Bike: Road
Miles: 57.5
Start Time 12:18
Moving Time: 5:26:56
Elevation: 3316
Avg Spd(M): 10.6
Max Spd(M): 36.7
Temp Out:
Temp In:
I woke up to a beautiful warm sunny day. My choices were to bicycle the 58 mile JTNP Loop or hike the 16 mile Boy Scout Trail. By the time I decided on the bike ride and got myself together it was 12:20 and I left home with an empty belly. I had 2 Luna "nutrition" bars and a Cliff Bar on hand which I took along with my wool sleeves, vest/jacket sleeves and a very light pair of wind pants. I decided to avoid messing with my seatpost rack and bag so stuffed this all in my jersey and vest pockets. I had only the two water bottles which the bike will mount. I felt it would be cool enough to cover the 33 miles from the West JTNP entrance station to the finish with 2 bottles which turned out to be true, in fact I arrived home with a full bottle.
This ride is basically 44 miles of uphill followed by 14 miles of very steep downhill. There is about a 1K elevation gain in the 19 miles between home (1800') and Sunburst Park in the town of Joshua Tree, my first rest stop, and first 9 miles out to the top of the first bump on Highway account for 700 feet of it. These miles were a slog, my legs felt like spaghetti, I was tired, lazy, I wondered why I was doing this and so on. Once I got to the point where I had had a brief and slight downhill (15 feet in 2 miles) I felt much better and could see that I was going to be OK.
Since I last did this ride they have resurfaced the highway and made the shoulder much better. It used to be like riding on a widely spaced washboard. Now it is more like a pool table and is 8-12 feet wide out as far as the junior college at about 13.5 miles. Beyond the college the shoulder varies from around 30" to less than a foot to the turnoff to Sunburst Park. The traffic was as light as I have encountered on the highway to the college but after it got quite a bit heavier (of course). All in all it was one of the more pleasant rides to JT and I did it in record time, under 2 hours. It is always a pleasant ride when one is not hit by a car going 55-70.
After eating one of the Luna bars and drinking about 2 bottles of water with electrolyte tablets in them I started up the hill into the park at 2:30. This was the low point of the ride. The 6 miles from the Sunburst Park to the West Entrance Station are the steepest on the ride (some 10% grade) and Luna bar must have been 90% sugar and it really knocked me out. It took a full 1/2 hour to recover from it (I tossed the second one when I got home). It took over an hour to do the 6 miles to the entrance where I stopped and drank about 2 and 1/2 bottles of electrolyte water and refilled for the last time. Beyond the entrance it took another 35-40 minutes to climb the 2.5 miles to the top of the first summit in the park at about 4K feet which is OK, my riding is not about speed but persistence. I made a quick "nature" stop here and took a couple of photos and moved on. It was already 4:15 and I could feel a chill in the air and it was less than two hours until dark and I still had 2 more summits and about 16 miles to the start of the downhill and 30 miles to the finish at home.
I pressed on skipping my usual stop at "Quail Springs" (no sign of any spring or any quail). I stopped at the Ryan Ranch Trailhead at the bottom of the climb to Sheep Pass, the first remaining summit and high point of the ride (4500'), to use the pit toilet and eat about 2/3 of the Cliff Bar with some water. The climb and the subsequent one to the pass at Jumbo Rocks went well and I got to the top and started down about 6:00 in the gathering dusk. I had planned to stop at Jumbo Rocks and put on my sleeves and maybe the wind pants but it actually got warmer after the sun went down so I decided it was better to use the 5-10 minutes the stop would take to see where I was going rather than to dress up. The slight North wind which had helped me over the two passes kept my speed down to 25-35 which was a good thing in the low light. By the time I got to the North Entrance Station it was pitch dark. I did not have a good headlight with me, but one designed more to be seen with than to see. I had some shivering by the time I got to the entrance so I stopped and put on my wool sleeves. That was enough as it was getting warmer as I descended.
A thing I have not mentioned was that I was amazed at the amount of traffic on the road into the park from Joshua Tree and in the park as well. I got the impression at the West station they were letting people in at no charge. I asked the ranger at the North station and he said yes, it is a President's Day custom. For the most part the traffic treated me well but there are always a few who don't think it matters or are not paying attention, etc., and who defy the CA 3' bicycle law, and they can scare one pretty badly. The good news is that as I was coming down to 4.5 mile steep straight from the North Entrance to Highway 62 at about 35 mph in a pitch black evening the traffic got very heavy behind me and lit up the road a good part of the way as each car passed. As there was virtually no uphill traffic I was given ample clearance by all vehicles (for a change). All the rear facing flashing lights, the reflective farm triangle and the piping on my jacket/vest seem to really get the attention of drivers after dark. It is too bad more don't notice and care for bicyclists during the day.
I arrived home about 6:30 and was famished. I ate a multi-course meal of quick foods, went to the hot tub, did a bit of email and then went to bed. All in all a nice day.
Sunburst Park:
The line at the West Entrance Station:
Bike: Road
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