We left the hotel later today as we only intended on riding about 60 miles.  As we left the parking lot, we noticed a very stong west wind. We abandoned our plans to meander along side roads and opted instead to try our hand on the shoulder of I-10 East. This was a phenomenal ride for about 45 minutes as we were running downhill with a strong tail wind.  There were periods of 2 or 3 minutes that I did not touch the pedals yet  traveled at 30 – 40 miles per hour. This worked great until I started getting flat tires. There is so much debris along the side of the road that it is almost impossible to miss picking up something in your tire.  After the second flat, we decided the  risk was outweighing the gain of time and speed. In addition, we were running out of spare tubes.

We exited just east of Palm Springs and visited Palm Desert Bike and Moped where the mechanic, Yordano Vega,  outfitted our wheels with heavy tubes (thorn resistant) and tire liners. We still managed 56 miles  today despite all of our mechanical issues.

Although we didn’t get to set a new world land speed record (which was going to be like Bob Beamon’s long jump record – a 30 year mark) we did learn a few great lessons and met some interesting people. It wasn’t until we stopped at the Bike Shop that I realized that we had flown through Palm Springs on the Interstate at 35 mph, much like a Ballay family vacation where rest stops are timed and no one gets to see anything unless it is visible from the car window. Palm Springs is absolutely beautiful and I am glad I saw at least some of it.  The guys at the Bike Shop took care of us and we now feel we are ready for out great ride tomorrow. 

As we are told, there are virtually no places to stay or eat between Indio, where we are staying tonight, and Blythe California, where we are heading tomorrow. This is a distance of over 100 miles. We visited a local convenience store tonight and loaded up on Gatorade and food. We will leave as early as possible and hope to get to Blythe by 5 or 6 pm.  I think it is going to be a gut check.

Dan has some more pictures posted on Dan and Tom’s ride for Tirzah Facebook account (which had $1100 in donations yesterday. He also has some pictures posted on his regular Facebook account, Dan Peirce.