Total mileage: 3306.5 miles
This morning I woke up sick as a dog. I had not been feeling well for a couple of days, but it all seems to hit me at once. Breakfast was super tasty, a frenchtoast casserole, and then our hosts brought us back to the meeting point. From there things started to spiral downhill and I pretty much passed out on the sidewalk. A bunch of people said I looked pretty green, but this morning we would be riding into CA. There was no way I was going to come all this way and get in the van to cross the final state line. So I ended up taking some pills and made a deal with Ben, the leader in the van this morning, that I would bike to the state line and reassess the situation.
The first few miles were rough, but as we kept going my head started to clear and I was feeling almost like a normal person again. Within 7 miles we had hit the state line which was amazing. Jay and I have crossed every state line together and to celebrate I bought him a bottle of sparkling grape juice (no drinking and biking) and an avocado, something he has been talking about since Texas. I good spirit he shook the bottle and sprayed it all over himself the team and the state sign after he gave a small toast.
We were there about an hour taking state line pictures, dance videos and enjoying the fact that we had just made it into CA. It was definitely bittersweet because while we had made it so far, the realization that the trip would be ending soon also kicked in.
Half and half chore group
Marcus, Nate and I took off from there and started winding our way down the road towards the highway which leads to Death Valley. Along the way we passed a group of riders, the van and a state trooper, but kept biking by thinking nothing of it. Thank goodness for my crappy back and need of stretching because the group behind us caught up and relayed the message that the trailer had gotten a flat and Ben would have to wait for AAA.
As we continued up the road we came to our last major turn of the day onto the highway which starts in Baker and ends in Death Valley. Knowing that we would not be seeing the van for quite some time and seeing a sign which said there was nothing between us and Baker, we stopped in a small gas station/convenience store to fill up on some water, ice and snacks. It was super cute.
You can see that I have been spending too much time in the South. I do wish it was acceptable to wear cowboy hats in the north.
Marcus made a friend
After about an hour we decided that we needed to get back on the road and head out because the temperature would soar this afternoon; it already was 100 in the shade.
The rest of the group was about 15 mile up the road hiding out in the only shade for miles. Because we had just eaten such a large snack the three of us grabbed fluids and headed out to get as much ground covered before it really started to get hot. At the same time ben grabbed water and ice and went out to try and catch the group before us who had decided to go on ahead and rely on the kindness of strangers before they hit the host, not the best idea when out in the desert with nothing around.
We did a good bit of hill climbing and then saw a glorious sign bout a seven mile down hill with a 7% grade which was awesome and definitely a morale booster after the climbing we had just done. Once we got going we found out that it was not going to be as glorious as we thought. Because the wind was so hot the downhill wasn't refreshing at all. Marcus best described it as the felling you get when you open a oven door when baking cookies,except this time there were no cookies. I definitely was drowsy going down andMarcus fell asleep a couple of times on his bike ... Not good when traveling at 35 mph.
Unfortunately before the big downhill Nate realized he had a flat tire so once we were down the hill and then he gotten back up we pulled over for him to change it. Marcus and I got our best skinny arm on and shrunk into the little shade we could find in the road and proceeded to pass out until Nate had finished.
Up until this point we had not heard anything from Ben, either through a text and/or seen him drive by. This was slightly problematic because we were starting to run low on water and were nearing the second lunch spot. Around mile 60 I was feeling pretty awful (my plague had caught up to me) and I had significantly fallen behind Nate and Marcus. At that point I pulled over thinking that one of them would realize I had been dropped and either stop themselves or call to see what was up. I simultaneously was trying to call Ben to see what was up, but he apparently was in a section which had no service ... Cue one of my biggest Bike and Build fears, being stranded in the desert, in the heat with no water.
The three of us huddled under the only shade we could see for miles around to gather our wits and any strength we could muster. While under this shrub I got the genius idea to flag down someone going in th eopposite direction to 1) see if they had any water and 2) to see if they could find the van and relay a message saying that we needed water ASAP. Thankfully two cars passed and because we were so far in front of the other groups they still had water to spare. We found out later in the day that the message did get back to the van, but due to extenuating circumstances we didn't see it until mile 70 or so.
Finally we had gathered ourselves enough to get back on our bikes. We had gone about 100 yards when a silver mini van pulls over and a couple open their trunk which had a cooler filled with water and frozen gatorades. Not only did they give us drinks, but invited us to sit in their AC for a while. Apparently they were traveling to home and had seen several of our bikers on the road and had been helping everyone out. They even offered to drive into Baker to pick up water and Gatorade and bring it back with them on their way back home, which was in completely the opposite direction they were traveling in. It was nice to hear that thread not been too many problems, but people instead were taking it slow and stopping to avoid as much of the heat possible while they waited for the van to show up.
We got about another ten miles out and the magical silver van sent from above showed up again with water and ice. The three of us decided it would be a good idea to fill up before we tackled the final stretch. They did inform us that once we passed under the power lines we would have a downhill to Baker and only about ten miles. Feeling like we could conquer we headed back out onto the road. Unfortunately a few miles down the road, the heat, dehydration and lingering sickness caught up with me and I started to feel miserable. I had two choices at this point: pull the three of us over and wait in the baking sun for the van to show up and take me to the host or keep going and pray that I don't die. Pride, wanting to actually bike every mile across the country and the thought of waiting for a long time in the sun all lead me to the first option which in retrospect no brilliant.
Sadly the downhill was not the steep gradient I was imagining, but instead a very slow one percent or so. Definitely dragging and not feeling great, Marcus and Nate slowed down to a painfully, almost backwards kind of speed to insure that I would be able to get there. At this point all I could do was think about getting to the host to which I informed the boys there may or may not include tears.
Now dear reader something you should know about me, I'm NOT a cryer. I would consider myself to be pretty determine and tough mentally, but everything about today broke me down. A few miles outside the host the tears came. I made it until the final turn at which point we hit a stop sign and the full on mental breakdown started. To add insult to injury all I could think about was how I was going to puke, which I announced to the gentlemen, and how determined I was not to do it on the sidewalk. Marcus sprung to action and led the way to the gas station across the street and as I dropped my bike he yelled that he would hold my hair back if needed. It gave me something to smile about briefly before I puked up what little fluids were left in my body (due to the strange schedule we had the only real thing I had eaten all day was breakfast apart from a bag of Chex mix and some granola bars). After that was all said and done, and I was feeling better, we headed off to Denny's for dinner before riding into the host.
As we wrapped up our 90 minute feast (it was past 8pm at this point) sweep pulled into the parking lot with the remaining part of the pack. We learned that almost everyone had made it on their own and everyone was feeling the long stretch in the 120 degree weather; two were suffering from some pretty serious heat exhaustion, one warranting the paramedics to come with an IV. I decided to hit the hay early because tomorrow would be another hot, long day and we still had two rides in an extremely hard six day stretch.
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