44 miles, 2674 feet climbed
More climbing in the west, with a kick-ass downhill to finish. For days like this, I’m going to start adding the elevation profile, copied from my phone’s app that downloads the data from my bike computer.
I apologize that there are no photos of Jerome, a former mining town, now a tourist destination. I seem to gravitate to the natural scenery, unless there is some irony involved.
Jerome is built on the side of a mountain, with not so much parking. Some stopped at a “Crossroads tradition” hamburger restaurant. I wasn’t craving a burger as I arrived and those already there reported a wait and slow service. Jeanine, Paul S., Dean, and I ended up at an ice cream shop, which took care of my energy needs just fine.
And those energy needs for the remainder of the ride were minimal. All we had to do was point our bikes down the road and gravity did all the work. Due to the perpendicular crack patches, I kept my speed at about 30 mph but on a smooth road I probably could’ve cracked 50 mph. All that braking and forward pressure meant that I had to shake out my aching wrists when I got to the bottom.
