Day #37: Blythe to Brawley, CA
Hammering 130 miles after a week of rest: bad idea
Biking 92 miles when your knee is on fire: even worse idea
Taking a million Advil so you can't feel pain: a terrible idea
And so it began...
In the morning, I had a horrible realization - something had caused my left knee to be in excruciating pain. I'm talking every-time-I-pressed-down-on-the-pedal-my-knee-felt-like-it-was-going-to-explode pain. And let me tell you, that kind of pain is no good for biking.
Following "Brian Keefe's Guide to Overcoming Injuries," I naturally refused to rest. Since there was no track in sight, I settled for the bike - a good decision since the next town was 92 miles away.
20 miles into the ride, we passed a road-side gas station where TJ insisted that I ice my knee. While I was icing, TJ attempted some bike repair. What he actually ended up doing was causing a flat tire and almost destroying his rear derailleur...nice one.
With my knee feeling moderately better and TJ's bike up and running again, we set off. It's important to note that we both thought that this ride was going to be flat. We were heading South today, in order to stay east of the Pacific Coast Range as we moved towards San Diego.
We were wrong.
This road took us through more diverse landscapes than I thought was possible in 90 miles. From farmland, to mountains, to the heart of the desert, and back. We saw it all...and it was terrible. Albeit beautiful, it dragged on and on. My knee was in pain, and the hills were relentless.
It started off deceivingly flat, surrounded by cotton and KALE...
And then it started to get hillier...
Until we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere...
And then the mountains appeared...
Things got a little better after we got through the mountains, as we rode around a gigantic exhausted open-pit mine:
Welcome to the heart of the desert, where things got a bit...sandy:
Actually, very sandy:
Incredibly, disgustingly sandy:
And then suddenly, right around the corner, there was water:
And more farms:
And a McDonald's?
After 92 miles of riding, we finally made it to Brawley. Little Caesar's hooked us up with a whole pizza for $1, and of course we had to go to McDonald's so TJ could get his fill of fast food. We even had a house to sleep in that night, courtesy of Bill and his wife.
Miles Ridden: 92
Bum Knees: 1
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Day #36: The Middle of Nowhere (South of Phoenix, AZ) to Blythe, CA
As we rode out of Buckeye, we crept our way towards the inevitable - the Interstate. As it turns out, Arizona does not like to build roads. In fact, since Western Arizona is all but deserted, the state must figure no one actually travels through it. Well, news to you AZDOT, people do.
At least the first 35 miles of riding were nice, taking us through quite backroads.
I even got my fill of gravel riding when the road "unexpectedly ended" for 12 miles. As it turns out, touring bikes with slick tires handle very poorly on dry desert roads...
And then, the road ended altogether.
There are no more roads...only the Interstate.
For the next 95 miles we plowed our way towards California. In hindsight, it could have been 1,000 times worse. Not only was the road pancake flat, but we had a wonderful tailwind that rocketed us along at about 20 mph all day. Had either one of those things shifted against us, we probably would have just started crying.
And so we rode along, blasting crappy music as semi trucks sped by at 100 mph. Luckily the shoulder was huge, and there was no way to get off the road (crossing exit ramps are very scary).
With impecable timing as usual, we made it to California just as the sun was going down:
As we watched the sunset at a depressing 4:00, we rejoiced as we exited the Interstate with minimal casualties - one flat tire (TJ), and a semi truck that sprayed me with some questionable green goop as it sped past...remind me to shower soon.
That night we hit Pizza Hut in order to procure some free food, and they were nice enough to make us an entire pizza for free! After stuffing ourselves, we strolled over to the local fire station. Not only did we get some showers, but they invited us in to watch TV and gave us some comfy grass to sleep on.
Scenes from the...eh...Interstate:
Colorado River, in a less-than-glorious condition:
Miles Crushed: 130
Hours Lost to Pacific Time: 1
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Day #35: Tuscon to The Middle of Nowhere (South of Phoenix, AZ)
There is some discrepancy about the legitimacy surrounding what happened this morning.
Lucky for us, Heidi had to drive up to Phoenix to visit a friend. This was great news for us, because we were able to dodge the horrors of the desert yet again. However, given she dropped us off directly south of Phoenix, there is a slight (read: 30 mile) gap between where we originally diverted from the route (Globe), and where we ended up (the middle of nowhere). Of course, we did pick up a few bonus miles when we diverted down to Big Bend, so let's just call it even.
After a quick jaunt up I-10 in a very cramped pickup truck cabin, we were dropped off at our destination. At this point it was about 1:00 in the afternoon, so we weren't expecting too many miles from the day.
Off we went - the ride was a strange mix of quiet desert roads, bustling suburbs, and farmland. Oddly enough, we never actually saw any part of Phoenix.
As the sun started to set, we rolled into Buckeye, a small town that gave TJ and I the creeps. Death stares from all the passing drivers didn't help ease our concerns at all - nor did the Amber alert we got during the night. Luckily the local fire department let us camp in their fenced-in backyard, so we were unbothered the whole night.
Miles Crushed: 52
Helicopters that Woke us up During the Night: 2
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