PacTour AZ Day 5 Mountain Week w/o The Mountain

Pacing ourselves, as we have been, we chose not do the 20 mile climb up Mt. Graham.  We did ride by it, however.

Paul and Jim started out on the tandem for the first leg.  We really enjoyed seeing several flocks of Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, which winter in Arizona.

Turk's usual view on the Tandem.  At least she had a chance to see last year's PAC Tour jersey, which told her which cactus was which.

These signs always puzzle us.  Does that mean that at mile 19 there are no animals to watch for?  Or, that the animals past mile 18 don't matter?  At least we felt as though we were at home in Texas.  Notice the bullet holes in the "target practice" sign....

The climb to lunch was into the Coronado National Forest.  The Turk got on the tandem at mile 19 and said "we only have 11 miles to go to lunch?  That'll be easy!!"

Well as you can see by the profile, the next 12 miles were 5-6% grade and took well over an hour...

So, the lunch truck signaling the top was a welcome site.

Just for Rob we had a 4 mile stretch of dirt road after lunch.  Not just dirt, but sand, gravel and chatter bumps.  Jim and Terri put there heads down and hammered the Tandem thru this stretch.

Only bouncing 1 water bottle out, in the process.

Since we did the short ride we got to the hotel an hour and a half before the motel van.  So we enjoyed some Starbucks and FW!!

"Cowboy" Jon Jahant.  Masseuse extraordinaire.  Taking good care of the Turk this week for sure.

Well we have "crested" Mountain Week and are on the descent.  Today we rode from Safford, AZ to Willcox, AZ.  Today offered routes from 66 to 107 miles depending on whether you climbed all or part of Mt. Graham or not.  We elected not to climb Mount Graham and took it a little easy today.

Jim has climbed Mt. Graham twice during past Mountain Weeks and figured that's enough.  The climb is 20 miles long, starting at 3,000 feet and cresting at 10,000 feet.   It is beautiful, climbing into piney forest with switchbacks and lined by snow.  The problem is that the temperature is around 30 degrees at the top and you have to turn around and descend 20 miles, freezing and hands cramping on the brakes.

So, we decided to stay in the "lower lands" and stay warm.  Paul is still having saddle issues, so he rode the first 20 miles with Jim on the tandem, then the Turk hopped on for the rest of the day.  We still got 3000 feet of climbing and 4 hour 40 minutes of riding over our beautiful 60 mile course.

Lunch today was hamburgers (yay!) and dinner was at the fantastic Salsa Fiesta mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel.

Tomorrow should be intersting.  104 miles from Willcox to Tombstone.  Potential for lots of headwind.  Stay tuned

Thanx for reading.