April 12 -- a rough ride

The bad news -- if this is the only area where I could ride a bike, I'd give up riding ... the good news -- riding across the country has to be easy compared to riding here, so it's good training.

I should have remembered how difficult it is to ride here in San Felipe, but perhaps the mind blots out bad experiences ... we were here 3 or 4 years ago and I brought my bike -- I don't think that it has gotten any worse -- perhaps the traffic is worse, but the roads are the same. Rough -- hand numbing rough -- not the entire way, but not fun. I thought that at least I would fly back, since I rode out into a strong headwind ... no such luck, by the time I turned around, so had the wind. That is to be expected, I suppose -- once the sun warms the land the wind changes direction and flows from the water to the land.

Actually I'm not really complaining -- the training is good; the weather is warm; and with the lack of humidity, you don't even feel grimy by the end of the ride. The bike, however, needed a cleaning because the wind (left over from yesterday) was blowing fine desert sand into the drivetrain.

I rode from Arlene's place to the checkpoint on highway 5 -- this is manned by the military and presumably they are looking for anyone carry drugs, arms etc. -- since this is the only route north, it's a good spot. That point marked 32.5 miles for a 65 mile round trip. I got back around 12:10 -- hungry because my body still thinks that it's 3:10.

Back to my first comment -- if this was the only place that I could ride ... I would not give up riding, I would buy a mountain bike.

After biking, I did nothing. I know that sounds shocking, but I ate lunch, read a book, browsed the internet ... cleaned my bike -- I had no interest in going into town. Sandy and Arlene went shopping for a bit, leaving me with the three kids -- who really don't need any tending around this place.

Tomorrow I will probably leave earlier and probably do the same ride. We'll see -- it is supposed to be warmer tomorrow.