4/4/09: Up a Cali mountain- scary fun

Getting a feel for our day riding today would require a video camera as it was quite the test of one’s will. From past year’s experiences, this day was touted as one of the most difficult rides that we will encounter- 95 miles, 60 of them being up hill. We hit the road at sunrise (well, more like an hour after sunrise by the time we got everything loaded and said goodbye to our host families) and started climbing…..and climbing….and climbing…slowing to an altitude of 1 mile above sea level. We unanimously agreed that it was the hardest day of riding that anyone of us had experienced...yet. To put it in perspective Brad, our food zar extraordinaire and support team driver for the day, said that he was flooring our cargo van to make it up the mountain pass and was only going 15 miles per hour. We were all standing and cranking our lowest gears at times and barely moving. About the time our team’s morale was at its lowest, we would crest a peak and rejoice at the downhill approaching. Descending down a mountain is not exactly a time to relax though as we were approaching speeds of 40 mph on centimeters wide tire weaving in and out of potholes, dodging gravel, and keeping steady through the winds as we slingshot past eachother. Being a skier, I compare it to tucking down a black diamond for the whole run without turning- not exactly safe, but sure is a lot of fun!

The mountain claimed nearly half our riders, but for the other half, surrender was not an option. We made someone else throw in the white towel for us at the top of the mountain and called the day short (if 65 miles is short) due to time constraints as we had to press onward for our lecture to a Hispanic church community in Hesperia, California. I'm not sure what Hesperia means in Spanish, if anything, but "desperate desert town" would be appropriate.

I now have to be up in about 5 hours to ride 100 miles, but wanted to update my blog because we are camping out in the desert the next couple of nights until we get to Vegas. For the classrooms following along- Please see the attached video for a climate lesson. I worked quite hard as an amateur filmmaker to edit this film to include a classic desert element with the snowy mountains in the background. I hope it was worth it!