Date(s): Sept. 21, 1999
Day: Tuesday
From: Potrero
To: Ocotillo
Lodging: Jackson's Hideaway Adult Trailer Park
Segment Mileage: 57.8
Cumulative Mileage: 115.1
Actual Riding Time: 4:54
Average Speed: 11.7 (But it was up hill!)
Weather: Overcast and mild
Temp: 80's
We climbed again for much of the day, from the campgound to 12 miles before the end. Luckily it was very overcast all day so that it didn't get nearly as hot as yesterday. The climbs were long and hard and I felt each pound that I'm carrying, and the book and shirt that I sent back didn't lighten the load much. I will be sending home some other things tomorrow, even though the difficult climbing is over for the time being.
I got a late start, leaving camp around 8:15. During the morning I
caught up to nearly everyone, although Jim was just ahead of me for
miles. Each time I got close he would get a litle further ahead. When
Oliver and I finally did catch him in Boulevard at the lunch stop, he
confessed to seeing me approach and stepping on it a little to stay
ahead.
From lunch on, Bruno, Jimmy, Tod, Oliver and I all rode together, with Oliver and I just ahead. On the downhills Oliver and his BOB trailer would speed ahead, and I would catch up on the climbs.
We ended the ride on a steep descent on I-8. In California, it is legal to ride on the interstate if there is no alternate route. We proved that by climbing about 2 miles up a dead end road that we thought ran parallel to the Interstate.
Although I've been updating daily, I doubt that I will keep it up. Especially not tomorrow, as Todd and I have kitchen duty, which seems like a real ordeal, cooking dinner for 13 hungry bikers on 3 camp stoves. [postscript (Nov. 30, 1999): I did manage to file reports daily. Once I learned to type on the Sharp TM-20, it didn't take long to write the reports. I am now going through them to correct spelling and any errors that I notice]
On a sad note, it looks like Nicole dropped out today. She was having real problems with the hills, and decided to do some alternative travelling, although Jim the leader is trying to talk her into going up ahead and meeting us after the major climbs. She is an AmeriCorps volunteer and had lots of interesting experiences to relate.
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