Day 5 - Winslow to Springerville, AZ - Rest Day?

Today was billed as a rest day - only 120 miles and 4,000' of elevation across the high desert from Winslow to Springerville, AZ.  The wind was a factor though, not in our favor most of the time, and we had a bad accident involving two riders.

The day began with a 30 mile ride along Interstate I-40, heading east.  There aren't too many roads out here so the State Patrol allows bicycles on certain sections of the freeway.  Actually it was not a bad ride, most of the shoulder was reasonably smooth.  We did have 2 flats in the group though from the road junk and small wires from truck and radial tires. 

The big event of the day happened right after the first rest stop, in Holbrook.  Jim Elkins from La Crosse was cruising through town and let go of his handlebars for a second to finish opening a snack.  His bike twitched and he went down in a hard crash at 18-20 mph.  Brett Goett was riding right behind him and was able to miss Jim, but hit his bike and went over the bars.  Brett's helmet was cracked and he picked up some road rash and a mild headache.  Jim was not so lucky.  I was 50' behind them when the crash occurred, when I got to Jim, he was in a lot of pain and couldn't take a deep breath due to a pain in the ribs.  We stabilized him, got the bikes out of the way, traffic under control and called 911.  The police and ambulance arrived and took him back to Winslow where X-rays confirmed a cracked rib and a broken collar bone. 

Jim was released from the ER and was brought to the hotel in Springerville.  He is very disappointed that he won't be able to continue the ride just as things are starting to settle in, but he was able to smile at least a little at the hotel.  He will be travelling with us for another day before being driven up to Albuquerque to fly home to Wisconsin.  Jim was riding very well and said he will really miss the camaraderie that is developing.  Will and I rode with him in Winona in late April.

 

Finally, the last of our group helping out at the accident headed down the road.  We had a fun bunch and made some good time up to the next rest stop. After that, I started feeling a little tired - probably didn't get enough to eat at the rest stop, and I backed off.  Unfortunately the wind picked up and I ended up riding on my own for 15 miles to lunch in a 20 mph varying head/cross wind.  Steve and Clay waited for me (thanks, guys!) and after a great lunch, including mandarin oranges, we headed out again.  The wind was picking up even more and continued to be a nuisance all the way to the next rest stop.  With 28 miles to go we started on the last leg, directly into the headwind blowing across the open desert plains.  Fortunately we started angling more east and at least took some of the edge off the wind.  Our other challenge was the climbing. The last elevation point on the cue sheet was 6,200' (1,400' higher than where we started in Winslow) so when we reached this point, I thought we were done going up.  The road looked straight and flat, but my GPS kept climbing.  It finally peaked at 7,000', with 1,500' of this coming in the last section.  By this time I was getting pretty tired.  Fortunately Clay and Steve stuck with me and we cruised into Springerville just after 3:00p.  A stop at McDonalds for a smoothie hit the spot and Day 5 was in the books after a nice dinner at a local restaurant and an ice cream social, sponsored by PACTour. 

 

 Clay Griffin, my roomie and good guy today

 

 

Steve Reed, my roomie from Desert Camp last year, and another good guy today

 

Along the way.  Bruce Boehm, from Chapel Hill, NC, is our lone recumbent rider. Bruce is doing very well, hanging in on the hills and making up time on the flats and down hills.

 

Brian McGuire, from Phoenix, AZ, was another riding partner today. Brian and I have both done the Taste of Carolina 1200k ride, in North Carolina although in different years.

 

 

 

Tomorrow is a simple ride to navigate - 155 miles on US 60 through the rest of Arizona and well into New Mexico, stopping finally at Socorro.  We'll bounce along at 7,000-8,100', over the continental divide then drop 3,200' over the last 75 miles.  It will be 39 degrees in the morning, 91 when we finish. Winds will be from the south, up to 20 mph.  No more rest days!