Biking for Baseball is headed south to Arlington to catch the defending 2-time AL Champion Texas Rangers take on the Seattle Mariners. The red hot Rangers lead the majors with 276 runs, 73 home runs, .289 batting average, and an .824 OPS. The offensive juggernaut scores runs like crazy and has All-Stars across the diamond.
Adrian Beltre is batting .319 with 9 homers and plays great defense at the hot corner. Nelson Cruz is a feared power hitter who hit 2 home runs and had 10 RBI last series against the Blue Jays. Ian Kinsler is 2nd baseman that actually hits; he has an OPS+ of 115 so far this season and 7.1 WAR last season. Elvis Andrus is a SS that hits .302 with .385 OBP. Mike Napoli is a catcher who already has 7 homers. Michael Young is what is known as a professional hitter.
The crazy thing about the Ranger’s line up is these guys are pedestrian compared to their most feared hitter. Josh Hamilton already has 20 homers and 53 RBI this season. That is two more home runs than the San Diego Padres! He’s batting .379 and has an OPS+ of 211. His numbers are insane. He was MVP 2 season’s ago, and he is on pace to completely shatter his numbers from that season.
In 48 games so far this season, he’s accumulated a 3.7 WAR. Over 162 games, that’s 12.5 WAR. To put that in perspective, the highest single season WAR was 12.2 by a performance enhanced Barry Bonds in 2001. Crazy!
He needs a lot to go his way this season to stay on his current pace. Matt Kemp knows how much a little injury can hamper a very promising season. Regardless, B4B is looking forward to watching Hamilton and the Rangers in person on Wednesday at the Ballpark in Arlington.
The West Coast was quite a stretch. It was hilly, cold and rainy. But the whole time we thought of it as a warm up ride for the Rocky Mountains.
We’re going to ride our bicycles over the Rocky Mountains.
Saying that out loud to ourselves put the stamp of affirmation on what we were about to take on. We knew that on the other side of the “hill”… was home.
Leaving Phoenix, we were able to do something that we had envisioned would happen a lot more. We had our first rider actually ride WITH us. It was our host Mike! Mike and Dawn had a great place in Chandler, AZ with a trail basically right out the back door. Mike led us on the trail for a few miles as we rode out of the suburbs and into the heat of Arizona. Thanks Mike for paving the road for all future riders. Now, come join us when we pass through your city. We’re friendly and we have a TON of Clif bars to share with you :)
We still planned to use our newly formed slingshot approach to combat the hot hills of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all the way home. We wanted to keep a level head and a safe approach as we continued on through the dry desert air of the Rocky Mountains.
Just north of Mesa, AZ we joined up with Highway 87 and took it out of town and up the ridge of a pretty enormous plateau. However, we had no idea that it was as enormous of a plateau as it was until we got to the top of it. Mesa sat at a cool elevation of 1,243 ft, while the town of Payson, approximately 75 miles away, rose to nearly 5,000 ft! Quite a climb!
From Payson, we still had some ups and downs but nothing quite like the start. Instead, our heads were in the sky as we began to enter the national forests of northern Arizona. We opened up with Dumb National Forest (Tonto National Forest - but tonto is a Spanish word… for dumb). The forest was not dumb. Whoever named it it is dumb!
Our campsite was a stone’s throw away from here in Sitgreaves National Forest. Rex took the name too literally, sitting and grieving here after a glorious ride as he waited for the sag vehicle.
OK well he wasn’t that good at grieving. The blanket of forests provided a comfortable setting as Rex eeked out a smile. Atta boy Rex! :)
After some map issues we met up, found a promising campsite and set up for the night. So many good campsites around here!
Heading out of northern Arizona our next stop would be just across the border in New Mexico at Zuni-Pueblo. The road became unwinding and long and looked a lot like this for as far as the human eye could see:
Once we had reached the plateau we no longer had protection from the sun. The road was encompassed by desolate land for miles and miles. It was much better than the desert of California and Arizona though. We were at a higher elevation and there was usually a slight breeze. It was hot, don’t get me wrong, but we weren’t worried about getting heat stroke this time around. We felt good about our chances!
Riding through small town after small town we ended up finishing at Zuni-Pueblo, a Native American Reservation. It was pretty small and quite empty. A few wandering individuals, a couple gas stations and a community center “filled” the town. The community center was our highlight.
We rode through the town looking for a campground, park, empty field, parking lot or county road that we could camp on. We found nothing of the sort. What we DID find was a community center that had a neatly tucked away parking lot behind it with space to park our truck and trailer and a small patch of grass to set up our tents. We felt this was suitable for a night’s stay and to set up camp. We wanted to make sure we were out of sight of any of the townspeople so as not to disturb them. A 10-hour camp site isn’t much to worry about and we wanted to keep it that way. We had started to become pretty efficient at set-up and breakdown of camp.
As dawn broke the next morning, we hustled and bustled to break camp and be out of there and back on the road as quickly as possible. Putting our wheels to the road by 6:45 AM, we had our earliest start of the trip thus far. This was our first makeshift campsite that we had stumbled upon thus far on our excursion, and as we left the town of Zuni-Pueblo, we knew this wouldn’t be our last.
We wanted to get an early start because we had a special treat coming up at our next stop in Albuquerque. Thanks to a friendly face in Lawrence, Kansas; Sally was incredibly gracious and donated a couple gift cards for hotel night stays to the Biking for Baseball organization to use at our own discretion. For us to be able to get out of the elements, into air conditioning with a shower and a good night’s sleep could not and never will be overstated. Needless to say, we were pretty jazzed about getting to Albuquerque as we made it in by mid-afternoon.
On the way to Albuquerque we had our first taste of major highway riding. From the town of Grants and all the way to Albuquerque, there is one road that takes you the shortest distance, is completely paved and has a giant shoulder. Well, that road happens to be I-40. Surprisingly, this was a fantastic option for us. Heading out of Grants, we took the on-ramp, merged onto I-40 (on the shoulder, so half-merging), and didn’t get off until Albuquerque!
Note: It is really fascinating to be taking the on-ramp on a bicycle on to a major highway. Take that a step further when you are joined by a semi-truck. There’s a spark of adrenaline that rushes through you as you feel the challenge of getting on a road filled with mechanical beasts as you ride your self-powered bicycle on a highway that stretches for 100’s of miles.
We made it to Albuquerque quickly, relaxed in the hotel, caught some NBA playoffs, worked through press releases, web updates, event planning and rested our weary bodies in a comfortable bed for a night. What a relief for a night! Thanks Sally!
Of course, it will always be difficult getting up that next morning when the alarm starts buzzing at 6 AM. You lie there covered in mounds of sheets, a down pillow smothering your face and curtains drawn to keep the room cool and damp, thinking about the heaven you are in. But alas, the road called us once again! Let’s go!
Heading out of Albuquerque it was time to point our wheels north for the first time on our excursion cross-country, and on a road we were familiar with… I-25!
Whoa whoa whoa! TWO major highways! That’s crazy!
Yeah, well maybe. But also, maybe not! I-25 actually IS a bike route out of Albuquerque heading towards Santa Fe. Once again, we had so much room on the shoulder we could have done jumping jacks side-by-side all the way to Santa Fe. Granted, that would have been a big waste of energy and time, and would have only helped us illustrate the point that there was a lot of room on the shoulder. We thought better of our energy use, stayed on our bicycles and crushed it all the way to Santa Fe. But seriously, we couldn’t help but think how awesome the road was from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. And yes, it’s too hot for probably 4 months of the year, but for the other 8, it could be perfect for a commute!
We couldn’t help but wonder… someday.
Trivia Time! What is the highest, elevation-wise, capital in the country?
A. Denver
B. Santa Fe
C. Salt Lake City
D. Baton Rouge
Hopefully you didn’t look too far down on this blog and at least tried a guess. But the answer, is Santa Fe! Over 7,000 feet high! Denver, is a meager 5,280. Pftfbftbftbt! Only a mile high. Santa Fe towers over Denver like Xtra-Large towers over Mother Huckleberry.
Enough of this major highway business and excitement, it was time to jump onto a familiar road to us Coloradans, Highway 285! Home was getting closer!
As we continued north we also came under a great realization. We were heading into the National Forest Treasureland (not an actual name, but it was a treasure to the B4B team). And what do National Forests mean???… free camping! And free camping is how we save funds so that we can continue to put on crazy awesome baseball clinics for youth mentoring programs across the country! We feel like free camping and B4B go together like spaghetti and meatballs. Posting up in a National Forest in the Tres Piedras region of northern New Mexico was awesome! Check out our campsite!
After a great rest, we were getting giddy wit it as were about to cross the border to Colorado!
This is where we thought it was going to become increasingly difficult. But we don’t know if it was that we had set high expectations or that we were more conditioned since the West Coast, but we felt surprisingly good about the whole climb through Colorado. Yeah there were passes and there were climbs, but for every climb, there was a nice downhill. And for every climb, every downhill and every flat stretch for miles and miles… there was sheer beauty.
Instead of worrying about the terrain or the heat, we kept our heads on a swivel as we marveled at how B-E-A-UTIFUL Colorado is. Well there you go Colorado, being all colorful again.
Ameri-CUH!
The ride through Colorado went by way too fast for us. We passed through such pretty country all the way up Highway 285, the mountains beckoned us to stay for another day or two, bath in their lakes and gaze at their stars. It was hard to turn Mother Nature down. Especially for four dudes who only hang out with… other dudes. She’s so pretty!
This ride on Highway 285 from Tres Piedras to Denver is a must for every cyclist in Colorado. If you don’t live in Colorado, you should come to Colorado and do this ride. If you don’t live in the U.S., you should come to Colorado and do this ride. Just do this ride. And let us know, cause we’ll do it with you. Wow it was gorgeous. To be able to do it by bicycle, provides a whole new level of appreciation. Riding your bike THROUGH the Rocky Mountains. Think about it, believe in it, and do it. Basically, we loved it and want to go back already :)
But alas, we only had one camping night in Colorado and we were fortunate enough to camp under Mt. Princeton, a 14,000+ foot high mountain, just outside Buena Vista. We even had Chalk Creek flowing right through our campsite.
On the last leg, our K-State alumni, Chase and Tim met a fellow alumnus on the road and shared epic stories just outside Fairplay, CO. Kurt and Zoe are riding a recumbent bike across the country. They have a fun and interesting blog that is worth a read. After realizing their shared alumni connections, the three joined up for a salute to their alma mater.
The rest of our ride felt like we were on a constant rush of adrenaline. Denver is our home base and it was also a sort of benchmark for us. It meant we had made it through a quarter of our 11,000+ mile journey. At times on this trip we might have thought that making it back to Denver was going to happen a lot sooner than what we had planned for. But we had made it back! And on our bicycles! After seeing MLB games in each city and playing baseball with kids at each stop along the way! We were doing it! We crossed hurdle after hurdle and were feeling strong. Biking for Baseball was kicking more than ever and we were ecstatic to come back home and share it with all of our supporters that had been with us since the start. High-five to everyone, everywhere!
What the hell is BABIP? Well, it’s an acronym used for an advanced baseball statistic that us stat-heads like to throw around now and then.
So, what does it stand for? It stands for Batting Average on Balls in Play, and simply put, it measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits. This differs from batting average because batting average measures how many hits a player gets per at bat. A player’s BABIP is not affected by batting average, but batting average can be greatly affected by BABIP
There are 3 main factors that determine BABIP. First is defense. This can be seen on a daily basis. Say a hitter makes solid contact and either; an elite defensive player makes a Sportscenter play to record an out that wouldn’t have been made by a lesser defender, or the batter consistently hits directly into a shift. It’s very clear that the defense plays a huge role in how many balls in play go for hits.
There’s more to it than defense though. Luck is a factor that a lot of people mention when discussing BABIP. Sometimes hitters get fooled on a pitch but make weak contact that falls in for a hit. Or luck can turn opposite for the hitter like the Sportscenter highlight we already mentioned.
Lastly, talent level is the other determinant of BABIP. The more skill a player has, the more power the ball is hit with or better placement of balls in play. In general, the harder the ball is hit, the more likely it is to fall for a hit. All players go through hot or cold streaks throughout a season and career where they are making solid contact consistently and increasing their BABIP or hitting with little power that the defense more easily converts to outs.
Due to the flakiness of all 3 of these factors, BABIP can dramatically affect a hitter’s batting average. If a large number of a batter’s balls in play go for hits, that can boost their batting average quite high. Similarly, if a large number of balls in play get caught, it can reduce a player’s total offensive value.
A great example of a victim of a poor BABIP this season is Eric Hosmer of the Royals. He has a career low .169 BABIP which helps to explain his ridiculously low batting average of .176. His strikeout rate is lower and his walk rate is higher than last year, but his .314 BABIP last season helped yield a .294 batting average. By all accounts he has fallen victim to luck so far this season and his BABIP should increase to more normal levels, increasing his batting average along the way.
The Biking for Baseball team regrouped and restocked back here in Denver for the weekend. Spending time with loved ones, friends and avid supporters that helped get this whole crazy organization off of the ground. But just like every other city, as soon as the fun started, it was time to start thinking about the next city… Dallas/Arlington!
We were able to hold a FUN (no -draiser involved here :) get together with friends and family Saturday night in downtown Denver. Sharing stories of our trip and hearing the happenings of what we’ve missed in Denver.
Unfortunately, it has been a bit rainy here in Colorado this weekend. But to counter the unfortunate, we were pretty lucky that the 7 hours that we were outside yesterday with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Colorado playing baseball at Curtis Park and watching our hometown Rockies take on the Mariners, it didn’t rain a drop! Even better, it rained RIGHT at 5 when we were cleaning up to go home. Perfect timing!
Then, Monday was spent working and cleaning out the trailer and truck… for a few reasons.
We brought WAY too many clothes and personal belongings on this trip to begin with. Wow did we ever. We thought we’d have all of this time to change clothes, carry multiple backpacks and read books. Pffbtfbtftbftbft! Yeah right! We ride in our jerseys, set up camp, change into a Biking for Baseball shirt and a pair of jeans, wake up and put on the same jersey the next day. It’s a rotation of the same 5 articles of clothing over and over. (Don’t worry, we change our undergarments)
We were making a transition in support vehicle. What got us from San Francisco to Denver, a Toyota Tacoma, that comfortably sits 2, and very uncomfortably seats 5, is being left here in Denver. That isn’t generous to the truck. Rarely did we have to fit 5 in there (most of the time we were on our bikes), but when we did have to (i.e. looking for a campsite, driving to a host’s house), it wasn’t cozy. Fortunately, we will be leasing a wonderful Chevy Suburban through a generous supporter of the B4B team since day one, George Roberts. Thanks George!
We were transitioning one of our riders to a stationary support role. Unfortunately, Denver will be the end of the road for B4B rider Tim Sherman. The Biking for Baseball team would love to thank Tim for his generous service and wonderful energy at events and would like to wish him luck on future projects back in Kansas and beyond!
Tim will miss seeing the smiles on the faces of kids at the events, wonderment in their eyes at the ballgames and the unique experience of seeing our great country up close and personal via bicycle. He is excited to contribute to the team from a new direction.
It’s been a crazy ride thus far with many ups and downs. As we move from 5 to 4 riders, we will be going through yet another transition, but we’re ready to take it on! This trip keeps becoming more and more about playing baseball with kids and putting a smile on their face. And we LOVE that. It’s less about the RV’s, the trucks, the bicycles, the riders, the camping, and more about… the KIDS!! ‘Tis what it’s all about folks. ‘Tis what it’s always all about.
Cycling and pedestrian infrastructure isvery important to the future of transportation in this country. Roads are not only for automobiles, and in the past, a lot of roads were built as if they were just for cars without keeping bikers and walkers in mind. Cyclists have as much right to the road as cars, and pedestrians should be provided a safe and convenient place to walk. With more bike lanes, bike-specific roads, and better sidewalks, more people will realize that biking and walking are safe and easy alternatives to driving and adding to the already out-of-control congestion. There are a lot of cycling advocacy groups across the country, and we’ve been fortunate to meet up with a few of them. These groups are making change happen by fighting for a better place to bike in their cities. You should definitely find the bike coalition nearest to you and provide them with your support, be it monetarily or just volunteering to attend a local hearing on bike lanes. Help them have a greater voice to local governments to give everyone improved bike environments.
There’s one more step you can take to make our roads safer for bikers. Call your Congressmen and women to let them know you support the Cardin-Cochran amendment in the transportation bill being debated in Congress now. The amendment directs specific funds to local governments to be allocated for biking infrastructure, instead of state governments using the funds however they would like. The local governments know the needs of local bike communities better than the state. Please take a moment to contact your Senators and Representative in support of this important measure. America has made major strides since the early ’90s to become a more bike-friendly nation. One reason is that Americans strongly back investments in biking and walking. Another is consistent federal support for bike lanes and paths. We need to continue to work to ensure cyclists have a voice in the government!
B4B was really lucky to have great hosts in Phoenix. Big thanks to Mike and Dawn for putting us up when we were in town for the Diamondbacks game. We know Mike because he was the bus driver for the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps that Chase was on from Dubuque, IA. He drove the infamous 844, the drum bus, for all three years Chase was a member of the Colts. He’s a Colts drumline alum himself, and he’s been a great supporter and the best bus driver ever. He even drove the cymbal line to our ensemble competition in Madison, WI in a limousine. Awesome guy! Dawn cooked great breakfast both days we stayed, and Mike cooked some tasty steaks. Great food and great hospitality. Mike even biked a few miles with the team as we left their house for our trek to Denver. I think he wanted to keep biking with us. Huge thanks to both of them!
B4B was fortunate enough to catch two games at Chase Field over the weekend after our desert-y ride, so we had twice as much time to get a good feel for the park. Since our tickets donated to Biking for Baseball from the Arizona Diamondbacks were meant for Saturday and not Friday, we deemed that the Saturday game was our “working” game. Friday, we spent a little more time exploring the stadium and the concourse, and we all came to a consensus; we liked it A LOT!
Personally, Chase is most partial to the stadium because it has a sweet name that he shares with it. We feel like there was an added ” ‘s ” after Chase and it was HIS field. The very nice amenities, good concourse area, huge big screen, and swimming pool in right center field also helped further our enjoyment of the stadium. The only drawback we could find was the concessions were a bit more expensive than most other parks. We determined that must mean the food was the best we’ve seen so far, but don’t quote us on that because we are broke and couldn’t actually afford it. Regardless, we liked the stadium.
Chase Field is one of a handful of MLB stadiums with a retractable roof. This one was very similar to the one we saw at Safeco Field in Seattle. The Saturday game we watched at Chase Field started with the roof closed and we were really surprised how little the atmosphere suffered when the roof was closed. We were firm believers that baseball is meant to be played outdoors (Chase has been to plenty of games at the Metrodome that reinforced those opinions), but it was actually comfortable with the roof closed. The atmosphere wasn’t stale like we expected and the huge air conditioning ducts were right behind us in the upper deck to cool us down from the 100 degree weather outside. When the outside temp dropped as the evening went on, they opened the roof, which was a very cool sight to see.
The game wasn’t kind to the home team. The DBacks were beaten 5-2 single handedly by Matt Cain of the Giants. 6 solid innings of 1 run ball while going 2 for 3 from the plate. He also had an awesome take out slide at second base to break up a potential double play. That’s what we like to see from pitchers! Former Royal Melky Cabrera also continued his season long hot streak, going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI.
We had a big group of B4B supporters sitting with us at the game. We had volunteers and employees from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Arizona, as well as a few more kids and volunteers who we gave tickets to specifically at the clinic on Friday.
It was great to see the game with Mom and Dad Higgins, Chelsea, Kim, Mickey, Mike, Kyle, and the Fenderson’s. It’s awesome to have a support group like that. Thanks for coming to the game with us friends and family!
Game 4 - 5/3 - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto wins 5-0 (WP - Morrow, LP - Haren) - Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Anaheim remix)
Game 5 - 5/7 - Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants - Dodgers win 9-1 (WP - Lilly, LP - Zito) - Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Los Angeles remix)
Game 6 - 5/8 - San Diego Padres v. Colorado Rockies - Padres win 3-1 (WP - Suppan, LP - White, SV - Thayer) - Take Me Out to the Ballgame (San Diego remix)
Game 7 - 5/12 - Arizona Diamondbacks v. San Francisco Giants -Giants win 5-2 (WP - Cain, LP - Cahill, SV - Casilla) - Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Arizona remix)
After reading the illustrative blog post about our ride into Phoenix, you know that we had to cover many miles through the desert in a short amount of time to be able to make it to our event in the Phoenix area. Oh yeah, and we needed a little bit of help from some volunteers too, so we had to find a couple of those as well. On short notice. Time to get excited for the unexpected! Think we can do it???
~~~~Spoiler Alert!! ~~~~
We made it to our day of fun with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Arizona. We were lucky to join up with an existing program, Beyond School Walls, at Tempe Beach Park and teach hitting fundamentals to kids and volunteers. We met Debbie and Tiff, who helped put the pieces together to ensure a successful day. We met with volunteers to encourage them to keep being that positive influence. We high-fived with kids and shouted HOO-RAHS for every home run they hit. Awesome day!
For the day, the kids had moved beyond their school walls, (weird, I know), and into the US Airways corporate office. Here they learned about careers that might interest them and the paths that will get them there. Pretty heavy stuff for a 12 yr old kid, but it’s great to keep it fresh in their minds early. Goals are important!
They then moved outside to join up with us. Debbie, program director of Beyond School Walls, had planned out 5 stations for the kids to participate in for the day that were part of a Match Olympics. Each match picked a country that they would like to represent and earn points for their country at each station they participated in. Then, over the course of the next week, Debbie would count the totals as the kids would research more about their country and provide a presentation of a few important aspects of the country! Cool!
We were one of the stations in the Match Olympics. Kids and volunteers only had between 5 and 10 minutes per station, so we had to be quick. We altered our clinic a bit. And, we found a nice bonus! We had three EXCELLENT volunteers for our day at Tempe Beach Park as well. Chelsea, Kim and Kyle came out and helped encourage the kids and hand out dish out some high-fives. Thanks Chelsea, Kim and Kyle! Could NOT have done it without you here in Phoenix.
Kids and volunteers hit soft toss with wiffle balls past a line for a home run. Kids home runs counted as three, adults home runs counted as one and if anyone hit it REALLY far and over the fence… 10 points! Big shot right there.
Additionally, we wanted to create more moments between Big and Little. We had Bigs toss to Littles, then flip it over, and have Littles toss to Bigs. While all this chaos was going in hitter’s row, the B4B team would shag the balls in the outfield and keep the supply running at each batter’s box.
A couple of the Littles had never swung a bat before in their life! It was great to be able to teach them how to line it up, keep their eye on the ball and swing away! The smile on their face after they hit their first home run was worth the whole ride to Phoenix through the desert right there. Well done Littles!
We finished up quickly with a wonderful send-off from Debbie and BBBS-Central Arizona. Thanks everyone that could make it out. You were great! Keep doing what you’re doing!
We knew this ride was going to be a doozy for more than one reason. First, we had to cover nearly 400 miles in 2 days. That’s 200 miles a day folks. Yeah, I know you can add. Just clarifying for emphasis.
So, how were we going to do that?! [Note: Our schedule is based on the MLB schedule. If we had to choose, we would NOT do 400 miles in two days. But the powers that be determined our schedule]
Additionally, there are NO gas stations, rest areas or towns basically anywhere out in the desert. So if you are biking, through the desert, and need water, you better have it on you. We had to consider this when planning our route for the day. But HOW were we going to combat that little problem? Well, let me tell you… Slingshot! We started a new strategy that proved very effective for this leg because of the distance AND the heat. We would divide the 4 riders of the day into 2 teams. Then it was time to go to work on the bike.
FIRST TEAM… ASSEMBLE! Team 1 - Say riders The Meatgrinder (Chase) and Mother Huckleberry (Adam), would get up very early. 5 AM early! We’d have a super quick breakfast of oatmeal and fruit (on-the-hand), get our cycling gear ready, put on our jerseys (o wait, we slept in those) and hit the road as quick as possible. This would ensure that we could get our 100 miles in as early as possible. SECOND TEAM, BRING IT IN!! Team 2 - Say riders Rex (Rex) and Xtra-Large (Steve), would quickly break down last night’s camp, jump in the car, and drive ahead to the stopping point of Team 1, 100 miles ahead. Team 2 would then start from the stopping point of Team 1 and bike 100 miles farther. All four riders and the driver would meet at that final stopping point 100 miles ahead from where Team 2 started. So, the idea would be 4 riders would cover 200 miles between the 4 of them all in a day’s work.
Still following along…..?
That was the idea. But then the heat presented another problem.
Throughout Team 2’s 100 miles. Xtra-Large wasn’t feeling too good from all of the heat. Not enough water mixed with a desert… equals blahhhhh.
So we had to alter our approach a little. Easy solution! We just shortened the slingshot distance. Instead of driving 100 miles ahead, we would drive anywhere from 30-60 miles ahead, pending terrain and time of day. This would break up the day’s riding for our riders so that they could re-fuel, re-hydrate and re-sunscreen-it-up. Our riders would still ride 100 miles a day. It would just be in a leap-frogging manner over the course of the ride. Pretty stellar AND safe. And well, funny you should ask, that IS in our core values of Biking for Baseball: Safety First. We are ALL about the safety. Especially in the desert! Wow was it crazy hot out there! And it’s only May. We are soo thankful we are not riding through here in July, August or September. That, would be unfun. We started off our ride towards Phoenix, basically at sea level in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. 60 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation later and we were at the town of Julian. This was about the last we saw of civilization for a while. Bring on the desert! Actually, the desert was much more manageable than we thought it would be. I think our strategy was a good one and led us to focus on the 30 miles at hand and not the fact that we were cycling through an endless desert. We tried to get on the bike as early as possible and even ride a bit into the night in order to work around the hot part of the day.
It really is a cool feeling to see that you are biking through a friggin’ desert. I mean, a desert. We even biked through Imperial Sand Dunes National Park. Really? That is cool and not many people have had the, dare I say, pleasure of doing so. We saw sand-boarding lizards, mirages of each other, sand dunes untouched and no other cyclists. We will remember this FOR.EV.VER.
But eventually our fun had to end. We ended up crushing the ride, making great time and even being able to make it to Tempe Beach Park with BBBS of Central Arizona kids and volunteers, giving a clinic on soft toss and having ‘em take some mean swings.
It got even better! Well, kind of :) We thought the game we had tickets for was Friday night’s game. Well, we received the tickets aaaaaaand they said Saturday. Ahhhh! So now, we had the potential of seeing two games in one city. Boom! Always the optimist. We did it of course. We had GREAT seats right off the third base dugout for the game after buying the cheap seats and sneaking down to the expensive seats to get a good view of BEAUTIFUL Chase Field. Couldn’t wait to get a picture with Chase at Chase Field!
And it was nice to just be able to watch baseball. Usually we are anxious about seeing the first pitch, getting pictures, talking to people about Biking for Baseball, and checking out the stadium. This one was about relaxing, talking baseball, and watching baseball. We saw a first career MLB HR from AJ Pollock (congrats!) and a HR from our favorite ex-Royal, Melky Cabrera of the Giants. The fans, the atmosphere, the game, the seats the beers; all wins from the home team Diamondbacks and the home team B4B. What a day!
Chase Field, Dodger Stadium, and Petco Park. All great parks and back-to-back-to-back. After finishing a grueling ride through the desert, this was a wonderful way to spend our evening. What a week!
