Day 10: Phoenix, AZ to Florence Junction, AZ

Above: The Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix.

I began cycling at day break feeling positive. This was my first day riding this new bike and boy howdy, it rode like a charm! It was early Sunday morning and not much traffic was on Southern Avenue, a west-east road that runs adjacent to Superstition Freeway (Highway 60). I journeyed nearly 20 miles through east Phoenix, Mesa and Apache Junction before entering onto Highway 60.

Above: About 34 miles into my ride near Florence Junction, saguaros became more numerous. Even with the powerlines, I thought this was a nice scene that gave me an excuse to stop, briefly rest and take a picture.

Soon after gazing at those saguaros, I had a very spiritual experience that is hard to describe. In retrospect, it become clear that maybe there was more to this trip besides the actual riding - things like growing, healing and being closer to God. If and when I complete the book version of my adventure, I will likely share more. As it went, my spiritual epiphany was harshly interupted only minutes after on this not so bike friendly highway. There were way too many cars on the road as the morning progressed and adequate shoulder space was sporadic. Annoying pebbles, small piece of asphalt, cracks in the road and other debris made the ride disconcerting. You might know what's coming ... Ffffffffffffffff! The back wheel was flat.

More Problems - Will They Ever End? Flat Tire Impasse This was my third flat tire on the journey and while it seemed fairly routine, I always felt a sense of anxiety and humiliation changing a tire in full view of motorists whizzing by me on a highway. I took the wheel off the bike, removed the punctured tube, inserted a new one and filled it with air with my portable pump. Everything looked good. It took about 15-20 minutes to return pedaling and I tried to recapture the good spiritual feelings I had just experienced. "Okay, where were we God?" I prayed. But there was a problem: Within a minute, the back tire was out of air again. What?! I leaned the bike against a guard rail at the junction of Highways 60 and 79, a spot formally known as Florence Junction. I attempted to pump more air in the back wheel, but it was of no use. The new tube installed was not holding air. Definitely more frustrated, I engaged in the whole process again. This time, I removed the tube, inspected it without finding any problems but nonetheless put another new tube in just to be safe. I pumped the back wheel with air and thought the problem was solved. Again, within 20-30 seconds of riding, I felt the rumbling vibration of a flat tire. The back tire is still not holding air! What the heck is going on?! I was rattled: I only had two remaining spare tubes and something was wrong. Never have I had this kind of problem. After spending what felt like 20-30 more minutes trying to figure out what was wrong, I was on the phone with Dave Ortiz, a friend and fellow bicyclist who knows a lot more than I do about bike mechanics. Dave helped me figure out the problem: A flat tire usually happens when a sharp object adheres to the tire, reaches in and punctures the tube. Now, when installing a new tube into a tire, it is very important to thoroughly inspect the outer and inner edges of the tire, to be sure the sharp object that caused the flat is no longer on the tire. This lack of knowledge was my critical mistake! I am embarrassed to admit that in my five years of bike riding and changing about 20-25 tires in my life, I was never aware of the possibility that the sharp object that created the flat could still be in the tire waiting to poke a new tube. Oh the humility of it all! Photo Above: The bike on the highway shoulder before realizing a small but sharp metal object was still lodged in the back tire. Still, this new awareness gave me hope. I inspected the tire and indeed found a sharp metal object on the outer side of the tire. Got it! I changed the tube a third time, got it inflated and it did not leak any air. Despite wasting nearly two hours on the side of the road, my attitude brightened. I was ready to finally get back going! Well, not quite. Madness In The Desert In my last manuevers to remove the back wheel from the bike, somehow, I inadvertently created a loop in the bike chain. Even though the tire was fine, I couldn't put the chain on the back wheel's cassette properly, making it impossible to pedal. I fumbled and tinkered with the chain to undo the loop, but nothing helped. Flat tires and some other basic mechanical things I have handled, but a loop in a chain? Nope. I never saw such a thing. My frustration grew inside - this would be another substandard mileage day with yet another mishap. I had ambitious mileage goals with Globe, Arizona as my goal, and here I am stuck in the valley and not even to Superior. Damnit! To make matters worse, I did not know what to do. Should I hitchhike to Superior? I could have hitched a ride 15 miles to Superior, but I already hitchiked once and refused to do it again. No cheating! Also, would anyone in a small town without a bike shop know how to unloop a chain? Should I return to Phoenix? Phil in Phoenix had the day off work and was willing to drive 50+ miles to rescue me. However, he would work the next few days and would be unable to bring me back to Florence Junction to start riding again. I knew Landis Cyclery back in Phoenix would likely undo the looped chain in a matter of minutes or seconds, but the prospect of bicycling all over again on these stinkin' Phoenix roads with intense traffic, little shoulder and debris turned me off. There is no way I'm doing that again! So there I was, on the edge of Highway 60 in Florence Junction, rattled, confused, disgusted and frustrated. In my exhaustion, I was unable to put things into perspective, and I began thinking that possibily fate was leading me to end the trip. After all, I couldn't possibly have all these problems and expect to make it across the country! I have bicycled fairly regularly in the past five years and in all of my riding, I never had so many intense bike-related difficulties in the past ten days: A broken derailer on Day 3, the frustration of no bicycle shop to help me on Day 4, my bike was stolen on Day 8, and now my shaken confidence to fix a flat tire and a stupid looped chain on Day 10. All these problems. Will they ever end?! "Steve, I can pick you up if you request that, but be sure that's what you want." stated Phil on my cellular phone. What a friend! Phil was willing to drive about 90 minutes each way on crowded Phoenix highways to rescue me. "All right, let me try to do some magic for another ten minutes. After that, if I'm still stuck, I'll call you back." I said with a hint of desperation. Almost immediately after ending the call, two people on ATV's approached me. The man and woman (photo below) asked if I needed help, and the man claimed he was competent at tinkering and fixing things. He began to play around with the chain, with a distinct attitude of patience and determination like mechanically-inclined people often have. "This was it!" I thought, as I held the bike and watched. These were my two angels that came out of nowhere in the desert to fix my bike. It was going to be another great story: Just when it looked like all options were out and I was close to having Phil rescue and bring me back to Phoenix, it would work out miraculously just like in Blythe and with the stolen bike being replaced! I held the bike with a big grin on my face as he worked on it. My grin disappeared. No luck. Even these two angels could not unloop the chain. "Uh Phil, yeah ... I need you to pick me up."

	Special thanks to these two angels in the desert. After they couldn't unloop the chain, I at least felt better about my own difficulties with it. I realize Phoenix is a huge city, but if anyone knows these individuals, please inform them that I did indeed make it to the Atlantic Ocean 35 days later! ;)
	I waited approximately 90 more minutes before Phil arrived in Florence Junction. As I waited, I wandered in nearby desert areas lush with saguaros and various cacti. You can see more of my desert photos here: Florence Junction, AZ.
Above: I did not take a lot of photos that evening, probably because of the state of mind I was in. Phil and I ate at a Del Taco in Mesa and we also went through a Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru. I mustered some energy to smile with my extra large blueberry decaf coffee! :)	I had plenty of time to reflect by the time Phil arrived. The plan was to get a motel room near the bicycle shop in central Phoenix, get the loop undone and somehow return to Florence Junction the next day. As I analyzed the days events, I was torn. I kept reminding myself that three major problems in ten days of riding was simply extraordinary. Yet I kept saying to myself: "I can't possibly have all these kinds of problems and expect to make it." I was concerned one more major problem like this would knock out my will to continue. I kept thinking of the saying that when one falls off a horse, the wisest thing to do is to immediately get back on. I had to confront my fears and not back down; It was clear ending the trip on such a low note would have significantly damaged my psyche in the long-term. My morale was in bad shape. All that zeal for trusting God with situations that might arise on the bike were out the window, and the healing words of the morning were cast aside amidst the disappointment. My confidence in my abilities to handle basic bike mechanical problems were shattered too. Furthermore, I still needed to resolve the incorrigible possibility that I would have no option but to bike again through the vast eastern side of Phoenix on a weekday. Call me stubborn or unreasonable, but this matter was something that could have been a deal-breaker. I am NOT cycling in this crazy city with bazillions of people, no shoulders and debris on the road all over again! That night, as I laid my head to sleep, I felt just awful. I was so depressed to be back in Phoenix on these terms! Anxiety was the dominating feeling of the night. My one hope was maybe, just maybe, the situation would look brighter after a night of sleep. Before falling asleep, one problem was solved. My friend Brandi in Tucson called to say she would drive to Phoenix tomorrow morning to visit and spend the day with me, and she was willing to drop me off where I had left off in Florence Junction. That was a good sign of positive things to come!