Our day off in the greater Phoenix area has been jam packed with advocacy events, expos, and visiting old friends and family. When we left Globe on Wednesday we had an uphill climb and rode our bikes on route 60 into town through the Superior tunnel. Though we had many warnings about the dangers and lack of shoulder riding through the mountain we found it to be an exhilarating down hill screamer with a beautiful view. We had a semi truck driver who was nice enough to slow down behind us for 2 minutes and let us take the lane. Maybe Arizona drivers aren't so bad after all...
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| Entering the the Superior Tunnel |
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| Saguaro Cacti |
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| Daily Ice Cream stop. Thank you DQ! |
Thursday morning we were invited to the Scottsdale Mayor's breakfast to talk about Ride America for Safe Routes. Scottsdale is a GOLD level bicycle friendly community from the League of American Bicyclists. Many of the Scottsdale officials and council men and women spoke about transportation policy, engineering, and the future of Scottsdale.We felt honored to be invited and think that Scottsdale in on the right track in giving its citizens options to use bike lanes, trails, and public transportation.
It was nice to see people in Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe actually riding their bikes, using bike lanes, and out walking. We have been in overrun rural truck America for so long it was a relief to see a variety of people using all modes of transportation. The Phoenix area is doing a great job with all their bike lanes and accessibility.
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| RASR Crew at the Mayors breakfast with Mayor Jim Lane and Susan Conklu |
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After the breakfast we stopped at the bike shop to pick up some odds and ends. Jane took the Manantee to the shop to get the 10,000 mile tune up and and Jeanie, Chelsea, and Steph went downtown Tempe to meet Todd Clapper, Jeanie's old water polo coach from Brown for pizza. Thanks for treating us to lunch Todd, it was great to catch up. Good luck at Conference in 2 weeks. Go Sun Devils!!
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| Girls with Todd |
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| Bow Chicka Wowwow |
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That evening we were guests at the dedication dinner for the annual El Tour De Mesa ride to benefit the leukemia and lymphoma society. The dinner was in honor of Sharon and Radar Newman-Matt, a lovely couple who have been volunteering and riding in the El Tour De Mesa for many years. The director Richard DeBernardis gave us a generous donation on behalf of the ride and Jeanie was able to stand up and speak to the group about our cause. We met some very inspirational speakers and dedicated individuals who are very passionate about biking.
Great Aunt Charlene Waller was our host in Mesa. She was the hostess with the mostess and spoiled us with dinner and breakfast, groceries, soft beds, and oranges from the tree in her backyard. Thanks Aunt Char for letting us stay while we passed through Arizona! Such an enthusiastic fan and supporter of our ride.
Friday morning instead of heading out of town on our bikes like we always do we stuck around to have a booth at the El Tour De Mesa bike Expo. We meet hundreds of riders and were able to get donations, sell t-shirts, and increase awareness about safe routes. Thank you Mesa citizens for your support and generous donations. We had such a good turnout on this event, and we were honored to have a table and chat with locals!
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| Kaitlynn, the newest member of our team joined us yesterday in phoenix. Shameless advertisement...Love it! |
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| Ride America For Safe Routes was the most energetic and popular table. BIKE MORE!! Whoop Whoop |
Posted by Stephanie
You are looking buff!!!!!!! You sound good too. Keep up the great work!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMayrene
Jeanie,
ReplyDeleteYou may have led a heroic team of bicyclists across 4000 miles of headwinds, rain, and big trucks, but you are still "Chops" to Coach Todd! His team was ranked 4th in the country at my last look. Pretty tough. Keep up on the fluids in the canyon country up to Vegas and Death Valley. See you in Santa Cruz.