Hunt Highway / AZ87 Loop

Ride Stats

Courtesy of Cyclemeter 5.0 for IPhone4:

Ride Time: 1:50:18

Distance: 16.47 miles

Average: 8.01 miles/h  [Due to injury]

Fastest Speed: 16.73 miles/h

Ascent: 2194 feet

Descent: 1899 feet

     Today I decided to head south towards the edge of Chandler which meets the edge of the desert for the southeast Valley more or less. Chandler City ends at the Hunt highway for the most part, and originally I had intended to venture across the Hunt Highway headed east to see if there was anything good out that way (Little did I know fate had different plans for me.) I left the house about 7:30 with a perfect temperature of 82 degrees and fairly low humidity. It was an awesome morning for riding, and I was really excited about pushing across the 20 mile mark (which I’ve yet to achieve.)

     I started off from the house headed down the Paseo Trailwhich is my usual canal ride, and headed off south. I passed Paseo Vista Recreational Area which until the past few years was working landfill. The City of Chandler decided to invest in a completely new purpose and covered in in 30 feet of rocks, crushed granites and boulders and turned it into a recreational area, interesting idea though I thought it a bit silly at first. Paseo Vista offers a decent range of amenities (Disc Golf, Playground, "Bark Park" and an Archery range.) All in all it’s a pretty nice setup and worked out nicely, though it does look a tad funny rising 30 feet above a fairly level Chandler. 

     Approximately 5-6 miles later, and as I neared my turn around location I passed up an older gentleman (Yes I have a thing with old people passing me) who was out for a ride. We exchanged pleasantries and he mentioned he was from Florida and was out on his daughter's bike for a ride and enjoyed the "dry heat," never mind that it was still about 25% humidity (not exactly dry for us.) He asked how far this part of the canal went, and I told him we were about to reach the end. I mentioned to him that it went about 12 miles in the opposite direction so he could turn around and enjoy some of the trail heading north. As I wished him farewell and good luck and started to turn my bike I caught some loose gravel and with my new Power Grip Pedals,that had my feet secured  nicely into place fell flat on my side and skidded to a halt. OUCH!! The gentleman, probably less than 10 feet away at that point,  turned around and asked if I was ok and then asked if this was my first time out. Talk about humiliating. I've been riding roughly 3 days a week since February and never took a spill of any kind until today. So today I add my first "badge of road rash" to my list of cycling accomplishments. At least it was nothing more, for that I am thankful.

OUCH!

     My first thought was anger towards the pedals, then of course felt pretty dumb, because I really had no  one to blame but myself, take it easy on new equipment!! I have to admit the Power Grip Pedals are a  bit hard to get in and out of, and are not really made for wider feet. [Just assuming here since my "wide" feet don't fit in as well as I thought they should.] They do seem to be of a pretty strong construction and for 40 bucks made much more sense than diving into a new pair of shoes, clips and pedals prior to knowing if I like my feet secured to my bike. I did notice a huge difference in the amount of power being delivered at the crank since I could know apply power in the down stroke and the upstroke and my numbers even show that I hit 16.72mph on today’s ride which is considerably faster and not bad for my mountain bike with the knobby tires. [For reference my previous average was about 12-13.5.] 

     Anyway, shaking off my recent spill, brushing off the gravel, dusting off my clothes and my pride, I drank some water, took a couple deep breaths, remounted my bike and started my journey home to clean up. I'll have to save the Hunt Highway excursion for another day....

Heading back, there was quite alot of airport traffic this morning and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some pictures of some aircraft landing at Chandler Airpark. As I raced towards the edge of the airpark there were several Bi-Planes which appear to "dive bomb" in their landing approach. That was pretty spectacular to watch; unfortunately I was not able to get any video. As quickly as I reached a good spot for photographs the air traffic ceased. How unfortunate! So... I have no cool pictures of planes landing to share.

     16.5 miles later I return home, a few new scars, a few new memories, a couple pictures to share, a decent story to tell and another ride under my belt. What did I learn today? Take it easy on new equipment; you never know how it will affect your ride.

After Thought:

     I've decided, after doing a lot of reading, I will be reposting some interested cycling articles that I have found useful and would like to share. I've noticed some improvement in my riding (and a decrease in pain) since I've read some of these articles and since no one really ever taught me to ride a bike, someone else may find this information useful. As always thanks for reading and stay tuned.