Wickenburg to Chandler

Today's ride involved a bit of logistics coordination as we were meeting two groups of Intel cyclists along the way and we were hoping for a hot breakfast before pedaling away. We agreed on an 8 am checkout, find a restaurant for breakfast, then roll away at 9. I set my alarm for 6 am in order to have some margin. 

Sometime during the night, my iPhone stopped working. No alarm.  I woke up to the sound of an owl hooting outside, and seeing that it was daylight got up. 6:02 am. Lucky day! But no iPhone. It required activation to do anything but an emergency call and with no internet, I was stuck. I finally tired  using Don's phone as a hot spot and after connecting to it, and then remembering my password, I was able to get it back up and running. Phew. 

We found a nice Mexican restaurant that served breakfast and I enjoyed a spanish omelet with green chiles. Hit the spot. 

Somehow though, time flew by and it was 9:30 am before we rolled out. This took away margin from  our first meeting point at mile 55. Don and I rolled out and for a change did not make any wrong turns. The wind was at our back, the sky was blue, and we were rolling at an average speed of 24 miles per hour while pedaling effortlessly. Well almost. The joy lasted for about 30 minutes. That's when I head Don call out, "Flat". Yup, back tire was losing air quickly. 

Working together we got the flat fixed in just under 5 minutes. This could be a new record for us. Hooray for CO2 cartridges! We then continued on and looked for Amy to come by in the van to give us a chance to refill our bottles. It turned out that with Waze directing her off our route and then using Find Friends to hone in on us, we just couldn't be caught. Moving target. So we called and decided we had enough water with us to get us to lunch.

As we rode with traffic, we had a few cars honk their horns at us. Expecting to see annoyed drivers, we were instead greeted by cheers. One woman shouted, "I survived a heart attack."  Another car just shouted out encouragement and gave us the thumbs up. Emotions welled up inside me at this point. This is what this ride is about. 

Amy, driving the van, was also greeted by a passerby who asked her when was the next blood donation drive. Close, but not quite what we're doing!

At lunch we were greeted by a great crew of Intel employees. Many had arrived early and we enjoyed good conversation. Thank you all for showing up. This means a lot to all of us, especially Sean. 

We rolled out with a combination of road bikes, cross bikes, and mountain bikes. The mountain bikes were king of the road. I didn't know they could roll that fast! 

At the Zoological park we picked up another two riders and head out towards the Intel plant on Chandler boulevard.  Interestingly we had 2 more flats (not our bikes) and one snapped chain (Danny, you are too strong!) but we still all managed to meet up at the end of the ride. 

We shared some fruit and beverages at the SAG wagon, took some more pictures, and called it a day. 

I asked all to please set a 'heart healthy goal' write it out on a sheet of paper, hold it up and get a photo taken. Post it on Facebook and share it with Heart Across America. I feel the momentum building!

Finally at our hotel we were greeted by a nice banner welcoming us. Photo below. This is great.

Dave