Leg 5: Adrian TX to Santa Monica CA
Alas, the end of Leg 4, completing the stretch from Tulsa OK to Adrian TX, was not without some consequences.
Despite my e-assist for the endless hills of OK and TX, the meniscus of my left knee joined (some 10 years later) the failure of the one on my right knee. After attempting time and hot / cold packs, an MRI disclosed that my meniscus was like ‘mop ends’ (that’s what the ortho doc actually said). So, arthro ortho was done in mid-June. For those interested in a visual image of cause and effect:
+ 470 miles in 8 days up and down countless OK & TX hills
= 
Professional athletes appear to recover from such surgery is a few hours or days, so it seems. For me, even three months with rehab and gentle bike riding has not restored my knee to its full function. My capabilities have now been reduced to sub 40 mile rides, and even that requires days of recovery, limiting me to perhaps 100 mile weeks. Worse, the ‘road ahead’ in NM, AZ, and CA has the equivalent of a climb of Mt Everest (at total of some 30,000 feet), including some serious, long climbs.
And, so, I’m onto Plan E. (Recapping the scoring: Plan A was a recumbent bike, B was a recumbent trike bike [The Silver Streak], C was the more deluxe and adjustable recumbent trike bike [The Orange Flash], D was the electric-assist (for hills only) recumbent trike bike [The E Orange Flash]). {There was also a Plan D’ involving a canopy so I could cross the Mojave without roasting like a side of beef}
Hoping to avoid becoming this:
I bought this:
Plan E is a motorcycle.
Specifically a Suzuki VSTROM 650 (cc) 2015 Adventure motorcycle, named “Wadsworth.”
I bought it in Denver this summer, attended three-day motorcycle boot camp there, and put on 800 miles riding it in the high country of Colorado including some dirt roads and 12,000 foot mountain passes.
Wadsworth has been patiently waiting in a storage shed in Denver for me to return after the heat of summer, especially the part of Route 66 that goes through the Mojave Desert, but before the early Fall snows of Colorado. So there is something a three hour window when I can reliably get out of Denver before ice and freezing death, and still reach the Mojave on Route 66 after cooking death of Summer. That’s the Plan.
Wadsworth on the showroom floor, a model year old, but still new, looking a little sad because no one had chosen it for adoption from the ‘kennel’ (before me; we’ve bonded now, though he still holds his breath every time I climb on fire him up).
Our first ride: to the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater.
Motorcycle boot camp was a pretty demanding three day course. I was twice the age of the oldest other participant (maybe exaggerating a little) and three times the age of most. Boy was it hot. And the issued bikes, Honda Nighthawks, were on the small side.
After ‘graduating’ from boot camp, I did some test / growth rides in the mountains of beautiful Colorado. Below is the ride from Grand Junction to Montrose via Grand Mesa.
Ride from Montrose to Buena Vista by way of Gunnison and then over Cottonwood Pass.
Climbing Cottonwood Pass.
At 12,000 feet, at the peak of the pass.
Wadsworth’s bedroom, waiting for his upcoming Route 66 Adventure.
But, first, I need to go 420 502 miles to pick up where I left off on Route 66 in Adrian TX. That will be (mostly) the “Colorado” section.
My report, starting below, on completing (!) Route 66, on Wadsworth, from Denver back to Adrian TX, and then West of Route 66 to the Pacific Ocean, is divided into pages by State traveled.
First Colorado, here.