Cross Country Ride March 15 Apache Junction to Globe AZ

Finally at the top!

Today we climbed.

To compensate for the longer slower day because of the climbs, we rolled out at the "butt crack of dawn." The sun was just showing a thumbnail above the Superstition Mountains.

At first it was gradual and hardly noticeable. One of those optical physical illusion things where just as you are about to decide that it's just because your legs are tired and the road really is flat that you notice that you have been needing to down gear for awhile.

Janet among the wildflowers and scenery

At 18 miles we hit a long slow climb that went on for about fivemiles, nothing really demanding just a gradual grind from 2,000 feet up to about 3,000, then a bit of a down hill and the almost level with the excitement of beautiful wild flowers, loose cattle on the road, and vistas of the mountains on either side. This was followed by another gradual climb into the town of Superior where we all stopped for whatever version of lunch we needed at the, Buckboard Restaurant , home of the "world's smallest museum" . For the past two years, the climb up to the Queen's Creek Tunnel and the summit of the pass at 4600 feet at mile 40, have been closed to snow and ice. Not so this year as we had 65 degrees, sunny and dry

the world's smallest musem, Superior, AZ

The "real climb" started in Superior at Superior, continued at a 7% grade up through the Queen's Creek Tunnel at mile 34 and then to the top of the climb at "top of the world" at 4600 feet. From Superior to the end of the climb, the shoulder was non-existent except for the passing lane, and the traffic was very heavy which made the climb less fun and more mentally challenging than it might have been other wise. the Queen's Creek Tunnel was short enough that you could see daylight when you started, and was pretty well lit, but the passing lane was full of holes and junk, and with the noise of passing vehicles blowing their horns to listen to the echoes it was almost impossible to even think.

what we came up, we got to go down

In spite of the lack of shoulder on the route, there were enough pull outs that you could step down off the bike and rest as needed. At the top of the climb at "Top of the World" we prevailed upon the two ladies running the drive by jerky stand to refill our water for us since the local store was closed.

angels of the drive thru jerky and givers of water

The downhill after the "top of the World" was complicated by heavy road work, including huge intrusions of blasted out rock across the narrow shoulder and into the lanes, very rough and gravely road surface and very fast downhill traffic. Once we were out of Devils Canyon, the traffic thinned a bit which was a relief for my frazzeled nerves.

The remaining 13 miles of the ride were another long, gradual climb interrupted by a couple of minor downhills. Most of the time we were passing by a large open pit copper mine and series of smaller older mines that have been reopened.

It was an altogether physically and challenging day, not so much for the length of the ride, but for the challenge of prolonged climbing, the stress of curving downhills on crummy and unpredictable road surfaces and the heavy Sunday recreational traffic, but having managed to ride it all gives me hope that I will probably do ok on the upcoming climb up over the continental divide before Silver City.

Helmet head at the end of the day

our guide Michelle and her thoughts on the day