Live for the Path

When I got up in the morning, it didn’t really seem like anything was that different, and I didn’t have trouble sleeping the night before at all. I thought this was a little strange, but was glad that I wasn’t freaking out.

The bike fully loaded

Another view

Anyway, I walked to McDonalds for breakfast, said goodbye to the roommate (he left before me) and did the final packing of the bike. I set out at around 8am.

Bye bye business school

I am rolling along, not far away from roads I have ridden 1000 times, when I look back and I see that my tie down on the back rack is suddenly very loose. Not only that, but when I stop I hear a loud hiss coming from my front tire. Upon further inspection, my tie down has become loose because my sleeping bag is gone. Just gone.

I sigh, since I cannot ride my bike backwards because of the flat tire, and not wanting to fix the flat because I want to snag my sleeping bag before someone else does if it is on the side of the road. I walk my bike back probably about a mile before giving up on the sleeping bag, when I proceed to unload my bike, turn it over, and look at my tire. I take off the tire and look at the tube, and there is a giant gash across the tube, which I suspect was put there by the tire liner. I had gotten a similar one a few days earlier on the back tire (which I miraculously patched), so I just took out the tire liner and set about trying to patch this, though I was not optimistic. While I am patching this I leave the pump attached to the valve like a dumbass, and when I am done I try to take the pump off the valve, and the whole thing breaks off. So much for my patch job. One tube totally ruined.

Down to no tubes in reserve, and without a sleeping bag, I return to Tempe to go to the REI. I wait outside for it to open for around half an hour, and then buy a sleeping bag, two tubes, and a U-Lock. Finally I head back out to restart my trip. Suffice it to say that my back tube quickly blows out, with a second gash (remember I patched one several days before). In goes one of my new tubes.

Tempe

After all of that, I finally have a fairly quiet ride through Phoenix on the bike paths and side streets.

Hah

Bike path in Phoenix

I stop at a McDonald’s at around 2 and have a lunch before beginning the climb from Phoenix to Wickenburg. The climb is pretty uneventful, with the exception of a hole in the front tire, which I just replace with the other new tube that I got, since I did not want to sit on the side of the hot hot road and fiddle with patches.

Rats (I think I was going 8 or so at the time)

The desert is pretty

The choo-choo is the only way you can get to the wild west (or bike I guess)

That sign lies… it was not open.

I eventually get to just outside of Wickenburg at around 7pm and find a secluded stealth camp spot. The only downside is that I get to share it with swarms of killer ants and a bed of rocks is the only place I can set up my tent. Ce la vie. I get set up and go to bed.