First Update - Days 2, 3, and 4

Day 2

Pacific Ocean (Manhattan Beach) to Riverside, CA (78 miles). You could call this day "Tour of Los Angeles" because, even though the cities changed names, it was just one long, continuous city ride for several hours. Riverside is a pretty small city down in a valley. It had the best frozen yogurt I've ever tasted. Glad the first day is behind us because we'd all be nervously anticipating getting started. Now we can start to get in a "groove."


Day 3

Riverside, CA to Indio, CA (87 miles). Parts of this ride were the best I've ever experienced and the part some of the worst. At one time we had the most incredible tailwind I've ever ridden in. We were riding 35+ mph without even pedaling! However, when the wind shifted from west to northwest, we were blown all over the road, sometimes into the path of cars. As we were coming into Palm Springs, two riders in our group, Jose and Cindy, crashed when the wind literally blew Jose off his bike and Cindy, who riding behind him, went over the top of him. After a visit to the Palm Springs ER, Jose had had a concussion and advised to drop out. Cindy had a big scare and some major road rash, but otherwise OK. A few others got tossed around by the wind and had minor scrapes and cuts, but are still hanging in there.

Day 4

Today was a long day and tomorrow will be even longer! We rode 100 miles from Indio, CA to Blythe, CA. There is NOTHING between them, just desert. We rode on the shoulder of Interstate 10 the whole day. The first five miles leaving Indio weren't too bad but then we started a long, gradual 11-mile climb. As the day wore on, so did the wind and the temperatures. We didn't enjoy the tailwind that we had yesterday and riding on the interstate with a strong crosswind was extremely scary at times. The constant truck traffic sucked us in toward them and then after they passed the wind nearly blew us over. From behind, the cyclists looked like they were leaning to the left at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright to counterbalance the strong wind blowing from the north. I was determined not to become dehydrated so I drank almost 5 gallons of Gatorade/water mixture in my camelback. I'm glad I did. Four people went to the hospital at the end of the ride today due to dehydration and overexposure. You don't sweat in the desert like you do in Arkansas so it's hard to tell if you're drinking enough. We were advised to wear full-coverage head sweats and keep them wet by pouring water over our heads while riding. I thought I was in Arkansas about 25 miles outside of Blythe when I could see twisters out in the desert -- sandstorms! Riding through a sandstorm is a cheap way to have microdermabrasion and it stings like crazy! I felt very fortunate to have gotten through the day without a flat tire. About half the group had at least one flat and some people had two or three. Tomorrow will be every bit as hard and probably harder. The temperatures will probably be in the 110's and the ride is 15 miles longer. We will cross our first state line tomorrow and stay in Wickenburg, AZ tomorrow night.