Pre-ride of Sears-Kay Ruins Pop 100km for the Jan 3 event date. Got a very late start, 3:17pm, since I was coordinating things at home with Brent being here. Was finally free by late afternoon. Wanted to ride it today to beat the chance of rain on Wed. Turns out the sky was clear and crisp, views were unobscured, and road surface was fantastic, except for the 4 areas ( miles are per original Sears Kay Ruins Pop): 1) along Carefree Hwy / 7th St - 7th Ave, ( mile 51.7 - 52.7) shoulder is a bit bumpy & dirty. 2) on descent of Carefree Hwy mile 54.0, there is a large gravel flow of about 6 inches tall covering the bike lane in 1 spot for just a couple feet. Had to hug travel lane to get around it. Just a warning. 3) construction on Sonoran Desert Pkwy with cement barricades starting at mile 61.2 (Traffic light for Verdin ) and going all the way to Cave Creek Rd. Road was 1 line but no traffic and that lane was pretty wide. 4) The street sign at mile 68.5 ( Cave Creek Rd / E Lone Cactus Dr) is still turned the wrong way. The usual support location of Sears Kay Ruins looked the same. I had a cheering section when I got there! A guy was sitting in his car watching the sunset and started cheering for me as I circled the lot. LOL. I had a good laugh about that. Oh, have you been up to the end-of-pavement lately? At mile 29.8/30/4 before the U-turn at gravel road, Rd 24 going west, up the valley is a new group of houses being built! In fact, you can see 1 house straight ahead of you as you climb up the hills before that! Amazing. Got a bit chilly after sunset up in Carefree so donned by arm warmers, vest, light gloves, and skull cap. Temps down to 50F. Then on Sonoran Pkwy, temp was 48F. It was pretty on the descent in Carefree with the lights coming on in the valley and the Christmas lights of the resort areas. Not much traffic at all and pretty dark (ie no street lights) in Carefree/Cave Creek.