Monday, May 14, 2007

Indio:

If you spell it out a loud real fast it sort of sounds like you are claiming to be the winner of a game involving a card which has numbers on it which someone has been calling out. It is usually associated with seniors. OK it was a bad joke but it was the best that I could do on a moments notice.

Today we road from Riverside to Indio. There were two climbs, one about 5 miles and the other about 7 miles. The total mileage for the day was 84.7 but we over shot the hotel by 2 miles and had to circle back to bring the day to 88.7. After that it was down hill into Palm Springs. On the way into Palm Springs there are all these wind miles. They are really cool to see. They almost give you vertigo as you watch them spin. What a great ride that was. It was about 12 miles down hill with a tail wind. We just sailed along at 25+ mph. Into Palm Springs where we stop ed for an iced Cappuccino (which didn't sit too well in my belly later on). After we left Palm Springs Jim had a blow out which was unbelievable. There was this huge bang which sounded like a shotgun and then the tube which had blown blow the tire right off the rim. The tube was split 6" . So we all stopped and let some air out of our tires. The thinking was that the heat had over pressured his tire. I had just seen a sign that said that it was 101F, and we were out on the black asphalt, which had to be hotter than 101F. We were feeling relaxed as we had only another 15 miles to go and were in good time. However as soon as we got out of town and back on the highway we were hit in the face with a vicious head wind. The next 15 miles were agony. By then the Iced Cappuccino isn't feeling so good. Never the less we did mange to get in pretty early Jim signed in 5th and I signed in 6th.

Tomorrow is the desert and 100.5 miles. We had the riot act read about how we are to treat the desert, and how we are to ride on the interstate. It sounds tough!

The three Jims from last years ride have proven to be a real bunch of pain in the asses. Tracy the tour operator has accorded them some sort of special status as guardians of the bike pumps and sign out sheet. So naturally they walk around all pumped up with their own authority. Heil Hitler!

Looks like I screwed up and left my mouse behind in the hotel last night. Crap!!! I will have to try and find a cheapo wireless mouse somewhere. Using the touch pad really sucks. No picture today sorry.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Terry

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't you worried the three Jims will read your blog?

Agnes

Anonymous said...

Terry, I did some calculations on tire pressure, and assuming you inflated a tire to 80 psi with air at 80 F, then at 130 F (assumed pavement/tire temperature) it would be about 89 psi at 130 F. Similarly, 100 psi turns into about 111 psi. (I have no idea what the actual pavement temperature might be, so like any engineering calculation, it's bound to be off.) Good luck in the desert.

Anonymous said...

My husband can act like a pain in the ass, as I know only too well, but he is well-meaning. He is more used to riding solo than in a group and is shy, to boot, so it's more cover-up bravado than anything. Just food for thought.