A stop at the Lake City Bakery was how we began last year’s adventure, so we opted to start things off the same way with a ham and cheese croissant before heading up the short hill out of town. Lots of climbing awaited us on the first few days so the extra fuel we felt couldn’t hurt. Our first hiccup occurred on the dirt roads of the Lake City cut-off, a shortcut that would get us to hwy 50 and on our way up the north side of Black Canyon. It was here that Jupiter’s rain jacket broke free from her tie-downs behind her saddle and quickly worked it’s way into her gears. By the time I noticed she was no longer behind me she was about 3/4 of a mile back and it was then we also discovered that her radio was not working. After riding back to help her get going we continued on in the heat of the day which was becoming more and more severe. When we reached the dam at the resevoir we took advantage of the water hydrant that provided ice cold water from the earth below to cool off. After many bottles over our heads we continued on and up the climb. It wasn’t long before Jupiter’s legs started cramping and we were forced to stop on several occasions. It appeared our bodies weren’t quite as prepared for the heat and intensity provided by both the heavy bikes and the long steady climbs as they had been a year earlier. Our next surprise was a very severe bloody nose (mine) that forced us to stop and treat for the better part of 15 minutes. Somehow we managed to make it up and over the summit and began the long descent towards the campground just outside of Crawford. We arrived a few minutes after sunset and had just enough light to get the camp set-up, which also took a tad longer than it had the last time we’d rolled into a camp 11 months ago. Apparently it’s not quite the same as riding a bike!