Miles: 22.3
Time: 2:05:20
Elevation: 409
Average Speed: 10.7
Max Speed: 24.5
I set off from home about 1:00 PM. It was 97 out. I could feel a NE or ENE wind while going north on Adobe Road. When I turned on to Valley Vista it was dead on in my face, 10-15 MPH. No fun!
I had forgotten how much dirt there is on the road at the bottom of Valley Vista and around the corner on Pinto Mountain. I was more prepared and negotiated it better this time. Pinto is more suitable for mountain bikes than my road bike with skinny 1" tires with 125 PSI in them. Hopefully the county will sweep it soon.
Naturally about 1/2 mile south on Pinto the wind shifted to the South and picked up. I grunted up to Amboy road and turned east expecting a head wind but it was cross only. I turned south again onto Goodwin into the teeth of the gale. It was a bad combination as there are a couple of pretty steep little rises on Goodwin.
I stopped at the 29 Palms Airport which I have not done before. I wanted and needed a break and some pictures for this blog entry (sorry phone camera does not do justice to objects in distance).
After a few minutes I saddled up and started west on Highway 62. There was a lot of holiday traffic returning from points east and too many of them were either oblivious or careless or both of me. I find it very annoying when people chose to pass me with a few feet of clearance when they have plenty of room to move over into the opposing lane. Call me a cranky old man but I really do not care to deal with the consequences of being hit by some silly drunk or careless yahoo in a 2 ton beast but I will not stop riding because of the risk either.
Four of the last five times I have taken this route the wind has gone from East when I was going east to West when I turned west. Mercifully it did not today, at least until I got 1/2 mile from home. I was feeling the heat and did not relish the prospect of beating against the wind 6 miles back to Utah trail. It is bad enough that most of it is uphill. When I got to Utah I did not feel enthusiastic enough to take the short side trip to Park HQ for water and a rest, instead I turned north on Utah and came home. It was 100 out when I arrived
For me temperatures around 100 in direct sun are a bit too much. I do much better below 90 or 95 or later in the evening when the sun is not so intense.
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