Phoenix to Gold Canyon

58 Miles

” Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle,

I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle…”

Today was a spectacular day for a ride, and in the fantasy world that I live in, I would have liked this day to be one of the first of this trip.  58 miles of even terrain, no huge climbs,….ahh..  Lots of urban cycling, so we had to navigate through traffic, and construction, but that was not so bad.  We left Phoenix and winded our way through Paradise Valley and Scottsdale. Spending a bit of time off the main roads and in several residential neighborhoods.  And some of them were quite high end – Wow, there are some beautiful homes in this area.

In Paradise Valley there were tons of people strolling or biking through their neighborhoods on this early Saturday morning.   We continued on through Mesa, where there was a ton of road construction happening – and we had to be on the look out for construction debris – nails, wires etc.

We stopped in a Subway to grab a sandwich and I was able to connect with Helga Parker – who jumped in her car and met us.  I have not seen Helga in many years, but we easily chatted and caught up. She was able to speak a bit of German with one of my traveling companions.  Yesterday was so nostalgic for me, and today with Helga brought it back again.  But what was clear to me, was that although my Mom has been gone for 7 years, she is still ever present through the relationships that she had and the person that she was.  Audrey and Helga, both spoke about Mom, and said that they missed her very much.  These people came out to see me, yes – but they were there because of my Mom.   And for that, again, I am grateful.

Wonderful day – great ride!  First day that my quads were not smoking and I finished as strong as I started.   We are in the midst of  eight days of consecutive riding- with a few hard days to come.  I will take today and enjoy the moment!!