What a gorgeous cloudy day to cycle! Wind was favorable for most of route, especially all the way to Shawmut. GOOD CHANGE 1. The Denny's is a good place to park. I even used the bathroom before the ride as they are 24hr. 2. The change to have route pass along south edge of Buckeye, instead of downtown Buckeye, is a good improvement. Road is generally smooth, except 58.2 - 59.1 that has crack humps. Traffic was very low and shoulder was wide. Shell station has 2 bathrooms. Plus once cross AZ 83, with the help of stop-lights, the road is like glass smooth and not a single car. CHALLENGES: 0. First couple miles after Gila Bend the should is pretty dirty so riding on traffic lane. But then the shoulder appears and is good to ride. 1. 141.3 - 142.7 Upon exiting Arby's at the light just north of it, upon turning left onto AZ 347, the shoulder was ripped out and only gravel about 6 inches below pavement level was present. See pic of what it looked like 141.9 looking north. This rip and replace probably was present even a a bit earlier, but since I rode west side sidewalk from 140.1 to Arby's, I was not sure. I quickly had to chose what to do in the middle of cars honking that want to continue up the road. I opted to ride on that shoulder and it was firm. The options are ride on west side sidewalk but that ends before construction ends. Ride on west side shoulder but of course that is the wrong way and facing traffic. No sidewalk on east side. No other road to go around the construction. So ride in the construction or sidewalk on west side. If do west side, one will eventually have to get across the busy road to east side. Currently the ripped out section ended at 142.5 but construction signs existed until a little bridge at 142.7 2. Rough road similar to what we have at north end of AZ-347 road with crack humps from 142.7 - 144.8 Casa Blanca Rd turn. 3. ~150.6 2 different sets of resevation dogs came out, but not a challenge. 4. Cue 173.1 "Continue straight onto E Hunt Hwy" is a bit unclear. That clue appeared while sitting at the light just prior to where cue is attached. It might be better to have another clue at the light "Turn left at light onto E Hunt Hwy" 5. 177.2 On Desert 400 there was a warning to prepare to turn left onto Ocotillo. That is missing on Desert 300. And for Desert 300 riders, there will be more traffic when they arrive here. 6. 180.0 - 180.3 the right lane is closed off with construction cones. When I did the 400k they were there as well but at midnight it was not a challenge. Now at 6pm for the 300k there was a significant amount of traffic to contend with. And as seen in Google street view, there are 2 lanes turning left onto Frye but 2nd from left lane also goes straight, so cyclist has to be aware of traffic. 7. 183.3 Similar 2 lanes turning left with 2nd from left also allowed to go straight. But this time the bike lane is a 3rd from left lane, so again have to watch traffic on turning. Recall the 300k riders will be here at high traffic volume and 400k will not. MY RIDE Started at 548 AM as I was a bit early as wanted to check out new parking lot situation at Denny's. Finally saw the sun at Komatke, mile 20. No dogs on St Johns Rd so that was nice. I had favorable winds all the way to Shawmut so that was wonderful. Had a 17.8 mph pace all the way to near Gila Bend until road gets a bit rougher. Did my usual water & bathroom stop at Star Tower just before getting into Estrella Mtn Village. Also stopped at Shell control just to W of Buckeye to see what it looked like. At least this one has bathrooms! Stopped a couple times for photos of the lava flows! And all this time was under cloudy conditions. So it was very nice temps for cycling. Funny how after a quick water stop at Subway control in Gila Bend I set out for the climb to Shawmut and wouldn't you know that sun started peeking out! Finally did a bit of web browsing to find some details on Shawmut. I guessed it was connected to the Gadsden purchase and a southern train route for the US. It was! Yet I didn't realize it was formed to work the pusher locomotives that were initially needed to help the long freight trains make that 1% grade! So some Y junctions were made to allow the pushers to pull off and hook back on. With new diesel locomotives the pushers disappeared and so did the need of Shawmut. Still this area is a challenge for freight trains as there are not double through tracks yet on this section of the UP which bought the Southern Pacific in 1996. https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=957 Seemed to run into some headwind after the summit and all the way to Sacaton! Stopped at Arby's in Maricopa for a nice beef n'cheddar + vanilla shack + fried mac n cheese ( only 4 little balls). This meal sat better with me for the run over to Sacaton, than did the fried Walleye from Culvers the week before! LOL Make it back up to the Chandler Fashion Square as the sun was setting yet made it to the car just in time before really dark. Nice day to ride a nice pleasant route, I would say that I encountered less traffic today than I did 6 days ago on that Sunday 400k ride! That Sunday was part of a 3 day weekend. Cyclists still need to be careful descending to Maricopa as the shoulder is very narrow and closer to Maricopa are sections with rumble strips starting near Mobile. Ideally a cyclist should have a mirror or radar device that would allow them to have a more confident decision about possibility to move into traffic lane.