Day Two - Andy

I am informed by Phil that we did 83.2 miles on day one. Two big climbs – Rainbow Canyon and following a motor bike accident fatality saw us hit an hour of steady climbing taking us up to 4000 feet. Legs are tired and there’s another 14 days to go

‘Why go to Rome and have fish and chips’, a reminiscing Merv states after tucking into a large Pizza Hut pizza the night before.

Richard notices a tyre shredded even before breakfast and Henry and I set off 0700 hrs through a deserted 29 Palms towards the Mojave and the heat of the day.

The desert plateau of 29 Palms, surrounded by a range of mountains is cold as the sun rises from the east. Sun blinds us as we have forgotten sunglasses. Navigation is a problem as we are told that we should be heading up dirt tracks. 10 miles cycling is wasted going round in circles. The pounding potholes of the first day has taken its toll on my back wheel and a puncture and a shredded tyre sees me helpless in the middle of no where with ‘Porth’ telling me on the mobile, ‘no problem be with you now’

The 2nd leg we descend for 7 miles down Old Woman Mountain and then hit the salt flats of Amboy. Mile after mile of snowy, salt flats.

3rd leg takes Phil, Henry and myself into the Mojave Desert and 5 mile steady climb of a 1000 feet sees Big Bear struggling and about to bonk when two American cyclists are coming at us in the opposite direction.

‘Let’s pull over’ I shout up to the other two. They are cycling from Las Vegas to Palm Springs in 8 days. We’ve just done it in a day!

Refreshed after a chat I throw some food down and am feeling good again – onward.

The next 12 mile stretch is downhill with the Kelso sand dunes to our left reaching a height of over 3000 feet.

‘It’s all downhill up here’, Merv throws in.

90 degree heat and with a cross wind brewing, times were getting harder. Tactical decision to go to individual cyclists gets us through the next few hours. Turning south we are hit by very strong, very dry head winds. Tactical decision to go back to two by two helps as Richard is able to tuck in behind Phil.

So we have 50 miles to go and a 15 mile stint of 4000 foot climb to finish the day.

Merv’s Daily Final Thought of The day: Started well till after breakfast. Hard to take in all the panoramic views. Quite humbling realising what small fish we are on such a wonderful planet. Boys coped well with the conditions – still all working well as a team. The end of the day is nigh and at the end of the day it gets dark. A good sense of achievement as the mileage has been upped from day one. Gareth was struggling with the heat – maybe the boys should have considered air-conditioned bikes.