DAILY BLOG

And so it begins…

What a grueling day it was in the saddle! But before I talk about the oppressive heat, let me start with the beginning.

Before we could begin the actual biking today, we had to travel from Orange County, where we had the kick-off beach event last night, to our official starting point, at the San Diego Animal Park in Escondido. So, we packed up from my sister-in-law’s in Anaheim at 5:00am and arrived in Escondido at around 6:45am. After a brief breakfast stop at McDonalds, we arrived at the San Diego Animal Park at 7:00am to officially start the tour.

Rich and Jared ready to begin

After the five of us circled in prayer, Jared and I began the journey on our bikes, while Jordan, Justy, and Kim followed in the van. The temperature was actually a chilly 62 degrees, with morning fog in the mountains. After 3 miles of relative flat roads, highway 78 quickly started to ascend into the mountains. And climb we did!

Morning mountains

Rich and Jared ascending

For three straight hours, we climbed over 3,600 feet over 34 miles until we arrived at the quint town of Julian. Jared and I both were ready for a break, but felt pretty good after that first mountain climb.

We ate an early lunch at Julian, finding a nice park bench in the city center. I wish we would have had time to stop and walk through the town, as there were many neat shops and markets there.

The funnest part of the day for Jared and I came after we left Julian. We had about a 10-mile decent down the other side of the mountain into the desert. However, on the descent, I was struck by the total change in scenery that takes place when you leave the Julian community—rural/small town California turns into totally desolate, desert-like mountains. Jordan and Justy joined us on the ride at this point.

I can see for miles and miles

The four Wagners riding

However, as we descended from 4,000 feet to below sea level as we hit the desert “town” of Ocotillo Wells, one major factor soon came to dominate the day—the totally oppressive heat. Julian was in the 90s at lunch—hot, but doable. But when we hit the desert, the heat seemed to keep climbing—101, 103, 109, 111, and topping out at 114!

It actually hit 114 about 20 minutes after we shot this

I’ve ridden on two cross-country bike trips back in college, and today was, without question, the toughest conditions I’ve ever biked in. The swirling winds turned the road into a convection oven, burning as it blew across our face. (And anyone who says “well, it is a dry heat” should come out and experience it! ) Jordan and Justy picked the wrong time to ride, because they immediately faced this heat. They rode for awhile, but after 20 miles or so decided to return to the support van.

Within four minutes of getting a new water bottle from the car, the cool water became hot to drink. To help prevent dehydration, we used Hammer Endurolytes, which worked great for awhile, but I suspect there are limits to any electrolyte supplement in those extreme temperatures.

The heat began to takes it toll, and it soon started to get a bit scary from a health perspective. After about 60 miles, Jared began to experience light headedness, a symptom of potential heat problem, so we put him into the support vehicle to rest for a little while. He was really upset at getting off the bike, but our biking goal is to do our best, but not risk life & limb as we cross the country.

Jared, after succumbing to the heat

I continued on. What was most striking about the heat was the inability to even think clear headedly. I could not listen to my iPod. I had a hard time focusing on my prayers. So, I ended up stopping every 8-10 miles and cooling off in the AC in the support van. Poor Kim had to wait outside in the heat while I sat in her chair to clear my head.

After 45 minutes, Jared climbed back on the bike. His presence was a shot in the arm to me, and he began to set a strong 18-19 mph pace into the headwind. However, the heat once again got to him after 30 minutes, so we mutually decided that he should call it a day.

Rich going solo in the desert

I kept going for another 30 minutes, but when we were about 23 miles from Brawley, the heat claimed its final victim. After I began to shiver a little and feel lightheaded, we decided that it was not worth risking my health to bike those final miles into Brawley, so we packed up the bikes and headed to the hotel. Like Jared, I was disappointed not to ride every single mile, but believe we all the best we could given the conditions.

I can’t figure out how anyone would want to live in Brawley. When we ate supper at 7pm, the temperature was still 109 degrees. Definite Fire & Brimstone territory! Repent ye Brawleyians!

One major disappointment for us today was that our video camera broke this morning before we could even us it for the ride. The problem is that we had planned to capture a lot of video footage for a daily YouTube video blog update. We are exploring what video camera options we have, but we probably will not be able to do anything until we get to Prescott in a couple of days. So, we apologize for no video updates yet, but hope to have them coming shortly.

Tomorrow morning, we plan to start riding by 5:30 (sunrise at 5:37) so we can beat the heat (expected to be 117!!!!) as we ride to Blythe, CA. It’s a shorter than usual day (85 miles), so we hope to be able to get the ride done by noon if we ride strong.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!