Podracing with Bikes May 18

This morning we left Blythe, CA and the plan was to complete the 106ish miles as a relay team.  We made this decision last night as this is our longest day this week and the forecast was for wind.  The forecast held, it was windy.

Kurt started the day and had the best 20 miles of anyone.  It was relatively calm and very flat. 

Next up was Kerri.  Shannon rode with her for safety.  When they started riding is when we got into the rolling hills.  Kerri kept going and rode her full 20 miles.

By the end of Kerri’s ride the wind was starting to pick up so since I was staged at the RV, I left a little early.  SAG stayed with Kerri until she was finished and then caught up with me about four miles later.  I finished the rolling hills and then the terrain flattened out quite a bit.  I was rolling pretty good at about 12mph and then got behind tailings from an open pit mine and the wind disappeared for a mile or so.  As a result, I was able to ride at about 20-25mph with minimal effort.

Then, the pile of mine tailings ended and I turned a corner and my speed plummeted…..along with my morale.  I had just completed 13.4 miles in about 50 minutes with an average speed of 15mph.  For the next 6.6 miles I probably averaged about 8ish mph and it took me about an hour.  By the end of my 20 miles my average speed had dropped to about 12.5 mph. 

As I was finishing, I saw Kyle pull away.  He by far had the worst 20 mile leg of the day as he had to ride for several miles in the blowing sand of the Imperial Sand Dunes in Glamis, CA.  V-8 powered through the challenge.  You’ll have to read his blog to learn more about the experience.  I was in the RV waiting at the end of his 20 mile leg and my description of his experience wouldn’t do it justice.

Shannon then took over and completed the last 20ish miles of the day.  The Cannon rode like a Greyhound dog chasing the rabbit around the race track.  The winds grew stronger and he stood firm like an oak. 

We saw fields of onions and a lot of hay fields.  We saw farmers baling hay using pickups to pull the balers instead of tractors.  They were flying around the fields at a pretty good clip.  It was pretty cool to watch.  The looked at us as though we were crazy.  We also stopped for a few minutes to watch them harvest onions.  One tractor was cutting the tops off the plant and another was pulling a machine to extract the onion from the ground and load them into a semi- trailer.  Across the road were onions which were harvested and placed in bags throughout the field.  We are not sure what the difference is between the two onions but obviously there was a difference between the two types of onions.

We all agreed Kyle’s idea to ride a relay today was the correct decision.  Tomorrow we ride 88 miles to Alpine, CA.  We will have hills.  Then we will have a rest day.

Although today was only 20 miles, it was a psychological challenge for me.  I hope we are over that hurdle and tomorrow will be much better.  The winds are forecasted to be only 10-20 mph so that is reasonable. 

Again, we have limited internet tonight so I will try to upload pictures to FB tomorrow.

POP’s Ride has only three days left.  I am excited for the end but also sad that we are almost done.  I am anxious about what the future holds.  I know what I would like to happen but it is up to the Big Guy as to what he has planned.  I will be patiently waiting for the next adventure.