Day 56 - San Clemente - Newport/Huntington Beach (70km)

This morning we slept in to 7:30am and started biking along the designated bike route through the O.C suburbs. After 2 days of rain on the entire trip we got rained on about 10kms from Newport Beach. Once at Newport Beach we repeated what we had done two months earlier and caught the ferry from Balboa Island to the Beach where we stripped down and plunged into the Pacific to officially end our bike trip. The water was alot warmer than the previous two months and we had a quick body surf before getting taught a lesson by the local shore break.

After we dried off we continued up the coast to Huntington Beach where the hostel we intended on staying was full. We organised for the bikes to be boxed up and stored for the next week and hunted around for some reasonably priced accommodation. We also arranged for a rental car to take us on a road trip to Vegas and Death Valley.

Day 55 - Julian - San Clemente (152km)

Today we hit the coast! After 45 days of biking (plus 10 rest days) we reached the Pacific. The day started off with a decent downhill to a town called San Ysabel where we waited for 15 minutes for the local bakery to open.

The stretch to the coast was relatively uneventful. The road got busy as we neared the coast, but included alot of downhill as we were dropping to sea level from over 4000ft.

Arrived in Oceanside to find out that the camping was a good 15-20 miles up the road. As we had a bit of energy we decided to continue on. As we were not allowed on the interstate we had to go through a military base where the the very young officer at the gate told us we could nt camp at the marked campsite on our tourist map. Turned out he was wrong, but we had no supplies so we continued up the road to San Clemente State Beach where we camped with an ocean view. Pretty sweet camping at the beach where they have 'hike and bike' rates which were $3 a piece. Riding through the military base was pretty good as there was almost no traffic on the road. Every now and again we would come across signs saying tank crossing etc.

We also met an interesting (and rather crazy) lady who camped next to us. She took a bit of shine to young David and told us that he looked like Jesus!!

That night it got cold and we got rained on pretty hard. We were quite relieved that we didn't have to use the wet and muddy tents again once we had folded them.

Day 54 - Brawley - Julian (128km)

After the hills in Arizona (and the previous day) we thought it would be plain sailing across the rest of California until we had a chat to some locals who informed us that the town of Julian was at 4200ft! We started the day knowing we had to climb this distance so we pulled out the trusty GPS to check out what altitude we were at to work out how much climbing we had to do. The GPS had us at 2000ft so a 2000ft climb over 120ks or so wasn't too bad. The first two hours of riding involved a gentle climb and after 60km we passed a sign that said that we were at 1000ft of elevation. We couldn't believe it! Turned out that the town of Brawley is 110ft below sea level and played havoc with the GPS so they day turned into 4300ft of climbing!

The town of Julian is pretty nice and touristy and much greener than the desert we ascended from. We were lucky enough to catch it on a saturday so were joined by all the weekend warriors from San Diego on their Harleys. We chilled out in the town for a few hours then headed to a campsite about 7 miles out of town. About 2 miles from the campground there was a sign saying that the campground was full, but we decided to chance it anyway and would beg if necessary to stay there as we were not keen on going much further!

On arrival the Ranger wasn't that sympathetic at first, but after a bit he felt sorry for us and let us camp in one of the day use areas (as long as we were long gone before his boss arrived the next morning). Lets just say we were pretty relieved as the nearest other campsite was a good 10 - 15 miles away!

Hi all

Today we all fly out to our respective final destinations - Dave & Sarse to London, myself back to the land of the long white cloud (or whatever interpretation you take)... Sarse will get the final few days up on arrival.

From me it is goodbye & good luck,
Ben

Hi all

Finally we have made it to a library to do what will probably be the last couple of posts to this blog... we have finished the ride, been to Vegas and back, and are currently relaxing in the O.C. before we three separate ways tomorrow and fly out. (you can read between the lines from that that none of us hit it big time in Vegas...). Total kms cycled for the trip came out at 5,370 - from coast to coast.

We would all like to thank those who have supported us in getting to and getting through this bike trip - it turned out a lot smoother than we could have ever expected. Special mention to Carrie & Cody and Jeremy & Rach (our start and end homes).

Below is a brief overview of some of the final days of the bike trip...

Day 53 - 142km - Blythe to Brawley
And it is hot. After getting a taste of the heat yesterday, we rose at 3am this morning to get on the road. First real use of the lights that we had been carrying for the whole trip. After some pretty hard riding through some stiff rollers, we hit the sand dunes. Since it was so early it wasnt too hot yet which was pretty good as we were able to do some actions photos in the dunes before rolling through. We stopped at a lone store before the start of the dunes (at about 9.30am) where Dave made a return to the black gold - downing 2 cans of coke within 5 minutes...

Immediately after clearing the dunes, we came to the imperial valley irrigation area. Lying at or below sea level, this area of roughly 460,000 acres is irrigated by water taken from the Colarado River - producing crops and used for dairy farming - right in the middle of the desert. The irrigation outflow goes into the Salton Sea (and is pretty much the only water that goes to the Salton Sea - the sea was prooduced by accident when engineers didnt quite get the irrigation system right). This cesspool which lies about 200ft below sea level (close to the -300ft at Badwater in Death Valley) is a rich area in terms of birds - about 250 different species gather here to feast on the multiplicity of scum-fed fish... As we were told, farm water feeds the nation - and also means the Colorado is near to empty by the time it crosses the USA/Mexico border.

Anyway, it was actually quite nice to cycle through this area, as the water and crops colled and moistened the air a bit - taking the edge off the dry desert air. That night we rolled into a motel for the night (as there were no campgrounds available in Brawley), which served as a great refresher for tired bodies as we enjoyed a night of comfort of beds and air-con, energising the bodies for the final push towards the coast!

Day 52 - 126km - Wenden to Blythe (California)
The final state of our bike trip. An early start today to beat the heat - we were on the road at sunrise. Another nice downhill as we descended into the low desert. Wasa reasonably smooth ride to Blythe, with a brief strop for the final border photo of our trip. We found out today what people mean when they talk about the heat of the desert - the best way to describe it is "furious heat". Hard to really do justice to it. Someone described the heat as so hot "it jumps out and grabs you". I would say it jumps out and grabs you, bodyslams you, and then laughs at you... it is f'n hot. Luckily we found a pearler of a campsite which was situated next to the cool waters of the Colorado River. A swim and some nicely watered grass to camp on under some shade trees was pure gold.

Day 51 - 161km - Prescott to Wenden
After riding through a bit of forest for the first part of the ride, we descended towards the low desert (after reaching 6100ft at the start of the ride, we descended to about 2000ft. Tomorrow we get down to about 800 and below). The heat was up around 100 degrees later in the day.

Day 50 - 79km - Precott NF to Prescott
A fairly easy ride into Prescott, followed by a lunch at a local waffle house. During lunchtime the weather turned for the worst - the wind picked up and the rain started falling. This isa bit of a 'common' occurance over this area as the hot air rushes up the slopes to higher altitude off the low desert. While popping in to do our brief blog update, we met a local who informed us the forecast was for 55mph winds and thunderstorms and it would be best to stay the night in Prescott. We took his advice and ended up staying at a national forest park just south of Prescott on our route for the next day.

Hi all - we are in Prescott, Arizona for lunch at the moment & are taking an hour out to update the blog for those of you at home. Commentary may be a bit brief, as time is limited. This will probably be the last update before we arrive at Newport Beach as we are now on the home stretch of the ride - just over a week to go. Please read on for the latest on our American adventure...

p.s. Tim, thanks for your comment on the blog. Extremely interesting stuff. Maybe you should set up a blog yourself.

Day 49 - 142km - Grand Canyon Village to Prescott National Forest
Goodbye to the Grand Canyon & hello to the final stretch! About 9 or so days of riding left. Today was a fairly quiet day, descending about 1500-2000ft as we moved away from the grand canyon & started moving towards the edge of the plateau & the low desert.

We stopped in Williams for lunch, where a thunderstorm passed over whilst we were eating. Not much rain but heaps of noise and lightning. Things got a bit windier after that. We made our way down the interestate for a while - a 20 mile stretch where we descended about 1000+ ft with a tail(ish) wind (temperatures immediately stepped up...). After refilling the water bottles, we cycled down the road about 10 miles towards Prescott, where we found a lake (amazingly for this area) and a nice wooded area in the national forest to camp - as Arizona hasa pack in/pack out, no fee approach to camping in the nat forests - we are maximising this as much as possible.

Williams also has a stretch of the historic route 66 running through - it is a bit of a tourist event tracing the path of the '66 accross the states.

Only other notable event was at lunch - the idea of pushing through to clock up a 200km day with the bags was floated to Dave & Ben B... No excitment or enthusiasm for the idea on their part though, so that one looks like it gets chucked into the 'bright ideas' bin...


Day 48 - Rest Day at the Grand Canyon
The rise to see the sunrise from a different part of the rim was flagged in favour of a sleep in. The boys all awoke to sore legs - obviously a strict diet of cycling doesnt give the best prep for a reasonably full on day of hiking...

Today was a much more restful schedule - tripping along the rim to the east & west checking out the canyon jumping on a free shuttle bus between each view point. The hardest part of the day was stepping on and off the bus (and the sore pins were making it pretty hard work!). Was another must do if at the GC, and is a lot easier going side to side than up & down...


Day 47 - "Rest Day" at the Grand Canyon
So yesterday afternoon we did some investigations into the tramps into the grand canyon. It turns out that for day hikes, you dont need any permits... perfect.

So the plan was to hike down to the Colarado River (the great carver of the canyon) - approximately a mile vertical drop from the rim - and back in a single day. As fast as possible as it gets pretty hot pretty quick in the canyon - it is averaging 80+ degrees F at the rim & 100+ degrees F down the bottom.

Unfortunately we cant post photos at the moment, but all over the place (and at a number of points on the way down the trail) there are posters warning "do not attempt to hike down to the river and back in a single day" and stating that each year 250+ people have to be rescued from the trails because they try to & most of them look like us - 25-40 year old males with low levels of risk adversity... however that just made the challenge more enticing!

So we arose early (4am) and got a good breakfast down, loaded up with water & food in our converted pannier bags (now hiking bags) and headed out. After wearing our thermals for the start, it quickly warmed up and we all had a good bead on. The views were just great down in the canyon & we reccomend getting out on the trails should you visit the GC.

We saw one girl who had suffered a bit in the dry heat - she was vomiting and not moving far & was still right down by the river - it was going to be a long, hot day for her. Dave raised a flag with the rangers - however she wasnt yet at a state where they were concerned... a lesson learnt the hard way.

After 7 hours (3.5 down & 3.5 up) and a mile vertical lost then gained, we made it back to the start of the Bright Angel track. The swift conversion from cycling to hiking was yet to be felt...

An afternoon of relaxing with some cool celebratory beers followed...


Day 46 - 115km - Flastaff (in the bush) to Grand Canyon Village
And hello to the Grand Canyon. After a chilly start at 8000ft whilst we waited for the sun to shine through, we made easy pace through to the Grand Canyon Viallge. The village is located on the south rim of the grand canyon. We set up camp at the main campsite, the Mather Campground (a great place to be as the sites are huge and amongst the trees and all the oversize RVs are not allowed - giving the place a great, laid back, camping feel as most people have tents).

The easiest way to sum up the Grand Canyon - you have got to see it to grasp just how awesome it is. Absolutely blew us away.

Tomorrow we move to a new discipline and go tramping...

Day 45 - Sedona - 12 miles north of Flagstaff (64km)

The morning ride was pretty spectacular up through Oak Creek Canyon. The first 10-15km winded its way up the Canyon until we were faced with a shear wall with a lookout at the top. After negotiating a good series of switchbacks the view back down the Canyon was spectacular!

Flagstaff is a pretty good student town sitting at about 7000ft and is full of outdoor enthusiasts. It is also one of two towns in the US where elite athletes use of their altitude training (the other being Boulder, Colorado). Flagstaff is also surrounded by the tallest peaks in Arizona (rising to roughly 12500ft) and has a local skifield called snow bowl. Given that the annual precipitation in Flagstaff is around 20 inches we were not surprised to find out that the mountain was only open for 15 days last winter!

Given that there were no campsites in the direction we were heading we decided to camp in the National State Forest (where you can camp anywhere for free!) and at a highpoint of 8000ft. Lets just say it was a rather cold night!!

Day 44 - Camp Verde - Sedona (Oak Creek Canyon) (77km)

Nice easy day into Sedona. After surviving a busy road with little to no shoulder to Cottonwood we rode the Scenic road into Sedona. Sedona itself is pretty stunning and is surrounded by red rock formations. Many western movies were filmed here and we could definately see why!

At the supermarket we met a Canadian guy from Vancouver who informed us that the good campsite we were hoping to go to was full. Given that he only had one tent he let us share the tent site. The campsite was up at Oak Creek Canyon and had a swimming hole (water was freezing!)



Day 43 - Payson - Camp Verde (109km)

Looking at the map before we set out we thought we were in for a cruzy 100k day, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult 100km stretches in the entire trip! The locals the previous day had told us that it wsa pretty much downhill into Camp Verde! The first 15km had a decent drop before a gradual climb up to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. On the way into the Park there was a sign warning us of a 14% gradient (descent) over the next 3 miles. On the way down we had to put to the back of our minds that this was also the only way out of the Park!

The Tonto Natural bridge is pretty impressive. It is the largest of its kind in the world being 400ft long, 180ft high and a good 50-60ft thick. It consists of Travertine which is built up over thousands of years (similar to the Limestone caves back home). We hiked down to the bottom and were pretty surprised at how big it actually was. On the hike down a couple offered us the chance to put our bikes in the back of their pickup, but turned out they had gone when we got back up. The initial plan was to walk back up the hill to reduce the stress on the bikes and we also doubted whether we could climb this monster with an extra 50 pounds of weight. We dropped down into our granny gears and managed to get up without a pause which surprised us all!

Out of the State Park and we just kept on climbing and climbing. For 30kms around every corner there was another hill which was breaking us phsycologically! Dave got a flat in his new Gatorskins once we finally got back up on the rim (around 7000ft). About 20km from Camp Verde we finally got the downhill that the locals we talking about (6% over 15km).

Once at the Supermarket in Camp Verde a guy, after talking to Dave, asked if he was from New Zealand. Dave cautiously replied yes. The guy then asked if he had met his brother Todd in Del Rio. Back in Del Rio we had met a kiwi and her husband and they invited us around for Pizza. We knew that Todd's brother lived in Camp Verde, but the chances of bumping into him in the Supermarket were pretty slim. Jeff had been to NZ 2 or 3 times and invited us to stay at his place and had a few cold Steinlargers in the fridge which went down pretty well!


Day 42 - Globe - Payson (134km)

After a pretty easy decision we decided to skip going into Pheonix due to heavy traffic and cut the corner through Roosevelt lake to Payson and onto Camp Verde. This would also give us an extra day up our sleeve that we could use later on such as the Grand Canyon.

Leaving Globe we were stoked to leave the dry desert behind and move into a more colourful desert! The landscape is surrounded by red hills and also green from the huge Segoria cactus (of which there were hundreds!). We all wanted the perfect cactus for a photo op, but a few days later the cactuses disappeared so we missed our opportunity!

The road from Gl0be ran along the shore of Lake Roosevelt which was pretty impressive. At the other end of the lake there is a bridge that crossed over the Roosevelt Dam. After posing on the bridge for a photo Dave unscrewed the top of his drink bottle and managed to fumble it over the side of the bridge into the depths below (well beyond reach!).

We stopped at a town called Punkin Centre for lunch. As we were riding in we spotted a sign for 'free food'. Of course we couldn't pass this up! Turned out the local Kiwani Foundation had just received a truckload of food and were in the process of giving it away. If our luck couldn't get any better the ladies invited us inside and fed us even better food of toasted bagels and donuts which went down a treat.

The last part into Payson involved a 2000ft (15km) climb onto the Mongolan Rim (part of a large contintental shelf which runs across Arizona. Given that it was about 30 degress, no wind and the first part of the climb literally went straight up the hill it definately took its toll! Finally got to the top and were rewarded with views of the 'Rim' and a good downhill off the Rim into Payson.

Day 41 - Rest day Globe, Arizona

Given that all the amenities we required were within the confines of the Super8 Motel we did not venture far from here. The day was spent infront of the tv, bike maintenance, laundry and thats about it. Ben B and Dave did, however, have another crack at the Chinese buffet while Ben S didn't want a repeat of the previous day & has a bit more interest in variation so hit the local Mexican restaurant. Dave became another casualty of the buffet and had a rather uncomfortable waddle back to the Motel where he had to have a lie down for about an hour before tacking the 'wobble' problem with his bike.

Tomorrow we depart for the Grand Canyon which will be roughly 5 days. We will be passing though Camp Verde, Sedona, Flagstaff and finally the Grand Canyon Village.

Day 40 - 127km - Thatcher to Globe

Well we are now 40 days into the trip & looking forward to a rest day tomorrow after a hard 5 days. For those of you who are the at-home geographers you will see that Globe, Arizona is a good way across the States. From our perspective it is pretty exciting to that we are now heading up rather than across (Grand Canyon here we come) - if we wanted to head for the coast from here it would be less than a week of riding. As we move north over the next few days (towards Flagstaff and then the south rim/grand canyon village) we will climb a shelf which runs diagonally across Arizona - which effectively will drop the temps by roughly 20-30 degrees F, giving us a chance to use the thermals & winter woolies we have lugged approximately 4000 kms to date! Will be down around zero degrees C at nights.

As for day 40 itself, we made an early start to beat the winds & to extend the amount of rest time we get in before the next haul. The 5:30am start actually felt like 6:30am as we had only put the watches back the day before. Was a reasonalby challenging 5 days riding with a lot of climbing & hot/dry/windy weather which slowly wears us down day by day. With humidity hovering around 10% it is hard to imagine how much the airs dries your mouth out while you are riding and as a result we have had to increase out water intake a lot. Most of the ride was in light winds and so we were able to average around 30kph for the ride and make good pace up the long gradual climbs coming into Globe.

Globe got its name from the silver discovery days in the 1800's - a large ball of silver was discovered early on which had what looked like an outline of the continents on it, so the miners named the camp at that time Globe after it. The name stuck as the camp grew into a town - the silver ran out early on but large copper deposits were found & mining continues on today. Earlier in the trip we were fascinated by the cotton farming/plantation etc history and current situation in the south. We were finally able to gain insight into the true situation of cotton farming in the states. Cotton sells for about 55c a pound, costs about 75c a pound to produce. Government subsidies of ~3 billion top up the average price to somewhere around 90c a pound.

Today marked the first time we saw the saguaro cactus (and we ended up seeing a whole lot). this is the cactus which most of you will picture first - the one which looks like it has arms held out & up. Although we have seen tonnes of other cactus - this is the first time we have seen this iconic plant. They are massive.

Yesterday we were able to use a set of scales we found at the RV park to finally get a weigh in of our bags. Each of us is carrying a good 50 pounds on our racks - more than we initially estimated! (in metric is about 23kg and includes the weight of the bags themselves)

The rest day will be gladly taken by Dave who is currently experiencing 'load' problems on his bike - at all speeds he is currently experiencing the wobbles from time to time - a scary experience for those who are around him let alone be experiencing!

On the ride today we also met our aquintance Max again who bumped into us while we were taking a quick break early on. He latched onto the train, however once again as we hit the hills he dropped back - given that we had risen early & were intent on beating the winds the boys were not in charity mode today and the train continued on, leaving him to continue the rest of the day on his own.

On arriving in Globe checked into the Super8 Motel and made a quick line for the local chinese buffet for a late lunch. Very impressive buffet, the highlight being the creme freeze machine with 3 different flavours. Usual buffet result of lots of pre-meal trash talk about strategy, followed by deviating heaviliy from that strategy and a very quiet afternoon!

Day 39 - 132km - Buckhorn to Thatcher

Ended up pushing on a bit further than planned today in order to make Globe (rest day) a day ahead of schedule. Not that there is much of a schedule, but we originally thought that it would take us a day more to get to Globe. The last 1/3 of the ride was into some knarly headwinds, luckily a good chunk of it was on a slight downhill, balancing out the grind ever so slightly.

Today marked the crossing into Arizona - our second to last state and our last time zone (as Arizona observe Pacific time during daylight savings rather than mountain time). The crossing of borders also allowed us to finally get a photo with the New Mexico welcome sign after the notable absence of one leaving Texas. It would have been disapointing if we had missed one after nailing some great poses at every other state we had crossed into! As if to make up for it, they had two big signs (100m apart) on this border crossing... After the border we had a really awesome descent out of the Apache Forest, steep switchback roads & breathtaking desert scenery. Dave is desending a lot more comfortably on his new conti' gatorskins! On the descent we could see 25kms across the valley floor was a long and steep road winding up almost as high as the pass we were currently descending. We all hoped that we wouldn't have to climb that sucker after lunch (but we did)!

At lunch today we met a lone touring cyclist by the name of Max. An interesting punter, he was in between degrees at uni/college and one of the things he was doing was cycling from New Orleans to Pheonix. Doing a trip like this is not our cup of tea, but as the saying goes - different floats for different boats. Most interesting about max was his bike - an old school mountain bike with road wheels, a flipped over 80's tri bar set up (difficult to explain), a straw hat & a yukelele sticking out the back. He rode with us the rest of the ride, and then continued on a bit further as he was a bit of a fan of dusk/night riding. In terms of the ride, there was a really solid uphill coming out of lunch & Ben B made the mistake of saying that we usually wait up the top for the last person. Being men of our word, we reached the top of the climb and waited over 15 minutes (yes, 15!) for Max to arrive - this also marked the first time Dave dropped anyone of a climb on the trip to date... Luckily it was only downhill and flat for the rest of the ride. We also discovered that he hasn't ridden much in groups as he was all over the show - enough for me to give away a great draft into the hedwind in order to stay 5-10 metres clear of him! However, he is a really nice guy.

Day 38 - 142km - Kingston (over Emory Pass) to Buckhorn

Got up in the morning and had a great breakfast (full credit to the Black Range Lodge) of homemade granola, fruits, yogurt (when in America spell like an American...) and Pete's freshly cooked orange bread which was magificent. Catherine gave us a good chunk to tuck into once we made it to the top of Emory Pass (the climb started right outside the door). For the record Dave awoke to one flat tire...

The big climb we were dreading turned out to be pretty good with a consistent gradient complemented by perfect riding conditions (clear, cool and calm). After conquering the summit we posed for some photos, took in the view and geared up for the cold descent.

Was a slow descent as Dave's thorn riddled back tyre was slowly deflating (not what you want on a high speed downhill). After a couple of stops to reinflate it was decided that it was time to pull out the spare tire in order to allow a bit of pace over the 30 miles left to Silver City where new tyres could be purchased. Once there the local bike shops did not have the Specialized Armadillos, but they had the Conti' gatorskins - which provide a more compliant ride but are not quite so extreme on the punture protection scale. Dave pretty much cried tears of happiness as he threw the two old tryes into the bin! Following this Dave downed a grand total of 6 pecan pinwheels following lunch - a good effort from the man who was quoted the day before as saying "I think I have lost my sweet tooth on this trip"...

Around the pass we saw the most touring cyclists we have seen on the whole trip. One lot we saw at the bottom of the Emory Pass descent - we asked them what the terrain was like from there to Silver City (they said, wrongly, flat/downhill with one climb), they asked us what the climb was like up to the top, to which I answered easy and gradual (totally wrong as we had been biffing down it at over 50kph) - never ever trust another persons read on the lie of the land, especially if they are in a car or moving in the opposite direction!

We got to Buckhorn at approx 7pm - after over ten hours on the road after flat tyres, tyre changes and so on (a great day for the development of the classic "farmer tan"). After dodging numerous tumbleweeds and battling along in the dry heat and head/side wind we were pretty toasted & rocked up to find the local store closed... luckily there was another one past the RV park - where we ordered two 14 inch pizzas & downed them in record time. While talking to the locals inbetween mouthfuls of pizza they said that they are currently in a drought and are not expecting any rain this year!!!

Day 37 - 121km - Radium Springs to Kingston

This day could be dubbed attack of the thorns... little buggers called goathead thorns... While Ben B & Ben S are now riding on armidillo tyres (kevlar layer) - Dave is still on his original 'punture resistant' tyres. These are beginning to wear down and show signs of perishing. Today Dave got 5 punctures. Yes, 5. This included waking up in the morning and the back tyre was flat. Changed this. 2 miles into the ride and another flat on the back. Changed this, put wheel back on. Pump up the new tube & hear hissing. Hmm there is also a flat on the front. Hold on the back is going down... yes - the front and back (this is after just being changed) flat at the same time! On careful examination later it was found that one tube had 5 holes in it. Nasty suckers those thorns. We (Dave on our behalf) are now beginning to learn the basic lesson that if you need to get off the road then the bike doesn't go with you as as you will have a flat before you have time to curse those thorns! While we were changing numerous tubes a cop pulled over and the first thing he said was that he had got a call on the radio about some cyclists trespassing next to someone's fence. We all looked at each other and all thought you must be joking and luckily he was! Nice chap and gave us an insight into the climbs that we would be facing over the coming days.

Today we were also dog magnets. We are getting used to having these things run alongside us and barking (we learned pretty early on that trying to outrun them just makes them more aggressive!), but these ones today were big, vicous and quite possibly rabid.

Puntures, pump stops etc etc made for a very long day. The icing on the cakes was as we stopped to fill bottles before the 25ish mile climb to Kingston, Dave got another flat while taking his bike off the road to read a historical marker. At least the wind appeared to have turned and become a tail wind we thought... but not so - once we turned the corner we found that we were into a stiff headwind the whole way up; during this time I went out the back door - had enough for the day - Dave only noticed when he was preparing to drop himself and noticed there was a lot of space behind him...

Once at the Black Range Lodge (the Black Range was the final stronghold of the Apache Indians & includes our highest pt of the trip (~8500ft) which we will pass tomorrow; Kingston was once a booming town of 7000 miners & is now regarded as a ghost town...) we met Catherine & Pete the owners. Into strawbale house building, Catherine has even written a book on the subject. Pete is a bit of a frisbee legend, being a disc golf course designer (has a degree in landscape architecture & a 20 hole course at the lodge!) and makes a mean chilli popcorn & fresh orange bread.

Another random cycle tourer rocked up - he was travelling about a 600 miles jouney at about 100 miles a day & taught us all a lesson in light packing - he had a bike and a tiny bag with a bivvy sack to sleep in and that was pretty much it! The next morning he did, however, tell us that a sleeping bag may have come in handy given that he was sleeping at 6200ft it was a little chilly...

Day 36 - 102km - El Paso to Radium Springs

A pretty easy day out. The route was in the main dead flat. Most of the afternoon was spent travelling along the Rio Grande valley - an area of remarkable greenery in a dry region, as water from the Rio Grande is used to irragate chilli and pecan crops. The area is known for its chillis (some of which we would savour tomorrow thanks to Pete). The whole afternoon was pretty much spent riding among huge areas of pecan trees - they water them though flooding the fields in which they lay. It was quite nice and refreshing for a change from the dry regions we have been travelling through. The Pecan groves also sheltered us from any winds so a good pace was enjoyed by all. Dave got one flat today from a staple. No flats for Ben B since switching tyres (touch wood...).

We had a fine lunch of cheese, turkey, tomato and avacado sandwiches (care of the Walmart Food Centre) in the town of Las Cruches which is surrounded by rugged peaks that looked alot like the Remarkables in Queenstown after a very dry summer!

Today we crossed into New Mexico - well at least we think we did... there was no sign at the border, a bitter disapointment after having taken photos at each border to date! We will try to find a sign on exiting the state and make it look like we are actually entering New Mexico (and not leaving it!).

Day 35 - Rest Day in El Paso

Nice and easy rest day in sunny El Paso. The two Bens went and did laundry at a local laundromat and met an interesting local man who proceeded to tell us that he travelled the world when he was younger - "yes, I went to Houston, Los Angeles..." You get the point.

Except for the $5.50 Pizza Hutt lunch buffet the day was fairly uneventful. No crossing over into Mexico, as today was the day of the immigrant rally in support of immigrants in the States and a protest march had been organised to block the border crossings.

The bikes

I must apoligise for taking so long to put up this post. I bet that by now you are all wanting to get to know our bikes better! After seeing the steamy pictures in the earlier post you all must be wondering - what are their names & what are their personalities? When you are riding something for over 5 hours a day for two months it is important that a strong relationship is formed between man & bike. I have put together a quick profile of each bike (please see earlier for photos) -

Name - The silver bullet
Make/model - Giant OCR Touring
Rider - Ben B
Key points of interest - The only bike with a masculine name, this bike is well known for being a bit of a squealer. Often makes a bit of noise, however has quietened down a bit lately as Ben has tamed the machine. Is also the only bike to date to ride off the road on route, spit out a tube& burst a tyre.

Name - The purple princess
Make/model - Devinci Destination
Rider - Dave (aka the princess)
Key points of interest - Is purple. Not to be confused with her long haired rider, the purple princess has been a solid performer to date. Lately has developed a habit of throwing wobblies on random occasions - an event which can be potentially quite dangerous, espcially on steep decesnts. Dave has found that putting a knee up against her stem can settle her down. Not well regarded in terms of her climbing ability.

Name - Black Beauty
Make/model - Specialized Tricross
Rider - Ben S
Key points of interest - The best looking bike of the bunch. While in terms of performance she could be rightly named black thunder, a masculine name did not seem appropriate for such a fine looking machine.