Brawley, CA to Blythe, CA

It was a long 88 miles today! We started with some flat roads for the first 20 miles out of Brawley, CA. The morning was cool. I could feel the earliness of the time change. After the first SAG stop at 20 miles, we started riding on a slight incline. The kind that you don't notice by the eye but you do by the pedal.

We pedaled through the Imperial Sand Dunes. They were cool! I have never liked the desert but today I learned to appreciate that it has its own kind of beauty.

We met for lunch at mile 37. The SAG van had a good variety of food for us to eat. I ate a huge lunch knowing that I still had 51 miles to go.

The guides warned us about the next 10 mile stretch. There was rolling hills with no shoulder. This is a dangerous combination because you have to be on the edge of the road and cars can't see you over the crest of the hills. The cars were going fast and there were lots of motorhomes pulling dune buggies heading home from the weekend.

Our next stop was at 50 miles but we were ahead of the SAG car. Maureen, our SAG driver for the day, caught us at 60 miles to fill us up with water. We had a few small hills after that and then 25 miles of flat roads to ride. I missed the last SAG stop at 70 miles. The last 10 miles were the toughest. My back and neck were so tight and my toes were going numb.

We left Brawley at 6:45 and rolled into Blythe at 2:30. We were lucky that the temperature was only in the mid 80's. The heat can make a long day even harder.

Monday is a rest day. 😁😁😁