It was cold this morning, rode with the fleece vest, rain coat, long sleeve top, knee warmers, and long fingered gloves. I warmed up some when we started climbing, not the big climbs of yesterday, but long rollers. I was tired from the day before, so went slower than usual. Our entertainment was provided by the border patrol guys flying by us in their SUV’s. At one point we witnessed one poor person face down on the side of the road getting ‘cuffed. We’re very close to the Mexico border.
The next part of our ride was this long eight mile descent on the freeway – a 6% grade – it should have been a fun downhill, but was really kind of scary. The winds could really rock you around, I would brake when I thought the wind would hit and then hang on! – very tense and tiring. Bonnie fell on the rumble strip, fortunately not hurt too badly.
The checkpoint, about halfway through each days’ ride where we had to sign in, was at the bottom. Off came all the warm clothes and into the mexican restaurant I went for a burrito to split with Keri.
The riding after lunch started out good, even though the road was kind of bumpy, we had a tailwind. Then it switched to a headwind and the road totally deteriorated into a completely beat up piece of crap. We swerved all over the road looking for the smoother sections – there weren’t any. We finally came upon the reason for the poor road – a large business called “Plaster City” and their big trucks. Thankfully it was only 10 miles of really bad stuff and then on and off for the rest of the day.
We were in the desert! Sand, rocks and not much else except for the military planes flying above us. The signs said we were riding through a “Live Bombing Area,” I assume they close things off if they’re doing anything dangerous. Sig, Keri and I were riding together, Sig swerved to miss a pot hole, I barely missed it, and Keri went in and crashed. She was ok, her bike was a bit messed up, but she was able to finish the day.
It was hot by the time we finished, but I felt pretty good for 90 miles. We camped at a community center – pitched our tents right next to the pool. I had time to walk around town and write before it was time walk to the chinese restaurant for dinner.
90.4 miles - 3,730 feet of climbing