Monday, March 25, 2013

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.25. RAC Day 2

This is the second of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

Today was a long ride, 53 miles. It started with a wake up at 0600. I'd been awake for a while listening to a dog bark but I slept well, as did Mari Lu. She woke only once to use the restroom. It took her a bit to figure out where she was though. I think Jeanette slept ok.

Breakfast was eggs, hash browns and mini cakes. Not bad for a catered fare. ML helped me pack up, and I mounted the goal zero solar panel to the bike to charge the cell phones.


On the ride out to the main road there were two bikes with flats. There were several more by the road bikers along the way. Those skinny tires just don't hold up well on the dirt roads and some of the crummy tarmac roads we use.

Once to the main road, we were greeted with a small incline and a 10 kt quartering head wind. It was slow going for ML and the other 5th graders. It was a long 18 miles. ML stopped several times. She does so much better when she has a buddy with her, not just dad.

The snack stop was a welcome site to the kids at the 18 mile mark. They regrouped, got some fuel and were ready to go again.

Leaving the snack stop we were at a intersection where we made a hard left turn. The shoulder was very narrow but later turned into a very nice wide one after about two miles. The best part, it was down hill with a tailwind. Mari Lu loved it, especially after suffering for the last 18. This went on for about 10 miles until we reached the wonderful village of Glamis. Glamis ranks right up there with Gila Bend, Az, an armpit of a place.

I think the only reason for its survival is that it's on the edge of the dunes.  Why anyone would go out there to drive their four wheelers and other equipment only to receive an ineradicable blast of hot air and wind is beyond me.

We took a nice break, had lunch and relaxed for about an hour. It was getting pretty toasty, about 81 deg by the time we left.

The next 12 miles were gentle rolling hills. It was getting hot but there were support cars about every 2 miles with water. Mari Lu stopped to take a break at every one of them. A couple of stops ran out of water quickly but were resupplied by Gary in short order. Each stop had a minimum of 5 gallons of water.

We took a snack break for longer than expected once we reached Holtville. It was 84 degrees and the school where we are staying was still in session so we needed to time the arrival so we wouldn't interfere with their day.

The road to the school was vary rough tarmac as it was mainly a farming road. It turned out to be a bit of a test for the kids. Even though it was only about 7 miles long, it was rough, hot, and came when the kids were pretty much tapped out. Once we arrived (1545) and the kids (and adults) took a break on the shady grass, all was well. The truck was unloaded, the tents popped up and the kids played.

I took a hose to myself and washed up a bit and put on some clean cloths. What a difference a good hosing down makes. The kids were too busy playing to clean up at all.

I passed an outlet with three power strips strips. There were 7 cell phones plugged in and a GPS recharging. (See pic below).

The 4-H club cooked us hamburgers and hot dogs which went down very easy.

I thought about Juan today and wondered how his adventure was going on the Colorado. I'm sure he's having a great time.

Mari Lu read a ghost story to Jeanette and then read me one. She asked me to play with her hair while she spun down. I did that for about two minutes and she was zonked.

The race leader said we used 70 gallons of water on the ride today. Wow!

It's 2100 and the place is dead quiet now. Its definitely cooler here tonight and it nice to camp on grass instead of gravel. Tomorrow we go to NAS El Centro where the kids will swim about half way through the day's ride. Today was the most mileage day but the mountains loom in the distance ahead.






























           

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