First of all, I want to make one thing clear: I made the right decision. You see, last night, one of the calls I made was to my friend Bob. I asked if he wouldn't mind driving my car down to find me today (remember, I left my car at his house). He said sure.
I woke up this morning and it was so cold! Again, Bob had come to the rescue. Before I left his house I mentioned that I had somehow forgotten to pack long pants of any type at all. He loaned me a pair of wind pants that really came in handy this morning. I would have been in even sadder, more shivery shape if it hadn't been for those pants. Anyway, I called Bob at 6:00 a.m. He gets off of work around 5:30. He said he wasn't doing his morning ride and would instead go home and then come down to get me. I started packing up camp, which took about an hour or so, all told. I had some almond milk and an energy bar but it didn't go down too well. I washed up, brushed my teeth, and filled up my water bottles and then mounted my trusty, overweight steed.
My ass hurt. Or my sit bones. Or whatever. You know where I'm talking about. My legs were rubbery and not very cooperative. And, wouldn't you know it, right off you have to climb a steep little incline just to leave the park. Did I mention I camped for free? Didn't feel free right then!It was slow going but the legs were actually getting me up the hills as long as I was steady and patient. There would be no hammering today. With all of the time it took to pack up and as slow as I was going I had only made it about two miles when Bob called to say he had reached the turn off to the park. I said, "Great! Tell you waht, I'm waiting right here for you!" I was about half way up a long, arduous climb and was just fine with waiting. I got off the bike and started taking off my front packs so that the bike would fit more easily into the old BIKEBOX.
Some of the first words out of Bob's mouth were, "You're insane! I wouldn't want to ride that route on a road bike carrying nothing at all!" Even he couldn't believe how much climbing there was. He said it was exhausting just driving it and couldn't even imagine riding it--especially with all of my gear.
And that was the end of my bike tour. I obviously underestimated the climbing and the wind forecast. And I simply wasn't in any kind of shape to be doing such a ride. I hadn't really done any training to speak of and it was a bit too ambitious to just jump on the bike and expect to do well. If the weather had been good and the winds calm, it might have been a different story--especially if I had scheduled and extra day at Patagonia to rest up before the second leg of the journey.
Sunday in Tucson was dark, rainy, and cold. I had "snow" in my back yard! I am sure the weather was even worse around Tombstone and Benson and would have made for some very unpleasant riding. So, again, I made the right decision. I'll probably take some flak for "quitting," but anyone who gives me crap is more than welcome to climb aboard and have a go at it under the same conditions. Maybe then we'll talk.
You left out the part where I had to drive to Mexico to get you and single -handedly fight off a few Bandito's! I had been awake all night and drove 7 hours and they had guns and knives, I defended myself with a goalie stick and some monkey Kung-Fu!!!!Actaully I was tired from driving all that way and you have rocks in your head for trying to bike it on a cruiser weighing more than a yugo
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