Actually the worst blogger ever.

OK, I haven't written any blog posts since we started and I'm sorry about that.  The internet is not always the best and there are often things I'd rather be doing than blogging, but I've had a few emails requesting that I update, so here we go and I'll try to update weekly for the rest of the summer.  I do post pics on facebook with our riding stats almost every day, so that's probably a better way to follow me.

Here's the summery of the riding so far!

Day 1: Orange County to Redlands CA

Distance 113 km
Saddle time: 5:04
Avg speed:  22.4
Max speed: 61.9
Total ascent: 717m
Total descent 342m

Rode OC to Redlands with Sara, Laura, Karyn and Zach (aka Zach’s Angels).  Pretty good day.  Had to stop for Mark who had fallen and broken his ankle.  Nasty looking #, but not much to do aside from waiting for the ambulance.  Last 20km were hard, but formed a pretty fun/fast paceline which helped things go a bit quicker, which was definitely nice.

Total mileage so far: 4538

 Day 2: Redlands, CA to Coachella, CA

Distance 128
Saddle time: 5:11ISH
Avg speed: 24ish
Max speed 58.2
Ascent: about 700m
Descent about 900m

Difficult day.  Started with lots of climbing, then beautiful downhill stretch with tailwind – super fast and fun, but then hot and got a bit lost.  Dad was sweep team  - didn’t arrive until 615 so went out with mom to cheer for him.  Hot as Hades out there!!!!

Day 3 Coachella, CA to Desert Centre, CA

Distance: 99.7
Saddle time: 4:19
Avg speed:23.1
Max speed: 46.2
Ascent: 648m
Descent: 389m
 
Excellent day.  A quick 30 km to the first SAG, then a 30 km climb (3% grade).  I couldn`t keep up with Zach`s Angels, but George Vanderkuur rode with me and we caught them at the next SAG.  Delicious ice cream and then a fast 35 km into Desert Centre.  SOOOO NICE!!!  Hope there are more days like this one!!
 

Day 4 Desert Center to Quartzite, AZ

Mileage: 120km
Saddle time: 5:11
Average speed: 22.8
Max speed: 50ish
Elevation gain: About 500m

Really great day.  Rode with Dad and Len all day (Team “Weigh More”) but Karyn and Sara joined us by the end.  Hot as anything, but we were really well supported all day.  Big climb at the end, but felt good and it went well!

 Day 5, 6, 7, 8

Tour suspended due to extreme heat in Arizona.  Highs above 45 C.  Really disappointed, and worried that I won’t get to make my 10,000km, but I think it will be OK.  We’re going to try and add some kms in Payson so that we make up some of the missed miles and climbing.  I think a lot of people are disappointed, but it’s unbelievably hot here, and it’s probably best that we’re not riding.  It was so hot in Phoenix that we could barely be outside for 30 min!!!

 

Day 8

Just a fun ride today to the river to swim and have a picnic.  Really enjoyable!  Had some great climbing (I’m slow, but I’m learning to love the climbs).  Had a nice coffee with mom and then skyped Philip, so that was all really nice.  Then rode another 10 km after supper (wanted to do 50km total today) and cleaned my chain etc.  Feeling good and excited to ride tomorrow (3000ft climb onto the Rim in Arizona.  Such a gorgeous area.  Will be riding with my dad and Len because I’m a slower climber than the rest of Zach’s angels and it’s better if I ride with a different group on climbing days!

Distance 50.4

Saddle time 2:34
Avg speed: 19.5 (it was alllll climbing today!)
Max speed 60.7
Total ascent 656m
Total descent 660m

Total mileage: 4936

Day 9 Payson, AZ to Heber, AZ

Distance 88.7
Saddle time 4:22
Avg speed 20.3
Max speed 65.0
Total ascent 1296m
Total descent 837 m

Great riding day!  Long climb (8 km at a 6% grade), but felt great while climbing and had a really good time riding with my dad and Len.  On the descent, started getting a weird squealing from my bike and would get unstable/shaky/vibrations through the bike – SCARY!  Len figured it was the bearings under the cassette and figured out that if I kept my pedals turning, then it wouldn’t happen, so I made it into camp OK.  Harold spent a long time working on my bike (thank GOD for him!!!) and now it seems to be working OK (Took it out for a few km to try it out).  Probably will need to pick up a new rear wheel as a backup, but should get through the next day or so, I hope!!!  Some gorgeous vistas today for sure!!!

 

Day 10:Heber, AZ to St. John’s AZ

Distance 128
Saddle time 4:56
Avg speed 25.9
Max speed 54.3
Total ascent 840m
Total descent 1038m
 
Another great day.  My bike seems to be fixed (Harold spent 2 hours working on it yesterday) and I had no trouble with it, even with tons of beautiful descents.  We stopped for coffee in Snowflake, which was a nice change of pace from last week in the desert, where we were all just pushing so hard to get in as early as possible.  It was great to get to have a break after riding only 50km. 

 

Day 11 Heber, AZ to Zuni, NM

Distance 89km
Saddle time 3:32
Avg speed 25
Rest of stats erased by accident.  Some climbing today.

Another great day!  Totally loving things!  We rode a pretty uphill route with a great group (Zach’s Angels and Top Gun combined for a day!).  Nice and fast considering the uphill.  Chilling in Zuni.  We were woken this morning by a cannon (!) at 5am because apparently this is a tradition in St. John on Independence Day!  Crazy!!!

Day 12 Zuni, NM to Rehoboth, NM

Distance 75.6
Saddle time 3:18
Avg speed 22.8
Max speed 54.6
Total ascent 725 m
 
An adventurous day!  Short ride, but lots happened.  Hit a horrid patch of gravel and skidded like crazy and was sure I was going down, and almost collided with two different people (Brandon and Karel).  Definitely felt God’s hand of protection!  Brandon’s spoke broke and after many adventures, he got a new spoke AND a new back wheel!!  Amazing!