Day 6

Wickenburg to Prescott (60 miles). I know what you're thinking -- 60 miles, is that all? I know that's what I was thinking but I quickly discovered why it was almost half the mileage of yesterday. It was all uphill and into a ferocious headwind all day long! I would have never in my wildest dreams thought a 60 mile ride would take 6 hours, but at times I was thankful to be going 6 mph on what looked to be a flat road -- called a "false flat" I've since learned. I've also made it more difficult for myself by giving up coffee to cut down on bathroom breaks -- sorry, too much information! But that does lead me to a point I'm trying to make: Caffeine withdrawal is real and I noticed it about halfway through today's ride. I was very tempted to throw in the towel and take the "SAG" (short for support and gear) vehicle, but my pride just wouldn't let me. After a Mountain Dew, a bag of Peanut M&M's, half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some Cheetos I was good to go and the rest of the ride was spectacularly beautiful. We are in the mountains now and the climbing is slow-going but the trade-off is pretty scenery. This new diet is hard to get used to after following Weight Watchers for almost a year, but they say we're burning between 3,000 and 4,000 calories a day so I'm not going to worry about it. Prescott is where we are tonight and the elevation here is about 6,000 ft. Tomorrow we're heading toward Flagstaff and stopping for the night halfway in between at a town called Cottonwood. We'll pass through a quaint little town called Jerome which overlooks the red rocks of Sedona so we were advised tonight at "route rap" to stop and smell the roses!