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Published: June 10th 2017
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Up another 30 minutes earlier this morning and on the road by
6am. The temp is 17.5C and the sun is rising in front of us as we head off, glorious. We're riding between two mountain ranges. The valley floor is kilometres wide. The first part of the day is a constant uphill ride of between 1 and 2 percent gradient.
By
8am the temperature has hit 30C, it's going to be another hot ride in the desert. There are 2 main climbs today, the first is out of a town called Congress. It's a magnificent climb averaging about 4.5%! (MISSING)The road is wide with a large shoulder, if it wasn't for the 42C during the climb it would have been perfect. After some begging from me Dave swapped out of the van and let me out with about 4kms to go. After a feed stop at the top the boys had fun with the descent that basically went for about 15kms. Tom hit 75km/hr on the way down and Dave 72!
At the turn off for Kirkland Tom had his 2nd flat for the day, so I jumped out on the road and took his place. We went
through a tiny place called Skull Valley which had impressive hills with rocky boulders and formations all over them. I saw a number of eagles with wings fully extended just hovering with the wind rushing around their wings ready to swoop on unsuspecting prey.
From here the last big climb of the day started, gradually at first and then increasing in gradient. The peak was about 8kms from town so the boys got to enjoy another descent to finish off the day. Once in town we found a Walmart to Dave's continued excitement. Another big shop and then off to an RV Park but the manager was gone for the day and the facilities looked basic so we looked up another and headed over. Again no manager. We left a message and just hooked ourselves up to a spot. If they're not at the office early
tomorrow I guess we got free rent for the night.
Tomorrow is a rest day. We're heading off to the Grand Canyon to have a look around and will pick up our ride from Tuba City (we think).
Footnote 1: Tom has 2 punctures and a failure while Dave
has 2 punctures.
Footnote 2: A failure is when you change your tube after a flat and it has a hole in it and won't inflate.
By virtue of this Tommy is leading the puncture count hall of shame.
Footnote 3: It seems one of our crew had a slight mishap reversing the RV. We have a bent bumper that we'll have to report, lucky we have insurance! I know you'll all want to know who it was but to save embarrassment I'm not telling except to say he's the extremely handsome folically and vertically challenged one.
Footnote 4: The last photo was taken in a sports store - only in America.
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Mick
non-member comment
Mistaken identity
Hi Mark, are you sure those birds were eagles and not vultures waiting for meals on wheels. Stay safe. Mick and Carm