DAY 6: 9/25 Gila Bend, AZ to Scottsdale, AZ + DAY 7: 9/26 Recovery Day in Scottsdale

DAY 6: 9/25 Gila Bend, AZ 92 miles to Scottsdale, AZ. High of only 92! –

Our original plan (as laid out in “The Route” blog) was to break this ride into 40 miles one day to Goodyear on the west side of the greater Phoenix area and then do 50 miles the next day to Scottsdale. But since we took an unplanned day of rest in Wellton, we opted to combine them into a single challenging day as we had a much needed reward awaiting us! 

We had hoped to begin by 5:30am but because of last night’s “deflate-gate” (not the NFL Tom Brady kind) we pushed it back and set out 6:24am. The first 40 miles were what we imagined when we were back home. Beautiful desert scenery and still cool in the early morning especially with some cloud cover before the clouds burn off. (If that’s what clouds do?)The riding was comfortable. 

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair…( well, if I had hair) 

The cacti started to have personalities to me. Some were friendly and others had that look of a hand with the middle finger pointed up. I imagine I just failed a cacti Rorschach test!  

Two car garage and cactus 

Around 9am, we were snacking and talking roadside when this huge 18 wheel rig pulled up on the other side of the road. (I didn’t actually count the wheels it just seemed like that’s what you write.) The driver motioned me to come over. He spoke very few words of English and I even fewer in Spanish. He showed me on his phone how he follows two cyclists all over Africa and insisted on giving us two water bottles because of the heat. Heather now leaned in to the conversation and with her very basic Spanish explained we were riding California to Florida. I was embarrassed to accept his gift but more nervous to offend him by refusing his kindness. I accepted and told Heather that when we get home, we have to carry a cooler of water in the car and give it to random road workers, cyclists or somebody.  

Unimaginable unsolicited kindness

Our destination was the TREK store in West Phoenix (Goodyear) for a preventive maintenance check and swapping Heather’s rear tube or valve.  Thank you Eric and Brandon - you were wizards and we left there with finely tuned precision machines and some TREK swag to boot. 

TREK wizards at work

TREK was also conveniently located  next to Rudy’s BBQ. We befriended Randy and Gil in the ordering line and were advised the smoked turkey is a favorite. The sample given to first timers confirmed that and along with the brisket is the way to go!  The banana pudding was just ok considering we are spoiled with NYC’s Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding as the gold standard. But the peach cobbler was in a league of its own! I had never eaten such a big lunch before riding and was wondering if I’d be able to pedal again especially in the now rising afternoon heat. Given we ended up riding into the dark evening, it was good we loaded up.

Rudy’s BBQ. Turkey, brisket and peach cobbler is the way to go!

No sissy sauce for Heather!

The afternoon heat was another hurdle. I could not believe how big the greater Phoenix area just continuously sprawls. I felt myself sagging and needed a rest and rehydrate stop. These extra 40 miles were more than I bargained for. 

At last we arrived at our reward for today and this past week of heat that almost stopped us. Lori, a dear colleague for 35 years and quite simply a travel planning queen, had so kindly hooked us up at a Scottsdale resort! Thank you Lori! It turned out we needed this way more than we ever thought back in August when Lori and I spoke! 

DAY 7 9/26/21 Scottsdale rest day! –

Sleep, catching up on news, eating well, exploring old Scottsdale (my first organic soft-serve), and a great Mexican dinner at the Barrio Queen helped rejuvenate our souls! 

The most interesting experience was with our Uber driver Adam back to the hotel. He spoke passionately about his goals and family and we learned about his time in the military and the passing of his mother and father. We knew we were his last ride of the night, so he was eager to get home. Yet when we arrived at our hotel we sat in the car for another ten minutes just talking with us apologizing that it must be late and Adam saying no problem he wanted to continue. It was an emotional sendoff. 

Thank you to the incredible hospitality team at Marriott! I guess two sweaty, smelly neon-clad cyclists walking in with their bikes are not their usual guest, yet you treated us like royalty! Thank you Max, Ivy, Hashim, Jose, Kaitlyn, and Charles (love the story of his barber grandma cutting the hair of Ernie Davis, Jim Brown and other athletic legends in Syracuse!)  Lastly, thanks to Reesha for the surprise chocolate lava cake and fruit bowl in our room!    

A sweet sendoff 

© Copyright Mark Segal 2021.