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| Mt. Humphrys Peak from Mars Road |
September 2024
Ride report
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| Yours truly, Brian, Kerin, and Mike |
Four riders lined up for the 200km version and Phillip selected the 100km version of the Lowell Observatory brevets. There was plenty of parking at Thorpe park at 0645 and after a quick rider brief we were off.
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| At the Lowell Observatory |
Better clip in quickly, it’s only about 20 meters to the start of the climb up Mars Hill road to the Lowell Observatory. Who needs a warm-up anyway!
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| Phillip on the climb! |
We roll back down past the start line and into historic downtown Flagstaff. We cross Route 66 and pedal through Northern Arizona University before linking up to scenic Lake Mary Road.
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| NOPI is just behind the Lowell Perkins Telescope |
It’s about 9 miles on Lake Mary Road before we make a left turn to the Naval Precision Optical Interferometer. It’s a flat array that is not visible from the road. With the second observatory, observed, we head back to Lake Mary road,
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| Brian leads the way to Mormon Lake |
We reloaded our bottles at Mormon Lake and headed back to Lake Mary road for the run to Happy Jack/Longs Meadow/Clints Well.
We were making good progress into a fairly strong headwind, when Mike picked up some road debris that punctured his rear tire. Luckily, the tubeless sealant worked and he only lost a few pounds of pressure. We rode a little further, then took a break and Mike ‘topped off’ his tire with this handy USB rechargeable inflator. It worked like a charm!
We arrived at Clint’s Well and filled our bottles and grabbed a sandwich at the Maverick gas station. This is the turn around, so we enjoyed a nice tailwind that would push us nearly all the way to the outskirts of Flagstaff!
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| Lowell Observatory Discovery Telescope |
It’s a long rolling and generally uphill ride to the Lowell Observatory. This was formerly the Discovery Channel Telescope, but is now operated by the Lowell organization. It is barely visible through the tress! With the long climb of the day in the books we, enjoy a rolling generally downhill descent back to Mormon Lake.
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| Back at Morman Lake |
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| Breaking the speed limit! |
We made great time with the tailwind and rolled into Mormon Lake for one last stop before the finish. The speed limit drops to 15 near the General Store so I dialed it up to 22 for this photo, but the pick-up pulled in front of me and I had to slow to 19!
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| Before the Morman Lake Descent |
The tailwind was still strong, and our speedometers touched 44 mph on the short steep descent between Mormon Lake and Upper Lake Mary. The tailwind diminished and turned to a gentle headwind about 10 miles outside of Flagstaff.
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| Downtown Flagstaff traffic! |
We rode through the NAU campus past the Walkup Sky Dome. There was a game going on, and a few fans were leaving early, but we made it through with no problems. Soon we crossed Route 66 again made our way through downtown.
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| Leaves are just starting to turn |
The last few blocks of the ride are through a lovely neighborhood with tree-lined streets. With the afternoon sun, the turning leaves were spectacular!
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| Post-ride picnic! |
Mike, Brian and yours truly rolled into the finish at Thorpe park eight hours and 38 minutes after we started. Kerin finished her ride about an hour later, and Phillip had finished his 100km earlier and was on his way to the Grand Canyon.
Mike packed a picnic meal that we enjoyed in the Park. None of us were in a rush to get back to the heat!
Next up, the observatory tour continues with the Kitt Peak 200 in Tucson October 26. It should be cooler in the desert by then…hopefully! Sign up at
AZBrevet.com
Steve
