Day 4 - Desert Center, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

Daily Stats:

Time: 4h41m49s
Distance: 120.59km
Avg Spd: 25.7km/hr
Climbing: 482m

Wow.  That's all I can say.  Once again, today was hot.  95F at 10am, 105F at the heat of the day.  It's nuts to think about what we did today.  Our role as sweep team was altered today as they did not want people out on the roads for any longer than necessary.  Rather than having to follow the slowest rider back to camp today, we were allowed to ride at our own pace and a volunteer in a truck followed the last rider.  I don't think it is a luxury that will be maintained, but today it was necessary.  After cleaning up the breakfast food, we threw all the bags on the gear truck and were out of camp at 6:10am - nearly an hour after the first cyclists had left.

The ride was actually gorgeous.  The desert is unlike anything I've ever seen.  It's so dead, yet there is life in it.  And the mountains that border it give it an even more desolate feel, as though they are the walls that keep the tumbleweed from venturing too far from home.

Yet in the middle of the desert - actually right on the border of California & Arizona - there were fields of green that added a distinctly pleasant aroma to change up the smell of dust we've been bombarded with since leaving the beach.

Crossing the Colorado River I got my first flat of the tour.  Front wheel.  No clue what I hit.  We took a picture at the sign for the river (on someone else's camera), and I patched up the tube on the side of the road.  Ten minutes later we were underway again.

The last hill of the day was almost 10km long, and I was dreading it as we approached.  But as we went up, the expected resistance never came in the intensity I expected.  Looking down at my Garmin (GPS), I noted the hill was only 0 or 1%, but I swear it looked like it should be 4-5%.

SAG today was unbelievable... the volunteers were on their A-game with tons of water, sports-drinks, ice and damp towels.  From the second we rolled into a stop (nearly six over the course of the route) they were all over the riders looking for signs of dehydration and fatigue.  It would have been exceptionally difficult to do this ride (if not impossible) without their help.

At the pelaton meeting last night we were warned that our campsite for today was nothing but a green field with no shade.  They had lined up a senior's center that had air conditioning for us to hang out at, but encouraged everyone to book a hotel room at the Super 8. We would have to spend our afternoon relying on the A/C of others - McDonalds, Subway, etc...  Imagine our surprise when we rolled up today and saw a beautiful hall right next to our sports field, and it had been opened up to us to sleep in!  This, indeed, is a gift from God.  There is no pool and no showers at the facility, but we made good use of the hose outside to clean up.  Laundry and pay showers are available a short car-ride away, so I'd like to wash some clothes if I can.

Haven't had our pelaton meeting yet today, so no clue what accommodations are like tomorrow, but I'm praying for real showers.   With a little luck we'll have a quick day and can escape the heat again.

Alrighty...  that's it for today.  I really love seeing the comments below, and really, really love hearing from any and all of you readers.

Stay cool, my friends.