Today was the first day where - from a cycling perspective - I felt in control of the process, instead of the other way around. It was a hard day, a challenging day - there was light rain for most of the first half, a lot of it was up and down hills, and there was a stiff wind at times. But these are all things that I’m more or less used to and none of them were crises.
The picture above is my “blue sky” picture. The morning was really wet and terrible, but about 10 miles in I crested a hill and saw the sight above and for the first time, I felt like everything was going to be OK. Not just on the ride, but in life in general. It was a very peaceful feeling. And there was some more rain after that, but not much. And guess what? Everything has been OK since.
I can’t say there was a ton to look at, but that’s partly because of the weather. Not knowing much, I just assumed Arizona was going to be hot and dry. I brought SPF 100 sunscreen, sun protection clothes, special lip balm, etc, etc. I was worried about heat and sun. But it’s been cold and rainy and I’m terribly unprepared! I had to buy a $160 raincoat up in Grand Canyon Village. At least it says “Grand Canyon” on it.
This is not the trip that I thought it would be, but today felt the most like a real Bike the US for MS trip.
Tonight is the first night when we are staying in a church and the church is making us food. These are great days because the whole team gets together, which is one of my favorite parts. One of the good - and bad - things about these tours with Bike the US for MS is that we treat people like adults and we let them do their own thing, which is really good most of the time but sometimes means that it doesn’t feel as much like a “group”. But on days where the church makes food, we all get together for at least the meal. Plus, since there isn’t much to do here, we’ll hang out more.
The town here - WIlliams - is just a classic “trinket town”, as one of the churh members put it. It’s on Route 66 and it has about 8 million vintage shops and magnet stores. Not a bad turkey bagel and decaf Americano, though. We’re still waiting for the weather to improve!
Update from the future: I ended up talking to Jeremy a bunch about bikes! It was a really pleasant day. Early tomorrow to head down out of the mountains!
