Twentynine Palms, CA – Kingman, AZ

In sporting terms, personally, today can be classed as a ‘s**t sandwich’, two great legs to start, two great stints to finish…an hour of pain in-between.

The day began with Rich and myself taking over from the bear and the Kitten, with a gradual, constant climb. Thankfully, the legs seemed great following yesterdays’ final ling…where a bonk was almost imminent (not that sort of bonk!!), and although the sun was starting to cook, the electrolytes, skins and a large supreme thin base from Pizza hut seemed to have done the job.

First leg down, second coming up, and as it mirrored the first, the words ‘relentless’, ‘constant’ and ‘never-ending’ were regularly delivered from Keanu Belcher. Again, constant gradual climbing, no relief for the legs whatsoever, and the sun again…cooking. The difference compared to back home, the straight roads. Not even a kink in the road could offer the relief of even thinking that a plateau was imminent. Constant, relentless, never ending climbing.

More so, when sitting in the van, it seemed that every time we swapped, we seemed to miss a descent. We cant complain, I’m sure this was my tired mind playing tricks on me, but if not, it was payback for yesterday’s stunning descent into Palm Dessert.
The third leg began with a downhill…relief, but the hills had taken their toll, and with very short recovery periods, the legs again felt empty, not a ‘bonk’ empty, just unable to get them going. Again, I must apologise to rich…who was like a dog on heat just trying to pull me along…but to no avail.

By now, the other group had set, and a change of tact brought increased periods of recovery. An hour in the van, some more ‘Go’ juice and a few slices of leftover pizza hut special, and there seemed to be a bit of ‘hwyl’. Another constant climb, but a shorter stint felt great, and the worry that yesterdays tiredness had already set-in were put to rest, with eagles flying above, and a bit of ‘ipod’ relief, we were back on the road. By now also, the Belcher had a grin from ear-to-ear…as Martin Johnson’s men leapfrog the Welsh in the 6Nations. “You must be s**t if you’re behind England, says the Gillingham fan (who lost 3-0 today).

Increased recovery seemed to bring a second wind to the whole group and the Bear, the Belcher and Phillipousis complete their legs, into a wind. By now, good time has been made, and Kingman doesn’t seem that far away. My penultimate leg leads to a 5mile climb, again, not the steepest, but continuous, and the theme for the day seems to have been set…then comes 10mile descent down to Davis Dam, which seemed great, but had to be carefully taken due to high crosswinds and regular gravel traps.

We end in style, as a four, reaching our destination as the sun sets over the Arizona dessert, on good ol’ Route 66. This route is the only one I believe to go the length of the states, and as Rich and myself covered a good 10miles earlier in the day, it seemed strange that we had rejoined 7 hours later. Why don’t we stick on this road??? The answer will be evident tomorrow.

Highlights of the day has to be the little rant by TM Stone, as he steered HMS Hwyl for the first time this morning. Almost ready to digest the Sat-Nav, the silhouette of the Bear on the horizon saved the sat nav in the nick of time. The fact the crew still don’t have a map is great, and as we’re almost there, is there any point in buying one now??

The vistas of the Mojave were spectacular, the salt beds, the Joshua trees, the deserted towns spread across the plains, that were obviously once thriving hubs, now more a scene of a Hollywood Horror flick. News also of victories for Fulham and Spurs bring a cheer…Rafa’s boys must complete the job tomorrow.