Day 01
We're off!

Finally!  It was time to ride!!!  We woke up early this morning...4:30...to get a jump on the riders and get ready for the day.  We had breakfast at 5:30 to give everyone enough time to get organized and for us to help everyone get ready for the long day ahead.  It was nice to have the extra time so everyone could see our routine and to try to settle in on their own.  After all the preliminary festivities associated with the event, we set out for the beach to dip our wheels in the Pacific and to gather a bottle of water to pour into the Atlantic in Savannah.  We've been trying to bring the water level of the Atlantic up to the level of the pacific 1 bottle at a time for the last several years, last year we dumped it into the north part of the ocean.  This trip, we are going to start working on the southern part of the ocean...I'm sure we'll get it leveled out one of these days.

After leaving Newport Beach, our route took us along the Santa Anna River Trail to Anaheim.  It was a nice gentle departure from a busy city, but the traffic was fairly light even when we used the highways until later in the day when the traffic seemed to get a little heavier.  After the first SAG, we set out for our first real terrain challenges as we had to cross a couple mountain passes to leave the metropolis...with that came the heat as the afternoon became warm, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.  I even wore arm warmers most of the day as the wind seemed to be a bit chilly at times.

I think most people don't realize how much agriculture is in California...and dairy farms too.  Today we passed several dairy farms just after our lunch...which was good timing.  Had it been before lunch, I'm thinking I would have been hard pressed to have eaten a sandwich after smelling the aroma of the feed lots we passed.  Something else we encountered while passing the lots were flies...swarms and swarms of small flies.  They bounced off our glasses, hit us in the face, stuck in our teeth...you name it and we had a fly stuck to it.

Our final challenge came as we ascended into Beaumont...approximately a 1100 foot climb.  That climb always kicks my butt as I haven't ridden any long distances up until now and definitely not climbed as significant a climb as that in Alabama.  But everyone seemed to get up it with aplomb...this is a strong group to say the least.  The milder than normal temperatures were definitely a help, but we are still in the desert for the most part.

From the top of the climb, we entered I-10 on two short occasions and were treated with a tremendous tailwind and it was downhill most of the way to Palm Springs.  Just before the interstate, I stopped to help a rider with a luggage rack that had shaken loose on the less than smooth road.  I took it off his bike so he could ride on and waited for the mechanics van to come by before I continued on the road.  That worked out pretty well as by the time Jim got to me with the van, I was now at the rear and riding virtual sweep...but sweep at 35 MPH is always a treat.  I say 35 MPH...that was if we were just coasting...if we pedaled, we could go faster.  I think everyone was really stoked with that portion which made a long day a little shorter and easier at the end.  When we came through here on our way to Costa Mesa on Thursday, the winds were blowing the opposite direction...it would have been a 30 MPH headwind at the end...I think that would have made our day a little different...think?

This day is always a long day with all the ceremonies of wheel dipping and delays with picture taking...today was no exception.  Even with the tailwinds during the midday, the last rider didn't get in until almost 7:00.  Tomorrow is a shorter day and we should be able to get on the road sooner and they don't have quite as much climbing...but it will be in the desert again.  It also should get better as everyone starts to get into their routines.  From the looks of this group, we are looking forward to a great ride...we just have to get by this desert.  Stay with us as we journey to Georgia!