We went to breakfast at 6:30am but it was a bit of a shambles with Patrick and I served last about 7:15am. We ate our eggs, muffin and oatmeal before heading out to load our luggage. We were naturally last for this.
Shortly after, we headed out of the hotel down to the beach – about a 2 mile ride. After dipping our back wheels in the Pacific Ocean and a few quick photos, we were on our way en masse at about 8:15am. With numerous turns – the route map runs to 1.5 A4 pages with double columns for the 122.2 miles, no one was keen to lead the way but we managed to stay on track. My Flightdeck speedometer stopped recording after a few miles but my 2nd one seemed to work o.k.
The weather was cool – 17°C, calm and dry to start off. Most of the early riding was on bike paths which meant no car traffic. A few light bits of drizzle mean it will not be a dry ride this year. After about 29 miles, we joined the road and had a short hill climb to the first sag stop.
Another 30 miles of mostly false flat roads lead to lunch at Perris. Prior to that, I did some Fred Flintstone riding after hitting a stone and being thrown into the dirt on the side of the road. Both feet came unclipped and the chain came off! Somehow I managed to stay upright and stopped. The chain was quickly flicked back on and riding continued. Lunch was basically make your own sandwiches with the usual SAG snacks of granola bars, cookies, fruit and nuts etc. All good carbo loading and salty nutrition!
Heading off after lunch the temperature dropped back to 16°C before warming up as the sky cleared. Up a gentle six mile climb, I crawled slowly up and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Once over the climb and into the town of Beaumont, we turned with the promised downhill and tailwind leading to easy pedaling speeds of over 45 miles an hour and cruising at 35-40 miles an hour very comfortably. A speed camera in Beaumont flashed as we passed it and the sign said speed limit of 25mph! We were easily exceeding that! Hitting some wide patches of reasonably deep sand at high speeds in the desert on the way into town also added to the excitement of the day!
After more fast riding, including a couple of brief excursions onto the freeway, we arrived at the hotel at about 3:30pm.
For dinner, we wandered up town to a Thai restaurant for plenty of water, rice and good angel wings, egg plant, other vegetables and beef.
Route details for tomorrow were given out at 7:30pm with breakfast scheduled at 5:30am tomorrow for the 134 mile ride to Blythe.
Numbers for the day:
Departure time: 8:15am (from beach)Numbers for the day:
Distance: 112.2 miles (180.5km)
Riding time: 6hrs 21m
Average speed: 17.7mph (28.4km/h)
Maximum speed: 46.5mph (74.8km/h)
Vertical climbing: 4,383ft (1,336m)
Temperature: 16-29°C
Arrival time: 3:30pm
Hi
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun! hope you have no road rash, We had Breakers for lunch,
Keep pedaling and stay upright.