Day 1

The Beginning

     And so it begins.  I had a restless sleep last night, in spite of my own dust mite infested pillow to sleep on that I had brought from home.  Concern about what lay ahead kept me awake.  Soon it was 5:50 and the day got started.  We all met for breakfast at 6:30AM and in spite of the offerings of a lot of free food, I stuck with some oatmeal and an english muffin.   I've never eaten a lot before a ride and I wasn't about to experiment on the first day of this ride.  We were late going and I made one last pit stop in the hotel room to discover on my return that everyone had already left for the ocean.  They apparently don't abide by the seven minute rule on this ride. This was a bad way to start a ride across America.  I made my way down to the Pacific and caught up with the group. We posed for pictures dipping our wheels into the ocean. By doing so we all managed to get sand stuck to the bottom of our feet and between our toes that would stay there the rest of the day, felt delightfully on every pedal stroke.  Then we were off.  We followed one of those drainage canals you've seen in Hollywood movie car chases and made our way into the foothills.  For the most part, the group stayed together, partly because nobody wanted to pull away on the first day and partly because none of us wanted to seperated from the group and end up getting lost.  Up to that point it was flat and relatively fast.  Once the climbing started, speeds dropped to the single digits.  I felt great on the first climb.  Occasionally, I get into a rhythm where it all is in sync. The effort matches the grade and the breathing is in time with the cadence.  The second climb was not as blissful.  There was no harmonic convergence going on, just a sore butt and tired legs.  The oddest part of the day were the two brief stretches of I-10 that we had to go on.  Cars are whizzing by at 70 miles an hour, and the shoulder can be littered with truck tire debris.  (The problem here is the shards of steel from steel belted tires that like to puncture bike tires.)  Fortunately both sections combined were only 2 miles. Bad news is that there's a day on the ride we're to be on the interstate for 100 mile.  I will not worry about that today.  (I didn't think bikes were ever allowed on the interstate, but apparently where there is no other way to get from one place to another, the exception is allowed.)  The absolute best part of the day was the last 30 miles as we descended into Palm Springs.  It was a gentle downhill grade with a strong tailwind.  I was going up to 42 miles an hour without pedaling.  It was quite exhilarating.  So 113 miles done, with an average of 17.4 MPH.  I pronounce day 1 a success.
     Afterward I proceeded to consume perhaps 3000 calories.....recovery drink, bars, more bars, burger, fries, and beer.  In addition, I took full advantage of having a single room by laying naked on my bed with my legs up on pillow....not a pretty sight, but an absolute necessity to help with proper recovery.  (Had I had a roommate, I'm sure he would have moved to another room or maybe even another bike tour by now.)   In addition, in spite of my obsessive labeling of all those baggies, my stuff currently is strewn all over the room.  I will repack it carefully by morning so by tomorrow night it will be again ready to be strewn across the room.
     So one day down, 30 more days of riding to go.  The ride leader said to us that if we can make it through the first week to Albuquerque, then we will be able to make it.  For now, I'm taking it one day at a time.  Tomorrow, it's on to Blythe, a mear 134 miles away.  I'm hoping for more tailwinds.

-Grinner

Riders at the ride orientation

  

With Judy and Karen, two of the people running the show