Saturday Jesse turned 27 (REALLY OLD, I know...), and my surprise for him obviously included riding. You know you're in love with cycling when a 72 mile ride with 5500 feet of elevation change is the BEST way you can possibly imagine to spend your birthday. For this guy, it was. He was IN H-E-A-V-E-N. No matter that it was dumping buckets, and had been for nearly 12 hours. No matter the sun was nowhere in sight, and the maximum mileage he had done at once was 55 miles in the last year, and mine was 35! No matter the Saturday traffic...after all, we're RIDING bicycles! Didn't you get the memo? That's the fun part!
We took off from Sedona after parking at the Wildflower Bread Company (the west-coast's Panera) and rode down 89A into Cottonwood, which has a gradual descent for 15 miles. Then the uphill started. Slowly at first, we worked our way up to the Jerome exit, and then the climbing really began. It's about 5 miles to Jerome from there, which is where we planned to stop and eat lunch, and I felt every foot of it. Most especially because it was 1:30 and the only thing I'd eaten was a bagel at 10:30. Can anyone say "Bonked"? I sure was! (That's the technical term for totally out of food, sugar, and energy to the point where you feel weak all over...)
The climb starts with a 4-5% gentle ascent, with gorgeous vistas from the foothills beneath Mingus Mountain. As you climb, wealthy stucco homes dot the desert brush and slowly fade into the distance, leaving only Jerome ahead of you and desert-y mountain foothills around you. Then the climb gets more difficult, maybe 6-7% (Jesse is the precise one, not me!) and you can feel your heart beat in your ears, your legs on fire, and your shoulders saying "I'm done!". As you round the switchbacks, the weirdest sight comes into view: Houses stacked into the hillsides, on top of each other; they're older than the hills, with vinyl SIDING?! It looks like little Europe, or the East Coast built into a desert mountain. That's Jerome.
Jesse laughed as he saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said "We're a biker town with an artist problem". If you've ever been to Jerome, then you know what that means! It's filled with little artist shops from very accomplished artists, and in between, are biker bars. Weird combination, but it's true.
Just as I thought I'd hit the town and had hope again, the street went from 6-7% grade to nearly 12%. For those of you that don't ride, that's practically standing in your peddles and pushing, but going nowhere. After telling myself that walking that hill and pushing my bike would be harder than muscling through the climb, I made it with Jesse into the Mountain high Grille, where we ate lunch. Mind you, it was still sprinkling at this point!
You would've laughed til you cried if you'd seen the faces and heard the remarks we received from the crowd in the little restaurant. We must've been a sight. I had been following Jesse for 28 miles in the rain, so I was covered in mud, sweat, salt, and rain from head to toe. He was wet, but didn't look quite as bad. The shock, pointing, and obvious turn and gawk expressions we got made the lunch hour really interesting. Everyone seemed appalled that we had chosen OF OUR OWN WILL to climb into Jerome, let alone in the rain!! We ate lunch, ....or devoured it in one swallow (when you ride like that, food doesn't stay in front of you very long) and departed.
Of course, wet rain, sweat, cold drinks, and sitting in a drafty grille = Kelly FREEZING to death in spandex. So, shakingly I walked out with Jesse, and when he asked if we were heading back down or conquering the peak (Mingus Mountain) I firmly said, "Conquering the peak". Not because I have an ego, wanted to bag another peak, wanted to please my husband on his birthday (he really wanted to conquer it!) or had extra energy to expend...nope! This choice was entirely flesh driven and selfish. I WAS COLD. There was NO WAY I was descending for 10+ miles back into cottonwood soaking wet, without a jacket, when I was already shaking and purple. I knew climbing would make me hot again, so off we went.
Mingus Mountain's Peak (which drops you into Prescott) was 8 miles of 6-7% climbing past Jerome. We rode in the fog, which was absolutely incredible. As you climb, the landscape turns into tall Ponderosa Pine trees, and the vistas get extraordinary. With low hanging clouds clinging to the mountainside, and fog covering the next peak, we thought we'd "arrived" several times, just to learn we were a couple miles short. After we summitted, we turned around and headed for home (another 36 miles back) which, by the way, was still FREEZING until we hit Sedona again.
Other than Jesse flatting outside of Sedona on the world's best bike lane (seriously, it rocks), we had an uneventful ride back. Gratitude despite my attitude was a tough one, since everything on me was hurting at that point. All in all, it blessed him, we finished in the sunshine, and it wore us out enough to sleep a lot on Sunday after church! A good ride, a good birthday. I love you honey!
Pics to come...
kel
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