(Click for larger image.)
Before the sun was up today the wind was whipping! As any seasoned cyclist knows, it can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It was hard to tell from the hotel which way things were blowing. The first half mile out didn’t bode well either as we struggled to go 9 mph without getting blow off the road. Then…..we turned! And oh, what a beautiful turn it was! For most of the morning before our feed zone, we had a pretty nice tailwind. The scenery was amazing as we wound our way out of Victorville and into the Mojave Desert. Some smoke was still lingering in the valley from some of the late forest fires they’ve had up in the mountains in that area, and we passed by a camped out group of fire fighters. After a great lunch by our mechanic Matt, we took off heading south, and unfortunately into the wind. It only lasted 15 miles or so until we turned East again and turned the afterburners on for the last 20 miles into 29 Palms. We stayed at our own “private oasis” at The 29 Palms Inn, enjoyed a great meal, and they had a small band playing by the pool. A few of us grabbed a drink and relaxed, chatting about the previous days’ rides and looked forward to the days to come. We fell asleep to a sky full of stars and coyotes howling, though only 250 miles away, it felt like we were a long ways from Santa Barbara.
-Nate Lohmeir, TT Guide
