Day 3 - Indio, Day 4 - Blythe

Couldn't get in to this site to update yesterday from the hotel internet port.

Day 3 was a very different day from day 1. We were out of LA so the traffic and lights were not stopping us every few minutes. It was 85 miles from Riverside to Indio, CA. There were two climbs, a short one at 1.5 miles, and a 5.4 mile climb at 26 miles. The latter was a taste of the future for us, but well within our comfort zone.

It was still overcast when we got to the top, so it was quite chilly, fortunately I had my rain jacket with me, some of my co-riders were not so comfortable.

Things got interesting as we approached Palm Springs about 50 miles in to the day. A hint is that they have a couple hundred wind mills in that area. The route sheet said CAUTION: DANGEROUS CROSSWINDS AHEAD. This was not hyperbole. We were being pushed up towards 30 mph, and were being banged sideways by gusts. Just to make things interesting, there were spots with blowing sand.

Before we were into Palm Springs proper, I stopped for a call of nature. When I hiked back up the embankment to the road shoulder, my bike was lifted by the wind until I was hanging on to the handlebar with the entire bike streaming horizontal. As the wind intensified, i feared that I would lose the bike, my first thought was to lay the bike down, I actually lay down on my back with the bike in my lap for about a minute until the gusts abated.

From there we rolled through Palm Springs down town area. When we left town the winds were behind us, so we were pushed at around 30 mph the last 25 miles or so. At that speed, we were all in our biggest gear and spinning out aat our maximum rates, 110 pedals per minute.

The highlight of the day was a stop at Sheilds Date Garden for a world famous date shake. That went down real smooth. The perfect recovery drink in my opinion.

Day 4 to Blythe, 102 miles through the desert. The owner cautioned us enough that the group was touchingly wishing each other luck as we prepared to pull out this morning. We had about 5 miles getting out of Indio to a 15 mile climb which started at sea level. You have to see it to believe it, sea level in the middle of the freaking desert.

This climb was long, with varying pitches, the worst of which had me in my 24 (granny) and 21 rear for a little while. To give you an idea of what this is like, I have been averaging about 15 mph overall in training and on the first two days. At my slowest, I was doing 7 or 8 mph, and getting up toward 12 mph on the 'flatter' sections.

On that climb we were on Interstate 10, and we stayed on that through mile 95. We were in the breakdown lane, but obviously when trucks went by we could anything from a sideways push/pull to a lift. It seemed like the wind would have been a good beam reach for you sailers. It was definitely giving us a push so we could maintain a pretty high speed, 18 to 22 mph. But at times it was slamming us pretty bad from the side and there was one stretch where I got some blowing sand coming across the road. That and the truck wash challenged my bike handling skills to the max.

At last we exited I-11 in Blythe for about a seven mile ride on a local access parallel to the highway. After the relatively consistent surface of the highway, this was fairly jolting after about seven hours in the saddle. They are growing alfalfa in fields along this road, and that produced a very pleasant scented, irrigation water cooled breeze. The irrigation ditches looked very tempting.

Finally the Holiday Inn Express hove into view. This is my first century on the bike over 100 miles in a day. I was the first to arrive at the hotel, accompanied by an English couple living in Maryland. This was more a function of my good fortune to not have any flats, and not spending much time in the support stops. I was so early that they had not completed the baggage distribution so I could not have my room! So I asked for the way to the pool, stripped down to my bike shorts, stood in the shower and slid into the pool, it made the whole trip worthwhile, and brought tears to my eyes.

Tomorrow we go to Wickenburg, AZ. our first state line, and 115 miles.

Thanks to you all for your words of inspiration.

Love to you all, Ron

PS - the route descriptions are marked by the day of the tour, so even though today was riding day 3, it was day 4 of the tour. I will be following that pattern from now on.