Yeah, that was a level of hard that I have never before experienced. Just when I thought I found my least favorite section (Canelo Hills), I did that climb up to Molino in the dark with no water (and the spring on the other side seems to have disappeared). ANd just when I thought that was the worst, we did Oracle Ridge. Words simply escape me for that section. Not only did it steal a bit of my soul, it wrecked the tread of my X-alps and my wife's Rime's - and they are supposedly made for hike-a-bike.

Through all that, I finished, with my wife - and that's a pretty special thing. I gained a new respect watching her push her singlespeed up and over boulders on Oracle Ridge. She is even tougher than I thought. And when she landed in a cholla on the way up out of the Gila River valley. It was the worst I'd ever seen and I thought we were going to have to get medical assistance. However, I sat there with my pliers an ripped huge cholla balls off her thighs and butt. Then I took out all of the ones that were still stuck in her. Not once did she scream. I would have cried like a baby. She is tough.

Anyhow, I'm grateful that we had a chance to do this kind of adventure together - it was an amazing feeling to finish.

I need to get some bike shoes that can tolerate a bit of Arizona hike a bike. That means lots of sharp nasty stuff that wears down soles pretty quickly. The Pearl Izumi X Alps seem to be the gold standard out here, but I've heard really good things about these new Specialized Rime shoes. Anyone have any experience with them? Are they worth the extra bucks? Are they better than the X Alps or just different?