Riding in a Windy Wonderland

I just wanted to start out by saying pictures are coming in a couple days - once I can use my friends computer in LA.

Now, today was a short 26 mile day. It was supposed to be 30 miles longer, but the wind advisory apparently got extended and it became unsafe to ride.

I started with a nice leisurely ride across town. I then turned south and began a 16 mile climb of around 5,000 elevation gain. I stopped at a visitors center before leaving town and met quite a few people who were interested in my trip. It was quite encouraging. I actually used to live in the same town as one of them, here in LA. Their reactions to the road ahead as well as all the wonderful signs -- steep grades and sharp curves ahead - turn off a/c to avoid overheating -- made me wary of the road ahead. Especially after all my climbing the last few days. Turns out my rest day helped a little.

I began the climb from the visitor center and kept a pretty steady pace. There was a Vista about 8 miles up and I stopped to see what I had accomplished so far. (picture soon) I ended up meeting some people from Lincoln, ne. Small world. I then continued on and came to a construction zone.

It was down to one lane for tarring so I was able to ride pretty much all through it in my own lane. This became necessary towards the end of the section. The winds had slowly been picking up and now they were to where they blew me all over the road. I eventually had to walk for safety sake. At one point I was riding and the wind started blowing me backwards while I was still pedaling. I got off and held the brakes and leaned over while standing still to let it pass and it nearly blew my sunglasses off. Once it let up I stored my sunglasses and walked for quite a while. I tried to hitchike but no one had the right vehicle or would stop at the time. I pushed a bit farther and got to a forest service campground. I decided i would stay here for everyone's sake and hopefully have less troubles with the wind tomorrow.

Back to the Future

I left Vegas about a week ago and haven't had reception any night I stopped to camp. I have ridden along the edge of death valley and through the mojave desert. I had mountain passes everyday and each day started with a climb. It was very scenic.

I camped along the road north of Joshua tree the other day. It was raining most of the day, which wasn't in the forecast. Windchill was in the upper thirty's. It was fr-fr-fr-frigid. It stopped for a bit while I set up my tent but then started again. It also started thundering. I was camped near a military training ground and I'm pretty sure some of the thunder was actually bombs going off.

As I rode around Joshua tree I realized the highway should not be ridden by bicycle. Many of the drivers would rather risk missing me by inches or less than get into the completely unoccupied lane next to them. It was very nerve racking.

As I rounded the park into palm springs the wind picked up and was blowing me off my bike. I knew it would be somewhat windy as palm springs has a huge wind farm, which I rode through.

When I got to town I found there was a wind advisory for the next couple of days. I was in need of a break anyway, so I decided to take one and avoid the wind and let my body rest.

My body is sore and some minor injuries are starting to show up. None of them are serious yet, but it makes me cautious.

From Red Rocks of Nevada to Red Rocks of Utah and Back Again

I rode towards Utah leaving Vegas via the racetrack and nellis air force base. With the cars running and jets continually taking off it was quite deafening. Once past the noise I had to ride interstate all the way to st George, Utah. There were only a couple exits on the way to mesquite and they offered no camping place. I decided I would have to find a place in mesquite.

There were no camping places in town and many rooms were booked full due to NASCAR. I went to a place that had a flashing sign on the interstate that said they had rooms available. I went in and asked and they said they didn't rent rooms out till their sister hotel was full. That place only had $100 rooms left. After a few interesting circumstances I ended up getting a room at the first place I checked for a lot less than the other place. It was very frustrating and laughable. The room had no artwork, the tv was unplugged, and the bathtub had some rust by the overflow. I've stayed in worse, however, and it saved me a bunch.

The next day I rode to Utah and discovered snow canyon. This was a very neat place with climbing and hiking. It was also a lot cheaper than Zion and since I've already seen Zion, it was a good tradeoff. I also met a group of students from Westminster university on a climbing trip. We hung out for a while and shared stories.

It was raining when I got to the campground, so I set my tarp up over the table. When the college group got back they were inspired and backed their tahoe and minivan together and worked on setting a tarp up between them. After a few attempts and a couple tarps they got it working. It was an amusing struggle.

The next day I did a couple of hikes. One took me to the top of an extinct volcano. I then headed into st George and visited some Mormon sites. The first temple constructed in Utah is located here. Brigham Young also had a winter home here.

Today I retraced my route to mesquite. Tomorrow I head back to Vegas.