Sandy’s First Week Cycling Across the Southern USA

This entry is based on notes provided by Sandy.  I will do my best to use Sandy’s words as much as possible, but often they are pretty sparse, so I have fleshed out her story with details from our daily conversations.

Sandy met the tour owners and the other riders the day before the ride started. A total of eight riders and two tour operators would be her companions for the next six weeks. They all went out for dinner together and a chance to get to know one another before the fun would start the next day.

San Diego from the restaurant

Day 1:  San Diego to Pine Valley.  Plan:  53 miles

A ride across the continent always starts with a ceremonial dipping of wheels in the ocean. As her hotel was right on the water, the ceremony took place right behind the hotel.  After the eight cyclists in the group completed their bike dips, their trans continental journey was underway!

Pacific wheel dip

San Diego is right on the edge of the Rocky Mountains so that meant a lot of climbing started right off the bat. In no time the incline increased, with the first major hill being a grade of around 8%.  Really harsh climbing started around 40 km with one stretch that seemed to go on for ever.  Once in Alpine, CA, Sandy started to get leg cramps, severe enough she could not pedal her bike. After consuming all the fluids and food she had left, it was an hour before she had sufficient relief to be able to carry on.  With about 8 km left in the day’s ride, however, the blasted cramps started again!  By this time the altitude was high enough, over 4000 feet, that there was snow all about, even on the shoulders of the road in places. Lots of of people from San Diego pulled off the road so their their kids could go out to play in the snow.  Soon, the sun had gone behind the mountains and it got pretty cold.  The tour van was heading out to pick up the guys on recumbent bikes. As the muscle cramps just would not stop, Sandy decided to hop in for a ride the rest of the way. The next morning’s temperature was predicted to be 29F. Oh, goodie!

Little Sandy’s ride begins on the map at home

Day 2:  Pine Valley to El Centro.  Plan:  81 miles

After a chilly start in the morning, the best part of this day was lots of descending to end up at El Centro which is 50 feet below sea level and in the warmth of the desert!

Day 3:  El Centro to Welton, AZ.  Plan:  97 miles

Part of the ride this day flirted with the US-Mexico border. So, Sandy had to go check out the wall we’ve all heard so much about lately.

Sandy checks out the wall

Just outside of Yuma, Sandy’s friend, Rick came out to meet her for a quick visit. Rick, and his wife, Jan, are very good friends from the Vancouver, B.C. area she met while on her ride across Canada in 2008. Rick brought along a map of the USA they will be using to monitor Sandy’s progress. Jan had placed stickies on it with each day’s milage and destination.

Jan’s map of Sandy's route 

Day 4:  Welton to Gila Bend,  Plan: 88 miles

While I was walking the dogs this morning, I came across our riding buddies, Ed and Jim who were just heading out for their day’s ride. We had a little chat about Sandy’s adventure and they wanted me to make sure she knew that they wished her a fun and safe adventure.

Hi from Ed and Jim

Day 5:  Gila Bend to Casa Grande.  Plan:  67 miles

This was a cloud day but it warmed up nicely.  Long, steady climb of 1 - 2% for 29 miles.

Day 6:  Casa Grande to Tucson.  Plan:  77 miles

The weather warmed up to the high 70s, just perfect for cycling.  The grade wasn’t too bad as the route pretty much ran beside Interstate 10 much of the way. Sandy rode with Jona most of the day and watched as she kept standing on her pedals to get up off her saddle.  Sandy figured she knew what was coming next. Yup, halfway through the day, Jona decided to ride in the van to the day’s destination; Sandy rode the rest of the way with Elli, one of the tour owners. Sure, enough, Jona had developed a saddle sore. Ouch! 

The terrain was still desert, much like we ride in the Palm Springs area.  The hillsides were really green as a result of all the winter rain so Sandy predicted there should be a good bloom coming soon. There were already some nice patches of purple and yellow flowers along the ditch.  Sandy found it interesting that the saguaro cactus grow in patches.  She’d come to an area where there were lots of them, then none for long stretches.  

After a while, they came across a Dairy Queen, so they stopped for a short time (and a cone, no doubt) and talked to the locals for a bit.  All the riders then met up on the north side of Tucson and one of the group lead them along well paved bike paths right to their hotel. Once at the hotel, they headed over to the bike shop and dropped off some bikes to be tended to.  After the long days of riding, Sandy didn’t feel like cleaning her bike, so she decided she was okay with paying someone at the shop to do it for her.  

Tucson Rest Day.  Plan:  Well deserved day of rest!

After breakfast, Sandy walked over toward Safeway to look for some Starbuck’s tea, when, lo and behold, she came across a massage salon.  Lucky for her, they said, “Come on in.”  Her one hour massage was extended for another ½ hour and it was soooo good!!  She then walked next door to Safeway for her tea, picked up something for lunch, and headed back to her room to veg.  The bike shop called to report her rear wheel had three cracks around the spokes. Well, that needed to be replaced, of course, and she got new bottle cages as well, as one had broken.  The first week’s road conditions were very bad in places, causes bone jarring, teeth rattling pounding that was pretty hard on the equipment:  both rider and bike.  Replacement parts for the bike and an extra long massage for Sandy set things to right.

Later on, Jona (from California) and Sandy picked up a pizza and salad then went back to the hotel lobby to eat their supper.  After all that, Sandy reported that she actually had a pretty good sleep that night, finally.  

Week One ended at Tucson