Day 4, Mile 377: Parker, Arizona

Today: 111 miles, 2799 feet climbing, temp 104 in the non-existent shade

Cumulative: 377 miles, 16312 feet

Another absolutely fabulous day, but absolutely grueling going so far in the brutal heat with an already exhausted body. The route took us through a wilderness section of the southern Mojave Desert with stunning, stunning views. A lot of glorious descending with beautiful new roads and zero traffic in the morning. It's funny how I think the mesquite desert is so ugly until I see it without any human disruptions except the road.

A long hot afternoon with not-so-nice roads led finally to a seemingly endless descent to the Colorado River with scary truck traffic on horrible roads. I must have drunk five gallons of liquids today. It was so hot that the iphone fritzed out, including reading Les Mis at fast-forward speed (arguably not a bad idea), and I had to turn it off.

That's Dave, one of the guides, in the photo. There are two guides and they trade off days in the saddle or the van. Another van circulates with an assistant and the masseuse. Dave is a bit of a kindred spirit, being pretty much homeless. During the time he's not guiding a trip, he just holes up at a hotel until the next engagement.

I am now beyond exhaustion. I arrived at 4:00, the last one again (two dropouts). My saddle time of 7:30 hours (14.7 mph) was only about 75 minutes off the main pack. But I did explain how I was doubly virtuous, not only riding alone the whole day, but having to work so much harder than the guys in better shape :-).

Tomorrow is a "rolling recovery" day--just 45 miles up to Havasu City. By my now current standards, essentially a day off entirely.