Day 5: Reaching the Colorado River
Today we rode 114 miles across the Mojave Desert to just across the Colorado River into Parker Arizona.
This sign greeted us as we left the town of Twentynine Palms (where we spent the night), giving us fair warning as to what we should expect during today's ride.
The scenery in every direction was both desolate and beautiful.
With temperatures in the upper 90s to about 100, many riders including myself wore arm coolers and even leg coolers to protect from the sun. My arm coolers both reflect the sun and do a better job of cooling my arms when the sweat evaporates. Also, at our stops, I can soak the arm coolers in cold water which feels great.
Here was a photo looking back on the 52 miles we had ridden to get to this point. Notice that the road goes all the way to the horizon, all of which we had just biked.
Just before lunch (at the 75 mile mark), we saw these train cars sitting on some tracks. After lunch, we had a strong crosswind from the south sometimes shifting into a head wind as our direction or the wind's direction changed. Combined with the heat, that made the last 40 miles tougher than the morning's riding.
Just a couple of miles before reaching the Colorado River (pictured above), we left the highway for more back roads. Unfortunately, while we were riding, a pit bull charged out of a yard and collided with one of the riders sending him to the ground. All things considered, he ended up in fairly good shape with only some stitches in his knee and some road rash. He is currently walking without a limp and is planning on riding tomorrow.
We finished today's ride crossing over the river into Arizona, our second state.
Tomorrow is an "active recovery" day meaning that we only have 42 miles. Most of us are planning on taking it slowly to help our legs heal from the ~400 miles we have ridden over the past 4 days.