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Into the Wind
Arizona Bike Week
March 27-30, 2007
Neil Webster and I literally got into the wind the morning of Tuesday, March 27th as we headed into Castle Valley en route to Moab and breakfast. Early indicators of things to come were white caps in the river blowing upstream.
We had no idea of the survival ride into gale force winds we were in for from Moab all the way to Flagstaff. Winds were constant 60 miles per hour with gusts up to 80mph and after about 300 miles of fighting the cold fierce winds blowing out of the west we were aching from holding the Harleys on the road. We figured we would get a reprieve as the daylight ended, but instead as we dropped down from Tuba City the wind intensified blowing off the San Francisco Peaks to the Southwest. It felt like being inside a giant sandblaster and the blowing sand stung our faces. As darkness began to fall it started snowing.
We finally made it to Flagstaff and celebrated surviving the wind swept desert ride with dinner and a good night’s sleep. It was a bit disconcerting watching the snow swirling outside our window as we discussed the next days ride to Scottsdale.
The next morning we packed it up and loaded up the bikes after sweeping off about two inches of freshly fallen snow. The ride down from Flagstaff to Camp Verde was brisk to say the least and we stopped at a scenic overlook to put on more layers. I put on my full face mask and that helped a lot as we rode down to lower elevation.
We finally were able to shed layers upon our arrival in the Phoenix area much to our relief. We spent the next several days enjoying warmer temperatures, sunshine and the festivities of Arizona Bike Week.
We enjoyed great accommodations at the Wingate Inn and Suites, good music, great bike exhibits, good food, and meeting new interesting people. Neil probably found the most interesting and best looking bike accessory in the form of a very nice lady, Susan. We had a great trip overall, survived the wind and made it home on Sunday without incident.
Jesús Guerrero Jr.
Photographer/Historian