May 19 - The Hill

We left El Centro this morning at our normal time, 7AM and headed west on Evan Hewes.  The road was not particularly smooth.  It was more of an obstacle course for bikers.  The road must get a lot of farm and semi traffic.  Either that or the State of California has chosen to forget about this piece of asphalt.

The road goes through Plaster City.  As you are approaching this “city”, you will probably be reminded of The Wizard of Oz and Emerald City.  From a distance, the structures look like Emerald City and some are green.  When you get closer you realize it is a gypsum plant and they are manufacturing drywall there.  I never really saw any houses around.  Plaster City is a very large off-highway  vehicle (OHV) playground.

Kerri rode with us until we got to I-8.  She wanted to ride 30 miles but the wind picked up, the Interstate appeared and her legs said, “you over worked us yesterday!”  She still rode about 24 miles and overall has done really well keeping up with us.

We rode onto I-8 and started our ascent.  I’m not really sure how many miles it took us to reach 4,000 feet but I do know the wind was trying to push us back down the hill the whole time.  We crossed a couple of bridges and I have decided I do not like bridges that cross deep gorges when I am on the bike.   Especially when cars and trucks are passing close to me at nearly the speed of sound!

We had lunch at exit 77 which is pretty near the top of the hill.  Then crossed over onto Old HWY 80.  This is a nice road with good shoulders through some neat little towns.  It is also very near the Mexican border.  We could see the very expensive border fence we bought.  I was a little surprised we didn’t see more Border Patrol agents on this stretch but then again, I guess with that fancy fence they don’t need to patrol that section as much.

I took a break for about 10 miles at about mile 56.  My back was starting to hurt some.  At mile 66 I got back on the bike and rode up the second climb to 4,000 feet and then the crazy descent into Alpine.  Thank You CA Dept of Roads for laying such a nice, smooth shoulder.  The grates over the drains should be perpendicular to the road instead of parallel with the road though.  This sure would make it safer for us cyclists. 

Mom drove SAG and commented how tiring it was.  She explained it was tiring because you need to always be looking for the riders to make sure they are all ok, making sure they all get what they need and watching as you get on and off the highway.  She’s right; the SAG gig is a lot of mental work and can be tiring.   Thanks Mom and Dad for being our SAG crew this week.  You did great.

We finished the day at 6pm, an 11 hour day.  We finished at the Alpine Church of the Willows.  The Pastor here, Chuck, invited us to his home for some hot tub time, a shower and a great dinner.  They have a beautiful place on a hill overlooking the valley.  Thanks for your hospitality and support of Our Ride.