Day #1, April 4: San Diego Ocean Beach Park to Lakeside, 26 miles
After a morning of putting together our bicycles at the San Diego Amtrak station, we finally starting biking in the early afternoon. We started the morning with 2 working cycle computers and both were broken/gone in the first hour before we made it to the start at the beach (Kon's wire caught and tore during the bike assembly process, and my computer fell off under my handlebar bag). We dipped our tires in the Pacific Ocean around 2 pm -- I was caught by the wave, and started with wet feet. After riding through urban San Diego, we stopped early at a county park outside of Lakeside, took showers (yes!), set up camp, and rested for the next day of climbing ...
Day #2, April 5: Lakeside to Ocotillo, 76 miles
Today we climbed and climbed and climbed. We started at 500 ft, hit 4,000 ft a couple of times and then dropped back down to 500 ft to end in Ocotillo. The excitement of the day was at the top of the last pass, when we started riding down the mountain on I-8 and Kon's fender came loose, slipped under his rear tire, locked the tire, and caused him to fishtail, crash, and roll. Thankfully, he had bled off most of his speed by the time he fell -- but he still ended up with an impressive road rash on his back, arms, over all of his knuckles, and one knee. A kind driver, Brent, stopped to help us, offering his first aid kit, bike tools, etc. and made sure we were safely on our way before he left us. The wind coming down In-Ko-Pah gorge on I-8 was frightening and I was blown toward the curb multiple times. We were happy to arrive in the small town of Ocotillo, where another kind couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, let us stay in the rec room of their RV park to keep us out of the wind overnight - and Kon was able to shower to clean out his wounds.
Day #3, April 6: Ocotillo to Palo Verde County Park, 110 miles
We woke up to a pretty sunrise over the RV park in Ocotillo. We made good time in the morning with a strong tail wind and biked through the Imperial Valley towns of El Centro and Brawley. We decided to push to Palo Verde that afternoon as there was no camping with water for the next 70 miles. We biked through the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness area and beside the Chocolate Mountains, arriving in Palo Verde at sunset, completely exhausted.
Leaving Ocotillo: In-Ko-Pah Mountains in background
His crash didn't seem to effect his jumping!
Climbing in the Sand Dunes
2 comments:
A: There is no stopping you two.
B: This is the best blog ever!
I can't wait to hear all of your stories. From the looks of it they will be good. I am glad you guys are having a good time. I hope Kon's battle wounds are healing well!
Post a Comment