Four Peaks on a hot Spring day

I'm no longer sure how much I climbed today......my pre-route digitization in Topofusion says ~5k, my after route on my Garmin says 5561vf gained.....and the custom algorithm in Topofusion says ~7k.  I'm inclined to believe that 5500 is about right.....but I will say that investigating how Topofusion computes the various elevations is something I need to do, since sandbagging is never cool....unless you're doing it to folks you know well.  In the end, I'm going to claim 5561 as the vf gained over 37 miles.  My total time was 5:05 with 4:19 being the moving time.

Nevertheless, I wanted a hill climb today and no matter how you cut it; climbing from the Beeline Highway up to the wilderness boundary on Four Peaks is just that....a hill climb.  I started way to late in the 80 degree temps and instantly regretted it as the first pitch and the sweat litterly, poured off my elbows which were crouched as I tried to apply every bit of torque I could generate onto my back wheel.  Stopping to shoot pictures of Saguaro's which were some of the tallest I've seen, allowed me to catch a break every now and then.

Cresting the 1st pitch at mile 6, I was relieved to catch sight of my target, which is the mellow hump to the left of the rocky, quad-peak on the skyline.

Off of my left shoulder, I felt the heat radiating off of "Tombstone Ridge", so named by the early inhabitants of PHX using this area as a source for gravestones.  I'm guessing they made the trip in winter.....

Taking another short breather at the 1st substantial source of water I encountered, I marveled at the amount of water still flowing this far down in elevation, this late in the year.......El Nino was very kind to the Sonoran this year.......I should know......

As I started the next significant pitch, I caught sight of a long shadow on the road ahead of me.  Confused as to how the bushes to the right of this shadow could cast such a narrow profile, it occurred to me that I was riding towards a huge bull snake....one of the largest that I'd seen.....way longer than my bike......

Getting closer by effort, but not by sight....the peaks still seemed far off....much farther compared to how much water I was slurping down....

Mental masturbation became the norm as I continually scanned my average speed, distance gained, elevation left and most importantly, water left.....the numbers on the Garmin became gospel....the fears in my mind triggered by the weight of water on my shoulders, ever-present; yet ignored.....

Given the importance I treat this curious import of plastic and silicon, I thought it might want an action shot of its own so that one day, it may blog about it's raddnes as well.....

I was clearly on a trip to funky town.... losing water off my body faster than I chose to consume it.  Thoughts of needing iodine tablets for emergencies flooded my mind.....knowing that I'd have no problem drinking from the streams if I needed to......but knowing that I'm not a fan of spending several days on the toilet either.  These thoughts were washed astern as soon as I rounded the next corner to spy "The Choice of a New Generation"......sure.....if that new generation knows how to drink from a steel, pull top can.....

The Yerba Del Diablo, or Sacred Datura was looking fine along the way....

Stopping yet again at another cool spot, I splashed the cool waters on my legs and gazed up at the cottonwoods.....I could just end it here I told myself.......yet I climbed more.

More Yerba Del Diablo presented itself as the terrain became green with manzinita......at last, my efforts are finally paying off in the form of a changing flora.....

Taking yet another breather at the mid-point of the third pitch, I looked back to spy Red Mountain and the flats from whence I came......damn, that's kinda far down there......

More turns of the crank led to rapid changes in the flora.......this time I spied Brown Peak, the tallest of the Four Peaks...."and conifers....at long last....the conifers"......I was clearly living in a place called hope which was defined by pine trees vs. cactus.

Nearing the end of the climb, I ruminated about just continuing on to Lake Roosevelt on the east side of the peaks via Hwy 188.....I could just jump in, I thought to myself......nonsense.

Reaching the AZ trail just east of the ridgeline, I finally felt I was getting somewhere........

Topping out at the wilderness boundary was anti-climatic......half of the mileage was over...but not half the ride.  With my water now at 2-liters, I was confident I had enough...but knew there would be some rationing involved....the trick would be to keep the cramps at bay.  All this talk of water (I was speaking outloud to myself at this point) led me to shoot this view of Lake Roosevelt off to the east and down in the heat.....I could still jet down to the highway and jump in.....

Turning back one time, I shoot Brown with it's Ponderosa slopes.....

Screaming downhill, gaining the heat....I spied the road I must take back to the flats off in the distance....In all this downhill, I still needed to climb a total of 1200ft to get back to the car.....my 2 liters suddenly did not feel so adequate.  Still, I was distracted enough to pick out Toms Thumb, Rio Verde, Camelback Mountain and the Papago Buttes.....

The descent came fast and hot, the sound of my disk brakes vaporizing water in the stream crossings was a reminder that I should perhaps carry a spare set of brake pads.......yet I was distracted again by more landmarks, this time; Weavers Needle.

Getting back to the car, I knew I was on the verge of dehydration; yet I experienced no cramps and overall still felt strong.  A good ride on a beautiful hot Spring day.