Day 46: Miami, AZ to Tempe, AZ

Daily Miles: 72.4 Total Miles: 2487.4

Crazy plant on ascent to Top of the World

Another day down! This morning I finally got my pancake breakfast, and although not quite up to Denny's standards, it was worth the wait. Since we had to take the additional time for a sit down breakfast and then drive back to Miami, I got a pretty late start today. Around 9:30am I was back at my starting point and gearing up to go when the German couple we met miles ago, Cornelius and Marita, rolled up. I hadn't seen them for days, and so we spent a good 10-15 minutes catching up before I finally set out. The day immediately started with a BIG 1200' climb over 7.5 miles to Top of the World, AZ. It was a long, rough haul. But once I got to the top, I enjoyed a quick break with Mary and Jay before starting the big 2200' descent into Superior. I can say, without a doubt, that today was the most beautiful ride of my trip.

Descending into Superior

The descent into Superior was incredible. I couldn't stop to take pictures, but Mary got a lot of great ones. There were huge rock columns on all sides and the view really was breathtaking. I couldn't stop looking around, even though I was rolling along around 30 MPH for several miles. I loved it!  I knew that I would have to ride through a shoulder-less tunnel followed by an equally treacherous bridge before entering Superior, and was feeling a little nervous. Fortunately, as I approached the tunnel, I spotted Cornelius and Marita. They had pulled over to turn on their safety lights, so I slid in right behind them and we went through the tunnel and over the bridge together. It was nice riding with them for a bit, and since they had big lights and huge packs on their bikes, I felt much safer. I left them behind in Superior ~17 miles in to today's ride, and quickly met up with Mary and Jay for a snack before pressing on another 25 miles to Gold Canyon for lunch.

Approaching the tunnel...

I had another, smaller climb over Gonzales Pass as I left Superior and then it was slightly downhill for the rest of the day. Outside of Superior an incredibly well-maintained, huge shoulder appeared, and I rode it all the way in to town. There was a little bit of a headwind today, but it wasn't too bad, and actually, since it was around 95 degrees this afternoon, the wind was somewhat cooling. I met up with Mary and Jay at a Subway, ate a quick lunch, and then set out in the heat to finish the last ~30 miles of the day. The rest of the ride was all through urban Apache Junction/Mesa/Tempe. Going in I was nervous after the extremely stressful ride I had through El Paso, but I have to give this area an A+++ for cycling conditions. The ACA map took me though great, lightly trafficked streets, and almost all of them had dedicated bike lanes. It was great! It was also cool seeing some of the residential areas. Most houses didn't have grass, just rocks or cacti in their yards.

...and then crossing the bridge

Very different from home. I made it to Arizona State University (ASU), and crossed the river, ending today's ride and meeting up with Mary. Luckily, we were right across the street from a frozen yogurt place and less than 2 miles from a bike shop. We grabbed fro-yo and then quickly took my bike in to deal with a few small issues (chain slipping and breaks). The store was packed, but they managed to squeeze us in, and hopefully everything will be running smoothly tomorrow. After grabbing a quick shower, I met up with my friend Eben from Peace Corps and we had a great sushi dinner in Scottsdale. It was so good getting to catch up with him and so so so good to eat sushi. I'm going to meet him again tomorrow morning in Phoenix for coffee about 10 miles into my ride. Mary and Jay took it easy tonight and did some laundry. Tomorrow morning I'm heading out solo and Mary is driving Jay to Tuscon so that he can catch his flight home. It's been fun having him join our trip, and we're going to miss him!