Interstate 10

Tuesday May 12th, Indio CA to Blythe CA- 97 miles.

The route today was almost exclusively on Interstate 10, the major highway from LA to Phoenix. Evidently it is legal for adults to cycle on an Interstate highway if there are no other practical alternatives.  And to tell you the truth, once you get used to the tractor trailers buzzing by at 70 miles a hour, it isn't that bad.  The shoulders are wide and all in all it is pretty safe.  The main concern was watching for debris that could puncture a tire (primarily metal from shredded truck tires) .  Speaking of debris the sides of the road are littered with numerous plastic "urine bottles" from the truckers and other motorists.  Yuck.

The ride started with a 12 mile  climb- long but not as steep as yesterdays.  Staying hydrated was my major challenge,  I drank a remarkable amount of Gatorade .   The SAG stops also had V8 and pickle juice shooters.  Tracy, Crossroads founder,  and her team did a remarkable job supporting us today.  To keep our body temperatures in line we poured cool water over our heads and arms several times.  I also had a visor hat and sun sleeves on today (see pic below) which helped.  Fortunately the temperature did not exceed the low 90s.  We were told two years ago that on this ride segment the temp hit 115 ! and almost all the riders didn't complete the ride.  Glad to say I did better with the heat today than yesterday.

On to Arizona tomorrow.

Interstate 10 in  the California desert