Day 33 - Safford, AZ - Miami, AZ

My alarm was set to go off at 5:30am this morning, but with the time difference I awoke at 4:30am and just laid there and stared at the ceiling until it started buzzing. Since I was wide awake getting ready this morning was a breeze. I was up and ready in record time.

This morning we were surprised by Carl Ames and Cassey Knight with new POPsRide jersey for the entire team! They are slick, we all got dressed and were looking good. Thanks guys!

We were scheduled to leave at 7am from the same spot we stopped at last night. We were riding with the Rally for POPs crew and we were all excited to continue our journey! We started riding and headed down the road to Thatcher, AZ. We were scheduled to stop at the Safeway in Thatcher at 7:30am. They were providing us with donuts and coffee. Safeway also provided water for us on the rest of our trip. I can not remember the total amount, but it is a ton of water! Thanks Safeway for keeping us hydrated! Once we took some photo and talked to some folks there we started riding our bikes again.

We headed out on the open road. For some reason the scenery has been really pretty the last few days. I am not sure if it is because I am used to it? But the mountain have gotten bigger and the dessert looks more like a dessert. Our end point for the day was Miami, AZ just past Globe, AZ. The ride was full of rolling hills that keep our legs alive and our heartbeats up. We all stopped and ate lunch right at 50 miles. We all piled in the RV and enjoyed cold sandwiches prepared by Mona. Once we all were fed and ready to roll we headed out of the lunch stop and on to the final destination for today.

Things were a little interesting and frustrating after lunch. We headed out and after 5 miles we hit some long hills, not very steep - just long. The other problem was they were recently repaved and sprayed with oil. The road was okay but the shoulder was really nasty. When you hit the shoulder it almost felt like you had a flat tire? It was really weird, I went ahead and switched over to the road and figured I would try my luck with traffic instead of drive on that shoulder. We all stopped at the top of the hill and I noticed everyone was checking there tires. I looked down at mine and noticed the same thing on my back tire as they had on there. They were covered with tar. It was caked on the tires. It was so thick it was actually cutting into one of the guys frame. It took us many attempts but at the end of the day a butter knife was the best way to get the crap off the tires. Never a dull moment while riding cross country on a bike.

The rest of the ride went pretty quick and we made it safe and sound to our hotel in Miami, AZ. We all took some time and cleaned our bikes to make sure they were ready for tomorrow morning.

Tonight we had a big dinner for the entire group. Mona prepared a Spaghetti and meatball, with a salad and some fresh bread. It was enough to feed a army of men, or the POPs Riders and friends. Did I mention she prepared all this from the RV. Amazing I tell you!

After dinner we had a meeting with the group, we needed to discuss the ride tomorrow from Miami to Phoenix. We have a huge day in front of us. The total mileage is 118 on the day and we have a 30 minutes window we are trying to hit at the end of that 118 mile day! We decided that we will leave 2 hours earlier then our normal time of 7am. So the alarm is set for 3:50am! what the heck, that doesn't sound fun at all. But in order to be successful it is what needs to be done.

That's all for tonight, I need to get as much sleep as possible tonight!