Day 47: Tempe, AZ to Wittmann, AZ

Daily Miles: 46.1 Total Miles: 2533.5

Starting my ride along the river in Tempe

Today was a long, hot day full of urban riding. We packed up early and grabbed a good sit-down breakfast before Mary and Jay headed on to the airport in Tuscon. At 9am, they dropped me off at the Starbucks where I ended my ride yesterday, and my friend Eben met me there for coffee. We chatted until around 10am and then I headed out. I started out riding right by the river, and there were a few confusing/unmarked turns in the first mile before I really got underway. The ride was nice at first, but even at 10am it was already really hot. I also couldn't ever really get a good pace going because there were tons of traffic lights, and then the road I was on randomly ended every mile or so and I had to cross over pedestrian bridges or walkways to get back on track. After the first 14 miles I got onto the Canal Bike Trail.

Canal Bike Trail

The conditions were pretty nice, but the route frequently dipped into dark, very narrow tunnels  to cross under the streets. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I fairly quickly made it back onto the main roads. And immediately got lost. Or, not really lost, just off the ACA route. The directions called for walking the bike through crosswalks, riding in a ditch, and making like 7 turns all to get onto Cholla St. So as I got off the bike path I asked a pedestrian where Cholla St. was and she said it was the next light. I rode my bike up the sidewalk to get there because I was on the opposite side of the road and there was a ton of traffic. When I got onto Cholla, I thought I was all set. Until Cholla ended at a river that I had no way to cross. All of those turns were to get onto the other side of the river, but by then I was way off track and saw no way to get over there. I took a look at the map and saw that I could just go about 2 miles north and get onto Thunderbird Road, which I would need to get on later anyway. I made my way up there and Thunderbird ended up being an extremely busy strip mall road for miles and miles. I had to ride like 5 miles on the sidewalk, and it was a mess.

Pretty trees along the road

After about 28 miles I pulled off at a Starbucks to get a drink, eat a snack, and get out of the sun. I checked my phone for restaurants and there were tons for the next 12 miles to Surprise and then zero until Wickenburg (~70 miles into the ride). I called Mary, who had already dropped Jay off in Tuscon and was on her was back, and told her that I would meet her somewhere in Surprise for lunch. I headed back out, rode Thunderbird to Route 60 and eventually a well-paved bike lane/shoulder appeared and I could get off the sidewalk. I was still having trouble getting into a good rhythm because there were still stop lights every quarter mile. I made it to a Greek restaurant in Surprise, 38 miles into the ride, and was not feeling so hot. Well, I was actually feeling extremely hot, like overheated. Mary showed up and we ate a delicious gyro lunch. It was already 4pm when I headed back out to finish the last 22 miles to Morristown, and as soon as I started I knew I wasn't going to make it. It was like 94 degrees, I was starting to climb, and a light headwind was blowing. I made it another 8 miles before I called Mary and told her to come and get me. We made it back to a hotel in Sun City, ordered delivery pizza, and tomorrow we're going to give it another go. It looks like the highs for the next 5 days are 98, 102, 103, 101, and 98. Tomorrow I'm going to try to a get much earlier start to see if I can beat the heat.