Data: 122 miles in 7:03 riding time (17.3 mph avg)
Today was FABULOUS! Great weather, scenery, no flat tires, and a strong tailwind over the final 30 miles. Everyone's nice and interesting. Only bad thing was that my camera stopped working at mile 61. The error message said I need to take it in to a dealer, so I won't be taking any more photos for a while. But I have been able to use pictures taken by our tour leader's site, as he took hundreds of photos today, and said that's likely to continue.
The picture above shows us getting ready in the parking lot to begin our adventure. We must have our bags packed and placed out by the trailer by about 6:30 am, ready to ride. We all ate breakfast together at the Denny's next door.
The ride began by back-tracking -- going west instead of east. Here's a photo of us as we departed the motel parking lot, the first few yards of our journey. We're turning left (west) instead of right, to ride a few miles to the beach.
A tradition for riding across the country is to dip your rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean, and when you finish, to dip your front wheel in the Atlantic.
And here I am dipping. The start of the cross-country ride is now official, and I will pedal eastward for 3500 miles.
A friend from the Carnation Research Lab days, Ginny Tadjalli, was there to cheer us on as we dipped our rear wheels in the Pacific.
Then we had a leisurely ride up the Santa Ana River bike trail. I kept stopping to take photos, and here's one when there still was water in the river:
Here's another of me crossing one of the bridges over the Santa Ana River.
Our route toward the desert (toward Corona) took us along this bike path in the Chino Hills. That's Interstate 91 ahead of us. I had been on this path in 2003 (going the other direction), when I did a 3-day solo ride from Rich Hess's home in Yorba Linda, to Rick's, to Temecula, and back to Rich's.
We then headed east out by Lake Matthews and Lake Perris. Other riders seemed interested when I explained that Lake Matthews was the terminus of the Colorado River Aqueduct, and it then disperses into several water lines to various locations. Not too many hills today. However, for my roommate from Windsor, they were the first hills he'd ever climbed on a bike, ever. He said it was a new experience, and pretty tough (he's also never drafted before -- he took up cycling only two yrs ago, and has trained by himself).
I felt good and in shape today. We continued east to Hwy 79, passing lots of dairy farms. We then headed north to Beaumont. If my camera had been working then, I would have gotten a shot of the Beaumont City Hall, since it had an old, real midwestern look. We then turned east again, at which point we had a strong tailwind, and at times I was going 38 mph on relatively level ground (a little downhill).
Had a big dinner, did some of my consulting for a client, and now I need to hit the hay. I hope I sleep better than last night, when I guess I was too excited to get much sleep. Tomorrow is mostly on Hwy 10 to Blythe. It's still blowing REALLY hard out there, and we hope there will still be remnants of this wind tomorrow!
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