Day 3. Hello Sports Fans from the lively city of Wickenberg, AZ! Today's 115 mile ride had some work, plenty of play and even a little excitement. We departed Blythe at 6:30 am in order to take advantage of low/mid 70 degree temps until about 8:30 am. The first couple of hours involved about 2000 feet of climbing over 40 miles with light cross winds most of the way. We meandered out of Blythe and got back onto I-10 East and entered Arizona about 5 minutes after we left. While I had nothing but nasty things to say about I-10 yesterday, today I am proud to report that the taxpayers of Arizona are doing a MUCH better job of maintaining their portion of Interstate 10. The shoulder was relatively clean and the surface was three times smoother than the cobblestones used in California. Nevertheless, I still had a flat tire (my second so far)! I rode with three great folks today: Lee (chiropractor from southwest VA), Bruce (cattle farmer from southwest VA), and Jason (valet/student from CA), Kari (IT professional from Finland), David (IT professional from San Diego). All are good riders and work hard to support one another. We rode in a pace line about 50% of the time as the winds shifted to head winds and the temps rose to 90+. Although everyone is a little leg weary by now, having pedaled 365 miles over 3 days, spirits are high for most of the group. We do have one gentleman with a sore neck that bothered him enough that he had to finish the day in the van. At this point, everyone has a sore (pick one or more)--knee, hip, leg, okole (google it!), shoulder, hand, etc. However, I've seen these same kind of folks before and they will surprise you day after day with their determination. They do not give up easily. After riding about 40 miles on the freeway, we rode AZ Highway 60 for the next 74.6 miles. This road was a two lane, county road with a good shoulder and rumble strips that will jar your grandparents teeth. Here is the "excitement" I mentioned at the start of today's blog. I was riding about 20 feet behind Jason. He was on the shoulder of the road and I was on the white line in the right lane. Looking ahead I could tell Jason was pushing hard and had his head looking almost straight down. I hollered to him because he was about to run into the side of a bush that was protruding across the shoulder. About the time I got the words out of my mouth, a truck heading west (I was pedaling east) passed a car in the west bound lane and went past me well over 100 mph. This guy had to be within 6 feet of me and he was blazing. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to be scared. As I said at the start of this ride, you have to pay attention all the time. While I was "paying attention" to one thing, it obviously wasn't the most important thing. In golfing parlance, I am taking a "Mulligan" on paying attention this time. I will do better! Funniest event of the day: Our group of 4 (Bruce, Lee, and Jason) stopped when Jason trashed a tire, not a tube, and needed a new tire. In a pinch, we all could have fixed the tire to get us to the hotel, but instead we got out Bruce's cell phone and had him call "Jim" in the repair van. Bruce hit "Jim" on his cell phone and said excitedly, "Jim, we need you to come help Jason with his blown out tire. We are about 3 miles from the rest stop and we are going to need a new tire." Only problem with the process was that the "Jim" that Bruce called was not the "Jim" supporting the bike ride. The guy at the other end of the phone said, "Who the hell is this and what are you talking about?!" Bruce abruptly hung up, called the correct Jim, and the tire situation was resolved post haste. The ride ended with a downhill 10 miles into Wickenberg, a quaint town in the middle of nowhere. After checking in about 2:45pm, we unloaded the luggage van, hit McDonald's for a quarter pounder with cheese, a shake and fries, and then back to our rooms to get organized for tomorrow. I had my bike checked by Jim since it was clicking near the bottom bracket. Problem cured. And then around 6:15 pm, 3 of us headed to the Hog Trough restaurant, had some wonderful barbecue and now we are winding down. In just 5 days we'll be in Albuquerque and I'm excited that Arlene will be visiting. The temps will be lower tomorrow but the hills will be steeper. Should be fun! Thanks for your CAC support and encouragement. Stay healthy, Steve