Riding 45 miles with one gear....

Today was another day of climbing. It started out as a relatively easy grade but soon became a real climb and except for a few sections of rollers it was pretty much climbing all day. And at about the 12 mile point I discovered that my granny gear was not going to work unless I gave it a good push (I thought of a good kick but that is not really a good idea in the long run). In any case once I got the chain on the the small gear, i.e. granny, which I needed for the long climbs I hesitated to go back up to a larger gear knowing I would have to stop and manually move the chain every time we came to a larger hill - so long explanation for the simple fact that I did virtually all of todays ride in the granny - a most annoying situation but there is a happy conclusion later.

So the ride today took us to Sedona and the very famous red rocks. These are giant red rock formations that are all around the Sedona area. This morning was another patented Arizona sun-shining day and the sky was a deep blue and the rocks almost seemed like they were part of a show just for us. I have seen them once before when visiting daughter Beth at NAU a few years ago but this time was coming in from the west (as opposed to the South from Phoenix). It is a simply awesome sight. I was riding with a woman from Florida on the way into town and she was blown away by the sight-as was I. I did, of course, take a bunch of pictures and have downloaded a couple above-I can only tell you to multiply these by 100 or so to get the full effect.

Sedona itself is an artsy/touristy town that is kind of fun but we stayed for only a while. Although you will notice from the 4th photo we did get a chance to meet Mr. Pig...Tom is the worrier type so he kept his distance-can't be too careful with the swinee flu you know.

We left and headed North through the Oak Creek Canyon on what has to be one of the very prettiest, scenic roads in America. It follow the creek at a steady ascent for some 15 or so miles through the red rocks-from a bike I was literally close enough to touch them at some points-and a forest of pine and other wonderful green stuff that I really wish I could identify. It is a two lane road with lots of tourist traffic on a Saturday but for the most part they respect the rights of the bikes so it wasn't too bad. As we were leaving the red rocks we hit a 2.2 mile section of very serious climbing-all very tight switchbacks, 8-10 % grade and a real challenge.Think of some of the scenes of the Tour de France and you will have the general area. One of the photos above I took from a scenic view area at the very top-I think I captured at least three and maybe levels of the same road. And from there it was into a state forest of Ponderosa pine and another 12 miles of climbing to the hotel. Very tired and glad to have a day off to look forward to.

And so the rest of the story on the bikes...Tom with his wheel problem from yesterday, me with the balky derailleur, and two others with bike problems. We put them in one of the vans and headed for the Absolute Bike Store on the original Route 66. I'm thinking Saturday afternoon, who knows if they will even have a mechanic in the shop...One of our party had called ahead and when we wheeled our bikes into the shop there were 4 mechanics standing ready to put the bikes on stands and go to work. Bottom line: it eventually took 2 guys to figure out my problems(two new cables, lots of adjusting) and 5 street tests but they did get it right...the bike is ready for our century on Monday. If you are ever in Flagstaff with a bike issue Absolute Bike shop is the place to go...actually just go and hang out for a while- they are all great guys. For the first week: 534 miles, two (major) deserts, two states and two tired bodies. Night all....