PAC Tour - Day One San Diego to El Centro

Stats:  126 miles 8,800 feet of climbing, 12:23 elapsed time, 101 degrees

Twelve of the twenty riders have ridden with these tour operators before, so the eight newbies among us are learning how things work.  We start the day at 6:00 in the parking lot for breakfast, bringing our bikes, reusable bowls and mugs.  Cyclists tend to be green people, no more Styrofoam cups appear at breakfast.  At 6:30 the baggage truck is available to load and riders start riding between 6:30 and 7:00.  Times will change because of available sunlight depending upon where we are in a time zone. 

So off we go.  I'm riding with riders I met on the prologue, mostly newbies.  The tour veterans tend to ride faster.  Today's cue sheet provides a route of 127 miles and 7,700 feet of climbing, a tour of the desert and a destination in the Imperial Valley.  Luckily the temperature is "only" forecast to reach 98 in El Centro, our destination.  We climbed 60 miles out of San Diego, taking 6 hours of riding time and reaching 4,100 feet of elevation.  Another 4 hours of riding time put us back at sea level and 66 miles further East in El Centro.  After our climb, we descended rapidly while riding I-8 (on the shoulder).  That ten mile descent was covered in under twenty minutes despite bucking cross winds and occasional braking to keep the excitement (fear) at a reasonable level.  I tend to descend faster than most other riders.  Its my form of amusement park thrills and my weight gives me a natural advantage. 

While we we climbing out of San Diego we saw a large number of border patrol vehicles and later came upon a large Border Patrol facility with electronics and many, many vehicles.  A little further on, there was an airport where drones were the only planes.  There was no real landing strip for regular aircraft.  Eventually I raised my sight a little higher to the South and saw "the fence".  It has escaped me that we were riding so close the the border with Mexico while riding historic US 80. 

After the descent on I-8, we entered the desert proper, although everything to that point had been very arid, now we saw sage and scrubs and little else, besides the fence.  The temperature had risen and we were "enjoying" strong, gusty winds.  Occasionally head winds and on occasion a favorable tail wind.  This despite the fact that we were pretty much heading due East all day long.  Fickle winds.  There are days when riding simply becomes work.  You're tired, hot, sore and simply want the ride to be over.  The basic issue is that if we had stopped today's ride at 100 miles or so, we'd be camping in the desert tonight.  In the great West, towns can be very far apart.  So today we rode 126 miles.  Tomorrow's ride is a more sane 104 miles with 1,600 feet of climbing.  And, since we're heading NNE, I think the chances of a favorable tail wind are high.  But having been outside to go to dinner, the day promises to start hot and get hotter.  No rain is forecast, though.

We saw many sights today, including hundreds of herons perched in three trees in the irrigated fields just East of the desert.  From a distance it looked as if the trees were flowering with big white blooms.  Quite a scene.  More descriptions will come with photos, but that's a task for another day.  Past my bedtime.  Breakfast at 6:00, on the road at 6:30.

The Ride Begins - Neil, Tracey, Castor & Bob

Desert Hills

Quiet Road (Off the Interstate)

Downhill Chute

Our southern Neighbor

Desert Sand

"Heron Tree"

Day in the Desert