150 miles in 11hrs 45mins
Total Distance - 1,801 miles
Yeah, I felt good this morning. Although things actually started considerably earlier than I'd planned as I woke at 3.58am.....unable to get back to sleep. Still, I had planned an early rise anyway to try and beat the rush hour traffic on the 25 mile ride out through the city. Priority number one this morning was riding the bike down the near-deserted Santa Monica beach for the traditional dipping the wheels in the Pacific (see pic). As I said on the video clip I took at the time 'One bike. One ocean. Only 3000 miles to the next one - 6am and I was good to go.'
Then came the next symbolic move of the day, switching my glass lenses from orange to black ready for the desert glare. I was psyched, but strangely calm and had a feeling there was potentially a special cycling day in me for today.
The first few miles were a stop-go nightmare through the grid streets of the city on dreadful roads before I turned up one of the glens to take me through 'The Hills' over into northern LA. There were a number of passes through over the ridge to the north side of the city and while I chose the shortest, I reckon I also must have chosen the highest - a 1,300ft climb past Bel Air golf course that put Big Sur to shame. It was fun though and there's an awful lot of spectacular looking houses up there. A quick descent along Mullholland Drive took me down into a further 10 miles of mind numbing traffic light-filled grids before the GPS went on a mission to p me off that even by it's high standards of unreliability was epic. It's very, very lucky to still be in one piece. However, I finally found a way out the city (with the emphasis on I), and the air noticeably cleared from the smog of the city. Looking back over the city of LA I have to say I really kind of liked it as a place but definitely a case of 'worth seeing but not worth going to see.'
The road continued in undulating climbs for the next 40 miles through Santa Clarita and along the dead quiet Soledad Canyon, complete with the most middle-of-nowhere shop I've seen for a long time from which I was compelled to buy something out of pity. All the climbing (approx 4,500ft), traffic and gps issues (and another 12" of sub) had made for a slow start and it took me just over 6hrs to do those first 60 miles taking me to Munro height of 3,000ft. Still it had been a great morning as the rebuilt wheel was holding up, I had a new set of headphones which were working great and, best of all, my new cycling shorts were hugely comfy (forgot to mention I'd been exposing my rear to who knows how many folk in the past however long having not realized I'd worn through one of my other pairs). This was also my first taste of the desert and my initial thoughts are I love it; warm, clear, quiet and stunning scenery. Just as well I like it as I'm going to be in it for the next month!
I really wasn't sure where I was heading to for this evening but had hoped to post another century to get me a third of the 310 miles to Vegas. I had previously planned this leg as a four day stint, but had recently, tentatively been thinking I might, just maybe, be able to do in three. Therefore, I was tentatively aiming for Victorville, 110 miles from Santa Monica.
Now the weather forecast had been for a strong westerly today though there had been precious little sign of it in those first 60 miles. But I then got out onto the plateau, turned east and found the wind. With the road going almost straight, due east and flat all the way into Victorville, I knew it would be a quick afternoon. Thinking a new hour record for the trip could be on the cards I set off with a vengance and, by the end of the hour through miles of Joshua trees and alongside the incredibly wasteful construction that is the California aqueduct, I'd posted 19.2 miles, easily beating my previous best of the trip of 16.9 on Saturday. Pleased, yes but if I'm honest I was a bit disappointed at missing the 20 mile mark. Still, it would give me a beatable target for later stages in the trip.
I kept pedalling ... and the road got even flatter and better. I got faster, much, much faster. 4.1 miles in 10 mins, 13.3 in 30 mins... and faster... , 20 miles in 43.5 mins. Then, the amusing reality dawned on me, I was going so fast I was going to run out of open road before the hour was up. And so it proved as I raced into the lights and traffic of Victorville. Despite this, I ended up with a 26.6 mile hour - beating, by some margin, my lifetime best of 23 miles. I stopped in the sun and could practically taste the endorphins pouring through my veins. Though I had 112 miles chalked up, I was on such a high there was no way I could stop for the day. And besides, it was far too good a wind to waste. So, I set off in the general direction of Barstow.
In my excitement, though, after a mile I made a cycling schoolboy error of trying to get the chain into big chainring, big sprocket, chewing the chain. An oily 25 mins later it was up and running again, less a link out the chain.
My route then quickly joined the iconic Route 66 for the first time and I danced on the pedals out the saddle pointing with almost manic joy at the Route 66 icons emblazened on the tarmac. My shadow was growing long as I cruised between the lowering sun in the west and the risen moon in the east before the road turned again to let the wind ease me along the final few miles into Barstow where I gratefully pulled into a motel, and the cyclocomputer rolled over to show 150.4 very memorable miles.
