Climbing to Prescott

Today was a hard ride. We rode 61 miles from Wickenberg, AZ to Prescott, AZ. in just under 6 hours. The elevation gain was 7600 feet, the biggest day for the whole trip. We were very glad for the new granny gear with 36 teeth compared to the 34 teeth we had before. For non-bikers that just means that it is a bit easier to pedal up the hills. With a tandem we need all of the help we can get going up hills.

There were lots of hills to climb. The highest elevation we saw was 7000. The previous days rides of 100 and 115 miles made today a bit harder. We took lots of butt breaks and just kept grinding it out. We are thankful for Bag Balm. The last six miles or so into Prescott were downhill and a welcome relief from all of the hills.

There was lovely desert scenery with cacti blooming to the higher elevation with trees. The high desert has more trees and gets snow in the winter.

One of our fellow riders to Albuquerque is a young Catholic priest. He invited any of the group who were interested to his room this afternoon for a mass to celebrate Christ's Ascension. Even though as non-Catholics we could not participate in communion, we attended.

Tomorrow we ride to Cottonwood. We actually leave 2 hours later, at 9:15 a.m. instead of 7:15. The extra time will be nice.