Sunny Las Vegas
Well. Where to begin? It has been a week, and I am not sure that I have all the dates correct (the days have already started to blur together), but here is a summary of the past week as best I can recall.
We left San Diego last Thursday (I can’t believe we have already been on the road for one week)! The ride up the California coast was beautiful. Within one mile of starting my chain broke and I deftly steered my ailing bike out of traffic and harm’s way. Brandon (on support) and Sebastian (always on the ball) were skilled enough to get my chain fixed, and after about 10 minutes we were off again.
Since the ride to the beach was five or six miles away, Sebastian and I were really cooking ( a la Tour de France speeds) and made it up in pretty good time to meet up with the rest of the team. We dipped our tires into the Pacific Ocean, took lots of pictures, saw some dolphins or sharks past the breakers (I don’t know they had fins), and headed up north along the coast.
It was a beautiful ride, and we pretty much hugged the coastline for the majority of the ride to Laguna Beach. Awaiting us were some wonderful sandwiches and friendly folks from the local Rotary Club. We ate and mingled, and loaded up our bikes for the drive into Pasadena.
Awaiting us in Pasadena was a wonderful dinner, and all 26 of us spent the night with host families. I stayed with Bill and Cindy and their dog, a 15 year-old golden retriever. Everyone was so hospitable and friendly. We spent two nights in Pasadena because we had a talk at the USC medical school on Friday (no riding that day).
Saturday morning we shoved off from Pasadena to Hesperia. It was a chilly morning, and as I clipped in and rode down the street to get ready to leave Pasadena, my trusty chain broke again. With the help of Sebastian and a couple other bike maintenance experts, we quickly replace the chain and rode to catch up with the rest of the crowd.
The ride out of Pasadena was beautiful but very hilly. We rode very quickly to the first rest stop up some beautiful switchbacks. The majority of the ride was very hilly – we would climb up and descend down some very beautiful but fast roads. The day culminated in a significant climb that brought us up to the “Mile High Café”. I was very tired and couldn’t have done it without the help of the other hard-core riders I was with. We drove the rest of the way in and stayed at a church in Hesperia.
The next morning, Sunday, I was on support, but the other riders rode from Hesperia to Barstow. It was a relatively short ride down the old historic Route 66, but the riders had to deal with a pretty strong headwind. Since I was on support, I got to enjoy the ride along the Route 66, with all its history and charm. At times it seemed like much hasn’t changed since the 1940s and 1950s along that road, and I imagined the fictional Joad family (from “Grapes of Wrath” riding down that same road.
Sunday night we stayed at the Barstow Community College, and had dinner at one of the oddest Mexican restaurants I had ever been to. Evidently the owners were friends with an avid taxidermist, because they had animal heads on the walls all over the restaurant. They even had the head of a zebra, which I didn’t know was native to Mexico. Anyways, they had an all-you-can-eat option for like $8.95, so we were all happy.
The mystique and charm of Route 66 faded a little bit Monday morning when we set off on a 100 mile ride, most of which was on Route 66. It was extremely bumpy, especially at the beginning, and I was just waiting for something to happen to my bike. Within the first two miles, by front brake loosened and literally flew up off the bike right in front of my face. I couldn’t figure out what had just happened, so I stopped my bike (evidently with my rear brakes) and noticed that my front brake was hanging beside my wheel.
I thought that my day was finished, but Dan was astute enough to notice that the screw was still in and all I had to do was screw it back into the frame of the bike. Evidently the lack of a paved road had loosened the brake enough to dislodge it. I was off again, and the majority of the day was spent on Route 66 traversing the Mojove Desert.
It was hot but very beautiful with some of the most amazing vistas. The support team did a magnificent job keeping us hydrated and well covered with sun block. At times I felt like a race car driver - at the rest stops, they would fill our bottles with water, spray us down with sunblock, and get us on our way again. We stayed at a campsite that evening, and enjoyed a dinner of burgers, beans, and salad, with a dessert of s’mores to top it all off .
Tuesday morning we shoved off from Kelso to Tekopa and rode about 80 miles, through what I think was a part of Death Valley. As you can imagine, it was hot, but the vistas were again amazing. We spent the night at a campsite near the California salt flats. They had hot springs that some took advantage of. We set up camp in the middle of a sandstorm.
The owner of the campsite predicted that the winds would die down at about 8 o’clock, and he was pretty spot on, aside from the fact that they didn’t cease until 8 a.m (he had predicted 8 p.m).
That evening, there were a few contentious games of Connect Four played on a travel set, with the excitement peaking in a no-holds-bar match between Team Canada (Renee) and Team USA (Ben). Although Renee claims that she was previously undefeated, Ben deftly defeated her twice, leaving no doubt who is the best Connect Four player on the trip. The only thing louder than the howling winds were the “USA, USA” chants (not really, I just added this for effect).
The whole night the tents blew around - the ground was too rocky to stake them in, so the only reason they didn’t blow away was that there were bodies and bags holding them down. Luckily, we were all pretty tired, and I slept pretty soundly, despite the fact that the side of the tent kept caving in on me all night.
Wednesday morning when we shoved off for Las Vegas, the winds had died down and we were in store for another beautiful ride, culminating in a 10 mile climb into the mountains. The descent was breathtaking, with a beautiful view of Las Vegas and the Red Rock mountains. The last 15 miles or so were tough because we were biking into a headwind, but the vans awaited us at the end and we all drove into Las Vegas together.
Last night, the majority of us saw the Cirque du Soleil show “Mystique”, which was pretty enjoyable. The evening culminated with a after-show dinner at “Denny’s”, in which I almost finished off a whole Grand Slam breakfast (after eating a whole Chipotle Burrito before the show). There was a little Karaoke late night, and most of us went to bed.
Today there was no riding. We had a talk at the UNLV medical school and a grade school, both which went well. Tomorrow we shove off for Alamo, Nevada. I hope everyone is doing well.
Peace,
Jeff