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It was too early to check into the hotel at Flagstaff when we arrived, so I rode the Red One the six miles up Mars Hill to the Lowell Observatory. We’d seen it in 2019, so we just circled the parking lot and headed back down. I think there must have been almost 20 traffic lights going each way! What fun! For those may not understand the sarcastic humor, stopping and starting on a Henderson is a challenge requiring close coordination of both feet and both hands and flexible decision-making. Done well, it is a thing of beauty. Mostly, though, an extraordinary effort is needed to avoid stopping... by looking ahead, timing the lights, and slowing to hope they turned green before you get there (or stay green for long enough to slip by).
While we were riding up Mars Hill, Lloyd took my Garmin (which tracked him via satellite every 10 minutes), a printed map, and the two permits I needed to ride the planned route, and headed out to ride the 51-mile section of off-road riding we planned for the next day (today, Friday). Lloyd is a skilled off-road rider and has a bike made for the job, but he quickly concluded there was no way I could ride 80% of that road... maybe the last 10 miles, but the first 40 were a hot mess that he feared would not end well for me if I tried to ride them. Still, Lloyd completed the recon and made it back to Flagstaff in time for dinner with some friends. |
