What a great day to cycle! Mid 70's for high temps, and no real challenge with in the face. This was a pre-ride of the Desert 400k brevet, rode solo. ITEMS of NOTE for Mike & route 0. All route cues were ok. A couple could be added for diagonal RR tracks or a slight modification. Explained below. The pavement was the same as before. No construction. 1. The suggested parking lot at the start is no longer an option. It is under construction and surrounding by fencing. I tried parking at Motel 6 but the lady came out and chased me away. Went north and parked in another hotel lot, Homewood Suites. In looking at map now, the closest non-hotel, business parking is due south of Motel 6 just south of Boson St. 2. Mile 20 res dogs! here 1 dog came out, then a couple seconds later a 2nd and another couple seconds a 3. Seemed harmless and I had enough speed and they noticed me too late. So those were not a challenge 3. Mile 23.5 was another story! a pack of 5 dogs came out early. Heftier dogs. Then a couple seconds later another dog! That was too many for my liking. Not enough speed when I got there. Tried squirting water, which they seemed to enjoy. Again I think they were harmless and just enjoyed the chase. The challenge here was the route came to a T so could not really accelerate. 1 dog continued the chase around the T. 3. Refilled water at Estrella Mtn Ranch 43.3 as it is a much nicer setting. That way I avoided the water stop in Buckeye. 4. Mile 78.2 just at start of bridge, had gravel/sand pile washed across the road. I suspect this might be gone in 2 weeks. 5. Mile 147.3 Slight right onto Maricopa Rd. Words are correct. It might be improved if the right-pointing arrow were a slight right arrow. 6. Mile 200.4 maybe add a warning about angled RR tracks? Mainly because it will be dark at that time of ride. 7. Mile 213.1 maybe add a warning about angled RR tracks? Mainly because it will be dark at that time of ride. TOURIST INO 1. Sun Streams 1 & 2 Solar farms are just visible to the W-SW from Mile 68.1 to 68.6 west. Here is a quick video of some of the construction. https://youtu.be/vsQqPvhx_yc?si=eOb2GX4aiaEBJSB9 2. Sentinel - Arlington volcanic field https://wryheat.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/age-of-young-volcanic-field-near-the-palo-verde-nuclear-power-plant/ a. Arlington Volcano - a shield volcano, visible to the N-NW from same crest of mile 68.1 - 68.6. Here the route rides on top of the the outflow of the Arlington Volcano. Eruption was about 1.28- to 3.28 Ma, in the Cenozoic Age, near end of Pliocene Epoch when continents positions are similar to now. b. Gillespie Volcano - another shield volcano starts at mile 76.1 and extends below the Gillespie Bridge. This flow damned the Gila, probably making a lake. Eventually the Gila River shifted ~1.5 km east making a new channel. eruption dates 2.67- to 3.6 Ma. MY RIDE Always a pleasure to ride to Gila Bend traverse the shield volcanoes and see the Gillespie Dam. I chose to not eat in Gila Bend , except for a water stop at Carl's Jr and a quick order of hash browns. I had eaten 4-5 of my packs of snacks along with about 12 dates enroute to Gila Bend. I waited until Culver's in Maricopa for my lunch. At Culver's I had a walleye fish n' chips with a root beer shake, Tasted good, yet in hindsight I don't think that fish set with too well. Took a good hour - 90 minutes before I felt ok again on the bike. Refilled water again in Florence & at mile 219.2. The only off-bike eating was Carls Jr in Gila Bend and Culver's in Maricopa. I think my nutrition was ok. Hydration could have been better. Sonja said my face showed sun and wind. I know I did NOT take a lot of time in putting on sun screen. The ride back along Arizona Farms and to the end was relatively low traffic and good roads. Fun to ride and the temps would go up/down. I outfitted with a vest & jacket & arm warners & light gloves at start of ride. Got rid of jacket & gloves & arm warmers in Estrella Mtn Ranch. Vest came off later. As soon as sun went down it was a bit cooler so got my gear out of pack at AZ Central CC. Put on the vest & AZ Rando reflective belt then. Never did put on the jacket or gloves. At Florence water stop I put on the arm warmers. A fun note was going up the railroad grade from Gila Bend to top, There was a train that I was sort of keeping up with, heading east I counted 130 cars, with a locomotive after car 100 then 30 more cars, but I had to stop counting since the train stopped. A few minutes a west bound container train appeared going way to fast for me to count cars. After all that I was now ahead of the original east bound train. yet in a few minutes there it was again passing me and we were racing to the summit at Estrella! I beat it by a few cars! That was my only "pacing" of the whole ride. I saw a total of 5 trains today that first pace train and one near Casa Grande.