Day 4 - Prescott to Winslow - Drag'n Fly and Blowing on in

Our Favorite Sign of the Day

 

 

Today was our most challenging day so far from a distance and climbing perspective.  We climbed 9,000' over two long grades and totaled 154 miles on the way from Prescott to Winslow Arizona.  In between we had a world class descent, some head winds then finished with a biker's dream ride - downhill and a strong tailwind.

We started in Prescott this morning, most of us in arm warmers and a lot of vests in the cool desert mountain air at 5,000'.  This was a huge relief as the desert heat has affected everyone, including the loss of two riders for the remainder of the tour due to heat issues along with some other riders missing days or sagging in due to the high temperatures.

Within a few miles we started up the 2,000' Mingus Mountain climb.  My legs don't work very well going up hills first thing in the morning so it was a struggle to grind up this long ascent.  The reward was a world class, twisting 1,000' descent on some new pavement down to the mountain town of Jerome.   Three years ago at the 2010 Elite Tour there were four of us on this memorable stretch - two of us came back to do it again this year, John Newton and Rob.  Randy Mouri and Jon Batek - we thought about you guys today and wished you were with us!

John, Rob - after the Jerome Descent

From there we ripped down another 2,000' as we worked our way across the valley through Cottonwood to the base of the Mogollan Rim.  This was a two part climb, starting at 3,200', up to 6,000', then a second stage continuing up to 7,500'.  Needless to it was a long haul.  We encountered a road oiling crew that insisted we ride on the freshly oiled, sticky shoulder, despite a perfectly good untreated lane we could use.  This caused a lot of bikes to get gunked on their tires and frames - not a big deal for AZ Dot, but a pain for us.

After a great lunch once we got to the top of the Mogollan Rim, Clay and I started the last leg.  It was just 3:00p, we had 50 miles to go and I had a massage at 6:00p.  I was a little unsure if we would make it in time - but with a strong tailwind and a 2,000' drop in elevation, we arrived in Winslow at 4:45, or 1:45.  In a number of sections we were cruising over 40 mph without pedaling at all!  Clay said he almost felt embarrassed about how fast we were going but we decided that such humility was not warranted - we earned this reward.

Our 40 mph runway

 

Tomorrow is a 'rest' day of only 121 miles and 4,000' of climbing. down to Springerville,AZ