Day 55 April 24, 2011 Total Mileage: 2,370 Today: 56 miles

Cycled from Coal Creek Campground in Apache National Forest, Arizona (elevation nearly 7,000 feet) to Thatcher, Arizona (elevation: 2,910 feet; population: 4,696)

Wheeee! What a great ride down the mountain this morning.  Left camp and on the road at 6:30 am, after a little climbing it was all down hill for about 10 miles!  My top speed was 31 mph… there were many sharp turns, but I had the road all to myself.

So apparently, with every down there is an up and so I climbed for another 15 miles. And then there was another down, though the wind had picked up by then, so there was some work invovled to keep up any speed.

First 20 miles of today's ride - from mountains to valley to mountain

I noticed clouds, I’ve gone so many days with nothing but blue skies it seemed a little odd to have clouds.  It was nice to get a little shade every now and then.  There are no trees to speak of in this area.  Another adjustment for my senses is to go from very tall pine trees to nothing but scrub brush in less than 5 miles.

I also noticed tumble weeds today and thought I’d share my version of the life of a tumbleweed.

Tumbleweed growing

Tumbleweed staging area

Tumbleweed tumbling

Tumbleweed recyling area

Campground 55 Roper Lake Arizona State Park, Safford, AZ