Hard Day (May 15, 2014)

After spending the most of last week in pine covered country, two days ago I dropped down into the Mohave Desert in the Palmdale, CA area.  While the initial warming felt good, the temps worked against me yesterday.

Yesterday proved to be the hardest day to date on this particular ride.  Leaving the Palmdale area I rode for about 20 miles heading due north on a couple of straight roads that sloped gradually upward.  For all of those 20 miles there was a fierce wind coming out of the east-north-east.  Finally, the road took a slight bend to the west ... but it also took a slight upward projection.  For the next 8 miles I rode steadily upward on a 4% + grade ... and not really getting much help from the wind.

Speaking of wind, there are (my guess) several thousand wind turbines in this area that cover an area along about 10 miles of the highway.  Kind of a statement about the windy conditions in this area.

So after riding the 8 mile upward trending road (2000' elevation gain), I reached a point where the road headed down ... only to kick back up another 800' in approximately 2 miles (7% +).

Water ... when I left Palmdale, I had plenty of water.  My map indicated that there was a store about 20 miles into the 57 mile ride.   I planned on filling my bottles at this store, as well as putting a couple bottles of Gatorade into my body.  Alas, the store is no longer in operation.  So there I am, in the Mohave Desert, nursing my water supply as the climbing progressed.  Fortunately the temperatures were not so high that I felt threatened ... just kind of thirsty.  There was plenty of traffic on the highway, so I was sure that, if need be, I would be able to get water from a passer-by.

When I reached my overnight town, Tehachapi, my first stop was at a convenience store to down a couple bottles of Gatorade and replenish much needed electrolytes.  Feeling good this morning, so will head on to Lake Isabella today.

Strange feeling the other day.  Riding northwest from the pine country around Big Bear Lake, I traveled along a highway called "Rim of the World".  For the past week I had been traveling through mostly rural and out-back areas, and had the feeling I was far from any major urban areas.  All of a sudden, looking down from the "Rim of the World" highway I saw the San Bernardino Valley ... freeways, major airport, industrial buildings and housing for as far as one can see.   All this travel and I am on the edge of the L.A. metro area.  And currently I am not that far removed from Bakersfield (proud home of Buck Owens).  After today, I will be heading up into the Sierra Nevada range.

All is good, and while the days can be hard, the body feels good.