Day 36 90 miles 2194 feet of climbing 13.3 ave

Blythe CA to Brawley CA

Who turned up the heat?

Things change fast when you venture into the dessert as we found out today. Our day started at 7:30 AM with an air temperature of 62 degrees and by noon we were roasting like pork sausage links at 104! Oh but it is dry heat…. Yea right, the sweat never has a chance to cool your skin it vaporizes before it even emerges.

104 is the temperature in the shade. The temperature in the direct sunlight is much hotter. And as any car racing fan will tell you the asphalt (track temp) is always much higher. That additional heat radiates up off the pavement at a cyclist .

Our little traveling band left Blythe and headed south towards Brawley CA. The terrain was flat and winds light so we were making good time for the first few cool morning hours.

The sun started getting higher in the sky and the sparse vegetation became even thinner as we pushed forward. The few houses and farms soon disappeared and all we had left was a baron scorched landscape. We had also reached our lowest elevation of the tour. Lower than any of us have ever ridden a bicycle before. 90 feet BELOW sea level!!

We all loaded spare water bottles in the morning and figured we should have plenty. The first available fluid stop appeared to be about 60-65 miles away in Glamis CA. It really was not all that hot out right now anyway. Well we were dead wrong on that calculation. About half way to Glamis it was apparent we were not going to make it on water.

Running out of water in the desert seems like a bad way to go for sure. Without some more fluids we would be in trouble. Ken waited for the next car to pass and put his hand up like he was drinking water with out having a bottle. Bingo the car turned around and the driver offered the two bottles of water he had in his car to us. Next was a pick-up truck and they stopped and turned around after seeing the same hand signal. They had about a half-gallon to share. More great Americans. This should be all we need now.

Well as that sun beat down on us more and the temperature went up the water supply again started looking bleak. We would make it but it would be ugly.

Then about 20 miles from the Glamis we came upon on a US Border Patrol checkpoint. Joe pulled right in and asked for water. They gladly filled our bottles with nice cold water. What water we had left was already at least 100 degrees.

Then a car pulled into the checkpoint. He rolled down his window and said “Hey I saw you guys in Cottonwood Arizona a couple of days ago”. He was a contractor returning from a job somewhere in California. “You are easy to spot with the bright yellow shirts and bags.” That is a good thing to hear, at least we stick out in traffic.

Just as we were about to leave the Border Patrol checkpoint they told us the store we were counting on in Glamis may not even be open this time of year. That was not what we wanted to hear.

Lucky for us when we arrived it was open. We drank our fill and then some. We also purchased a few additional bottles to take with us. Even this cold water was warm as tea within 30 minutes. Hot water is very unsatisfying in the sizzling heat BUT it is much better than no water at all.

Tomorrow we will not make the same mistake with fluids.

Again our daily mileage was determined by the availability of a sleep spot as everyday is. With the desert heat and lack of watering holes we stopped at 90 miles.