BACK IN FLAG

We moved back to Flagstaff on Saturday August 18, getting into the Lake Mary Road area at almost dark and finding no spots since it was Saturday night and everybody is out camping this weekend, even in the rain.  We didn’t ride on Thursday or Friday or Saturday or Sunday (it was spent looking for a campsite after the weekenders left) so we have to really make it up the rest of the days.  But it sure is beautiful here….

We are camped this time about 20 miles south of Flagstaff across the south end of upper Lake Mary on forest road 82E.  We have a beautiful spot again and it’s not very crowded up here.  The access road is about 1&1/2 miles and “washboard” so we drive down to the main road with the tandem in the bike rack.  NOTE:  This past week it has rained A LOT!  I thought the monsoon season would be winding down, but it’s not.  Our beautiful campsite is filling up with mud and water.  We hope we can get out of here!!

We rode into town Monday to get supplies for the trip, about 40 miles round trip.  Then Tuesday, we finally tested “B.O.B.” and it was a good test.  I have been so apprehensive about doing this tour self-supported and pulling all our stuff, but the trailer is steady and it didn’t bother me a bit.  Of course we only rode about 16 miles today, and only 40 yesterday, so I’m really fresh, but I didn’t feel that the extra weight/load really made a lot of difference to me (as long as Rick stays in a good gear, which he always does). 

Rick has ordered a new chain ring which will provide us a few more lower gears for the trip.  We also picked up a B.O.B. bag; a very nice waterproof bag that fits perfectly in the trailer, complete with handles so it looks like a large duffle bag.   NOTE:  Now we’ve decided we need one more BOB bag.   And we got a handlebar bag (Ortlieb), waterproof, and a waterproof GPS case that fits on the top of the bag.  Thanks to Citibank Thank You rewards program, we also have picked up a Garmin Nuvi 2555 and supposedly, the Adventure Cycling southern tier waypoints (which I’ve downloaded) can be loaded into it and “voila” – we have our route on the GPS!  Sounds too easy….we’ll see how that all pans out.  NOTE:  It doesn’t work quite as expected.  The waypoints show up but the Garmin only knows road routes to connect them, not bike trails.  Oh well!!

So, this past week we haven’t gotten as much training in as expected due to RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, almost everyday by noon or 1 pm.  Today we were really looking forward to a nice long ride but the rain kicked in before noon and cut us short.  We’re going to try to get up earlier and ride earlier.  Gee, just like the people in Phoenix have to do because of the heat!

Less than 3 weeks to go before we start!