Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Day 2, 86 miles from Riverside to Indio, CA

We left Riverside on a chilly morning--those of us from cooler climates were in our element, but the southerners and Californians were whining! There were 2 climbs on this ride, the first was right out of the barn and was a mile and a half long. Second climb, at 26 miles into the ride, was 5.4 miles long, and I just put my head down and did it! So much better than the previous day! I averaged 6 mph on the hills.

After the second climb we crossed the San Andreas fault, had a sag stop at Beaumont, and then the fun began! We were told there was a windmill farm in the area, and we found out why! The winds were howling, blowing sand and bikers all over the place! Fortunately the winds were at our backs for 90% of the time were were in them... As I mentioned in the photo posting, it was blowing at 55 MPH and we were flying. We flew past the "welcome to Palm Springs" sign at 40 MPH. I wanted to stop and take a photo, but was afraid that I would not be able to stop the bike! A couple of bikers wiped out, two of whom had to go to the hospital and subsequently drop out of the ride.

The people in the lunch photo at Mary's Hamburgers are Mary Ann, Peggy, Janie, Noreen, and me. Mike took the photo.

The last 20 miles of our ride gave us a sample of the desert we will encounter the next two days. Even with the 2 climbs, I managed to average over 15 MPH for the day. At route rap, we were warned of the dangers of riding in the desert. Sounds very scary.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woooa! 55mph winds! sounds like scary fun! Glad you were able to stop for lunch!
Don

Anonymous said...

I guess I'll quit whining about my 15-20 mph winds.
Way to go Linda.......... Keep up the good work.
Be safe.
Christy