57.3 miles, 3350’ climbing
We woke up in time for a beautiful sunrise and a glimpse of an elk running away. After packing up, we hit the road which was rocky and bumpy for about 18 miles. After that it was rutted, sometimes feeing like a pump-it track as we went thru dips. We chatted with a genial turkey hunter, the only vehicle we passed until we reached the outskirts of Show Low. The road had turned rocky again, and the we were on pavement leading into ten.
We took a long break at the Persnicketty Cafe, then picked up Subway sandwiches for dinner. We detoured about a mile off route to Safeway to load up on supplies. We don’t know if we will get to a store tomorrow before it closes, and it’s a long stretch to the next water source.
Riding the main road thru Show Low was one of the worst cycling stretches of the trip so far. There’s a shoulder coming into town and departing town, but the middle has no bike lane and lots of big trucks.
With our blinking taillights on and a lot of weight from our food and water, we headed out on the highway. After a handful of miles, we turned off onto dirt. A smiling man with a friend in a 4 wheeler and a lively music soundtrack held the gate open for us.
The next several miles were a little bumpy, and we felt the difference on our loaded bikes. We wound around a mountain with oaks and scrub. A number of people were camping, and somebody up the hill was doing target practice endlessly. Before we edged back to civilization, we found a place to camp out of sight.
Tomorrow we would like to make it to Big Lake with its nice campgrounds and store, but there’s a lot of challenging climbing between here and there.
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