April 24 -- Thousand Palms Ca to Blythe CA

Today was a shorter elapsed time riding day, but significantly hotter -- wonderful weather for this time of year though since it's usually 10 degrees warmer.

I went over to Denny's for breakfast at 5:30 expecting to see some riders there -- but I was actually one of the last to arrive. They were all dressed for biking -- I was in shorts and t-shirt. Hmmm. However, that was not an issue since after breakfast they open up the van for luggage (6:45) ... we (Bill and I) ended up setting out just after 7am. That is probably going to be the pattern for most of the ride, I'm guessing.

Breakfast at Denny's -- what can I say ? -- the mega breakfast is included and comes with 2 sausages, 3 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, hash browns and 3 pieces of Texas Toast French toast (this is bread cut a full inch thick). This is not my normal fare !! I had already had coffee and a cup of dry cereal back at the motel -- my stomach is not used to these kinds of breakfasts. I ate all but two pieces of French Toast -- pretty good for me. As a result I did not have to eat as much on the road.

Back to the coffee -- I talked to Sandy in the evening and relayed the fact that there was no coffee maker in the room -- however, I found out later that there was a coffee maker in the lobby so I was able to make coffee at 4am when I got up using the hot water spout. Good coffee -- all is well in the world.

The route -- Washington Street to route 111 and 66th ave. to Mecca (27 miles). Then Box Canyon road through 47 miles, and then onto the interstate -- I10. We are basically on I10 for the next 65 miles until we got to within 7 miles of the motel in Blythe. Along the way we had a SAG stop in Mecca; SAG stop at Desert Center off I10; SAG stop at an I10 rest stop.

The winds were fairly neutral -- other than first thing in the morning when we were descending from Thousand Palms with the wind at our back. Once on I10 though, the winds varied from head to back, with most times being cross winds.

For the first 27 miles, most of the group was together. After that we strung out. Bill and I rode together all day. It's good to have company -- there are a variety of groups though, most travelling at the same speed.

We had one big climb -- 1700 feet -- and this is probably the most notable thing (at least for me) -- the ride up Box Canyon road climbed gradually and then out of the canyon we were in open desert with a moderate climb. I expected (because I had misinterpreted the map) that the real climb was actually on I10 and that this was an intermediate climb along the way -- as it turned out, the interstate itself had some rolling to it, and a gradually accumulated downhill, because Box Canyon road was the climb. Still lots of climbing to go, but so far I'm ok.

Riding along I10 was ok. The traffic varied from light to moderate and the shoulder was wide. Occasionally we had to slalom through tire pieces -- they are not something that you want to go over because nasty little wires puncture your bicycle tires and stay embedded to get multiple tubes.

Flats ? -- none for Bill !! me ? -- a "motel flat" -- as I started rolling my bike out of my room first thing in the a.m. I realized that my front tire was flat -- there was a large hole close to the valve. I have no idea why it retained any air at all since it obviously happened sometime late in the prior day's ride.

Stats -- 120 miles; elapsed time -- 8.5 hours; rolling time -- 7:06.

Tonight we're in a Super 8 motel. Comments ? well -- the air conditioning does not work -- and my options were a smoking room on the ground floor (no) or upstairs (also no, too much trouble with the bike). It will cool off later and I'll open the window. It's desert so there is no humidity. I'll survive. We got to the motel before the luggage van, but it came in about 15 minutes later. If I had to guess, I'd say that some people got to the motel 1/2 hour before we did -- but I'm just guessing based on when we were together at rest stops during the day.

How do I feel ? -- My butt was getting a little chafed; by the last SAG stop I could certainly feel the heat (probably 90+ degrees); actually I feel fine.

I've just come back from dinner with Bill -- the Town Cafe -- where I had some chilli and their chefs salad. I'll go out shortly to the gas station mini-mart and pick up a snack for later. I'd rather eat more tonight and have a smaller breakfast.

I talked to Sandy -- she's in Philly now, staying overnight with Mariadella and then going to New York tomorrow. I talked to George -- he is going to meet me in Wickenburg tomorrow.