2013-06-17 - Joshua Tree/JTNP Loop on a Warm Day

Miles: 57.1
Start Time: 11.45
Moving Time: 5:45:11
Elevation: 3288
Average Speed: 9.9
Max Speed: 42.5
Temp Out: 91
Temp In: 98

I ate 2 scrambled eggs, showered, slathered on the sunscreen, dressed, loaded my small cooler with Diet Coke and extra liquids and left here around 11:30. It was warm but not too bad. As I got onto 2 Mile Road headed west I realized there was a slight headwind and that I would have to go into "touring mode", slow and steady to complete this ride given the weather and my current conditioning so I just took my time and made no effort to push it or hurry.

The segment to the town of Joshua Tree turned out to be the most pleasant of the rides I have done on that route. This was partly because I was not fighting it but mostly because the first 6.5 miles of the Highway 62 shoulder from Sunrise Road, where I got on are all recently repaved and are beautiful, very good to excellent. It also helped that there was a 3 or so mile section where the right lane was closed due to paving activity. I had the lane and shoulder to myself except for the few hundred yards where I had o merge with traffic to get around the paving machine. The good shoulder ends at Mile Square Road and the 4 miles from there to Sunburst Road where I got off are poor to very poor. I was helped in this section by the fact that traffic was being stopped periodically by the paving process so I got several multi-minute periods of no traffic at all.

I arrived at the community park in Joshua tree at about 1:15 in good shape. I unpacked my little cooler and had a Diet Coke, finished the bottle of Heed, a maltodextrin based sports drink, I had been working on, prepared and drank a bottle of Fizz, a sugar free electrolyte drink, prepared another to take and drank a couple of bottles of water. I felt good and did not see a need to linger so at about 1:30 I left the park and started the serious climb up into Joshua Tree National Park.

The next 6 miles up to the West Entrance Station were not so pleasant. The road climbs up through a sheltered canyon of cove with no breeze which means hot. My stomach was also not feeling well, perhaps from the cold Coke or the switch from Heed to Fizz. In any event I finally reached the Kiosk. It took almost as long as the 19 mile ride from 29 Palms to Joshua Tree.

At the station is a rest room building with a water fountain in front, one of only 2 sources of water in the park, the other being a fountain at the South Entrance. I loitered here for 20-30 minutes drinking several bottles of water and Fizz. I also ate a Cliff Bar. I did not really want it but knew I needed something a bit more substantial than sugar and electrolytes.

The 2 miles from the Kiosk to the top of the climb onto thee park plateau went much better. For one thing there was a light breeze from the south which felt delightfully cool, the increasing altitude helped too. Also the bit of food, rest and plenty of water had to help too.

Once on the plateau I started noticing that I was having quite a bit of joint and seat pain. Sadly it did not occur to bring Ibuprofen so all I could do was gut it out. I stopped about every 5 miles for a hydration and butt break until I reached the top of the ride at 42 miles. At Ryan Ranch, about mile 36, I broke out my second bottle of Heed. This made me feel much better. Part of my problem coming out of Joshua Tree may have been a sugar crash. At any rate the South to SW breeze gave me a nice boost over the last two small climbs to the top and from there is was just hanging on with almost no pedaling the last 15 miles home.