| Distance | 33.90 kms | 21.13 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Climbed | 58 meters | 190 feet |
| Ride time (hours) | 1.82 | - |
| Avg speed | 18.5 kph | - |
| Distance | 33.90 kms | 21.13 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Climbed | 58 meters | 190 feet |
| Ride time (hours) | 1.82 | - |
Wednesday, March 7th, 2018
Today I'm taking the bus up to Phoenix from Tucson to pick up the bicycle from its storage unit where it has been languishing since I left for Europe in December. Living life exclusively on two wheels makes for complicated logistics: I can either take the motorcycle or the bicycle, not both. Yesterday I rode up on the motorcycle to drop off my camping gear so I can cycle back to Tucson.
Taking a long-haul bus in the US is always interesting. Today on the Greyhound we have: a roughneck from Texas loudly proclaiming how much money he makes, and telling the story of how he lost half an ear in a natural gas explosion; a few scared-looking teenage girls travelling alone, clutching their backpacks and studiously avoiding looking at anyone; lots of Mexican mothers with young children; and a couple of Central American adolescents that appear to be shaparoned by someone from an aid agency. Mildly entertaining, but not the wildest bus I've been on. One time on a Greyhound from Stockton, CA to L.A. we stopped at night at a prison to pick up a bunch of newly-released prisoners. That made for a raucous journey.
A city bus gets me from the Greyhound station to the storage unit. I pull up the unit's door to find the bike with a flat rear tire. Shit! It was flat when I came up yesterday and I thought I had fixed it. I replace the tube. I'm ready to get changed when I see that I forgot to bring a pair of shorts. Double shit! I'm not cycling back to Tucson in jeans. First stop: REI. I'm happy to see my coop dividend from last year has come in, that mitigates the pain of buying unnecessary shorts.
All of this running around has left me without enough time to escape Phoenix and camp in the desert (Phoenix is so spread out, it would have been at least 50 miles to get beyond the sprawl). I ride south 20-odd miles then get a motel room near the airport.
