Author: Eric Fox

In the Desert Southwest, it’s not unusual to find dead snakes along the edge of the road. During the early morning hours, while the air is still [relatively] cool, snakes will sometimes slither out onto the blacktop to bask in the warmth of the dawning sun. Unfortunately, in many cases, they find themselves in the wrong lane and suffer the consequences as motorists unknowingly drive over them.

I rode to Wickenburg (from Phoenix) as training for this year’s MS150. Starting at Trader Joe’s on Thunderbird Road, we road North on 99th Avenue, West on Bell Road, and North on US60 (Grande Avenue) to Wickenburg, and back to Trader Joe’s, approximately 80 miles. This was a new personal best for me: an hour less than last year!

What does this have to do with snakes? At about 25 miles from the start, just North of Whitman on US60, I was riding at the tail of a train of about a dozen riders when they began to bail off the line, right and left. A large and rather confused looking snake was wriggling in the middle of the wide shoulder we had been traveling in! Having successfully passed the snake uneventfully, the line reformed and began pulling away with new vigor. I glanced over my shoulder briefly, saw the snake slithering off the road to safety, and pushed forward to catch up to the rest of the team.

Starting at Frank Lloyd Wright & Pima Road, went East on Frank Lloyd Write to Thompson Peak, North to McDowell Mountain Road, East around McDowell Mountain Ranch Road to Bell Road, and then to Pima Road. Went North on Pima Road to Happy Valley Road, East to Alma School, North to Dynamite Blvd, West, back to Pima again, then North to Cave Creek Road. Turned around and headed south on Pima to Princess Drive, West to Perimeter Drive, and South to Bell Road. Then East to Thompson Peak, South to Raintree, West to 90th Street, and finally north to the starting point on Frank Lloyd Wright. Approx 40 miles.

Road the 67th Avenue, Happy Vally, 7th Street, Union Hills loop twice. Approx 50 miles.

A much longer loop: From Union Hills, rode 99th Avenue North to Carefree Highway, East on Carefree to Cave Creek Road, South to Union Hills, and West to 67th Avenue again. Approx 50 miles.

From Union Hills, rode along 67th Avenue to Happy Valley Road, East on Happy Valley to 7th Street, South to Union Hills, and West back to 67th Avenue. Approx 25 miles.

Rode from the fountain in Fountain Hills to the intersection of Pima & Dynamite Road. This ride really showed how out of shape I am, the constant up hill climb, even though it’s only a moderate grade, really wore me down. But once you turn around and head back to Fountain Hills, all is well again. Approx 50 miles.

Here’s a nice ride: Start at the canal at approximately 16th Street and Glendale Avenue, and ride Northwest to 75th Avenue and nearly Bell Road, then back. In the early hours, the canal bank stays fairly cool and there are tunnels under most of the major intersections. This makes for a nice easy 30 miler, or turn back at any time to make it shorter.

Another week of commuting.

Nothing really interesting happening. I’ve just been commuting to work and back. It’s not particularly far, less than 6 miles, round trip.

Participated in the Best Dam Bike Ride last weekend. This is a 150 mile, two day ride benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We started early Saturday morning at Dysart High School in North Phoenix and rode out US60 to Wickenburg for Lunch. Then on through Aguila to Salome, where we camped for the night. Sunday morning, we continued northwest along US95 toward Parker and Parker Dam. This really was an excellent ride. There were sag stops every ten to fifteen miles and lots of friendly people to talk with along the way.

While riding home this evening, I was headed east along Union Hills Road, and in front of me, framed just a tad off center of the road, was the moon. It had just come up over the horizon, was bright orange, and looked as large as the road was wide. It was beautiful. This is one of the reasons I began commuting by bicycle!

Picked up a pair of clipless pedals yesterday. John, from the Golden Spoke, told me that although I would really like them, I should know that I would fall down a few times. I should have listened to him.

I spent a good portion of this morning swapping pedals. It would only have taken ten minutes, but I found the old left pedal had seized. Since I don’t really have the proper tools, it took quite some time to get the pedal off without screwing up the crank arm in the process. Once finished, I practiced clipping in and out for about fifteen minutes while simply sitting on the bike. Then I loaded it in the van and headed for the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

Since I spent most of my free time today swapping pedals, I only had three hours to ride the preserve. I quickly learned that John was right. The first time I came to a stop, I couldn’t get my feet loose … and fell over.

I’m sure it looked quite comical: I come rolling to a nice controlled stop, begin struggling in vain to get my feet off of the pedals, there’s a subtle change in the struggle as I attempt to keep my balance, and the last ditch spasmodic effort as gravity wins out and I fall in slow motion to the side while attempting to land in a soft spot among the rocks and sage brush. Oh well, nothing was hurt but my pride.

I fell over a few more times during the ride. I lost count exactly how many times, but at least I didn’t get hurt any more seriously than a few minor scratches. I did finally learn enough to get my feet off the pedals when I made intentional stops. I suspect — I hope — it’ll become habit soon and I won’t have to worry, to much, about unexpected stops.

Drove to Mesa both Tuesday and Wednesday while my rear wheel was being straightened after Monday night’s fiasco. Rode the bike yesterday and took the bus home. I planned better this time and was able to catch the earlier run which got me to Metro Center before nightfall, but I had my clear lenses and headlight just in case. Today I rode both directions and made much better time on the way home. I had also picked up a pair of Shimano shoes a few days ago and they’ve helped my feet quite a bit, but I’m still using clips — although they have a place to mount them, the shoes don’t have cleats — and I’ve found that my toes are now getting pinched in them. I see a set of clipless pedals in my semi-near future.

I got sent to Mesa again for another week of training. Since the heat has gotten rather unbearable, I rode the bike down to Mesa, but came back on the Bus. Since city buses all have bicycle racks now, this seemed like a good idea when I started out, but I soon discovered a few problems.

The Phoenix-Mesa express routes run exactly in the wrong direction — they all run from Mesa to Phoenix in the morning, and from Phoenix to Mesa in the afternoon. This leaves the “Red Line,” which runs all day long, in both directions at about thirty minute intervals, but takes nearly three hours to travel from central Mesa to Metro Center. To make matters worse, I missed the run scheduled immediately after my class and the next one, when it finally arrived at Metro Center, got there just after nightfall. I wasn’t especially prepared to ride in the dark.

I left Metro Center, with no lights or clear lenses, following the bike path north along the Cave Creek Canal, and riding slowly. The bike path ends just before Thunderbird Road and I was riding along the “unofficial bike route” through residential neighborhoods when I lost a contact lens — without clear lenses, I wasn’t wearing my riding glasses. I stopped and was attempting to replace the lense in my eye — it had only dropped out onto my cheek — when the rain started and washed it out of my hand. With only two miles remaining, I pressed on and began riding very slowly through the driving rain with one eye closed.

Surprisingly, this worked rather well. Until, only a half-mile from home, I misjudged the height of a curb and bent a rim — just enough to prevent it from rolling, at all, through the brakes. After disconnecting the brakes, I was able to finish the ride home.

This return trip from Mesa, with the never-ending bus ride and seven miles by bike, took just over four hours to complete. I’d have been better off taking my chances with the heat.

Since my feet were killing me from Monday’s ride, I drove to Mesa Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. My feet felt pretty good this morning so I rode down to Mesa again with the intention of meeting my wife and kids at the Phoenix Zoo on the way home. Unfortunately, my wife ran into car problems in the middle of the day, so her sister picked me up from Mesa so I could get things running again.

I rode to Mesa again for the first day of class. I left at 5:30am, which is probably why it was so much easier to ride down this time. I made it to the YMCA, showered, and still got to class with well over a half-hour to spare. Although the day’s high temperature reached 105, the return trip wasn’t quite as bad as last time. I just rode slowly and drank lots of water. Unfortunately, the balls of my feet were killing me before I got home and I had to stop several times and walk them out. I realize now that my old sneakers just don’t cut it for long rides, I’m going to have to break down and get a pair of bicycling shoes.

Okay, I admit it. I’m a wimp. I’m getting sent to a class in Mesa in about two weeks. I got a couple of maps a few weeks ago, planned my route down, and rode it today to see if it was, in fact, ridable. I also wanted to see what bicycle facilities might be available once I got there. From my maps, I figured it would be about 30 miles, one way, with about a third of it along the canal banks.

My first problem was when switching from the Arizona Canal to the Cross-cut Canal. Both have names on my maps, but are not signed or otherwise designated along their banks. I passed the intersection twice before I realized what/where it was. I also got lost once in Tempe after leaving the canal system. This wasn’t too bad and was easy to figure out but was a gross waste of time. I eventually found MCC and the YMCA and headed back — after a short stop at KZZP to pick up a “looooser” pack I won a week ago.

Unfortunately, I was baked after riding only half-way back, and the remaining miles were absolute torture. In all, I was off by only three miles: 33 miles, two and a half hours one way — we won’t discuss the other way (grin). I think that with the 6-8 hour class between directions that I could probably make it. Not sure if I can do it daily, but I’ll give it a shot and try it that Monday morning.