Yes, in fact we are there

July 15, 2009 Brawley, CA

And so we pass through what we believe to be a part of California. The previous day we were eating at Jack in the Box and I was talking to a local about what we're doing. He proceeded to ask me what route we were taking into Brawley; the desert or highway. Well, the next morning when we started biking I saw the land gradually change and I thought how aptly he termed the area a desert. Green lands to sand with shrubs to plain old sand dunes. Honestly, where am I? We pass through a very small "town" called Glamis where I stop at the local store. I ask the lady behind the counter where the rest of the town is and she answers that this is it. Glamis turns out to be a town of approximately 13 that fluctuates to over 100,000 when tourists come through for the sand dunes. The store also charges 4x the regular price for everything they have since they're the only store within 30 or so miles. So riding through the desert in 106 degrees or more isn't really fun and is very tough. Along with being a physically hard day, it was also mentally hard for all of us. Three of our riders were involved in a bicyclist/motor vehical accident during the early morning. Luckily, things didn't turn out as terrible as they have. We'll just have to hope for the best and be strong for now.




July 16, 2009

It's funny how sometimes when you ask different people the same question you'll get several different answers to a question with only one answer. Today's ride is about 74 miles and the majority of it is flat with a smaller portion of climbing into Julian. Up until the moment that we start climbing, we don't actually know what the topography is like. Word on the street varied from a 10-25 mile climb with a grade of 5-12%. Of course, we're all mentally prepared to climb the mountain vertically and then come to see that it's much easier than what we imagined. The heat today was pretty terrible as well. Really hot weather along with climbing just calls for a tough day, but it was nothing like yesterday so I can't complain.




July 17, 2009 El Cajon, CA

Ah, today was absolutely amazing! A good amount of climbing, which means a good amount of descent in nice weather makes everything so much better-to top that, a seven eleven slurpee with every flavor possible on the way into town. Oh, there was a smiley face on the first climb and we saw the ocean from the top of that climb as well =]. San Diego here we come!

Update of our three riders: Two are discharged and one will be in the hospital for another several days. From what we know so far, they are doing well though =].