1700 miles of driving each way or about 27 hours of straight through driving. But the Suburban made the trip much nicer with an air mattress in the back to take a nice nap every once in awhile.
Rob and Shad made the drive with me, so 1 person could sleep while the other two drove and kept each other awake.
We (Rob) hit some icy stuff on the way down in New Mexico and a little in Arizona, but the drive back was smooth sailing.
Now for the good stuff:
8 days of bike riding in great weather with great friends.
We got down there on Thursday around 1:00pm and couldn't wait to get out on the road. The temps were in the middle to upper 50s, but the sky was bright blue with no clouds.
Pete showed up later in the day on Thursday, with the rest of the guys flying in on Friday.
We did a number of familar routes and some new ones.
The best new ride was Tortilla Flats. We drove about 45 minutes to get to a park to launch from. Brian from Minnesota (who winters down there) met us for the day. We rolled down into the Tortilla Flats area, then up and over some nice climbs, then down into the valley area of Tortilla Flats (the town, if you can call it a town), we continued up the otherside to the end of the blacktop road. Then we turned and had a terrific downhill ride all the way into the town again. From there we continued up and out the otherside back to the cars.
On another day we made the trip to Fountain Hills and back through Scottsdale.
And we even did a 100 mile day.
The temps kept getting warmer each day and the sky was always clear and blue.
We did have one day were the wind made an appearence, but we stayed together and it wasn't too bad.
How can any day riding your bike be bad?
Anyway, I finished the trip with 509 total miles and according to Steve's Garmin we did over 35,000 feet of climbing during the trip (that's like climbing Mount Everest and then some).
It's great to be home, but I already miss the long, warm days riding...
Some Pics:
Day 1: cool, but fun.
End of the road on Mt McDowell Road.
Going fast on Mt McDowell Road.
At Bartlett Lake,
ready for the 14 miles of climbing to get back out of there.
Stopped at a nice lookout on the way back from Tortilla Flats.
Coffee and crepes at a nice Carefree, AZ coffee stop.
(Steve did the nice oldtime colorizing).
P.S. I think Pat looks possessed (or pissed)...
Mileage Breakdown:
2/21 32 miles.
2/22 76 miles.
2/23 73 miles.
2/24 54 miles.
2/25 46 miles.
2/26 100 miles.
2/27 53 miles.
2/28 75 miles.
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