Day 4 - El Centro to Palo Verde - Asphalt Islands
- hutchisonalanj
- Mar 10, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 25, 2023
This is Denise again. Alan has been able to get out a few texts but the desert has not been welcoming to wi-fi. Day 4 was a rough one. Here is a map of the route. Note the elevations. A mere 83 miles.
Below is Alan's text describing his ride to Palo Verde.
Today was the hardest day yet. There were 83 miles and 2456 feet of climb through Imperial Valley and the desert. No facilities or water. The van met is at a dune buggy place at the 40 mile mark. I carried three water bottles with electrolytes in it and drank a total of 7 (refilled more than one at lunch. Kathy was driving the van and brought us ice pops.
I have sunburned legs, but I wore my sleeves all day. The CBD really helps, especially the lips.
Call this section “Asphalt Islands.” There was about a 10 mile stretch of road where the the cracks were so big and the chunks of asphalt so far apart it was safer to ride on the shoulder with loose sand (2-3 inches deep). I didn’t want to stop to take a picture, but I have one of typically cracked pavement. I have included a picture of crops in Imperial Valley and a huge cattle operation.
As we climbed, we were more and more in the desert, ringed with brown and rocky mountains. Desolate. After a cool start, it warmed up fast. In the middle of all this was a place where people in big RVs camped and ran huge dune buggies (bigger than our Rogue). They ran through the dunes and were really loud.
I got dropped by various riders over time and probably rode 40 miles by myself. Eventually. I caught up to James and Sharon, took a break, ate some trail mix, and we had enough energy to finish the ride together.
It was hard riding alone. That stretch of highway had about a one foot shoulder and a 65 mph speed limit. Lots of close calls. Tomorrow promises to more of the same. I’m experiencing leg cramps tonight. Tomorrow I’m going for slower and steadier. Only 79.8 miles and 2,872 feet of climb. Again, limited facilities as we roll through the Mojave Desert. Tomorrow, we cross into Arizona. One state down, seven to go. We are camped in an RV park, next to the Colorado River. Ate around a fire pit this evening.
I have included a photo of a stone marker that Dennis took telling how old this road is. I forgot to start my ride this morning so the mileage is 10 miles off.
No “Horse With No Name” jokes. My steel Surly was perfect for the ride today.
He sent one video today
You're doing great. Around 10 mph average speed is about right for a long day in the saddle. The cramps will get better. The first few days are the hardest. When you get back to Des Moines, I'll make sure to let some of the air out of your tires on our rides to even things up a bit. 🙂Miguel
Hey Al, Matt again.... No shame in 83 miles... up hill.. that's awesome!!!
We had riders suffering cramps on our southern tier tour. I generally take magnesium supplements on long tours to avoid cramps, but others on our ride swore by calcium. The tour leaders bought some multimineral supplements and made them available to everyone. As for water, my goal on this section of the route was one quart every hour…that was almost enough.