Today we rode from the Molino Campground on Mount Mellon to a dispersed campsite 12km after Oracle. The weather started as previous days, all blue skies with later some scatteres clouds. The road surface started with a paved road to the top of Mount Mellon and from there changes into off-road, varying from easy and comfortable to very rough.
Riding statistics: on Monday May 13, 2024, the 5th day on the Western Wildlands Route route, it took 11:29h (08:16h moving time), between 07:27 and 18:57, to cover 94 km (59 miles), including 1871 m (6139 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 11 km/h (7 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 28 °C (86 °F) with a minimum of 13 °C (56 °F) and a maximum of 44 °C (118 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 1 days, 12 hours, 32 minutes and 32 seconds of cycling time to cover 516 km (321 miles), including 5806 m (19049 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.5 km/h (9 mph).
At 5.20 we got out of our tent. The sun was already shining, however is was stil behind the mountains. Temperature was warmer than expected. We started cycling in the shadow of the mountains and I even had my jacket on. 10 minutes later we were in the sun and it was already too warm for the jacket. We had to climb over 1500m over a distance of 30km. In the shade and with a breeze it was OK. The sunny sides were hot. Fortunately it was a paved road, but always going up. After the top of Mount Mellon is a small town named Summer Haven. It has a general store, so I already decided we needed to visit that one before moving on towards Oracle. But first a fast downhill on pavement, I decided to wear my jacket again, happy with that decision. Unfortunately, the general store in Summer Haven was closed since yesterday evening, reconstruction work. As an alternative we visited a bakery with outside seating. It was across the street from the general store. I ate a sandwich, drink a large cup of Orange juice, and bought several bottles of water. After this we left towards Oracle.
We immediately hit a rough dirt road and had to pay attention to be sure we stayed on the bike. It was a long and tricky downhill. You start to feel the legs from standing on the pedals, and your hands from the bouncing and constant breaking. Nevertheless, it was beautiful. It took quite a long time before we arrived in Oracle. And as expected, there was not much more than a gas station, and a Dollar Family / General store. We ate some snacks, got water, and I de index we should cycle 12+ more kilometers so that we could sleep on public land.
So we did, 45 minutes later we found and excellent spot next to a super wide gravel road. Read: 25 meters from the road, we will not sleep directly next to a road. We setup tents, ate, and slept.
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