Day 9

Our last day before our first day off! We had a 70 mile day, all downhill, and we all (naively) thought that it would be an easy day.

I left at 6:20, and I knew some of the boys left just before us. I figured they'd go slow, and we'd catch them and ride together for awhile, so I took off to catch them. The road was curvy, so I figured they'd be just around the next bend. After about 3 miles of racing to catch them, I now had dropped the girls, and the guys were still no where to be seen. So, I spent the next 26 miles averaging 22 mph, and I finally caught up with 2 of them in the city of Surprise.

As I caught them, we came across a guy that was walking from Virginia to California to keep his family together.

He looked about my age, and was carrying a big trailer with all of his things in it. He explained to me that he had been married 4 years and they had a 3 year old son. He said he had never been with his son on his birthday, and he was making the walk so he could be there on his birthday. I didn't want to push too much, but I didn't really understand why he needed to walk nearly 4,000 miles to do this. I understand plane tickets, buses, trains, etc. are expensive, but wouldn't it be less expensive to "gather" $400 for a plane ticket than to try to get the money for food for such a trek? Regardless, I hope he makes it for his son's birthday.

After another 10 miles, we made it to the bike shop (rumored to offer free labor to all cross country cyclists) by 9am. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 10, so we went to the McDonald's across the street. I did have a cinnamon roll, but it was far from the homemade type I've been craving. Day 6 with no cinnamon roll. The bike shop opened, but they told us the mechanic wouldn't be there until 11. One of the guys stayed, and they told him at about 11 that he wasn't going to come until 1 today. I was glad that I took off.

We still had 30 miles left, and by now it was about 100 degrees., but for the first time since San Diego, there were some clouds!

I was feeling good, but I just wanted to be done. It took me about 3 more hours to get through Phoenix, and I found a bike shop along the way for my new brake pads. I got a little lost towards the end, but got to camp (Motel 6, truly luxurious given my new standards) at about 1:30. It was 110'.

After cooling off and cleaning up, we went to a sports bar for dinner and for Melina's birthday.
We had some drinks stayed out late (by late I mean 10:00) before heading back.