{"id":19662,"date":"2016-05-04T23:23:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T03:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19662"},"modified":"2016-05-04T23:23:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T03:23:45","slug":"day-12-wednesday-may-4-safford-to-duncan-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19662","title":{"rendered":"Day 12. Wednesday, May 4 – Safford to Duncan, Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days ago, we spent hours trying to find an alternative route to the one our map wanted us to take from Duncan. \u00a0The problem was the mapped\u00a0route would require at least one night of camping in the desert with no campground or Water<\/em>. \u00a0We were excited with our new route, as it would provide a hot shower and soft pillow, plus it would be a short ride after our grueling ride from yesterday. \u00a0But the wind Gods saw it differently; the road could not be any more directly into the wind.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Our half mile out of town was straight\u00a0east and the buildings blocked the brunt of the wind. \u00a0However, once we turned southeast, the 20-30 mph wind stood us straight up.\"DSCN0968\"<\/a> \u00a0We struggled to go 5 mph on our slight uphill, not that we could tell if there was an uphill, the wind was so strong. \u00a0We pushed to go a mile before stopping; our only opportunity\"DSCN0937\"<\/a>\u00a0to take a picture. \"DSCN0944\"<\/a>\u00a0Ten miles out, we came to the intersection that would put us on course and<\/em> the wind at our shoulder.\"DSCN0971\"<\/a> Tempting as it was to not face the wind any longer, it was not strong enough to pull us away from a motel room at the end of the day. \u00a0Based on our photos,\"DSCN0987\"<\/a> it was a pretty ride,\"DSCN0983\"<\/a> but every nerve, thread and ounce of our body was focused on staying upright and moving forward.\"DSCN0984\"<\/a>\u00a0After two hours of biking we had climbed 500 feet and only gone 13 miles; it was arduous, no<\/em>, it was Brutal<\/strong>! \u00a0Another hour of biking only yielded an additional three miles; we were getting beat up. \u00a0We had really underestimated how much the wind was going to take out of us and by mile 20 were were starting to ration water. \u00a0The climbing and desert wind was sucking everything out of us and we questioned our finishing. \u00a0\"IMG_2047\"<\/a>We rounded a corner at one point and saw a car pulled over on the side of the road. \u00a0Our spirits lifted slightly, thinking it may be a police car that we could beg a bottle of water from. \u00a0As we pulled into the turnoff, we realized it was someone having a roadside lunch; we asked nonetheless, but obviously no one drives around with a cooler of water. \u00a0We pushed on. \u00a0About a half an hour later, a car approaching from the other direction starts waving us down. \u00a0Our desert Angel, Diane, \"DSCN1002\"<\/a>had stopped her lunch and driven over\u00a030 miles to buy water for us, over\u00a0a Gallon of it<\/em>. \u00a0Diane, if you are watching THANK YOU, as we were\u00a0pretty close to done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The wind was still blowing hard in our face, but fully loaded with water, we knew we could make the last 12 miles, albeit slowly. \u00a0By our fifth hour of pedaling, we had only come 31 miles.<\/p>\n

A few miles short of town, we were gifted\u00a0a downhill we could actually coast down.\"DSCN1021\"<\/a> \u00a0The wind fought hard to push us back up, but this\u00a0time, for two miles we enjoyed not<\/em> pedaling. \u00a0On the outskirts of town, we stopped at the first place we saw that offered refreshments. \u00a0The sign was not promising,\"DSCN1027\"<\/a> but it was 2:30 and other than breakfast, we had only had an apple and orange. \u00a0Lunch was unexpectedly good,\"DSCN1028\"<\/a> plus we got a tip on a good place to stay for the night.<\/p>\n

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover \"DSCN1031\"<\/a>our room was huge, brand new and comfortable; apparently a far cry from what we had reserved.<\/p>\n

Six hours biking, eight hours out and only 40 miles completed. \u00a0It had been a very tough day.<\/p>\n\n\t\t