It was a 68 mile ride to Tempe ,
and was mostly downhill all the way into Phoenix . The fast ride was good but the traffic noise
was distracting. Once into Phoenix
and on the Arizona Canal Bike Path, things turned peaceful and very
enjoyable. The trail has many
underpasses to get the biker safely past intersecting roads. The safety aspect
of this is something which should be provided on more bike paths. Not so obviously, one must be extremely
careful while going through the underpasses.
Sun glasses on while entering makes it difficulty to see the
obstacles. What obstacles you say? It seems these underpasses provide shade and
a “safe comfortable” place for the homeless to sleep. One homeless man was asleep along the edge of
the path and near the wall, and we barley missed hitting him with our
pedals. Future underpasses where entered
with much more caution.
The official Adventure Cycling route leaves the bike path
and meanders through city streets to get into Tempe . Some in the group choose to stay on the bike
path for several more miles, and exiting it, had only a 6 mile ride on roads
with good bike lanes before reaching the hotel.
This unofficial route section was not paved, but was very nicely packed
stone and sand. It was easy to ride and
extended our time out of traffic.
We are staying at a Motel 6.
Not top of the line but nice. The
pool is right outside our rooms and a quick dip in the surprisingly cool water
proved very refreshing. We will be here
for two nights as tomorrow is a layover day, a little time for R&R.
Don’t expect much from this blog tomorrow. J
Ken, Neil and Joe
went to dinner with Mike and Lori. Mike
drove us in a air conditioned van to the Macyo Depot Cantina, a great
Mexican restaurant. After dinner we
walked to Spanky’s for a delicious ice-cream cone. Maybe we will have to ride tomorrow to work
off all the calories we consumed tonight.
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