L7 - 50.295km - Ripley, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

Hot, dusty deserts keep life to a minimum in this area of the United States. From the news, I have read that the temperatures in this area are hovering in the upper 110+ degrees F! Could you imagine riding in those temperatures? The heat reflecting off of the aspault or concrete would probably be able to cook your bicycle tires, and your water bottle would turn into a hot water kettle that starts to whistle with boiling water at 9:30AM as you ride. From my web searches, numerous pictures show a desert landscape with lots of RVs. Who in their right mind these days would pay for gasoline to drive an RV around the southwest US? Sure, the Baby Boomers have some money, but paying for gas should not be on a priority as they enter retirement. But beyond that, this ride has a nice little climb over 1,000 feet around the California and Arizona border. Then again the climb takes about 15 km to complete, so I am not really worried about having a huge 10+ percent grade for 10+ km. From what I have been told, no major roads in the United States have road grades over 6 percent. Local roads on the other hand may have grades past 10 percent. I have ridden a few in Utah. Yawn. So, riding like this reminds me when I was in college and routinely rode about 2 hours every day. I am liking this. I feel tired when it is time to go to sleep. I feel better. Why not exercise?

RAAM Segment 2 - Pauma Valley to Lake Henshaw - 37.592km

The DeLorme topo software for the computrainer arrived today around 2PM. I have just begun to play with the software in course creation, but I have used DeLorme products and have used this same version of the software. How I love remembering things! So, I created the Pauma Valley, CA to Lake Henshaw, CA. Here is a little map for your enjoyment. Look at that profile map. It looks like you ride uphill for a bit, and the rollers then pick up after you reach the top. I also have a picture of the area around Lake Henshaw, CA. The lake looks a little tranquil, but it should because it is really in the middle of nowhere. If you look at the map, the lake appears to be in no man's land of the mountains and the dry Californian desert. Doesn't it make you thirsty just looking at the picture? Maybe you might want to bask in the sun on the beach of the lake. But maybe you want to get eaten by bugs and other lake insects. Does anyone see anything resembling a white sand beach or do we only have green-brown mud on the shore?- Loading up the course



Post ride report. Wow. Forget about the picture of Lake Henshaw looking beautiful because the road is horrible! Wow. To get up to the lake, the road has some very serious grades. I love climbing hills and mountains, but I either am out of shape when it comes to climbing and/or I need to turn on the smoothing feature in the DeLorme software. Road grades do not change as quickly as the course was doing. You do not go from 1%to 15% in about 5 seconds. So, I will deal with that before the next segment. Either way, it was a tough ride. Towards the end, the good ole' quadraceps muscles were shouting that they were nearing the end of their available power. In reviewing the profile, this section of course was basically a category 1 climb found in a major tour such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, or Vuealta de Espana. Ouch. But it is all good!