Another morning waking up at the AirBnB.  I love sleeping in a tent, but staying in a house is so much easier.  I took a shower this morning just because it was easy, unlike taking showers at campgrounds.  Patrick came to pick up our bags just after 8 AM and the rest of the riders showed up soon after and we were ready to ride by 8:30 AM.

As usual, it was a chilly start of the day and the temperature didn't rise above 60 degrees all day, but the sun was shining and the wind was to our backs, so it was an awesome day.

Our first stop today was at Old Fogey Hot Spring around mile 21.  We didn't bring swimsuits, so we just stood around and had a snack. 

Today's treat is that we are meeting Patrick at a rest area on I-8 around the 45 mile point, so we were anxious to get back on the road.  From here we are supposed to ride on a frontage road for 19 miles.  About 2 miles down the road, it looked like the road was closed and we would have to ride back and find an alternate route, but we noticed another sign stating that the bicycle route continues through the construction.  Before we knew it, we were riding along a newly paved, protected shoulder with a tailwind allowing us to cruise over 16 mph for about 10 miles.

The shoulder then turned into a newly paved road with no one but us on it.  It was so luxurious.

We then got on Interstate 8.  We have 5 miles to ride to get to the rest area where we are meeting Patrick.  This part of I-8 goes through Imperial Sand Dunes National Recreation Area.  These dunes are pretty incredible looking.

We are really close to the Mexican boarder.  I thought you might like to see a view of Mexico:

Finally we arrived at the rest area and Patrick was there waiting.  We were able to hang inside and make sandwiches for lunch.  Rest area's have never been this good!

The next planned stop is a brewery in Yuma, Arizona 19 miles ahead, so let's get going!

I can't believe that we have already crossed the boarder into Arizona.

Finally...Prison Hill Brewing Company, Yuma, Arizona:

We still have almost 13 miles to ride today, so we drank our flights and pints and got back on the road.

We finally made it to Shangri-La RV Resort where Patrick, Mary, Jimmy, and Jackie are staying.  They don't allow tents, so Bill, Mel, Tim, and I road the 0.7 miles to the Comfort Inn and Patrick followed close behind with our bags.  After an awesome shower, we walked back to the RV for dinner.  Tonight is Mary's turn to cook and she made a wonderful meal of bulgar, broccoli, and chicken/beans.  It made for a great Buddha-type bowl dinner that was incredible.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel.  It is really hard to appreciate not pitching a tent tonight since we were in an AirBnB for the past two nights, but it really is hard to beat a bed with an easy walk to a bathroom.  However, we will enjoy it since the next time we are in a bed is in almost a week.

Tomorrow should be similar to today, but only 60 miles.  It is supposed to be pretty chilly in the morning, so we are planning on waiting till after 9 AM to ride.  Sounds good to me!

Today is our fist day off.  Tim, Mel, Bill, and I slept in at the AirBnB and had a lazy morning catching up on emails and the internet.  I don't know what the RV crew did, but I do know that Jackie and Jim went shopping for the 5 days of food to last till our next zero day in Gila Bend, Arizona.  Around 12:30 PM the rest of the team picked us up to go to Humble Farmer Brewing Company for lunch and beer.

After the brewery we headed back to the AirBnB for dinner and plans for our ride tomorrow.  Tomorrow we ride to Yuma, Arizona, about a 75 mile day.

It was a pretty cold and rainy night sleeping in the tent.  When I stayed here during my two PCT hikes in April, there was ice on our tent, so I knew what to expect and passed the word on to the others to be prepared for a cold night here at Lake Moreno.  Because of that, everyone was prepared and seemed to have a good night sleep.  Although is was pretty cold when we woke up, people seemed rearing to go.  Today is the longest day so far at almost 70 miles and with all the downhill, it is predicted to be a pretty fun ride.  Just after 9 AM everyone was geared up and ready to go.

We rode for about 45 minutes when a climb appeared in front of us.  At this point, everyone decided to strip off some of the layers knowing that most of today's climb was about to take place in the next hour. 

After yesterday's climbing we all felt pretty good about the "only" 2,119 feet of climbing we had to do today, but it was a pretty brutal climb.  At the top we all stopped for a much needed breath of air.

Up over the hill and bit of down we came to Mountain Top Market & Gas...a perfect place for a rest stop.

We hung out here for about 30 minutes before we were all ready to hit the road.  We were now a bit nervous because we are about to ride on the shoulder of Interstate 8 for the next 15 miles.  There was a California Highway Patrol at the store that told us that our ride on I-8 was going to be safer than the ride we just had on California Highway 94. He also told us to make sure we bundled up for the ride down since it was going to be windy.  We really didn't know what to make of his comments, but his comment about safety did make us feel better about riding along the interstate.

Once on the interstate, all our fears were gone.  The shoulder was wide and smooth with a rumble strip protecting us from the traffic.

We went down for about 8 glorious miles and then there was a bit of a climb.  It was a bit deceiving since it seemed like we were on level ground, but with the hard breathing and looking back, we can tell that we climbed for almost 5 miles.  Then, signs appeared stating that there was a truck brake test area ahead and signs that warned of high winds next 12 miles.  I made it to the crest and decided to wait for the others before descending the hill with signs that warned trucks of a 6% down hill grade ahead.  The wind was whipping, but we were lucky enough to have a stop with a container to hide behind.

While standing there I decided to check on m phone how far our next planned rest stop was in Ocotillo.  According to Google maps, it was 13 miles away, but check out the elevation loss we are about to experience:

WOW!  We are all excited and a bit worried about a 13 mile, 2,851 feet drop, but we jumped on our bicycles and were off.  The next 13 miles were both exciting and frightening.  The road was steep and the wind was whipping making it feel like the bicycle was moving sideways at some points.  My bicycle would have easily gone over 40 miles per hour if I didn't keep pulling the brakes, making my hands and forearms burn during the descent.  The daredevil in me wanted to just see how fast I could go, as I approached 40 mph and the wind whipped me around, I pulled on the brakes to keep control.  The 13 miles were completed in 30 minutes making the average speed 26 miles per hour. WOW!!!  At least some of us averaged 20-26 miles per hour, as we waited at the bottom of the hill for Tim to catch up.

To be fair, we only waited about 5 minutes for Tim to catch up to us.

We went to Red Feather Off-Road Market & Cafe for lunch.  This was about the 42 mile point of a 69 mile day.  Now that we were off the interstate, we weren't too concerned about the last 27 miles since we were headed directly east and there was a 20-25 mph wind blowing out of the west.  We figures we can finish this ride up in less than 2 hours.  After lunch we saddled up and make our turn east only to find road closed sign.  I rode to the bar across the street and the locals said that a bridge was out, but it was passable....cool...let's get going.

By the way...look closely at the road with the "Road Closed" sign.  Notice how beat up with cracks and potholes it is?  Well...this is the way the road was for the next 19 miles.  Yes we had a 20-25 mph tailwind, but we weren't able to make the time that we expected.  Plus, our group experienced our first mechanical issue when Jackie blew a tire.  As Jackie and Jimmy were busy fixing the tire down the road, the rest of us took a break on the closed bridge:

After 25 minutes we were back on the broken, cracking, bumping, but hard to complain because there is a tailwind, road.  Bill and Mel were leading on the tandem and I was following behind swerving and bobbing around the holes as they did.  After a bit I looked behind to find nobody else there.  I stopped and my phone beeped with a message that Jackie has another flat.  Bill & Mel, who was a bit in front of me finally came to a stopped and turned around.  I rode to them as they attempted, against a 25 mph wind to ride to me.  We determined that it was crazy to try to ride the 2 miles against the wind back to Jackie and it was too windy to wait here on the side of the open desert, so we decided to ride to the next town 3 mile east.  Meanwhile, Jackie, Jimmy, Tim, and Mary helped with the flat:

Meanwhile...5 miles ahead, we found a hay bale under a tree on the side of the road to wait.

Another 30 minute or so wait and we were all back together again ready to tackle the last 11 miles of the day. Which we finally finished almost 8 hours after the start.

Bill, Mel, Tim, and I are staying at an AirBnB tonight since the RV park doesn't allow tents.  It was cleared with our host that everyone could come over for dinner.  Mel, Mary, and Jackie made us some delicious chicken and tofu fajitas that really hit the spot after the long day in the saddle.  Tomorrow is a zero day meaning that we have a day off and don't ride.  After the first three days, we all need this little break.

Right across the street was a sign that noted we have completed the first 50 miles of our adventure.

Being not tall, the back of the 4Runner is pretty comfortable for me, Tim seemed to manage.  Just after 7 AM, Jimmy was poking his face into the windows of the 4Runner to see if we were awake.  Since we went to sleep at a decent hour, we had actually just woke up.  Most of them had already eaten breakfast and was dressed in their bicycling gear.  Tim and i have a lot to do before we are ready to go today.  We have to finalize what we are taking with us on the ride and what we are going to leave in the 4Runner till we see it again in May.  This shouldn’t have been too hard, except it is still raining. 
Around 8:45 AM all the bicycles and people were packed in the 4Runner and Patrick’s pickup and we were headed to Imperial Beach for the start of the ride…in the rain.  Tim, Mary, and I drove to the storage place as the others headed to Imperial Beach.  We filled out the paperwork and by the time Patrick dropped everyone off at the beach and came to pick us up, we were ready to park the 4Runner.  Oh…by the way…it is pouring rain.  ​

According to the radar, there will be a pause in the rain around 11 AM, so when we were all finally at Imperial Beach we threw on our helmets, grabbed the bicycles, and headed onto the beach to dip our rear tires in the Pacific Ocean.  At this point the rain had subsided some, but it windy and just not too fun to be out there.  Patrick did get some awesome shots though:

After dinner, Patrick and I walked down towards the entrance of the camp to see what the situation was.  It wasn’t good.  The bridge we came over right when we enter the camp had a river of water going over it.  On the walk back to the RV we stopped a truck that had made it over the bridge.  He said he thought the river would peak around 10 AM and that by noon we should be able to get out.

So now, as we are getting ready for bed, we are just hoping that the bicycles and Patrick will be able to get out here tomorrow and continue our ride.  There is a chance we will be stuck here one more night and would have to then skip the next 35 miles, but at this point, we are all hoping for the best.

Again, because of the rain, Tim and I decided not to pitch our tent.  Tim is sleeping on the floor of the RV and I am currently laying here in the back seat of Patrick’s truck where I am going to sleep.​

Yes, the start at the beach was windy and wet; yes, we got a little lost; yes, it rained the entire ride on us; and yes, it was a great start to what promises to be a great adventure.

The 4Runner is packed and ready to go to San Diego tomorrow.  We will be picking up Mary, Mel, Bill, and Jackie from the San Diego Airport around noon.  Patrick and Jim will be arriving with the RV around 2:00 PM.    I guess this means that regardless of if we are ready to go, we are ready to go.

Tim and I were sick for the past week, so very little training since the last blog post.  We did manage to ride 35 miles yesterday and it felt pretty good.  Although we could have ridden today, we opted to go on a hike in Joshua Tree National Park with Mary and Brad.

Tim and I have had an incredible stay in Desert Hot Springs with Mary and Jim.  This area is amazing and Mary and Jim are the most wonderful hosts anyone could hope for.

 It is now February, so we can say that we are starting our bicycle ride across the US THIS month...in 13 days to be precise.  Tim and I have been in Palm Springs, California for 3 weeks now attempting to train for this ride.  So far we have ridden 272 miles and have climbed 12,159 feet.  Not too bad.  Tim had set a goal for us that we should ride 1,000 miles and have at least one 100 mile day before we set off from San Diego.  With only 13 days left, I'm thinking we are not going to meet the 1,000 miles, but we should be able to get a century ride in..

By the way, Palm Springs is really a wonderful place.  A desert oasis surrounded by mountains.  The peaks of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio are always in view making for some nice scenery during our training rides.

We aren't just riding bicycles to train for this trip, we are also cross-training by hiking right in the backyard.  This trailhead is a 5 minute walk from the front door.

And of course, when in Palm Springs do as the locals do and play golf:

We even got to attend a PGA tournament and saw how the pros do it.

By the way, the rest of our Trans-America bicycle ride group is braving the cold weather in Ohio and New York and is not getting any road miles in currently.  They are all hoping that riding on trainers, going to the gym, and doing spin classes are going to get them over the mountains out of San Diego.  Keep going teammates, 13 days and counting!