The Mojave Desert

Wow! What an awesome day!
Limited sleep last night, but then it was great to get on the road.
Started out with a gradual 11-mile climb, so it was great that we could do it in the morning before things got cooking.

I don't think anyone in our group slept well last night, since we had our meeting last night about all the safety issues for the desert heat and all the worst-case scenario stuff. We all made it through fine, though 2 of the guys did go to the hospital for I.V.-hydration elixer since they weren't feeling too great when they got done with the ride. Interestingly, they both had the same symptoms of heat exhaustion, but for different reasons; one was from too little fluid-intake, and the other was from too much electrolyte intake (got a little over-zealous with electrolytes from multiple sources over the past few days - they said he was on the verge of kidney failure). Both are back at the hotel now, hoping to ride tomorrow.

The photo below shows us getting ready to take off from the hotel in the morning. Nice shot of the two duffel bags we were each allowed to load on the truck - our luggage for the 7 weeks.

Gosh, so much I could write about. But in summary, I learned that it was a truly awesome thing to experience the desert by bike rather than from inside an air-conditioned car. Beautiful mountains on either side of us. Spent a lot of time on Interstate 10 - which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Just a lot of debris. The truckers were very considerate and usually moved into the lane away from us when they could. (I was grateful for the geeky orange flag on the back of the bike. I would not ride cross-country without it)! It was great to hear lots of friendly honks.

Rode with Harry, (I think I am starting to pick up an English accent!), Alec, and Ira from SoCal. Also got joined for a little while by Barbie from Texas and Hank from Sacramento.

I did well with the 104 degree heat due to being well covered in light clothing. Even had the ears, neck, and sides of the face covered with UPF helmet drape - my dermatologist would be so proud! Wore long-fingered bike gloves too. Hard to rely on the SPF lotions with the continual sweating....You should have seen the guy in the convenience store staring at me when I walked in at one of our SAG stops. He looked at me like I was an Alien, and I totally uderstand why.

Hydration strategy: 80 oz. Camelback with Gatorade-type drink which is the only thing I drank. Don't want to drink just water in the desert. Took a few Endurolyte capsules during the day for a few more electrolytes. Two bottles of water carried on the bike were water-only and used only for dumping onto the head/body. Works wonders!!!
Getting ready for 115 miles of simlar riding tomorrow, but less time on Interstate. We will be heading in to Arizona!!
Then the next day we get to start climbing!!