phoenix, az - tues, april 6th

I was on support the day we rode into Phoenix. It was a very short day so we could make it to an event at noon. I was in the lead marking van again. I was with Sam and Heidi and we had a bit of a challenge getting everyone safely through the city and over to the medical school for the presentation. We had everyone there pretty early and all chilled outside until about 11:30. We moved inside and awaited our audience.

We had a small crowd and Pete, Lenore and I presented to the group. It went pretty well and we had lots of question to answer at the end. Afterwards many of us were anxious to get to the JCC (which was absolutely beautiful and the people were fantastic to us) so we could spend some quality time at the pool. I finally was able to try out the underwater feature on my camera and we sure did get into those underwater pictures.



We also had journal club event that evening and had it at a local Italian restaurant. The food was delicious and we actually talked about the article some as we ate. We left the restaurant exhausted, made a quick run to Walmart and then it was definitely bedtime.

Buckeye, AZ - April 6th

The ride into Buckeye and the events that followed were actually worth talking about and I think I missed the entire day!

The day started off like any other day. We were heading out of our glorious stay in Dateland, but before we did we met up with all the school kids at the flagpole. We joined them for the Pledge of Allegiance and then Katie gave a brief intro of who we are and what we're doing. From there we were on our way with about a 70 mile day ahead of us.

I cruised with Megan and Jen for most of the day. We made a few pit stops to do some souvenier shopping and check out some cactuses before crossing the border into Buckeye.



We insisted on taking an O-H-I-O picture and Jen reluctantly agreed to join, but only if her face was not exposed.

Just as we headed out from the sign probably a little over a mile from our destination the air wooshed out of Sarah's tire. We pulled over for her to fix it and as she did she noticed some little prickly things stuck in her other tire too and Megan and I inspected ours and also found the same thing. We stupidly tried to remove these prickly things and woosh....we had a couple flats of our own. Not equipped to change all the tubes and so close to our destination we decided to walk our bikes the rest of the way. After what seemed like forever we arrived at a nice Mexican establishment to join the rest of the team before heading to Buckeye High School.



We stayed in a wrestling room again and once we were all showered and had a little snack we headed back to the nice Mexican establishment to watch the championship basketball game. We managed to disrupt a couple meetings that were going on at the same time as the game, but probably were the best business the place has seen in quite some time.

We headed back to the school to get some rest before another long day. Sadly we (well I) wasn't able to figure out how to turn out all the lights and most of us had the worst night of sleep of the trip:(

Dateland: A diamond in the rough - Sunday, April 4

It was another long and hot ride from Yuma this morning, but the roads were great and the final destination a very pleasant surprise.

Due to my pretty extensive sunburn I opted to wear my arm warmers all day and took Bryce's leg warmers after about an hour of riding to protect my poor legs. We rode together at a nice comfortable pace taking in the view as we went.



We also found a nice little place for people to stay next year



3 miles outside Dateland I rode over a nail that took out my poor tire:( It was VERY hot and I was on a busy road, so I opted to call the van to rescue me. We pulled into the all in one Dateland shop including Quizno's, gas station and ice cream. I actually tasted one of the famous date shapes and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

We'll be spending the night in the elementary school gym which happens to be on the same property as the sheriff's office and possibly the home of the town fire truck. After a nice home cooked meal and some free internet I'm ready to crash!

3:10 to yuma - Saturday, April 4

Today I learned again the importance of sunscreen. Interestingly I've learned this lesson a number of times before, but it seems every year (or every time I have an opportunity to get some sun) I manage to fry myself.

We left our really nice host site in El Centro at 7:30 in an attempt to beat the heat. I, of course, got dressed and ready to go and did not liberally apply my sunscreen. We rode a nice flat ride (well the flatness was nice, the roads however were not too impressive). We were actually able to keep a really nice pace line going for the majority of day and all pulled off to lunch together right near the Mexico border. We all took a little hike over to the fence while border patrol kept a close eye on us.



One road in particular - named "Center of the World" road was quite rough! You'd think if people were going to name the road that, they would put some pride into and keep it up. Not so much. We were still excited to be there.



We were in a bit of a hurry to get to town because we had a little event at the BW3. We sat outside on the patio watching the final four and had our tshirts and posters out. From there we headed back to a fantastic high school where we slept in the wrestling room on the very comfy mats!

My first day riding - Friday, April 2nd

Today I hit the road on Bruno Gustofson (my bike) and found out just how out of shape I really am. I still managed to finish and even was able to keep up with some of my friends for most of the day.

we biked right along the Mexico border and saw a lot of border patrol action



we did a little climbing followed by the fastest 10 miles of biking I've ever experienced when we decended about 2500 feet (6% grade almost the entire way!



and...I had my inaugural ice cream stop:

We're in Campo! - Thursday, April 1st

Our first day heading east was a support team day for me. We all loaded up the vans and headed just outside the city. We (Team Tango) dropped off all the riders and then Pete and I headed out in the lead van, Wayne or Grey Goose, to mark the route.



The first 3 miles were a doozy of a hill and just plain gorgeous! That was followed by a winding road through beautiful mountains and after not too long we found ourselves in Campo, CA.

After a quick check in at the campsite at Lake Morena, we decided to run a few errands and explore town.

We first stopped at the post office to pick up our first mail drop. Unfortunately we arrived at the post office during the one hour closure for lunch, so we did a bit of exploring...





After all our tasks were completed we went back to set up camp and anxiously awaited the riders.



Slowly everyone trickled into our campsite and we prepared some cookout food, bundled up in all our layers because it was FREEZING and crashed for the night in our tents.

Tire diiiiiip - Wednesday, March 31st

And so it begins! We had our ceremonial tire dip this morning. We rode down the giant hill from our luxurious home for the past 3 days to the beach. We all carefully carried our bikes down to the sand and precariously placed them where we thought the waves would not reach them. After Pete convinced some poor bystander to be our photographer we lined up together for a nice group shot and just then we not only dipped our back tire, but really got the entire bike in on the action as well as most of our shoes.



The rest of our first group ride went off without a hitch and concluded with a solid climb back up to our temporary home. We finished up our official retreat business practicing our lectures and running a few errands.

Megan, Libby and I went on a little adventure to the local bike shop where we were able to convince them to give us a hefty discount on some new floor pumps (you rock UC Cyclery) and then continued on for some grocery shopping. I must say any grocery store with an ice cream shop right inside really knows what it's doing.

We had a nice farewell San Diego dinner out in Del Mar and returned home for some final preparation for tomorrow. East coast here we come!