When you are out on the road for a while you (or at least I) tend to get funny sayings in my head.  Mine, for now, is I’m in the desert on a horse with no name, it feels good to be in from the rain.  It’s bothering me slightly that I can’t remember what song that comes from.  At any rate, it’s what I keep thinking as I made my way on my first ride this morning accompanied by saguaro cacti here in Arizona.

Yesterday was epic.  Great fanfare and pageantry at the start by the pier in Oceanside, a team parade out of town, and then it began.  Dave Hofmann and I took the first shift together since the first 20 miles were unsupported.  It was so awesome to be on our way…and we were hammering, maybe too much though as the support vehicles weren’t there for the first switch and so I did the first big climb wondering if I had been punked .  The descent was gnarly.  Note to self: ” do not descend fast with cross winds and a disk wheel “.....wow, was that scary!

We recovered well and were treated to a beautiful ride with amazing tailwinds….. I literally ran out of gears on the flats….35mph sustained for one 25 minute pull.  Maybe the most exhilarating ride I’ve had.  The techno dance soundtrack didn’t hurt.

We got off the bike after our shift ( there are 4 of us per shift and we go) got unpacked, got a massage, some food and tried to unwind a bit.  Sleeping is very, very difficult in an rv going 40 on back roads.  don’t try that at home…..or on the road.  Going in I thought we’d get 5-6 hours of sleep a night.  I need to reset expectations a bit

It was so cool to get regular tweets via the #dcaresraam hashtag.  To know that there were folks on the bike at the ATC the whole time we were on the road is so encouraging and motivating!!