/sandwich shop. We still hadn’t eaten lunch so I had a small ice cream at the shop before heading up the road to Safeway to buy some fruit and Yogurt. When I got back to the church I ate my lunch and made a few phone calls while waiting for the van and rest of my teammates to arrive. Soon after the van arrived a woman from the community showed up for a portraits project interview. Mark and I spent about half an hour interviewing her before everyone else showed up.
The pastor and his wife then came by generously bringing us dinner consisting of an assortment of foods from Kentucky Fried Chicken and Long John Silver. As we were finishing up our dinner Marcia stopped by with some trinkets for us along with many more stories to tell. Shortly after Sean and I left to go get dinner for the following night since it was our turn to cook. After pricing everything down to the penny we found the ingredients to make Chili and had enough left over to buy Watermelon and still be within our budget!
I’m now sitting in the back of the fellowship hall where the “gas station boys” (Dan, Drew, Brandt, Keith) are watching Saw III while everyone else is either outside working on their bike or has headed downstairs to go to bed.On a side note I found a little rubber ducky on the side of the road today in Surprise, so now my squeaky bike has its own squeaky toy to join Uncle Sam on my handlebars! Yes, I think my chain and derailleur need a good cleaning.
Also, Congratulations to the Hopkins 4K team as they finished their ride today in San Francisco!
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