Another good day in the saddle. The day began with a nice ride through Riverside, CA, and then a short climb to get into a more agricultural area of the town. A quick SAG stop, and then the real fun began: a climb of about 7% grade for approx 5 miles left this old man huffin’ and puffin’ for much of the climb. I made it, although it was not the most graceful time on the bike. Additionally, we had freeway traffic rolling right next to us, just to add to the challenge.
Next, after another SAG, we traveled about 2 miles through a Native American Reservation. We had a police escort from one gate to the gate on the other side. And, since we’d completed the climb we were in the “high country”, and it was chilly. After leaving the reservation we received our reward for the big climb we did earlier: about 7 miles of downhill, with a strong tailwind. I have never traveled that fast on a bike – ever! As luck would have it my computer was not displaying my speed (I’d screwed up the settings just before we left this morning), but some of the other riders said they’d hit over 41 mph. The only drawback was the condition of the road surface was not the best, but that could be a blessing in disguise, as we may have gone even faster with a smoother road.
Next we road thru the city of Palm Springs, CA. It was such a cool city and we rode on “Bob Hope Way” and “Dina Shore Drive”.
We finished up with a relatively short ride to Indio, CA, and by then the mostly overcast day had turned sunny and hot. It was good to get the day completed, take a shower, do the dinner thing and get prepped for tomorrow.
Onward!!!
CYCLING AT A HIGHER LEVEL 
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