Hello everyone,

This morning, our group was relieved to see that Mary came to breakfast and to see us off after the nasty collision from the prior day. Kevin was bandaged but ready to ride, so we breathed a sigh of relief.

Today we rode from Wickenberg AZ to Prescott AZ, while the distance was about half (60 miles) of the prior day, most of it would be spent climbing to over 5000 feet. It was a very tough first climb up to Yarnell. Some of you may remember Yarnell as the town that lost 19 brave fire fighters in 2013 batting a forest fire. Yarnell / Prescott are small towns and most who live here have had some affect on just about every family.

Climbing was difficult after the long trek through the desert. Legs are getting sore and recovery doesn’t come as quickly. The first half of the climb to Yarnell was pretty hard for me but I got into a rythm  and the second part got better. We had a nice sag with cherry pie at the top. Then we hit good downhill before we started to climb again around mile 36.

By then it was getting hot and the road was kind of a chip and seal which my carbon rims dislikes intensely. The next 20 miles was basically climb, descend some and climb some more. It was hot but the scenery was beautiful as we moved from high desert to some alpine like scenery. I chased Low and Howard most of the day as they are good climbers and couldn’t hand with them. We all did get caught up with some highway construction that delayed us a bit.

It was just about 60 miles but the descent not Prescott was a lot of fun. We had a special treat at the hotel as Allison who rode with us in 2014 came out and will be riding with us for the next two days. Always nice to catch up with old friends. About 12 of us went to dinner at the Prescott Brewery. A good day but more climbing the next two days before a rest day that we are all anticipating with relish.

Today we ride up Mingus Mountain to Jerome and then proceed to Cottonwood. That climb has a lot of memories as I witnessed a Porsche go over an embankment as some of you may recall.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck