DAILY BLOG

This morning, before we started biking for the day, I had the privilege of speaking at a men’s 6:30am breakfast at North Point Fellowship in Flagstaff.

The boys enjoyed sleeping in a little while Rich spoke at a men’s breakfast

After that, we left the Flagstaff area at 9am, while a local cable news show got some video footage of us as we were departing our hotel. As we then headed north on 89 towards Tuba City, we had a good hill climb and then a long descent. We had some spring in our legs after the rest day and averaged over 18.5mph over that first 25 miles.

FlagNews in Flagstaff shooting our departure

Today was an unusual day for us because while our relatively short 71-mile route was from Flagstaff to Tuba City, we are actually spending the night in Kayenta (about 60 miles away), where we begin the next stage’s ride. Our original plan was to do Flagstaff-Tuba City route and then hike it in the van to Kayenta. However, after the heavy traffic on highway 89 got a bit scary for us, we decided to ride the last 46 miles of the day between Tuba City and Kayenta, where there would be less traffic. The scenery dramatically changed today from mountains to high plateau to red clay canyonlands. Unfortunately, as we exited the Flagstaff area, its moderate temperatures disappeared as well—forcing us once again to cycle in 96-101 degree temperatures.

Mountain scenery at start of day

Long flats in the plateau regions towards Kayenta

A familiar site: Kim and her cell phone

Another Justy pic

Rich is happy with ending Stage 6

One news item….we finally have a video camera for the trip. If you have been reading our blog, you’ll recall that our normal video camera broke on Day 1, so we have been unable to shoot anything thus far. However, we ended up getting a replacement in Flagstaff. The first video is actually pretty thin on information, but we’ll get more substantive starting tomorrow.

Rich testing out the new video camera

Tomorrow is July 4 and is one of the epic days I have been eagerly awaiting since we planned the tour route this past winter. In the early morning, we’ll be riding through Monument Valley and then working our way towards Four Corners. After finishing the ride, we’ll be traveling by van to Durango, where we stay the night and hopefully catch some fireworks.

Jared is desperately awaiting Colorado. He has been struggling with days in which we have long stretches of straight, relatively flat roads. He loves the challenge of a climb, and can’t wait until the Rockies begin. (Shhh, don’t tell him that after Colorado, we’ll be leaving the mountains for Oklahoma!)

Jared and Justy at day’s end