Day Three
56.2 miles today, Loma Linda to roughly the intersection of 29 Palms Highway and Indian Canyon Drive. Sleeping out tonight, snuggled between two bushes within earshot of the road. When I stand up I can see the lights of the city of Palm Desert.
From clock on to clock off I was enroute for just over 10 hours today. I stopped short of the steep, windy canyon roadway up to Morongo Valley after sunset. I didn’t want to get stuck in there after dark so I tromped off the roadway and into the brush to make a camp out of any sight lines. I’ll make the climb in the morning light and grab breakfast somewhere in town.
Today was a lot of hill, a lot of wind and two flat tires. Fixing a flat is a time consuming effort because the bike is an unwieldy beast to move around in any way other than actually riding it. I have two spare tubes, so I swap out the punctured tube with a fresh one and find the leak and patch it later. Hopefully I don’t get a flat again tomorrow before I get my tubes patched.
After yesterday’s strong pull across the LA basin, I wasn’t putting much power to the pedals today. A little fatigued. Not many miles to show for the day’s effort, but it was an honest day’s work. I’m riding to a heart rate range and keeping heroic efforts to a minimum. So I’m not sore or wiped out at the end of the day, I just ran out of rideable light. Not over-fatiguing is necessary to be able to keep this up day after day.
Other than the flats, the bike is working fine. A very comfortable ride. This is partly due to the supple Rene Herse tires I’m rolling on, which are light and fast. But if I keep getting flats at this rate, I will have to switch to some tougher, slower tires. We’ll see.
Once I settle into my routine I’ll post on my bike, my gear kit and my riding strategy. I put a lot of thought into all this and it’s working well so far.
Tomorrow I’ll be in the Mojave Desert, and will camp as I am tonight, in the scrub brush, somewhere east of 29 Palms, CA.
Wow, it’s 9:30 PM already. Time for sleep.
I’d love to hear from you. Donate to the ride and send along your words of encouragement and tell me why getting kids outside matters to you.
