Friday, March 16, 2012

Gila Bend to Casa Grande March 14 2012




Today’s ride was 78.5 miles into Casa Grande from Gila Bend. The first half was quite pretty as we were riding though the Sonora dessert with all of the Squara cactus. The pavement was exceptionally smooth and the temperature was absolutely perfect riding temperature. So I just jumped on the pedals and made some time.

The first sag was at 28 miles and came up fast. There were about 5 of us who were out front and were well in front of the main group of riders so by time we got to the second sag stop at the 43 mile mark it wasn’t even there yet to we rolled in to a DQ for a strawberry milk shake. By this time we had reached Maricopa and the roads are busy with the farm trucks. I was surprised at how burned out it looked from the last time we were down in 2011.

From Maricopa we headed south for about 12 miles before cutting across to Casa Grande. The desert has been converted to farms and feed lots. The road was quite narrow in a lot of places and there was a constant steam of traffic passing you. Most of the trucks gave you a wide birth however there were lots of SUV’s which leaned on their horns and crowded you.

I managed to arrive in camp at about 1:30 PM which was great as it was pretty hot and it was time to get off my bike.

Ken and I are going to meet my good friend Jim and his wife Sandra for supper. It is going to be so nice to eat off a real plate and have cold ice tea, in an air condition restaurant. I guess I had better put on a clean shirt.

Terry

4 comments:

Judy said...

Terry, enjoy your blog...great way for me to see what you and Ken are up to on this biking adventure.
Hope everyone feels better and all arrive before the storm comes tomorrow.
Judy

Anonymous said...

Terry -

Great to read of your travels. Enjoy, be safe and keep pedaling.

Ed

Jim said...

Terry,

The world hasn't heard from you in several days. I see you had to contend with a big Pacific storm. How did it go?

Jim said...

Terry,

We haven't heard from you in three days. I trust you survived the big Pacific storm.