Day 6 - Prescott, AZ > Cottonwood, AZ (44.1 miles)

 May 10

Today was a lollipop! We needed an easy'ish day based on the accumulated miles during the week, and we got it. There was a pretty good climb that ended around mile 27, and it was a screaming downhill descent after the summit. The climb was 11.5 miles and 2,168 ft of ascent to 7,000 elevation; this is similar to Hogpen for those that have ridden Six Gap except this was easier as Hogpen covers the same ascent in 7.5 miles yet we were at higher altitude. The ride up was great as we just said: "Bill, up the hill." He set a great pace, and we just sat on his wheel and stayed very quiet and small. The ride down scared the crap out of me, but I have already confessed about my descending skills/fears. Stuart, Raff, and Bill all come down the hills much better than I do, but heck, I paid for brakes, so I think I should use them! We had very steep, curvy roads, potholes, an abyss over the guardrail, cars, and a serious death grip on the hoods of your handlebars. Yep, we chose to do this, and some people actually love to go fast down the hills. I topped out at 36 mph today and was definitely the slow guy in our group! 

Route details:

Quote for today is one of my favorites: " A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion." LH Hardwick If somebody ever tells me that they think that the descent down into Cottonwood is a barrel of laughs, I will not be at his mercy. We did have a great burger on the way down at Haunted Burger (highly recommend this place!)

We got to the hotel way before we could check in, so we hydrated near the pool (we could not get access to the pool until we could check in due to an over-population of lawyers in this country.) Raff took the photo as he exercises his artistic muscles in this hippy part of the country!

Couple of photos from the climb/descent:

I have modified the spreadsheet to combine mileage and terrain and create a new category for knucklehead drivers. (I almost laughed coffee out of my nose when I saw Roxy's comment advocating for reading the spreadsheet since she did not like reading my spreadsheets when we worked together! 8-)

Ok, more than enough from today...this was one of those days that makes a trip like this stick with you forever. I wish we had more of our crew riding with us, and I wish we had our 'normal sherpas.' Tomorrow is one of the hardest days that we will have as we ride into Flagstaff climbing 5,100 ft over 47 miles...the graph will make you appreciate it better when you see it tomorrow. Thanks again for reading, praying, and texting humor.  I am already thinking about pizza at Lumberjack Pizza in Flagstaff! Talk soon.