| Cross-Country Ramble 13:
Real Mountains Sent: 96-04-26 03:08:32 EDT
We set two new records today.
- We got up to 4800 feet between Superior and Globe, a new
altitude high.
- It took us four hours to go the first seven miles, a new speed
low.
What can I say? We each started out in our lowest gear this
morning in Superior and neither of us got out of it for four hours.
Route 60 is a wonderfully engineered road: It has exactly the same
slope for seven miles. Unfortunately, that slope, whatever it is, is
just over what our pedaling legs can handle for more than 100 yards
at a crack. Our morning consisted of pedaling some, walking a lot
and resting a lot. If someone with a pick-up truck had offered to
take us to the top, we'd have accepted. As it happens, our virtue is
preserved, but only for lack of opportunity.
We're in real mountains now. The rock-wall-on-one-side and
sheer-drop-on-the-other bit. The rocks look like real mountain
rocks, hard and reddish. The desert blooms we've been seeing since
we got into Arizona are still with us. Today, we see some
particularly striking cactus blooms, including Saguaro with flowers
perching on the top of each arm and some short barrel-shaped cacti
covered with brilliant red blooms. The Palo Verde trees, with their
green branches, almost invisible leaves and yellow blooms have
become just part of the background.
We heard on the tube tonight that it was 100 degrees in Phoenix.
Happily for us, the temperature and humidity are lower where we are,
there are shady spots next to rock formations and we always seem to
have a nice breeze. Yes, we do get hot, but all we have to do to
cool off is stop in the shade.
Ken
PS: Our current average daily mileage, including rest days, is
33.7. I did a linear regression on our daily mileage and determined
that we're now increasing our mileage by .19 miles day. Using the
results of the regression to predict future mileages and using those
calculated mileages to predict how long it will take to complete
future legs of the trip gives us a prediction that we'll arrive in
St. Augustine on June 30, on the 88th day of our tour. But, as all
the mutual fund ads say: Past performance does not predict future
performance.
The above is provided to give some indication of what a person
who would buy a laptop to take on a bike tour would do with it in
the evenings....
next ramble.... |