Managed to get up a little earlier than usual expecting high winds later in the day.  Drove 17 miles east of camp to pick up where I left off.  The day started off with rolling hills for the first 12 miles keeping me in low gear most of the time.  The terrain was rolling but my legs felt flat.

Climbing a 3% grade in high gear I felt a twinge above my left achilles heal, got off and switched to low.  At 9 mile out I ran across Joan pulled off on the side without a coffee shop in sight.  I advised her I just didn’t feel very strong today.  I rode on and she drove on in search of coffee.

Route 60 flattened out, I kicked the KH in high gear and after a while on got into rythem.  Some times the shoulders were acceptable and sometimes they were peppered with cracks that felt like mini speed bumps all the way up to my bum.  I weaved in and out from shoulder to street and back as needed depending on traffic.  The tough part was crossing the rumble strip every time.

By 11:30 am I had cruised 28 miles and stopped to eat lunch in Fort Thomas.  Joan called and said she was in Safford about 22 miles ahead of me where she found coffee and wifi.  She was going to head my way about noon.

I set my sights on Pima 13 miles away and started breaking the ride up in short bursts.  I would stop by a mile mark so I could keep track how far I went between butt breaks.  Then the mile marks jumped 10 miles.  I should have come across mark 316, but the next mark was 326.  I must have hit the wrong button when shifting and hit warp speed.  Maybe I need more hydration.

Joan had promised there was an ice cream place if I made it to Pima.  Battling some gusty cross winds in the end I rode into Pima to the ice cream place at 1:30 pm and there was Joan.  She arrived 10 minutes before I did.  After 41.6 miles we called it quits.

For those of you who are concerned I may not be getting enough to eat and since I forgot to eat my banana this morning I finished the ride with a banana split.

Replenishing the 1034 calories I burned on the ride in on fell swoop.

Tomorrow will be a layover day (185 miles in 5 days) as we meet up with Phyllis and Mike in Globe where they are delivering my spare tires and tubes that were mailed to their house.  It will be great to see them one more time.

Stats for Day 22:  41.64 miles at 11.6 mph, Max=15.1 mph, Ascent=804, Descent=1040, Ave heart rate=103, Max heart rate 140, max elevation=3101, min elevation=2562.  Gamin claims 1034 calories burned.  Ave temp=77.9.  At one point today a mysterious thing floated across the sky and I could no longer see my shadow.