A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

But I'm going to annotate the photos a bit anyway. I had to lead a workshop this morning at 7:30 so I did not get out as early as I might have, but was on the road by 10:15. I took the path that led to the public bike way that soon ended on the streets with a bike lane on most of them. I rode about twenty miles; it is a bit hard to know for sure as I'm on 20' wheels and stopped now and then to take pictures. But I'm being conservative since I road for over 2 hours and certainly felt as though I'd ridden at least 20 miles. And who said (someone did say) that Phoenix is flat. There are mountains in view as soon as you hit the road and while its not Seattle, its not flat.

This first photo is the view from the road just before the path hits the streets and you can see the mountain or foothill off in the distance.


















The second photo shows me getting closer to that mountain.

















And the third shows me at the top of the road, as close to the top of the "peak" as I could get.













I turned right at the top of the hill and the next two photos are supposed to give you an idea of the descent. I hope they do. It was fun!















On the other hand, at the other end of the very same road with a beautiful view is the very opposite aesthetic: The ubiquitous American suburban strip-mall. This was no national park I was riding around in, that's for sure.














But I did find the homes improved by the presence of the beautiful cactus gardens. I'm a sucker for cactus.















I managed to find my way almost back to the hotel. I remembered most of the turns I'd made and knew that I was close, but I just couldn't pinpoint the last part of the directions. So I stopped in a pleasant enough public park, rested my feet and had a Craig bar, used the very accommodating facilities and called the hotel for directions back. I was about a mile away, a straight shot down the road I was on. So I arrived back safe and sound in time for lunch and was greeted by the not too shabby views the hotel grounds themselves afford.

















No ride tomorrow. I begin what I hope will be a much less frustrating trip back to Philly and look forward to riding the new Fuji on Thursday.



Meanwhile the third stage of the Paris-Nice is over today and Levi Leiphiemer has fallen to 26 seconds off the pace while dark-horse Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas has taken the yellow jersey away from David Millar.