Wednesday 17 March 2010

Californ-i-a

"We’re in that sunshine state with a bomb ass hemp beat, the state where ya never find a dance floor empty. And pimps be on a mission for them greens, lean mean money-makin-machines servin fiends. We’ve been on this ride for five months makin progress, ever since our families finally said yes. Now it's March 2010 and ya still loyally follow us, smiles beaming lookin like we just ate bouillabaisse. And it's all good, from Del Rio to Midway, your city is tha bomb if your city makin pay. Throw up a finger if ya feel the same way, Kat & Ant puttin it down for Californ-i-a …yeah, that's right California Love, California Love!" You guessed it we’re in Cali … and thank you Tupac Shakur for inspiration.

Before reaching Schwarzenegger territory today, we had to perform essential maintenance on Trusty and Steed this morning, who are on their last legs and in desperate need of the replacement Groupset due to be fitted when we arrive in San Diego on Monday. Anthony patched up a few inner tubes and tightened the crank nut holding Trusty’s pedals together. Feeling left out, Audrey and Margaret decided to play silly buggers and when loaded with today’s route gave their independent view on how far today’s ride would be. Audrey estimated 65 miles, whereas Margaret decided to add an extra 300 miles to the plan …they’ve been a right pain in the arse of late.

So, ignoring the so-called guidance of satellite navigation, we were on the road heading for the borderline. It was so hot today the view straight ahead was a constant mirage. Each time we stopped for a short break, every person we met felt the need to tell us how lucky we were to be on the road now and not in a few weeks time, when apparently the temperatures soar above 110°C and it’s common to hear of people dying of heat exhaustion. Trying not to suffer the same fate, we stopped in Quartzsite, AZ for lunch/picnic eating 6-inch long Subways (which surprisingly can be quite healthy) under the shade of a tree on the lawn in front of the local McDonalds …no Stella this time just water.

Back on the road and approaching the California state line toward the end of today’s 61-mile ride, we thought how lucky we were to have had a perfect road surface that gradually carried us downhill all the way to this point, just 200ft above sea level. With a quick visit to a motorbike shop 2 miles shy of our hotel, we purchased a new tyre and their last inner tube just in case we experienced another failure before reaching San Diego, and then made our way to the hotel and prepared for a rest day in Blythe, CA.


Us x

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