Day 14 - September 23, 2017 - 52.61 miles, 3,704 feet ascent

Tonto Basin, AZ to Globe, AZ

Tough day, into the wind, and a long 5 mile climb of 6 - 7%.  But, we made it!  I rode with Erwin all day - stopped at the Roosevelt Lake visitorEdit center for way too long, then 1.5 miles later, climbed a 9% grade for about a mile to the Tonto Cliff Dwellings National Monument.   On the way down, Erwin had a flat, right at the bottom of the hill.   He wanted me to continue on, but I stayed with him, as I thought that by now we must be at the back of the pack.  We learned later that we were not at the back, and that Ken, Eric, and Eileen were still well behind us, as they did not leave the hotel until around 0900.  I left at 0709, so it appears we had plenty of miles on them.

There was a lot of other climbing in addition to the 5 mile climb, all adding to the cumulative trauma to my body.  After the three mile descent, with about 12 miles to go, I was spent.  My left knee started acting up again, but after a long break at the final turn, my knee was okay.  The rest of my body, not so much.   Funny thing is that this would normally be an easy Club ride on my road bike, but on a fully loaded touring bike with 60 lbs of gear and another several lbs of water, well... not so easy any more!

Erwin had a second flat at the final turn, where we met up with several others from our group.  They all left (not much they could do), so it was just Erwin and I again.  Five more miles, and we were at our destination for the evening - Motel 6 in Globe, AZ.