One last epic day

"I firmly believe that any man's/woman's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he/she holds dear, is the moment when he/she has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle--victorious." -Vince Lombardi (with corrections from Risa Griffin)

This was the inspirational quote on our queue sheet on our last epic day before San Diego. It was July 26, biking 108 (or 137) miles from Brawley to Alpine Heights, CA. I know, our trip is over. But before I write about our last moments, this bike ride really needs to be put down in the history books for all to hear.

Setting the stage: 108 miles of riding. Through the desert and California's coastal mountains in 100+ degree weather. (Only on the NC2SD trip would we have one of THE toughest day of the trip on our second to last day.) Wake up time- 3:30am. Departure time- 5:00am sharp. We even had to sign up with a group of people to ride with because no one was allowed to ride alone and the van would be able to track us easier. My riding group- Liz and Ryan.

A strange chain of events followed. We had set out in the middle of the pack at 5am and actually pulled in front by mile 20. We were feeling great and wanted to get to the mountains as soon as possible, before the hot heat set in. At mile 20, we passed a border patrol station, and the guy there said something to us, which we couldn't figure out. So Ryan, Liz, and I all looked at one another, trying to figure it out--and we missed a sign that told us to turn left to stay on SR 78. Instead we stayed straight and on to mile 40 for our rest stop on the wrong road. Unfortunately, the van & trailer made the same mistake, and since we saw them and they saw us, we both thought we were on the right track. But when we got to mile 43 or so, we saw a bunch of emergency vehicles in the center of the road and wondered what was going on. (Mid-story note: Don't worry, everyone was just fine, no injuries that day.) I didn't realize what it was until I saw the chalking in the shoulder for our rest stop at the same place as the accident, and I looked left and saw the trailer, unhitched and missing a wheel and in a sad state. I saw all of our plates, utensils, blue water and food coolers, food, and bags all over the road. Oh, it was a crazy sight, and we could hardly believe what we saw. The van and trailer had been crossing lanes of traffic, as a car speeded around a bend in the road and didn't stop in time to avoid colliding with the trailer. It was crazy to see the van and trailer in such a sad state because they had been sights of comfort for us all summer when we were out the road. So in about 3 minutes, we had the doubly bad news of finding out that 1) the trailer had been hit and wouldn't be able to support us that day and 2) that we had biked 20 miles in the wrong direction.

Ryan, Liz, and I stayed for an hour with Dave & Molly P. (who were driving the van that day) to help clean up and boost morale the best we could. We then had the choice of biking back the way we came or waiting 2-3 hours to be transported via car to the right road, after a U-haul was rented and the trailer was towed. And being the hardcore bikers that we are, of course we chose to ride the extra 40 miles to make up our detour. Yes, that means our ride was going to be 148 miles if we finished it. We headed back on the road with exclamations of how crazy the accident was and how crazy it'd be if we finished the ride. We made good time back to the border patrol station and turned back on the right road (at mile 60 of the day). We stopped at about mile 75 at a restaurant among the dirt dunes of the desert to have a lunch and fill up water. I had my 3-liter camelbak and 2 water bottles.. But questioned if it'd be enough to get me 40 miles uphill through desert to the next town of Julian. But onwards we went, because when you're riding unsupported, there's really no choice of where to go but forward.

Liz and I were struggling quite a bit on the uphill through the desert. Ryan tried his best to appease us, giving us lectures on topics of our choosing (you should hear his lectures "On Feet" and "On the Beginning of Civilization", ok they weren't academically worthy, but they were entertaining at the time when we needed it the most.) The sun just sucks the energy out of you, and boy was it hot. My computer had readings up to 120 degrees, though I think it may have actually been just 110 (hah!). I had a minor fall after my wheel overlapped with Ryan's for a second, where I fell at slow speeds onto a bed of hot gravel. The worst part being the burning gravel and not being able to get up immediately because my bike was on top of me. We took a breather for a second and then, of course, back on my bike I went, because riding on was better than sitting in the hot sun. We traveled slowly, had to conserve water, sought shelter very occassionally in the shade of a rock or two, and screamed hallelujah when we saw clouds slowly approaching us. And were ecstatic when we saw dark rain clouds looming in the distance. Liz was especially excited and promised a rain dance when it started raining. As we climbed a very steep hill, the raindrops started, and we breaked at the top of the big hill to enjoy the rain and get a little shelter from the downpour. Oh, how wonderful it felt! Just look at the happiness in Liz's step..

Ryan and I even got a little chilled, because the temperature dropped to 72 degrees. Yes, that's 40 degrees lower than what it was when we were riding earlier. We huddled against the rock for warmth. (Rocks are wonderful things, as they provide cool shade from the heat and warmth during the rain!) And after the rained cooled things down, the ride got a lot better. We met up with the U-haul finally, which had water and gatorade to refill our rations, and we picked up more Nature Valley granola bars (which were the mainstay of my diet that day--I think I had at least 7). That was at about 6pm, and at mile 90. After that, we commenced on a 10-mile climb to the town of Julian, which was really not that bad after all that we had already gone through that day. The cooler weather helped a lot.

At Julian, it was 7pm, and we had finished a century (100 miles) of riding, but we still had 40 more to go before getting to our campsite. Daylight was starting to thin, so we moved along quickly, facilitated by many downhills (the fruits of all our climbing that day), and the beauty of seeing the landscape in dusk. It was probably one of my favorite stretches of riding this whole summer. The forested hills and the sun setting over the mountains were just beautiful. At mile 130, when the sunlight had almost completely gone, we hit the final stretch--what else would it be but a gravel road? So while everyone else had flown down the gravel road and enjoyed the downhill thrills of it, we were on it in the dark. Soon after we started on it, the U-haul pulled up. It had come back to check on the last groups. Tony let us ride on for a bit, as he drove up a bit further back to see if anyone else was out on the road. So we rode on for about 4 miles, in the moonlight and what was left of daylight. But mainly we just had to feel out the gravel road, calling out bumps and soft spots. It was not as scary as I thought it'd be, but crazy nonetheless.

Finally, Tony came back and we stopped riding because it was too dark. We had about 5 miles left, and it was all downhill. It was hard to put our bikes away in the U-haul and concede "defeat" to not finishing our epic ride, but we had made it so far already, and we were in no way defeated. So Ryan and Liz rode in the van for the first time all summer, and I rode for the 2nd (I had 10 miles in the van in the Rockies). 137 miles, baby!!

And so we pulled into the campsite at 9:30pm, and crawled out of the U-haul to find a cheering crowd of B&Ber's waiting for us with beer and pizza. Oh, it is one of the BEST feelings in the world to finish a ride like that and find so many welcoming arms to greet you. I felt on top of the world then, exhausted but knowing that something amazing just happened. I will always remember the hugs I got that night from people who were relieved to find that we made it through okay and from people who were in awe of us for finishing 137 miles of riding through the crazy terrain that day. ...And there I lay at the end of it all, on the field of battle--victorious--with two of my favorite riding buddies. Thank you, Liz & Ryan, for one of the most awesome days of riding I've ever had and probably will ever have.