12 -12- 03

WE MADE IT!

Thanks to the support of our families, friends, and RBR. We couldn't have done it without you!
   
                         
     
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    12/08/03   We got a little nervous with some morning fog, but cleared away in no time for a beautiful sunny California day. We left by 9am, thinking we had some time to spare, since we knocked off the 11 miles off the day before. We started with a 2 mile climbturning into a nice 10 mile downhill. It was steep, but enjoyed every second. The mountains were gaining more shrub and trees the more west we went. We approached our final big ascent of over a 1000ft. It took us about an hour to climb 6 miles. We stopped in Pine Valley for a quick lunch still thinking we had plenty of time to reach our final destination by sundown. We had a short climb out of Pine Valley and then our ride seemed pretty much downhill. We kept in close contact with my family as they would be greeting us at the beach upon our arrival. The climb was steep, but it was only a couple miles. What a great feeling. The excitement was building and the end was near. We began to see the devastation of the wildfires and where the fires jumped the highways. The downhill was exhilarating intertwined with level grades. But time was sneaking up on us. We were still over 20 miles to our destination and only had about an hour and fifteen minutes left of daylight. Our ride now became a race against the sun. We probably could have made it with some ample time, but we didn't count on the urban riding with traffic lights and minor hills that didn't show up on our elevation profile. Our phone kept ringing, "Where are you," I would hear. "20 miles," I replied. "10 miles," I replied again nearly a half an hour later. Every hill we climbed, we thought we would catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. But it wasn't until we reached the San Diego River floodway, a half a mile before reaching the ocean, did we catch our first sight. The sun already ducked behind the horizon. So we pumped hard to reach the beach and grab a picture of us dunking our front tires into the Pacific before it was too dark. We reached the final bike path along the floodway, leading into the beach. The feeling of accomplishment after all our trials and tribulations goes without saying. As we approached the beach, there was my mom, then my dad, sister, brother-in-law, and our little niece, greeting us with a huge banner and balloons, cheering us in. We stopped in all the excitement, got off our trike and dragged it to the water. WE DID IT!!!!  
                                                                 
    12/07/03   We were up with the sunrise today in hopes to reach San Diego. We were greeted with a beautiful colorful sunrise, but changed dramatically as we turned west and found the sky ahead didn't look as promising. We still had a minimum of 2000ft to climb intertwined with downhill's before we would make our final decent into San Diego. So we tempted fate and headed into the dark clouds. We began our first climb out of Jacumba. The climb was steep and took us about an hour to go about 9 miles. As we approached our first small town, Boulevard, it started to shower. We stopped to eat breakfast in hopes that it would pass through. Unfortunately it didn't. We debated between turning back a mile for the local motel or try to push on since the rain remained a mist. We pushed on, as we were still holding on to our excitement of pulling into San Diego. The fog was getting thicker, the rain unforgiving, and the shoulder smaller. 3 miles further down the road, we reached a lodge at Live Oak Springs. There we decided to invest in our safety and splurged for an A-frame cabin with a fireplace. It wasn't a bad place to be stuck. We enjoyed the warmth of our cabin as the weather remained the same all day.                                  
                       
           
                       
                                                                 
12/06/03 By pushing the extra 14 miles yesterday, put us in reach of the In-Ko-Pah Mountains just outside San Diego and possibly only 2 days away from our final destination. So we rose early and hit the road by 8am. Our first 21 miles was a gentle climb to the base of the mountains. We joined I-8 where a nice wide shoulder was provided for cyclist. In the next 10 miles we climbed a grueling 2000ft with dramatic views of the desert we were leaving behind. Once we departed I-8 we had about one more mile of uphill before we enjoyed a nice downhill into our first high valley. We only dropped about 500ft into Jacumba, CA, but it was fun. We reached Jacumba Hot Springs Lodge by 4pm. We reserved a room ahead of time since it was the weekend. It was a real hip scene, but a little overpriced for the basics received. We did however take advantage of the hot mineral spring.  
 
                                                                 
                12/05/03   We got up early to grab breakfast at the local restaurant by 8am. Then made it on the road by 9:30. We had a long day ahead before we would reach any services. Before we left town we bought some bread and peanut butter to make ourselves some lunch on the road. Our first 30 miles was a climb out of the valley up and over the Chocolate Mountains. The 1st five miles were like a roller coaster with small shoulders which then became an easy constant climb. The hills and mountains were dry with little to no bush, but held its own beauty. Once we reached the pass, we could see the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area in the distance ahead. Sand Dunes, that stretched along the base of the Chocolate Mountains. We cruised down 13 miles of downhill at about 20mph without having to pedal. Jeremy scared me when he screeched to a stop as he spotted a tarantula crossing our path. He caught some nice pictures. We continued onto the sand dunes which brought us a few unexpected hills. The road that cut through the dunes divided the wilderness area. The one side was untouched, while the other was used for public recreation. We stopped and made lunch at an overlook, where we watched dune buggies and ATV's frolic in the sand. Once we got through the dunes we dropped below sea level and cruised into the town of Brawley around 3:30pm. We made great time, had fun in the sand and sun, and reached our destination. We didn't like our choice of motels in Brawley (2 overpriced, dumpy motels), so we made the critical decision to push on to El Centro, 14 miles ahead. The terrain was flat, but it was less than an hour before the sun went down. It became a beautiful sunset ride and arrived in El Centro, CA, by dusk. Great ride - 85 miles!!      
                             
               
                             
                                                                 
    12/04/03   We only rode just over 20 miles today to the small town of Palo Verde, CA. We are staging ourselves for the ride tomorrow, since there are no services for nearly 70 miles between Palo Verde and Brawley, CA. Real easy level riding passing through hay and cotton farms.      
                                                               
    12/03/03   We had two easy climbs today, but still averaged around 14 mph. We had to ride I-10 for a little over twenty miles. It was hectic, but had a decent shoulder. The downhill's were great. The second downhill we cruised down to the Colorado River where we crossed into our 13th and final state of our tour - CALIFORNIA!!!! I couldn't believe it. AFter we overcame the initial excitement, we pedaled into Blythe, CA, just at sunset.                
                                                                 
    12/02/03   We started out with a 13 mile gentle climb. Just as we reached the pass, Jeremy pointed out some animals up ahead crossing the toad. Traffic had stopped and could see their dark shadow against the car. I knew I read about mountain lions in the desert region and mentioned it. Jeremy doubted at first, but thought possibly they were. The rest of the ride was a gradual downhill and we averaged over 14 mph. We ate lunch in Aquila and pulled into Salome, AZ, around 4:00. Great riding today as we passed through more desert rolling hills. The sight of the tall desert cactus seemed to lessen the more we moved west. The owner of the motel that night confirmed our thoughts about the three moutian lions.        
                                                                 
    12/01/03   After a light breakfast, we departed Phoenix via the Arizona canal bike path. There was a slight gradual climb, but could barely notice as we were making great time. We were back on the urban streets once we reached Peoria, AZ. We stopped to eat lunch not sure if we were going to get a bite before our destination, Wickenburg. The ride was mostly uphill, though gentle except for the steep climb from the Aqua Fria River. But even with that we kept the pace averaged at nearly 13 mph. The ride on RT 74 brought us through rolling desert hills. The traffic was light until we joined RT 60, 10 miles prior of Wickenburg, AZ.        
                                                                 
    11/29/03 & 11/30/03   With the cut of all our camping gear, we were able to leave our trailer behind. What we were left with, was our 2 panniers, lunch bag, ditty bag, and Jeremy's front panniers. It was sad and relieving at the same time. We left Mesa by 1:00pm with a short ride today to the other side of Phoenix. We still had to do some city triking before reaching a bike path along the Arizona Canal. We were making decent time as we just about reached the canal. That's when I noticed the back tire had a flat and we had about an hour and half of sunlight. So we quickly got moving which brought us to our second flat on the same tire ...first a thorn, then the air nozzle busted. Not having much luck. A local offered some help and told us a place where we could grab a motel short of our destination. It was in Phoenix, but we didn't have much choice. After replacing the back tire, we hopped on the canal bike path only to find the front tire had a slow leak and our trike didn't seem to running right. It was something with the back chain - it wasn't freewheeling and was unusually loose. We decided to push on as the sun wasnt going to wait for us. It turned into a beautiful sunset ride along the canal as we reached the Metro area in which we found a motel. The sun was down. We ended up sticking around the next day to fix the trike. After looking at the trike, Jeremy realized the problem with the chain. There was guard between the chain cassette and spokes on the back tire that was jammed. We must have jammed it when replacing the back tire the day before. We couldn't remove it ourselves, so we had to wait for the bike shops to open. Fortunately, we found a local that makes house calls and came to our motel. It was nearly 2pm when all was fixed. Ready to leave tomorrow.        
                                                                 

New Pictures As of 12/12 /03

            
       

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