April 30 – Albuquerque to No Where

Today’s ride was supposed to go from Albuquerque to Las Vegas NM, by way of NM 15 and I25. For me it ended at the start of the freeway. This day has been called the hardest on the trip. That descriptor has been used for two other days last week and just last week before yesterday’s ride two leaders told me that the only other hard climbing day would be in Missouri. Let’s be clear boys and girls here can only be one hardest day.

Let’s see what went wrong today. First at 5:30 it was relatively warm in Albuquerque, enough to make riding without arm or leg warmers or a wind vest seem very reasonable. I took warmers and a wind vest and after the first climb from 5000 to 7000 feet I would have liked to have something else to wear. NM15 is a very pretty road but has some big climbs after the climb out of Albuquerque before it ends at Santa Fe.

It would have been helpful to have had more information before today’s breakfast, but that is the way this trip works we get route sheets and information about the day’s ride at breakfast. Today breakfast was disorganized because the restaurant’s morning staff had not been told to expect 30 hungry cyclists at 5:30. In addition, the route sheets went missing and new ones had to be copied while we waited for our meals. I thought that today’s oral description of the route and weather was poor at best, but I understand why.

Yesterday I replaced the worn out cleats on my shoes with new ones. This requires some precise alignment in order not to cause injury to your knee. I am not sure if I got it right because both my right ankle and knee hurt and are being iced as I compose. I will check that tonight. The problems with my joints were the major reason why I stopped riding today, that combined with the fact that I was having trouble keeping up with even the slowest riders. I am also having some numbness in my left hand, it is not bad but I have put a kitchen sponge on my handle bars to help ease the pressure.

Today’s ride was 135 miles long. Sometimes I don’t appreciate how far we ride when I ride my bicycle. Today I rode the second half of the ride in a van, it was a surprisingly long ride. I also waited at a rest stop for riders we had passed on the road to arrive, it took a very long time. The perspective of distance for bicycle riders is different from that of people in a riding in a car, but I don’t think long distance cyclists really see how far they go each day. (We also get a different perspective of distance each night at or motel when we ask for directions to someplace to eat; some place we can walk to.)

Since I got in early with the luggage van I helped unload, got to my room, took a shower and went with the staff to Wal-Mart. I bought some tape for my ankle, which is now shaven, and an ice bag. Barbara the rest stop coordinator bought lunch and sag stop supplies for two days – two carts full. Items occasionally were purchased in 4’s, but 10’ and 15’s the norm. At check out it was nerve wracking to have a checker who ring up each item separately instead of scanning one item and multiplying by n. When she wanted to put each jar of pickles into a separate bag Barbara had a hard time controlling her frustration. But eventually we got it all into the van. It is surprising to be presented with the food that 30 cyclists will consume for lunch and snacks.

I have often ridden by a large field of, say, spinach and thought that there should be enough spinach in that field to feed everyone in the US. Or spotted a semi from Lays Potato Chips and wondered who could eat all those chips. I know I am mistaken but the scale of our consumption never ceases to amaze me. I suspect that the fields of Kansas and Missouri and Illinois and Indiana and Ohio will make me wonder once again where does all that food go?

I hope tomorrow is a better day for me and as we have two relatively easy days ahead of us I can recover.

April 29 – Continental Divide

Today’s ride was from Gallop NM to Albuquerque NM. (With words like Albuquerque spell checkers are great!) We started out early today because breakfast at Denny’s was 8 miles up a cold road, temperature at sunrise was 42. This was better than the lack of a breakfast we had yesterday because cook staff at the motel’s restraint failed to report to work. Do I believe that, no, but that was there story and they were sticking to it.

After filling up on pancakes and eggs I headed toward the Continental Divide. It was a very easy climb up I40. If there hadn’t been an overpass when we got off of I40 at the divide there would have been no significant climbing. However as this is the route taken by the Santa-Fe railroad, I40, and route 66 you might think that the civil engineers would have looked for an easy way to cross the divide. While the signs talk about water flowing to either the Pacific or Atlantic from this point, that is not quite true. Water on the western side will ultimately flow to the Colorado River which never makes it to Mexico, much less the Sea of Cortez. Water on the Eastern side flows into the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a small point, but it will not be until we get to New York State that we will have rivers that flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Not withstanding these small problems I had a friend take a picture of me in my GPC jersey standing at the Continental Divide.

While we joked that the ride would be all downhill from the Divide to Boston, it sure started out that way, 90 miles of a gradual decline toward Albuquerque. There was only one problem, headwinds! If you could get behind another rider and out of the wind it was not too bad, but if you were by yourself it was nasty. About half of those miles I was alone and hurting. The last 15 miles into Albuquerque involved a climb of 4 miles on route 66 and then 10 miles of downhill on Central Street into town. While our leader claims to have gone 50 mph down the hill, I didn’t get over 35. But it was fun just the same and I am here to tell you about it which I might not be if I had pushed the speed in today’s cross winds.

I have been asked for more pictures by some readers so here are a few of what northwestern New Mexico along route 66 looks like.

I hope that the saga of my wheel is over! There was a wheel for me when I arrived in Albuquerque and the mechanic was able to put my old free wheel onto the new wheel and install it on the bike. I will see what happens tomorrow as we head to Las Vegas, New Mexico. I suspect that Las Vegas New Mexico is not as exciting a place to visit as its name sake in Nevada. However with the abundance of Indian land there is no shortage of casinos in New Mexico.

April 28 – I40 and Trains

Today was a hard day, there are no two ways about it, with 128 miles, few thousand feet of climbing, and headwinds at 15 to 20 mph most of the day. In addition almost all the riding was on I40. Interstate riding is noisy, it is hard to talk with other riders. Also using ear plugs would be dangerous because some of the noises you do hear tell you a lot about what is happening around you. Without your hearing you would be in greater danger and more dangerous to your fellow riders. Riding in groups or pace lines helps to reduce the effort as only the first rider is breaking the wind, no not that kind of wind breaking, and the others exert less effort as the ride behind. This can work well on an Interstate but often the shoulder is full of debris and if the lead rider doesn’t point the hazards out to the others riders can crash. Trust is a necessary component of group riding and it takes time to develop that trust with other riders. For a big rider like myself it is more difficult to get the benefit of the pace line because smaller riders don’t block all to the wind that hits me. However riding behind me can be very enjoyable – one friend has called being behind me like being in a micro-climate.

The other problem with group riding is flats. We all get them but if say everyone in a group of six riders waits whenever anyone gets and fixes a flat the group time can be slower that the time for a individual who rides by himself and only stops when he gests a flat. Today was my turn to get flats. I got one when some glass cut my tire, after trying to repair the damaged tire I got a second flat and had to get a new tire. This put me and Dave Thompson toward the back of the pack with fewer people to ride with. This made it more difficult for us to make good time and for a long slow day. I know Dave could have ridden faster than he did today, so I am very appreciative of his staying with me today.

The country side is as vast as it is empty and some of it had a certain beauty. But mostly today’s ride involved counting the mile markers and figuring how far it was to the next exit and how long it would take to get there. At times I was doing this every mile. At one point as I was climbing a long grade my speed in mph decreased as I got from 18 mph with 18 miles to go to 15 mph with 15 to go. I was reminded of Zeno’s paradox and worried that it would always be 1 hour until I reached my next sag point. I will know when the riding is very boring when I start calculating distances in Smoots. Smoots are an MIT institution; 1 Smoot = 5 ft 7 inches.

I also wanted to talk about trains for the last two days I40 has paralleled the Santa-Fe. I have seen more trains today than I have seen in years. From what I can see someone is sending a lot of stuff to someone else. Spencer, the four year old who lives next door in Berkeley, would have loved seeing all the trains.

This didn’t get posted on April 28^th because I fell a sleep at my computer and when I woke up I decided that if my readers would like the saga to continue it would be better go to bed and finish tomorrow.

I have also noted from responses that a lot of different people are looking at my blog. Basically three types 1) cyclists I know, 2) non-cyclist friends, and 3) MIT alums. Sometimes comments are more relevant for one group than another. If anyone wants an explanation of something I said they can e-mail me make a posting on the blog.

April 27 – Red Mountains and Route 66.

This afternoon I was looking for the girl in a flat bed Ford. I was hoping that some where along I40 between Flagstaff and Winslow she would slow down and take a look at me, but no luck. I guess that at 57 I am not as good a catch as I was at 22 but for my age I am not doing to bad.

We started out by going through Sedona. If it were always like it was today morning temperatures in the 50’s and highs in the 80’s with clear skies and a little wind I might consider living there. However I suspect that even being accustomed to California home prices I would be shocked by real estate costs. The red cliffs are stunning and the canyon was beautiful all the trees in their spring shades of green. After being awed by the scenery we climbed through Red Rock Canyon to Flagstaff. The climb was not as bad as yesterdays climbs and the view from the top was if anything better. Some of the road we climbed is shown in today’s pictures. The other has my friend Dave Thompson in front of some red cliffs. After the climb we rolled through pine forests. For non-bikies means terrain hat goes up and then down and then up and then down … depending on the size of the ups and downs this can be either fun or painful to ride. Today’s rollers were on the painful side.

We got to Flagstaff for our lunch stop. Arizona has one very interesting feature. When you enter most towns there is a sign that tells you the population of the town and the elevation or when the town was founded. Now we all know that whatever the stated population of the town is, it is not the actual population of the town, people die and move and are born. In addition, after every census there will always have to be a new sign. Signs in Arizona are different they give the elevation and the date the town was founded, two bits of information that are unlikely to change. It seems to me that this is a very reasonable thing to do.

After going a short way from out lunch stop we turned onto Route 66, well for the first 4 miles it was a bike path, safe but not the thing dreams are made. However the last 6 were on the original road. Could any cross country trip be complete without experiencing Route 66.

Sadly all dreams must end so we had to continue to Winslow on I40. We rode through a high desert that seems to support sagebrush, a few cacti, and a lot of rocks. It was a stark contrast to Sedona, but I bet the real estate is cheaper. Over 45 miles we lost 2000 feet, had a good shoulder (12 feet wide with a good surface and little debris) to ride on. We also had the Semis, to drag us along and even with a head wind we could maintain 20 mph, until someone got a flat. I didn’t get any today, but several of the people I rode with did. Actually, if it were not for the noise, the extra draft that overtaking trucks provide would make Interstate riding a great way to get from point A to point B, and much faster than city streets or country roads.

I got to Winslow by myself, having dropped a few and having been dropped by more than a few. I found nothing in Winslow to warrant a visit except that it is the only place to stay between Flagstaff and who knows where. I guess I will find out tomorrow. I had a difficult time finding the motel. I probably did two extra miles getting to it. A few more days like this and I will have made up the miles I sagged yesterday.

The Comfort Inn double booked my room, but they found another for me and my roommate. Then we discovered that the air conditioning was not working. Enter my roommate who has just finished his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins. No, he didn’t fix the motels AC, but he did figure out how to get a giant room fan that is now making the room livable. It is a little noisy but far less than riding on the Interstate and it is removing the smoky odors from our non-smoking room. As our tour leader said there are some areas of the country where a non-smoking room means that it is not presently on fire.

April 26 – Done in by Mountains, Water and Performance

Thursday seemed like it was going to be a good day at 5 AM, good but hard. We were going to ride from Wickenburg AZ to Cottonwood AZ, by way of Prescott AZ. This would require 100 miles of riding and about 9500 ft of climbing. Nothing I haven’t done many times. However many riders, especially those from the east and mid-west who had never seen a mountain from a bicycle seat, were very concerned. Our route, via hwy 89, involved three climbs of about 3000 ft.

My troubles started at breakfast. We didn’t eat at Denny’s and while the breakfast buffet was good it featured eggs and bacon - NO CARBS. I didn’t figure this out until 20 miles into the ride. I also bought a gallon of water at a gas station, filled my four bottles and drank most of the rest. I must have been very dehydrated, because within the next 25 miles I had consumed more than three of my four bottles. Most riders carried two bottles that were to last them until the first rest stop at 40 miles. This combination and the time spent buying the water, really only a few minutes put me at the back of the pack, and loosing ground on the others. By 25 miles and 5 miles into the first 6 mile climb I had hit a wall. I got into the sag wagon and was taken to the first rest stop. It is kind of sad to get off the bike as it means that I will not ride all the way across America. I didn’t ride all the way from Berkeley to the start, and I know that all riders will have to be sagged 5 miles in New Mexico due to construction on the route so no one will be able to ride all the way across America on this trip. So it might not be too bad and I have proven to myself that I am not too proud do what is necessary, even if there is some loss of face.

After lunch and with another gallon of water on the bike or in me, I felt good enough to finish the ride and the last two climbs. The first climb into Prescott AZ went fairly well with the exception that what looked to be the summit with a nice downhill, turned out to be the first of many false summits over the next 8 miles. The scenery was great and there was a nice downhill into Prescott. We didn’t linger in Prescott because the last climb was reputed to be the hardest. I wasn’t easy, four miles of 6 to 7 percent grades after ten miles of a steady 3 to 4 percent grade. My cycling friends all know of harder climbs, usually shorter and if in the Bay Area at sea level. This climb topped out at 7100 feet. I have picture to prove it.

The ride then went down to Cottonwood. Since Cottonwood is below 4000 feet and only 10 miles from the top of the climb there was a large technically demanding downhill ride into town. Before we got to Cottonwood we went through Jerome. Jerome is an old coal mining town, which has become a tourist destination. One of its most popular attractions is the Haunted Hamburger where you can by a Ghost Burger. I don’t know why it is called the Haunted Hamburger, but they may make the best hamburgers this side of the other world. They also have a view across the valley toward Sedona that is to die for. It is one of the few views that I would consider trading for ours in Berkeley.

The saga of the wheel continues. Yesterday after some work I was able to confirm that my wheel had been delivered, so I thought that once I got to the motel I would be able to have my new rear wheel installed and return the borrowed wheel, which has performed admirably. I got the box with the wheel, my bike and a new tire to the mechanic. When we looked at the wheel we saw that I was sent a mountain bike wheel. For the non-bikies mountain bike wheels are 650 cm in diameter while road wheels are 700 cm. Clearly there had been a failure to communicate. After talking to Performance Bicycles on the phone I was able to arrange for a second wheel, hopefully of the right size this time to be sent to me. Hopefully, by Monday I will be on my own new wheel, but I will keep you posted.

April 25 – Arizona Deserts

Today we rose before the sun, our usual procedure, and I had another fine breakfast at Denny’s. Yum, but it gets me down the road. My friend Dave Thompson remarked that the one aspect of his training he didn’t do was eat Denny’s breakfasts for a week so that his digestive system could adjust to a low fiber high cholesterol diet.

Today’s route went from Blythe CA, over the Arizona border on I10 and after 35 miles on the interstate we turned onto US60 and rode to Wickenburg AZ. Wickenburg is a Western town. It seems to have a tourist trade based on some history of mining and whatever. An Italian restraint is named the Mine Shaft and stop signs say WHOA. Perhaps the tourists love it, but I think it is very tacky.

Today’s ride was not to hard, 117 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing. Temperature was not that bad either probably not getting above the low 90’s. One of the bigger problems was the roads. In general the surfaces were not too bad, but the Arizona Highway Department seems to be in love with rumble strips. Rumble strips are the groves on the side of some roads that let sleeping drivers know they are about to go off the road. In principle they are not a bad thing. However for cyclists they in general separate a shoulder from the main road. This can making salmon courses trough rode debris more difficult it can also make it impossible to ride on the edge of a smooth road and force cyclists onto very rough shoulders. And in Arizona rumble strips are akin to open pit mines. The cuts in the roadway are 8 inches wide 6 inches long and at least 2 inches deep. And they are separated by no more than 6 inches. Going over them with a bike can be a life altering experience, even if you do not crash.

One of the biggest pluses today was the scenery. There were saguaro cacti along the route. I find them to be beautiful, as long as I don’t have to have close contact with them, but another rider thought they were making an obscene gesture to all who passed through their habitat. It is all in the way you look at things. One rider seemed to be more interested in interacting with cacti than I; this just looks like either a flat tire or a stabbing pain in the butt waiting to happen. The county side passed between some very nice mountains but most of the time the road did not venture near the mountains, something I appreciated. We went through the small town of Hope AZ; someone has a sense of humor because as you leave the town there is a sign proclaiming that “You Are Beyond Hope”.

On a day like this we would typically have three rest stops, one for lunch and two for food and water. I have mentioned that the food is OK but not outstanding. Today the third rest stop was set up by a couple that did this ride several years ago. They wanted to give us all the things they wished they had had at the rest stops, also all things that we don’t have either. Their rest stop had big chocolate chip cookies, doughnuts, fruit (melons, strawberries and mangos), soda and shrimp with cocktail sauce. I passed on the shrimp, not my idea of ride food, but many riders really chowed down, apparently with out any GI problems. I do think that this is a great endorsement of America by Bicycle, even if they did poke some fun at the company.

I mentioned my need for a new rear wheel. Well when I finished the ride today I called tomorrow’s motel to see if the wheel had been delivered. I was told by the front desk that it had not been delivered. I called Performance Bicycle and they assured me that FedEx had delivered it and told me who had signed for it. I then called the motel again and, after talking to three people with no knowledge of the package, but who knew that the person who signed for the package worked for the motel, someone was able to find my package. Hopefully all will be well after tomorrow’s ride, and so far the borrowed wheel has given me no problems. For two days I have had NO flats. I am no longer the leader in the dubious category of most flats: I intend to stay out of the lead for the remainder of the trip.

I will finish and go to bed with visions of tomorrows ride to Cottonwood AZ in my head. There is a perfectly wonderful, relatively flat route from Wickenburg to Cottonwood along an interstate, but we are going by way of US 89, it is about the same distance but has by all accounts 10,000 feet of climbing in 100 miles. At least I KNOW that I can finish the route as I have often done rides as hard as tomorrow’s ride will be. The funny thing is to see how many riders from the Midwest and East have never done any ride with anywhere near this much climbing, several are very concerned and a few are scared. I shall let you know what happens.

April 24 - Desert riding on I10

Today started with breakfast at Denney’s at 5:30. I believe that I have about 30 more early morning breakfasts at Denney’s in the near future. Each day I have a choice of French toast and eggs or waffles and eggs. Some days I also get to have hash browns. Whoopee! I will say that we do get enough calories for breakfast.

Yesterday my four flats made the Mike's, our tour leader, blog.

http://www.bamacyclist.com/Journal2007/Fast07/07fast.htm

If you need another view of the ride you could check out his blog. Mike is a really nice person, good leader, and great cyclist. If this because of or in spite of his spending 20 years in the Air Force I do not know. The other crew members have also be very helpful especially the mechanic Shawn would does yeoman’s work each night to keep our bikes in working order. From what I have seen during the last two days his job is not going to get any easier as we move eastward. There seem to be a lot of very nice racing bikes with spiffy wheels that I don’t think will make it to the Atlantic. I really believe that my need for a new rear wheel yesterday will become a relatively minor problem before we reach the end of the ride. I hope everyone’s bike makes it, but I would not bet on it. There was someone today with four flats, I don’t know if he had any yesterday, but as I had none today, at worst I am only tied for having the most flats. I am hoping to fall behind the leaders in this race very quickly.

Today’s ride was east from Palm Springs to Blythe CA. After an early sprint to Mecca CA, a town with little positive going for it and definitely not to be confused with its name sake in Saudi Arabia, we climbed Box Canyon. If I can figure out how to do it I will post a picture of me in the canyon. Box Canyon is very impressive and quite beautiful. Our leader, Mike, thinks it is the nicest road on the ride. It being only day two I am not sure that I am happy to hear that. However I think that there could be a lot of very nice seconds on the trip, at least I hope so.

Once the canyon climb was done, we got onto I10 for a 65 mile excursion across the desert. There were three stops for us along this section of I10, but only one place where tourists could get any services. It was a lonely road, inhabited mostly by 18-wheelers and today by 30 cyclists. We had our lane, a wide breakdown lane and the 18-wheelers had their two lanes and we kept to ourselves. The major hazard was the tire debris that the truckers leave in the breakdown lane when they get a blowout. Steel belted tires have very fine wires that seem to have a need to leave dead tires and jump into whatever new tire comes along. When that tire is a bike tire the wires eventually cause a puncture. They can be so small and hard to locate in the tire that the same wire can cause several flats in one tire. Ouch! Luckily, I didn’t have any wires latch onto my tires. Riding on a freeway is not all bad as 18-wheelers can also be a cyclists best friend. Every time one passes you the draft they create can add half a mile per hour to your speed. The effect can last for up to a minute.

We were also lucky today as the temperature never got above 90 in the shade. Not that there was any shade on the road, but temperatures over 100 are usual for this part of the country at this time of year. Lastly, I want to say that physically I am doing fine and looking forward to tomorrows ride and getting into Arizona.

April 23 – The real ride begins

Sunday was an organizational day so that our bikes could be checked, and we could meet our fellow riders and learn how the trip would be run. Important but kind of boooring. I also meet Dave Thompson a friend from PA who is doing the ride. I kind of talked him in to it. He told be he would like to do something like this and when I told him what I was doing, he decided to come too. It was nice have a going away dinner with him, his wife Sandy and Karen.

Today we got a wake up call at 5 AM, went to breakfast at Denny’s at 5:30 and had a late departure at 7 AM. Tomorrow we leave at 6:30. Our first stop was the Pacific Ocean where we dipped our rear wheel into the water. Tradition, yes but we had to walk and carry our bikes across 200 yards of sand, the water was cold and then after returning with our bikes we had to remove the sand from our feet before putting our shoes back on. I may be lacking in team spirit but why not just start the ride.

Well after that things started to bet better. The first 35 miles of today’s 135 were on a bike path along a canal that because of Friday’s rain surprisingly had water in it. These miles were flat and easy. We then started to climb on a bad road and I got a flat. I and a few riders with me fixed it in short order and we were off. After 10 miles of up hill we got to lunch. It was not too bad by century ride standards, but certainly less inviting than the Grizzly Peak Century lunch. I ride with the GPC cyclists in Berkeley. After lunch my new tire with 60 miles of use found a razor blade in the road – flat number two and a new tire to boot. I was very fearful and careful for the rest of the ride. We had several miles of road construction and a bigger hill, about 2000 feet to climb. The climb had a nice road surface and shoulder but nothing pleasant about the views and traffic, lots of traffic. When we got to the top we had 50 miles of down hill into Palm Springs. We started to fly at 25 to 30 miles per hour. Some of the ride was on I10, yes it can be legal to ride on interstates, but only if there is no alternative road. We got off I10 on to a frontage road that has not seen any repair since I10 was built 50 years ago. I avoided many pot holes until one caused my third flat. I needed someone to loan me a tube, as I only carry two. (The flat I got on Thursday was my first this year!) The first tube I got had a leak already, so I got to change my tire twice this time. Once I got under way again our group of now ten riders rode the next 25 miles at 30+ mph. There is a wind farm outside Palm Springs and all the wind mills were facing us and turning madly. Translation – tail wind. About one mile from our motel I got a slow leak but rode in on the soft tire, flat number four. The mechanic on the ride looked at my rear wheel, the site of all my flats and pronounced the wheel trashed. He was very right, there were two flat spots and two bent sections of one of the rims. There were two spokes with no tension. The tour had a spare wheel to loan me so I can ride tomorrow, but I had to call Performance Bicycle and order a new rear wheel. I can get one sent to me in three days. So if I don’t ruin the group wheel I should be OK. This also means that the rear wheel I dipped into the Pacific will not make it to the Atlantic. However a world where I can see on line what I am ordering over the phone (using a cell phone and an 800 number) and where products can be shipped by FedEx to the backwaters of Arizona is really quite nice. I guess there have been some improvements in the quality of life since 1972.

For those more interested in me than my bike, as I finish this installment I must say that I feel great. I could start tomorrow’s ride right now. So for the physical part so far so good.

April 21 - Southern California

Saturday was very nice, the rain had cleared the smog from LA and the city looked as good as it gets. It was cool but not cold. I rode from Santa Monica to Newport Beach about 50 miles. Today’s challenge was to navigate without a cue sheet and with only a AAA map of an area that I didn’t know. I got on a Bike Trail in Venice that went along the beach and seemed to have a great number of recreational cyclists. None seemed especially fast as in 6 miles I was never passed, but for the most part the riding was fun. The bike path went onto a beach road and after a few miles into a parking structure (only in LA). The bike path ended at Palos Verdes and I had to climb a few hills to get over to the area around Long Beach. After getting a few directions, I discovered that even cyclists who looked like they might be serious riders were likely to have never gone more than 5 miles from their home. This meant that information about the local area was good, but information about how to get to a distant point was very spotty. Conclusion: ask directions to a nearby location that you think should be on your route and not about how to get to the end of a longer ride.

While climbing the hills in Palos Verdes I rode for a while with Mark, the only rider I rode with on the entire trip from Berkeley. Mark was a triathlete out for a hilly ride. He got me through Palos Verdes on some nice roads and pointed me in the right direction at the top of the climb. I am not so sure how much he competed, as he thought that my 50 mile ride was ‘ambitious’, but he was good company. The ports around Long Beach are the pits. Fortunately, it being Saturday, the truck traffic was minimal but the yahoos in pickups and SUVs were a little frightening at times.

Once through Long Beach I got onto hwy 1 and headed south to Newport Beach. There are some nice bikeways along the 15 miles of beach, but hwy 1 also has a great bike lane. It is so much better than the sections of hwy 1 we ride on in Northern California or the 50 miles north of Santa Monica. I rode on the bike paths until I had had my fill of dog walkers, rollerbladers with ipods so loud that I could hear their music as I passed them, and skateboarders. When I ventured on to the hwy 1 bike lane, I found that there were a great number of cyclists who rode fancy bikes and wore great clothes, but didn’t have the ability to justify their investments. It was very Southern Californian. Since my ride goes through no large cities I hope that this is the last I see of the Southern Californian ethic.

April 20 – Rain and Good Friends

On Friday I woke up at the usual time of 5 AM to see heavy rain from the motel window. As the ride for today was relatively short, I figured I could see if the rain dissipated. This involves sleeping for an hour and rechecking the conditions from the window. The extra hour of sleep was welcome, but there was no change at 6 AM. I decided not to ride and slept until 8. The decision was predicated on several factors: 1) Karen could take me and the bike to Los Angeles. 2) I have ridden in the rain many times; it is not something that I need of want to practice. 3) Much of the day’s route was to be on Hwy 101. Even it the rain stopped the pavement would be wet and each passing car and semi would spray me with water in proportion to its mass. At 10 Karen and I let for LA, well to be precise Nancy and Mark’s home in Beverly Hills. I admit that as it had stopped raining by 10 I felt some guilt over my decision. However once I saw the condition of the shoulder on the first section of 101 I was glad that it rained, as it would have been very nasty even on a sunny day - lots of stones and broken pavement in the shoulder. Then around 11 the skies opened up. It was difficult to see far enough to drive a car! Being inside was so much better than being outside.

By 12:30 we were at our friends’ home and as it almost never rains in Beverly Hills the skies had naturally cleared. Their house was formerly owned by Jean Harlow and then some time later by Rita Haywood. There are several pictures of both actresses in the house in the house. As Jean Harlow lived in the house when she died, it is a site for the ‘Dearly Departed Tour’ that goes to places in Hollywood where stars died. The tour van just stops in from of the house and the driver/guide talks about Jean Harlow. It’s not really that bad. However one day Nancy took the tour. When another rider asked about a bathroom stop, Nancy volunteered her house. The driver almost died when he realized where Nancy lived; he had never been in any of the homes on his tour. I guess some days you are just lucky, like I was that I was to have not been riding on Hwy 101 or the Pacific Coast Highway when the heavens opened up.

April 19 - King City to Buellton

Today was cold. 41 at 7:15 when I started and it never got to 60. At least the winds blew from the North and while it tried to rain all day, raindrops never fell on my head. Riding the wave of the future 100 years after Butch Cassidy proclaimed it so can be a little intimidating. This was never more so than the several places where I had to ride on US Hwy 101. Hwy is a four lane divided highway that runs the length of California. While the speed limit is 70, drivers must never have had calculus. If they had they would know that a limit is something that can be approached but never exceeded. Riding on the shoulder of 101 is not all that bad it is wide, at least 10 ft, so you really have your own lane and are never in any real danger of being hit, provided you stay on the shoulder. The problem is the road surface. You can find yourself going 20 mph on a good section and working just as hard to go 10 mph on a bad section, without any change in wind or grade. The other problem with highway shoulders is have they have more debris than the road way. This requires one’s constant attention. Riding in traffic requires a lot of attention but unlike other moving vehicles rocks, wood, broken glass, dead animals and truck tires do not have any reason to avoid being hit. Granted they tend to stay in one place and are not subject to the erratic and unpredictable movements of some automobiles, but at speed collisions can be just as damaging to a cyclist. I avoided all road hazards with the exception of one stone on a downhill that punctured my front tire. Fortunately, I had a safe place to fix it. I made 120 miles before we decided to bag the rest of today’s ride and avoid 101 during rush hour. I’m glad I did, judging by what I saw from the car the higher volumes of traffic would have made the ride very unpleasant.

For all concerned about my crash/fall, I am going to be fine. I have a nice road rash on my knee that will heal soon. The knee works fine for cycling but not for kneeling. I guess that I will not be going to mass tomorrow. Should not be a problem as Karen would kill me if I were to become Catholic.

We stayed in Buellton CA. Buellton is a small town next to Solvang CA a fake Danish/Dutch tourist town. The Dutch influence seems to be spreading to the older town since the Days Inn we stayed in had a windmill. The design was several centuries old and it didn’t seem to work. In a state that has been so energy starved at times, it seems odd for a town to embrace windmills without embracing wind power. However I guess tourists are more attracted to old rather than new. Most museums market the old rather than the new. And maybe I am too, after all the basic design of my steel bicycle is over 100 years old.

April 18 - The Ride Begins

Well today is the day when my ride across America begins. I will be riding to the start of the America by Bicycle ride in Hermosa Beach California. Hermosa Beach is south of Los Angeles, almost 500 miles from Berkeley. My plan is to ride to the meeting place in 4 days. Today the goal is to get to King City, about 160 miles from Berkeley. The ride stated out very well. It was cold, but clear and with a wind from the north, always a good thing. The first goal heading south is Grizzly Peak, 5 miles from my house and the highest point on my ride to Hermosa Beach. While there will be a few harder climbs none will be as high. The view San Francisco, the bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge was as good as ever and it was sad to think that I may not have any better view on the rest of my trip.

The first 25 miles were in some great park land, then 65 miles of city riding through San Jose and the environs, before 70 rural miles to King City. Everything was going great; my wife Karen was following me in a sag car. I was 65 miles into the ride. Then I hit a log in a bike lane and crashed. No broken bones, or severe injuries, but road rash and a very sore knee. Karen was several miles ahead. So the only thing for me to do was see if I could ride and then ride so that I didn’t become so stiff and sore that I would be unable to continue. I was very lucky and I know it.

After getting through the urban sprawl, I was able to ride through a California valley that almost no one knows even exists; there is a stretch of state hwy with no services for 75 miles. Just rolling farm and ranch land. It was truly awe inspiring. I’m sure that I could not live 20 miles from the nearest gas station, 30 miles from the nearest grocery store and 80 miles from the nearest cultural center. But if I had to pick one road to ride a bike on this would be high on my list and I would have no regrets if this were the only road I could ride.

Unfortunately, after 130 miles prudence forced me to get in the car and ride the last 30 miles to King City. I hope to feel better tomorrow.

Bill

Getting Ready II

After deciding to do a transcontinental ride it is necessary to get into shape before starting the ride. Almost anyone can, if they want to, ride across America. It requires some physical fitness and a lot of determination. Crossing the continent at 50 miles a day and taking 3 months is feasible for most people! So many that the most impressive aspect of accomplishing such a journey is often not physical but the mental realization that you did something you never thought you would be able to do. And hopefully the ability to apply that lesson to the rest of your life. It is for that reason that many people think of a cross country ride as being a life changing experience.

I am not one of those people. I can ride 50 miles loops and be done by noon. I can and at times have done that for months at a time. No I am looking for something more challenging. To that end I have decided to cross the country in 35 days of riding. I am not absolutely sure that I can achieve that goal, but I have greater than 95% confidence. I chose a 35 day goal in part because I have a 35^th year reunion from MIT this June; one day on the bike for every year since I graduated. I also found a tour that is going from Los Angeles to Boston in 31 days. That gives me 4 days to get from Berkeley CA to Los Angeles. This confluence of these events seemed, like something I should take advantage of, so I will be off on Wednesday for Los Angeles and then on Monday for Boston, well 77 Mass Ave. Cambridge, MA.

This ride, as most of you might have figured, out will require a little more than 100 miles each day. A hundred miles if more than twice as hard as 50 miles and while I have ridden 100 miles and longer too many times to remember, the real problem is riding 100 miles on the second and third and fourth and … days. What you need to achieve is a level of fitness where riding 100 miles at a reasonable pace is no longer a training ride. Most people who train seriously came to realize that if they work out to near exhaustion for several days in a row their bodies can’t recover. A better regimen is to work out hard on alternate days and let the body recover and build both strength and endurance during the day off. It is remarkable how many people fail to recognize the need for recovery when training. That being said since I will be riding every day my body can’t think of a 100 mile ride as a training ride and I can’t push myself as if it were.

How do you get to the point where your body can consider 100 miles on a bike to be little more effort than most people would consider a quick run or a long walk? The answer is simple ride your bike a lot before you start the ride. My goal was to have done more miles in 2007 when I started my ride than it would take me to finish my ride. I had a few training setbacks and didn’t make that goal but I will have done about 2500 miles when I start. Do I have any other recommendations? I would do specific exercises the strengthen the abdominals and lower back, I would recommend work to strengthen your legs, and exercises to increase flexibility in the upper back and shoulders, one of my problems, and cardiovascular workouts on a bicycle or an exercise bike. There are lots of ways to do cardiovascular exercise, but I see no point doing exercises that don’t specifically work the muscles that you need to develop for cycling. How long has it taken me? While I have had several other cycling related goals over that past year, I would say that I have been working toward this ride since the winter of 2006. Is that enough? I don’t yet know, but I intend to find out very soon.

Mental Preparation

There are so many things to do to get ready for a cross-country bike ride like I am planning. The first is to imagine that it is even possible to do such a thing, because everyone who is not a very serious cyclist will think that you are crazy. They will not necessarily tell you this, but they will think it. While from their perspective it would be nuts to try and travel across America by bicycle, much less in little over a month, this does not help you. Friends who are not cyclists will be supportive even if they can’t give you good advice. In general cycling friends in general will not want to offend you if they think you may be biting off more than you can chew. In fact getting realistic advice about whether such an adventure is reasonable is very hard.

If you can find a friend who can and will give you realistic opinions about a transcontinental ride and can evaluate you ability to complete it hold on to that friend no matter what. Personally I have not had such a friend to give me advice. I am sure that some of my cycling friends think I am going to be in over my head and I may be, but I plan to give it a good a try as I can.

Why would one do something like this? It is not as if there aren’t some far easier ways of getting from one coast to the other. The classic response, because it’s there, also doesn’t cut it. Thousands of people have ridden across America, your doing it represents nothing more than a personal achievement. I heard today of a man who swam the length of the Amazon River. That’s an achievement where one can say that he did it because; it was there, and wanted to see if anyone could do it. Riding across America has to be about personal goals or reaffirmation. It could be that you have survived a disease or injury or tragedy and this is your way of demonstrating to your self that you are past that event. It could also be that you have recently celebrated an important birthday, usually they have years that end in a zero, and you wish to prove to yourself that you are not old yet. Unfortunately there will always be someone older and faster than you who has ridden across America.

My motivation is a combination of the above. I have a 35^th reunion from college coming up in a few months and riding back to my reunion would surely be something that no one else in my class ’72 from MIT, will do. So if I limit my Universe sufficiently, I can be unique. I would also like to think that I am not so old and this be a way to reaffirm that to myself. In doing it I may also confirm the opinions of my friends who secretly think I am crazy, but I will take that risk.

The ride is also about the cruel turns that life takes. While I am planning a bicycle ride across America, in large part because I can, my best friend from college, someone who I lived with for 8 years has been contemplating under going chemotherapy for renal cancer. While I am riding across America, the best man at my wedding will be fighting for his life in a hospital in Boston. I know we will both get to our reunion, but the differences in our lives today don’t seem fair. Dave you fight your fight and see you in Boston this June.