This was the day that had me freaked out the most. 110 miles in 106 degree heat.
It was awesome! We did it at an average of 20.7 mph and I felt great throughout. I even peed several times - unheard of when I'm cycling in heat - I'm so proud! It was Jeff, Joseph, Bill, Michael and I most of the way. Michael finally realized that the other four guys are certifiable and decided to ride with a more reasonable and fun group, leaving our usual foursome to finish up. Bill and I are the two appointed navigators (whatever it takes to stay on the plane) and Jeff and Joseph are the two engines. While Bill and I take our turns pulling, our turns probably add together to form one J&J turn. As an example, Jeff pulled the rest of us over the final 17 miles!
The Mojave Desert was beautiful and the scale was amazing. Having five of us taking turns pulling actually gave us something to focus on as we sped across the desert. Together, it was a great experience - but riding that thing alone would have been absolutely horrific! Once we reached Parker we left California and entered Arizona - one state down and a whole bunch left. My only issue was a case of "hot feet", but Karl had the solution and doused my feet in cold water whenever we stopped for water. I swear those guys have ESP, every time we started to run out of H2O the van magically appeared behind us.
Just had a great massage from Mistress Tara and everyone at Sterling is managing (prospering?) without me - so maybe I'll watch an hour of daytime TV here at the luxurious Best Western, Parker. It's a short but hilly 45 miler tomorrow then I get to watch Andy's game online. They're playing the #4 ranked DIII team, so he should be in for lots of action.
Just spoke with you but I wanted to officially congratulate you for leaving California! Now you can start to see the parts of the US that you haven't seen before - Don't forget to stop occasionally and talk to the locals....
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