Frank's Coast to Coast Ride for Justin

 

The day in Tuba City started off COLD & raining. This would be one of those dreaded legs through the Indian reservations. I went to the Navajo museum yesterday in Tuba City. It was a very interesting display of the Navajo history. The bottom line is we didn’t do the Indians many favors over the years. It kinda shows why they look @ us like they do. I read of the problems that they are faced with today on the reservation. These problems are why people along this trip warn you of the dangers of travel in this route that I am on. But when I read that these problems were drugs, gangs, unemployment, robbery etc. I said to myself, he’ll this is not much different than riding through Bradford Co. back home? So with that new mindset I launched into the cold drizzle.

I spent the first 33 miles going up a gradual incline toward Kayenta. This route takes you through the high desert with a lot of nothing on each side of the road. I stopped @ a “convenience store” about 1/2 way for a drink & went inside more so to warm up than anything. My toes were numb & taking a cue from my homeboy biking expert Jay Perry I found some tape & wrapped my shoes. I set down with my drink & entertained questions from some of the locals. Back on the road riding in and out of rain showers & temp that went from 72 degrees if the sun peeked out to finishing up with the wind blown rain & 44 degrees. I could have done another 30 miles or so but like yest that would have left me in the middle of the desert for the night. So once again I am forced to layup short for the day with 75 miles for the day in Kayenta. Kayenta is a crossroads town with a few hotels & Restuaurants with tourists on their way to the Monument Valley, 4 corners, & the Grand Canyon. The RV traffic on this road is beyond your comprehension! Lines of amateur rig drivers blasting by you inches away. 

Tomo will be a long day 130 miles to get me to the outskirts of Cortez Co. 

  

My thought of the day is that maybe we should take a look @ banning glass bottles- I like my cold beverage in a bottle as much as the next guy- but with the sport of smashing the empty bottle along the road makes a good case for the ban. Dodging the broken glass along the road is a constant effort. How I’ve made 730 miles with out a flat is a testament to my Kevlar lined tires!

  
I guess that today’s ride was a payback by the bike gods for some of the brutal days I have endured thus far. After standing in line @ the starting gate for hotels “free continental breakfast” ( these breakfasts are like shopping @ a Walmart on Black Friday )After fending off elbows & body blocks I got my .50cents worth of stale cereal & over ripen bananas. I really mis the “Chatter Box restaurant back home. The day started off with a temperature of 36 degrees & colbalt blue skies. I got on the road @ 7:00 am & worked my way through the very busy streets of Flagstaff. It was about 8 miles dodging the heavy morning traffic, and endless red lights. At the city outskirts the road started a gradual descent that led into flat to rolling hills. A 30 mile per hour tailwind, combined with my loss of 10lbs of gear ,a lack of mountains to climb & wide shoulders to ride on,combined to give me a ride of 83 miles in less than 5 hours. The first 72 miles were spent @ a 19mph average! To say that this was a great day would be an understatement. It was a real treat. This combined with stunning scenery made short day seem even shorter. I could have done an easy extra 30 -40 miles but unfortunately that would have left me in the middle of nowhere for the night. This is now Navajo & Ute Indian reservation land & is kinda rough. I ate @ a McDonald’s tonite in Tuba City . They have a security guard on staff. Reservation life is tough & is home to some less than desirable types. 

Given favorable weather I should make it to Colorado by Sunday night. The upside of this is that now instead of 70 – 100 miles between towns towns in Az,in Colorado towns are more frequent & for the first time in the trip you start heading due east instead of the wandering route ridden this far.

No thought of the day today. Sorry but I was busy today just enjoying the day! Shoutout to the Canton Roadrunners Club, miss the Sat morning breakfast run with ya!

  

 

A later start to the day @ 7:30 & up the canyon out of Sedona toward Flagstaff. This is the last major climb for the next week. It would be impossible to put into words or pictures the beauty of this leg. It would also be impossible to put into words the lack of a shoulder to ride on (there was NONE) & the amount of traffic on this road. This road is shrouded in a canopy of trees as it follows the creek up the mountain. After 21 miles of climbing I reached the summit @ a scenic overlook. After some pictures & a drink I pressed on to Flagstaff. When you climb up a mountain out here you climb to 8000ft then descend 2000 ft & climb 500 more descend 2000, climb 3000 then repeat!  

  
Reaching Flagstaff @ 12:00 I checked into a room & set out to send some “unnecessary gear” back home & try to find a repair for my dead GoPro. After a stop @ the UPS Store (where I shed 10lbs of gear) & Walmart I took the rest of the day to recover & prep for the final push out of Az. It looks like I will make Colorado by Sunday night, if I have favorable weather & winds. Tomo should put me in Tuba City @ the start of the Indian reservations. 

My thought for the day is what a beautiful country we live in! And with such a beautiful country why do we insist on throwing our trash alongside the road? It is truly disgusting. But we must have the cleanest car interiors in the world!
Now a shout out to “Nicks” in Sedona & Tom the bar keeper – great place / great guy . Also if your traveling through Jerome (and you really should) stop @ “The Haunted Hamburger ” for a delicious burger, cold beer, stunning view & great people.

  

  
 Well same song different versus….. Today is another shorter mileage day with lots of climbing. Leaving Prescott I climbed for the first 22 miles to the foot of Mingus Mt.After clawing my way up to the 7000ft point it was a spectacular ride down the other side through Jerome Az an historic copper mining town built into the side of the Mt. To describe this decent would be impossible! The road winds its way down to the desert floor for 13 miles. That’s the good news. Now in the floor of the desert the temp is 102 degrees, and a 20 mile climb starts as I work my way into Sedona. I have become somewhat of weather vane as what ever way I ride the wind switches its way around into a headwind. I was on a much anticipated down hill going into Sedona that I was petaling hard just to make 8mph! I am glad for my decision to end in Sedona instead of Flagstaff as the combination of Mt. Climbing, heat & headwinds took their toll. 

I found a hotel room for the night just to get out of the heat. I decided that this would be a good time to unpack my bags & take inventory of what I am packing that I am not using & ship them home. Carrying all this extra weight doesn’t help with the hill climbing. 

  
Today’s 62 miles saw a net climb of 5500ft. In my bicycling days (when I was young) I was a real hill guy. I think I still am but there is a difference between being a biker & a pack mule! No wonder they are so ornery! Getting the weight down by 15 lbs is big….I hope?

This early in the ride 7 days down I am taking a cue from Garth as he did his run X America, and manage the effort until the body is adjusted to the grind. Thus far I think things are settling in. Getting through the Mts. & heat take pace, not over effort. 

My thought of the day is related to yesterday’s. How about if we get everyone to take their stock Harley exhaust hiding in the corner of their garages & have a drop of point for them & we wait for scrap metal prices to go up & we take them to the scrap yard & will use the money for Justin’s fund? Hey it’s not like anyone’s gonna buy them from you!

Short day up the climb to Flagstaff & take a 1/2 day rest. Prayers for Justin .

 

Today was an early departure @ 5:30 am . My host Phyllis & Randy Wells are the best. Not only breakfast served but they have a tradition of riding into town with the bike rider on there bikes. This was more special given the fact that it was the first time since January that Phyllis had ridden,as she is recovering from her first round of chemo treatments for her Cancer. She is one amazing lady & if anyone traveling on bike & needs a place for the night these people are special. 

I put in 28 miles to Congress Az where I stopped for a break @ a real nice cafe in town. I then started off on one of the toughest climbs of the ride up Yarnell Mt. that climbs 2000 ft in 6 miles. Of interest on this day the mountain road was being used by a film crew filming  a movie. The road was being regulated by the Az highway patrol & film crew members were constantly being escorted up & down the Mt. It was all pretty interesting & a welcome distraction to the climb that took me an hour & a half to climb in the 95 degree heat. I then worked my way to the second big climb of the up Prescott Mt that rises @ 150ft per mile! I opted to skirt the Mt to the west & abate the twisting road from the south. This route around to the west was 6 miles longer with the same climb just better shoulders to ride on. This climb took two & a half hours! It just didn’t end! I ended up on a long decent into Prescott after 12 hours in the saddle to make the 84 mile trip. I was sun baked & exhausted. I found a hotel room for the night & settled in to a welcomed ice bath! I think that maybe it will be a short ride tomo maybe to Sedona – maybe all the way to Flagstaff? I will wait & see what the day brings me. 

As tough as my day seemed to be Justin Kline probably had a tougher on. That thought kinda keeps me going. Thanks for all the messages & support from home & remember to keep Justin & his family in your prayers!

An finally I will offer my thought for the day. I decided to write a “thought for the day” at the end of each day except for the days that I don’t write one!  So toss ays thought is “what happens to all of the “stock ” Harley Davidson mufflers that come from the factory on a new Harley? Because NO ONE has the stock mufflers on their bikes! I looked on Craig’s List – EBay etc & don’t see any for sale ? Just wondering. 

  

So the problem is when you type on a cell phone & you run your thumb up the screen guess what’s @ the top of the screen. Correct- the publish button! So once again this is the rest of the day! So I ended early 65 miles in legs good butt will prob never be good (ever) ! Tomorrow I am shooting for Prescott – but maybe not?

You see yesterday a guy came up to me @ a convenient store (where else) & asked me “do you really see anything while your riding or are you to focused on the riding”? That question changed my whole outlook & schedule – starting today I slowed down , quit looking @ average speeds & othe bike comp information, stopped tracking my progress & raised my head up & started looking around. Instead of wishing I was out of Az I would look around Az, try & enjoy its beauty as I may well never get another chance to see it.

  
       I agree

Ok – same horses ……. 2 years older!

Last night I slept @ the “community park ” in Bouse AZ. Went well, no one bothered me except for the coyotes that started in about 10:00 & went on & off ALL night. They sounded as close as 100 feet from my tent. I am sure that the sent of Peppers homemade beef jerky was driving them nuts. After a home cooked breakfast of beef jerky / 3 scoops of peanut butter / 2 cups of coffee & a pack of tuna fish I was off @ sunrise to beat the heat & traffic on this godforsaken stretch of road. The plan worked & the heat & traffic both cooperated for 27 miles before I reached the Rt 60 intersection. After a short break @ one of the very few convenient stores in Az I headed up the a road with a real berm & smooth pavement. Just a note for you non bicycle guys. Not all pavement is the same . The pavement for the past day & 27 miles today was a very coarse texture that narrow bike tires don’t roll over very good. The difference between coarse & smooth is like the difference between a tail wind or a head wind. This road was nice.

After 2 stops along the way for drinks I made my way into Agulia.

I met up with my host family for the night, Phyllis and Randy, that live in an amazing place in an airpark located just south of town. They have 3 airplanes including a motor glider and an RV 12 home built that Randy is constructing. We hung out in the hangar talking flying things for the remainder of the afternoon. Both Randy and Phyllis are extremely accomplished pilots. These were great people and someone I hope to meet up with again. After a delicious dinner, I re-packed and was off to bed.

  
Ok this is going to be short as I have very poor data service here. Today went “Ok” – 77 miles of which 50 were going north to go 27 east! HOT 98 degrees – first 50 good roads nice scenery- last 27 the WORST biking roads I have ever been on . NO BERM @ all – heavy truck & RV traffic! Am in Bouse Az an old gold mining town that has seen its better days! Camping in a community park tonite. Feeling Ok but the heat takes its toll. Short 60 mile day to Agulia tomo. Hope this goes! Congrats to Team Logue & The dirty dabbers today – well played. boys!  

 
Home for the nite

  

I have been both dreading & preparing for this leg of the trip for a long time. This stretch goes from the irrigated farm lands of the imperial valley through the sand dunes & continues into the desert. The road is bordered on both sides by BLM federal land & there are no towns or services. Packing enough water is crucial. I launched @ sunrise in an effort to abate the heat of the day. The ride started off amazingly, with a slight tailwind & 60 degree temps. I made it to Glamis in the dunes that is home to thousands of off road riders on any given weekend. I felt so good I did the whole 30 miles non stop. As I continued up the road the tail wind turned into a quartering headwind. The only place along the entire route is a Customs & Border Patrol check point 46 miles up the road. These guys are serious. Every vehicle is inspected with a German Shepard dog that is all business! The only thing he found was my stash of homemade beef jerky that my good buddy Jeff Pepper & his son Ben made for my trip ….all three pounds of it! The dog refused a bribe of jerky & the ammused agents allowed me to rest along side their building. After a 1/2 hour break & getting to witness an unfortunate couple have their entire Toyota disassembled as the dog was pretty positive he found drugs! Was getting scary so opted to leave. I spent the next 30 miles watching 3 different thunderstorms develop & these storms caused me 2 weather delays, with no shelter! The last delay was about 4 miles out of Blythe & there was a small store with a rickety overhang I dove into. I went in & waited out the storm hanging with some locals. I really wish I had studied Spanish as I am sure that I was the butt of their amusement. There is no way to hang with a group of Mexican farm workers drinking quarts of Colt 45s when your wearing spandex:( We said our goodbyes ( I think?) & I finished my ride into Blythe with 91 miles in & feeling like I could do 25 more. My butt & quads are starting to get into “biking shape” & that is a good feeling. I am now on the Az. Border but the only way across would be going out I-10 . Garth did run out the interstate for 30 gut wrenching miles during his run X America in 2014 – I will opt to ride up the Colorado River tomorrow & cross @ Parker Az. It’s about 30 miles longer but a hell of a lot saner! So that’s it. Going to miss riding the trials @ White Rose tomo with my trials bud tomo back in Pa but I’ll be back soon enough. Remember to say your prayers for Justin & ck out the Bone Marrows registry site @

http://www.deletebloodcancer.org

PS if there is no post tomo I am going to be entering some no cell phone area so standby & I’ll get it out ASAP

  
Rain delay 😦

Ok sorry about that , this is the rest of today’s report. But before we go any further lets get something straight. #1I am not a writer #2 I write this after a long day sitting on a very cruel bike seat. I am sore , tired & if I didn’t tell ya I’am not a dam writer. My son is and he cringes everytime I do write. Also I do not have a laptop – I do this on a dam cell phone! Small buttons / big fingers / 58 year old low tech guy! Get it? Do don’t criticize or I will stop all reports ( this is directed to the sat morn breakfast club &Canton Roadrunners Club & in particular) 

So as I was writing before I hit the “post button” on mistake here’s how it went.

It went good. No it went great at least the first 40 miles. I rode like Grant marching through Richmond! Fresh legs sunny skies. I rode through the desert with the stunning background of yesterday’s mountains. I rode for 40 miles without stopping. My plan for the day was to layup short in Brawley & prep for the long desert stretch to Az. The road was rolling, straight & boring. But after yesterday boring was just what I needed. After yesterday’s climbs in the fridged rain I now was riding in the 98 degree desert. It is a dry heat…. You know, like an OVEN! But I enjoyed the day. I ended up in Brawley at the base of the Salton Sea that lies 50ft below sea level. I found a hotel with a Restuaurant with COLD Beer! Perfect 

61 miles in today. Tomorrow I should make it to the Colorado River on the Az  border. Someone asked how Garth was able to run across the country. I tell them he did it 40 miles at a time. Small bites. It’s the only way you can do it & remain sane!

  
The desert