17-04-12 Day 05

Needles, CA to Kingman, AZ

Day 5 brings a milestone and a momentous occasion. We officially made it across The Golden State of California, and, crossing the Colorado River on Route 40 East we entered The Grand Canyon State of Arizona. What a site to See! Still making a good effort to stay on schedule, we set out early with Nate providing support through the desert. Once again Nate proved to be invaluable as we logged mile after mile on the open highway through the Mojave. And while temperatures stabilized as we approached Kingman, the long, steep, climb we faced to enter Kingman sure did get the pistons pumping and the sweat rolling. Finally a down hill section of road and appropriately placed at the end of our day.

Crossing the Colorado River 

Entering Arizona 

The scenery, and constanly changing views in all directions, are amazing and as a matter of fact they are breathtaking. The magnificent expanse of the Mojave is punctuated by awesome mountains that appear to stand proud at the perimeter. Then, as you approach a mountain Ridge and make your way through a pass you find similar beauty awaits you as you enter the next section of desert. WOW!

A SAG stop with Nate. Water, energy products, back out on the road!

A couple of notes missed in our blog yesterday. Randy got a flat rear tire just 75 feet from our final destination yesterday. As it turns out a very, very, small staple found its way through the tire and into the inner tube. A quick change of tubes and all is good. In addition, we wanted to note for bicycle friends who may be interested in riding route 66 as we have, you may want to consider alternate routes especially in Western CA. Tomorrow we intend to try route 66 once again. The local folks here in Arizona say the Historical Road is used more often and therefore better maintained. And finally, a schedule change is in the works. We intend to push back our rest day to Saturday, April 15th. We will ride from Peach Springs, AZ to Williams, AZ on Friday, April 14th. We are making this change so we can spend some time with Randy's aunt and uncle, who live in Prescott, AZ, Friday evening and Saturday during the day.

17-04-11 Day 04

Ludlow, CA to Needles, CA

From yesterday's experience on Route 66, and extremely poor road conditions we experienced, we knew our journey today would be long and ardious.  So, we made an executive decision to ride on Route 40 from nowhere Ludlow to Needles, CA. Great decision on our Part!  Today was a planned 100+ mile day :-(  Although our newly chossen route cut off some sighting seeing opportunities, the terrain for bike travel was much more acceptable. We climbed numerous times for a total of 3093 feet.  Doesn't look like much but the legs were pumping.  We were rewarded at the end of our 94 mile ride with a long descent into Needles - 8+ miles. Gotta love it! Especially at the end of our seven hour journey.

Thank heavens for our Mojave Desert Support crew, Nathan.  We consumed 3 gallons of water, Gatorade, heed, perpetum and snacks at 3 stops on our travels. He carried our panniers and other extra supplies that permitted us to travel light on the bikes today and tolerate the 96 degree heat at our finish.

A stop near the top to take a pic and enjoy the awesome views.

Town entrance to Needles, CA.

17-04-10 Day 03

Barstow, CA to Ludlow, CA

Wow! What a difference a day makes. And what a relief to finally have the wind at our backs. Karen and I started out early with an anticipation of yet another struggle. Much to our surprise, and after some uncertainty as we made our way through town to the outer city limits of Barstow, a gentle, yet constant wind, began pushing us east. As the morning progressed we were delighted and somewhat giddy to experience the wind pushing from behind. At times we achieved 20+ miles per hour without one turn of our peddles. Big smiles from both of us.

But of course the day would not be without a challenge or two. Our map set cautioned us of poor road conditions for a long stretch along our route. The road sign that read "Rough Road Ahead next 9 miles" was our next clue. After a brief discussion we decided to forego these signs and forge ahead. Yep, you got it. A bad idea. Lesson learned. We encountered terrain that was well suited for an off-road mountain bike but certainly not our heavily packed road bikes. Determined not to turn back we next encountered a road crew attempting to resurface at least one mile of the nine we were committed to ride. The resurfacing materials spanned shoulder to shoulder for one mile. As a result, we were forced to ride this next mile in the soft gravel berm adjacent to the road work. Once past the road work it was clear the road sign and the map set should not have been ignored. Our first opportunity we pushed our bikes through a thirty to forty foot wasteland island separating us from route 40. This was the alternative route suggested by our map set. A newer section of highway with a large forgiving shoulder provided a safe, smooth, and speedy ending to our day.

Once we arrived in Ludlow we were greeted by Nate, Karen's oldest son, who agreed to SAG for us for the next few days as we pass through the Mojave Desert. Nate had our room ready and assisted us getting settled in. Thanks, Nate!

As about additional item, I spoke to my amazingly wonderful daughter today, who is knocking it out of the park as a pre-med student at West Virginia University in Morgantown, and her friends have been asking how we keep up with our calorie demand during our rides each day. Well, we try to eat a healthy breakfast each morning. You know,eggs, toast, bacon, etc. We then supplement our ride throughout the day by snacking on beef jerky, Cliff bars, trail mix, fruit and nut bars, Hammer supplement drink mixes we add to water, gels, etc. It's a small but constant consumption of many items all in an effort to keep a steady fuel supply to the body and muscles. And of course, plenty of water.

Ludlow Motel, our fine accommodations for the evening. Ludlow, CA, population 10 (we are unable to confirm this), one gas station, one cafe, and of course the Motel are real.

17-04-09 Day 02

San Bernardino, CA to Barstow, CA

A bit exhausted from our long ride yesterday, we still started the day ready for the next adventure.  San Bernadino to Barstow did not disappoint.

Navigating from the hotel to the start point was a bit of a challenge with a few miscues, but managed.  Once on the infamous Route 66 into the very first few miles we were faced with a punishing and continous head wind that yielded travel speeds of 4 miles per hour and having to peddle down hill, and of course a 10 mile climb.  We finally reached Cajun Summit in 3+ hour time frame, check out the elevation on the pic below.  Thinking we may not make our destination today we were a bit disheartened.  After, we agreed to see what the remainder of the day had in store so we pressed on and completed the route to Barstow to keep us on track with our trip schedule.

Lastly we rejoiced to see Nathan Ruppert this evening, he will be are in person during our time through the Mojave to Kingman AZ.

17-04-08  Day 01

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA to San Bernardino, CA

Today we began our journey back east. Finally, the big day arrived. We have waited and planned for more than a year to make this a reality and today it became so. Leading up to this moment, for the past 3 days, Karen and I have been treated like royalty by my cousin Heather, her husband Kritsana, and their two wonderful boys, Mattias and Micah. During our stay we were treated to breakfast each morning, anything we needed for our trip, and dinner each night. Not to mention the wine and craft beer we were served. They are the BEST! Our endless gratitude to them for their 5 star hospitality. 

So, Day One began at Santa Monica Pier with a 7:30 am planned photo shoot. The typical photos of Karen and I with our bikes at the pier sign, dipping the rear tire in the Pacific Ocean, and a small group photo with Joan Spinelli who is a dear friend from Dover, PA, and Heather and her family (photos to come soon). Now, on with the show!

The journey begins

Karen, Randy and Joan Spinelli 

Don't get your toes wet!

So Karen and I decided to use a Garmin as the primary means of navigation. And, although we had many "dry runs" with the unit prior to our departure, we definitely experienced a frustrating learning curve during our first leg. We had planned for an approximate 82 mile ride from Santa Monica to San Bernardino and ended up with 92+ mile ride today. We'll try to do better tomorrow.  Then, we had planned to pick up our first of many supply drops at the San Bernardino YMCA. This too presented  a small challenge as we ran late in the day due to traffic, many uncooperative signal lights, a few minor mechanical issues, and that darn Garmin. In spite of these things we ended our day with positive attitudes and a smile. A smile for a sense of accomplishment and a smile to reassure each other we can do this. 

Karen on her box transportation mission.

c2cDay - 2 days, 23 hours, 34 min

With a one-way ticket to California in hand, we were given a smooth and comfortable ride to HIA by our good friend Matt Leininger. Thanks, Matt! Hours later, and after a short changeover in Chicago, Karen and I made it to the West coast at approximately 11:20 am Pacific Coast time. Shortly thereafter we visited Helen's Cycles in Santa Monica to check out our bikes. With a few minor adjustments we were on the road again to make sure all is working properly and ready for the big road trip ahead. We plan to ride again tomorrow and Friday checking out the local scenery before our early morning departure on Saturday.

Early morning drop off at HIA with Matt

c2cDay - 4 Days, 14 Hours, 59 mins.

Tonight we made a delivery to Randy's Mom. We gave her 6 of the 11 supply, drop shipments, which she will be sending out to us over the next 7 weeks. These are the supply shipments we prepackaged with various needed supplies of clothing, energy bars and mixes, bike parts, etc. Previously we shipped two boxes of riding gear to the bike shop in Santa Monica a day after we shipped our bikes. Then, we shipped a third box to Karen's son Nate and a forth box went to Desiree at the San Bernardino YMCA. Now it's Randy's moms turn to ship the boxes. With the exception of one box, the remaining six boxes will be shipped to YMCAs all across our great nation. One to Desiree in San Bernardino, CA, one to Jessica in Flagstaff, AZ, one to Amanda in Albuquerque, NM, one to Lori in Joplin, MO, one to Jody in Harrodsburg, KY, and one to Mark in Salem, VA. THANK YOU YMCA FAMILY !!! With less than two days until we board our flight to CA we finalize all of the finer details. Banks have been notified of our travels, the cat has a new temporary home, the grass will be cut, the house plants will be watered, mail has been stopped, bills have been pre-paid, and finally, our Outlook Out-of-Office Assistance has been set to auto reply while I am away- Sweet!

Final additions prior to delivery

Ready to go at Moms