May 15, 2018 Hanging out in Tucson

11.0 miles.... Yes, you read it right! The last two days have ended so badly that I decided to take the day off, get this supplement out of my system, and start over the next day.  Pam took me back to the place eleven miles from the campground, and I finished my ride from yesterday, from the point of contact with the pavement to the KOA. I followed the Loop trail for the entire distance, including the beginning of the Julian Wash trail, sometimes riding in the concrete wash basin itself. I had an interesting conversation with a biker who was stopped with a flat tire. His name was Gerard, and he was a recumbent hand biker who had lost a leg. He was trying to put on a tire with a really tight bead, and had broken his tire lever. After breaking  two of mine, we realized it wasn't going to work, so he decided to call his wife. He was sitting in the middle of the trail, with the wheel off his bike, but there were no bike shops in the area, and I felt bad about leaving him stuck there. He did tell me that he was getting ready to ride from Anacortes, Washington, to Bar Harbor, Maine, which is the longest route that the adventure cyclist organization outs out maps for.( The Northern Tier route) He was going with three friends, and his wife was the SAG (support and gear) vehicle, like Pam is for me. ( But Pam is WAY more than that!!! Isn't she?) I gave him some advise, and some websites to look at, like Crazyguyonabike. We had a nice conversation, before I headed on my way.
I was relieved that I could ride eleven miles and not cramp up, but I did it. The rest of the day was spent lounging at the very nice pool, drinking a ton of fluid, and having dinner at the little BBQ restaurant at the KOA, and going to bed before 8 o'clock.