Miles: 92 Miles
Ride Time: 5 hours 52 minutes
Avg. Speed: 15.74
Total Climbing: 4392 feet
Work: 3624 kJ
Day 2 started off early as we tried to beat the heat. Today’s ride would end up in the Southern California high desert. Breakfast was at 6 and we were on the road by 7:15.
Once we got out of Valencia we started our big climb of the day. Bouquet Canyon Road would lead us up to the desert. The canyon was cool as the sun had not yet climbed high enough to heat it. This was perfect climbing weather as we formed a pace line and banged out the hill. Towards the top I decided to if my Northern California legs could put this Southern California hill to bed. Waiting at the top was Stephanie, one of the guides, with refreshments as we needed to refill for the ride to Palmdale.
Palmdale, a new American town, seems to be centered around Palmdale Blvd. which is lined with every fast food chain in America plus LA’s famous doughnut shops. I counted 3 doughnut places within a mile; Tasty Doughnuts, Yum Yum Doughnuts and Good Doughnuts. Once we reached the outskirts of Palmdale we were greeted with tons of Joshua trees.
After a quick lunch at 10:30 I continued on through the desert. The Joshua trees became less and building were few and far between. Every once and a while you would run across a road crossing Palmdale Blvd that seemed to go to nowhere; sometimes they would be paved but most were just gravel.
The last few miles were tough as the temperature climbed close to 100 and the traffic leading into Victorville picked up. It was hard to make good time in these conditions. I stopped at Del Taco for a chocolate shake. Yesterday Greg, Gary and Dave turned me onto them at the end of the ride. It sure was nice to sit inside out of the heat. That fact alone makes them taste wonderful.
Visit all the photos from today at flickr.
1 comment:
I lvoe your blog and its posts.
You really do a excellent job.
You should network with the moms in the bizymoms Victorville community.
keep up the good work.
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