Day 4: Indio to Blyth

May 9, 2023

This felt like a big day. 97 miles across the Mojave desert. The pix show the desert, which was like that all day. Highlights include the tank museum at the first stop. Lunch was at Desert Center, an abandoned Interstate rest area. We sat under the awning of the Post Office (the only working building), and ate peanut butter sandwiches, Doritos and Oreo’s. The postmaster was interested to see us.

The most remarkable thing was riding for more than 90 miles on the hard shoulder of the interstate freeway (I10). This is not normally allowed but it’s the only route across the Mojave in our direction. We spent the whole day just a rumble strip and a few feet from the passing traffic. The big trucks were the best as they’d always move to the central lane where they could, though on a couple of occasions other road users passed them on the inside, and one pickup crossed the rumble and swerved across the hard shoulder in front of me. We’d had a great safety briefing on motorway cycling the night before.

The other hazard was the torn up tires strewn across the shoulder. They’re reinforced with wire so there’s a good chance of a puncture or worse if you hit one. Some were almost intact, but most had broken up to leave birds nests of rusty wire all over the place that we had to slalom through. Then there the individual threads of wire that were too small to see. Loads of people punctured today, including Stephanie, who had three.

I spent nearly the whole day with her, first side by side, and then taking it in turns to lead when the wind turned. She even pulled me five miles to the last SAG.

It was hot. A five bottle day, and more from a back pack. 20C at 7.30 and 30C from mid morning onwards. Just two climbs, the first at 5 miles from the start going up 1500ft over and the second shortly after of similar length but much gentler. After that we cruised all day, concentrating on maintaining pace and avoiding the debris.

Stopping for Stephanies’s second puncture I felt dizzy. I took a longer break at the third SAG, with lots to drink, a pie, some caffeine beans, ice on a sore foot and a quick nap. I perked up well, cycling the last 18 miles on my own and passing half a dozen other riders.

Another 115 miles tomorrow in similar temperatures into Arizona and across the Colorado desert 🌵 🏜️ 🌵