Timing is Everything

Wednesday, the plan was to hit the bike shop when it opened at 10am and be on the road by about 11am. Well, sometimes, plans not materializing can be a blessing. Let me explain.

Dragging my heels all morning, I finally got to Arizona Bicycle Experts ’round noonish. Leaving Irene with the owner, Michael, to install a new rear tire and slimmed inner-tube, I went across the street for lunch and some groceries. With lunch eaten and repairs done, I finally got on the road nearer to 2pm.

Heading east out of Tucson, I grabbed the water bottle off the road that a fellow cyclist had just dropped. Chad–all in kit and out for a training ride–and I then rode together for about 30mins, him showing me a much better route out of town and through Vail, AZ than I had planned. As we rode and chatted, my pending trip to Austin for SxSW in March came up. “You gotta place to stay in Austin?” Chad asked. “Well, nothing firm” I replied. “Well, a buddy of mine recently moved there, he might be willing to let you crash.” Turns out his buddy has a cycling race team of guys who like to party and have a good time. He also “grew up in tattoo culture.” Hmm, perhaps he can suggest a place in Austin for my next piece?….

With emails/phone#s exchanged and directions for the day memorized, we shook hands and bid each-other farewell; good thing I left Tucson when I did! Timing really is everything.

Camping rather inconspicuously on the side of the road in a gully behind a couple of mesquite trees that night, I woke to no coffee[still need to get the coffee maker replaced] and very, very strong winds coming from the south and south-east. Yes, I would spend all day Thursday riding into the wind. [Peter, I don’t care what you say, the wind is not my friend, unless as my back] An uneventful day of riding, I finally camped at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, located just east of Fairbank, AZ.

OH MY LORD ITS COLD! Friday morning I awoke ’round 7am to -7deg.cel ! My toes were as frozen as the water/ice in my water-bottles. Kamagra jelly, soft tablets and effervesence are different variants of the bland vardenafil online try over here. The pill helps achieve maximum tadalafil prices satisfaction with your wife. This is the general dosage which is suggested for the medication of ineptitude and erectile brokenness conditions by regarded administering bodies, for example, the Food &drug Association (FDA). get viagra in canada One just needs to check the reliability cheap viagra canadian of an online pharmacy. The bread, peanut butter and bananas I’d planned to have for breakfast had all frozen and, the flat I got just as I entered the campground had not self-sealed, despite the $13 self-sealing tube that was installed in Tucson.[new touring tire also, grrrr] So, again without coffee, I fixed my flat and finally got on the road around 11am.

The day’s plan would have me ride east along #82 then south on #80 into Tombstone, Arizona; about 16kms. Tombstone has been kept as true to it’s “wild west” heritage as possible, with restaurants, shops and even the O.K. Corral maintained as it was in the day of Wyatt Earp. There are even actors dressed the part, walking around town, engaging with the MANY tourists. I stopped for lunch and coffee at the Crystal Palace Saloon, est. 1879.

Eating the first veggie-burger I’d been able to find on a menu since leaving Los Angeles, I made sure to get a few pics of the actors/locals, including one with the beautiful Shelley[very flirtatious; I kinda wished I was staying the night] and Meghhan. Leaving Tombstone behind, I continued south on #80 ’til I reached my goal for the day; Bisbee, AZ. Despite riding right passed the sign that Jesse had erected telling me where to stop, I rode all the way through town to the other side, requiring me to turn around and ride back up that 2mile/7% climb. Ugh. Oh well, a hot meal, a soft bed and a friend’s hospitality will always make the trek worth while.

Bisbee is a little town surrounded by mountains and populated with laid-back aging-hippies and new-school eco-friendly young people. Along with it’s forgetten/rustic feeling it has as its industrial heritage, open-pit copper-mining, a spectacle which defines the landscape with colours of red, orange, blue, copper, white, yellow and brown. Enjoying a second–soon to be third–cup of coffee at the High Desert Market and Cafe, this town is full of charm, active residents and short narrow winding streets. To be sure, that third coffee is meant more to keep me here than it is to get me going.