supposed to be easy…






Sunrise at the Desert Tower

First, the Desert Tower where we camped last night was amazing. It is located right on the edge of a 3,000 foot drop into the desert- which included I-8, our descent route. The host treated us to coffee and the view from the Tower this morning.

We broke camp and loaded the bikes. Then I discovered my tire had gone flat overnight- 2nd one in 2 days. After replacing the tube, we made it back to I-8 and headed downhill. The wind was gale force and we had to continually brake to check our speed and really hold on in case of crosswinds. 

The descent was 7 miles and about 3,000 feet.  Unfortunately Brian hit a small rock and had a flat about a mile into the descent. He had trouble seating the tire properly which resulted in a couple more stops- then at an off ramp a few miles later his tire blew. Luckily he was almost stopped and he was able to stay upright. After he pulled the tire and tube I found a large hole on the inside of the tube which turned out to be because the rim tape had overheated slipped. This was most likely due to the heat from braking on the front wheel. So we had to repair the tape and put your another tube on. Slow start to the day plus a huge pucker factor after the rim tape slipped.


We finally made it down and stopped for lunch at Ocotillo, California. Ben, from Desert Tower had recommended that we take a direct road from Ocotillo to El Centro and noted that it was closed for a bridge but you could cross on a bicycle. We had a monster tail wind and were cruising at 25 mph or so. Then the road turned to shit. We actually had to brake fairly hard on the flats to slow down enough so we didn’t bust a wheel. It was like this on and off for 20 miles or so.

So we ask a local at a gas station if there was a better way. He said the road we were on continues to be bad but if we cross the railroad track to the south and turn left it was a much better way. It turned out to be a gravel road but not too bad for about a mile then it turned to dust and wouldn’t even support a bicycle. So we ended up pushing across a couple hundred yards of desert dirt and some railroad tracks and got back on the other shitty road. The local is probably still laughing his ass off. 

So the day consisted of 25 mph, zero effort sections interspersed with roads that were virtually un-rideable.

What a day- 45 miles and 3 flats! Tomorrow. 55 fairly flat miles to Yuma, lots of desert and less wind!


Trip Totals:

Flats- Brian 3,  Tom 2

Day 1: San Diego to Lakeside 32 miles, 1,345 ft climbing

Day 2: Lakeside to Jacumba- Desert Tower- 62 miles, 6,211 ft climbing

Day 3: Jacumba to El Centro: 45 miles, 614 ft climbing


https://strava.app.link/3qA1rtdXEkb

Comments

  1. Christy TrueNovember 1, 2021 at 7:13 PM

    Have you guys thought about tubeless tires? That’s a lot of flats!

    ReplyDelete

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