http://connect.garmin.com/activity/159951197
There was some improvement in today's forecast compared to the freezing wet slog from yesterday, but not much. Lon and Susan switched the planned route to one which followed a lower and flatter profile, with the hope of avoiding running into additional snow which was expected in some of the nearby mountain passes. By the start, it was already announced that there was another storm due to dump rain and snow in the area between 11:00 and noon, which would continue throughout the afternoon.
To avoid the additional logistical problems associated with providing a moving support caravan and the sag nightmares experienced yesterday, the supported route was cut to 52 miles for the day with lunch provided back at the hotel. This gave everyone an opportunity to get a decent ride in and hopefully avoid all or much of the weather.
Steve, they guy I met up with at the Shell station yesterday, and I head out together to get a quick ride in. It started off pretty slowly however with both of us getting flats within minutes of one another in the first 15 miles. After that, we quickly hit the first sag stop in Whetstone, and turned to the east for a 16 mile leg to Tombstone. As soon as we made the turn, we were escorted onto brand new pavement and a bitchin tailwind in excess of 20 mph. We had very little difficulty maintaining upper 20's or lower 30's the whole way across. Oh yeah, it was mostly downhill too! As tempting as it was to try to wind out the gears, I was feeling a bit tender in the right achillies, so I had to hold back.
As we reached the outskirts of Tombstone, the party was over. One turn, one climb, and we were back in the wind for the 22 mile trip back to Sierra Vista. Steve was already out for the previous week's camp, which included a couple of overnight stays in Tombstone, so was not requiring any additional sight seeing opportunities.
The first half of the trip back to SV was downhill to a river basin, followed by a gradual uphill climb back into town. The strong cross and head wind pretty much negated any benefit of the downhill, as we were working pretty hard just to keep things moving along.
As we pitched up again coming into the outskirts of SV, we were nearing the 11:00 hour, and that meant ... snow time! Today, the snow was not a major pain, primarily because it was just 5 miles to go, and it wasn't rain, so no soaker! By the time we got, in lunch was ready. Sandwiches and hot lentil soup hit the spot! It did wind up snowing most of the rest of the afternoon with measurable accumulations at higher altitudes. Good afternoon to take in a movie ... which was provided. Steve opted for some snow-tubbing.
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