My wife and I had a trip planned to Arizona to see the two Chihuly exhibits (Botanical Garden and Taliesin West). We also hoped to catch a spring training baseball game. We were successful on the first wish (both exhibits were amazing), but MLB cancelled the games due to the CBA talks and we were not able to see a game. Fortunately, there was plenty to do in Phoenix and Scottsdale and that included riding a permanent to capture yet another state in my quest to ride as many states in the USA as I can.
Ahead of the trip, I reached out to Alan Johnson who lives in Phoenix and has visited Texas a few times to ride. I was happy to find a fellow rando to chat with about routes and I picked the one 100K route that came near Scottsdale to ride. The weather was cold in Arizona when we first arrived, but it warmed up into the 80s after the weekend and I arranged to meet Alan at 7:30 to ride the permanent. I researched the route ahead of time, but it seems noone had logged a result for this route since it was created.
The weather was cool at the start. I rolled out of the hotel parking lot wearing a light jacket and my ear protection. I found Alan waiting on the bike trail where we had agreed to meet and we set off north eventually reaching the first climb of the day on Mountain View Rd. At the top of the climb, I stopped to use my inhaler as I was concerned about my asthma. I took one puff from the inhaler and then we continued on our way.
We stopped to snap a photo with the sun in our eyes.
We had some downhill before we reached AZ-87 and started another climb. Along AZ-87, there were some big gaps in the pavement and I noticed my rear tire feeling soft. We dismounted and found the rear tire had lost pressure. I checked and found no puncture. I opted to pump up the tire and see if it would hold air. I pumped it up and rode the rest of the day without any issue. I figure it must have been a pinch flat and since that wheel/tire is tubeless, I just had to reinflate the tire.
The Garmin showing what's up on a climb.
On the next 2 climbs, I felt good. I climbed strong and found myself pulling away from Alan who took a more measured approach on his bike. I waited at the top of each climb so we could join the descent together. We chatted about lots of different things and eventually on the Usery Pass climb, we had a long descent followed by mostly flat roads as we reached the end of the route. We stopped at a Circle K for a cold drink and to enjoy the shade.
Alan getting up the road.
The end of the route was figuring out the puzzle of bike trails to bring us back to the start point. We made a couple of wrong turns, but we eventually got things sorted out and made our way back to the start. One last wrong turn by taking the Hayden Rd underpass rather than the Chapparal Rd underpass but we reversed and got back to where we started. The finish time was 6 hours 28 minutes. We bid each other goodbye, and I headed back to the hotel for a shower and to meet my wife for lunch at a local restaurant.
All the photos from todays ride: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aAeXYB5xo7Y4Vy587
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