Cross-Country Ramble 7: Sun, Hills and Wind

Sent: 04/09/96

 

Pedaling across the high desert for just three days provided ample opportunity to focus on and contemplate the meaning of a few things that had become quite important in my life: Sun, Wind and Hills.

 

Sun. At 3000 feet and no clouds, it's bright. With no shade, there's no escaping it. Moving or stopped, it's there. It doesn't "beat down," as I've heard some say. I'd say it's more like an intense unceasing glare from your mother. I could see my exposed skin shriveling as I watched. When we took a day off biking Sunday, I don't think it was any accident that we stayed indoors almost all day with the lights down low and the blinds pulled. Before we left, Carol got us some Australian Headliner helmet covers which have bills on the front and foreign legion-like curtains in the back. I thought they looked pretty dorky. I still do, but they are wonderful for keeping the sun off our heads--front, sides and back. We're both wearing long sleeved shirts. Carol is also wearing biking gloves and leggings and a bandanna around her neck to prevent recurrence of sun poisoning. Even with all this clothing, getting hot has not been a problem--once we get wet from sweat, we get cool, sort of.

 

Hills and Wind. Hills and wind can both help you and hurt you, but there the similarity ends.

 

Hills are like Justice. Hills are fair. You can count on hills. You work your way up, you get to coast down. You get a ride down, you know you'll pay later. You live in confidence that, sooner or later, anything you invest in your "elevation bank," you'll get back.

 

But Wind isn't that way. Wind is fickle. You can pedal against a headwind all day long and the next day, you can do it again. And the energy you spend is simply dissipated. On the other hand, sometimes you get a wonderful tailwind. You didn't earn it--you couldn't!  It just happens and you are thankful for the free gift that it is--while it lasts. Tailwinds feel to me like Grace or Mercy.

 

Sometimes I like Hills better. Sometimes Wind. But it doesn't make any difference. I get both.

 

Today, we spent 2500 of the 3000 feet we had invested in our elevation bank. We spent it like drunken sailors, screaming down from Yucca Valley in the high desert to Palm Springs, at the edge of the (low) Mojave Desert.

 

We still have 500 feet left, but we'll spend all that and more over the next couple of days, as we head toward the Salton Sea, which is 200 feet below sea level. We sure enjoyed the ride--coasting at exhilarating/frightening speeds of up to 40 mph for miles and miles. Now our bank is almost empty....but it was fun while it lasted.

 

Itinerary

  • Day 5: Pearblossom, CA.
  • Day 6: Victorville, CA.
  • Day 7: Lucerne Valley, CA
  • Days 8 and 9 (Easter Sunday): Yucca Valley, CA
  • Day 10: Palm Springs, CA

Ken

 

PS:  While biking through Lucerne Valley, we were spotted by a local newspaper reporter, who wrote us up in the Lucerne Valley Leader.

Ramble 8: In the Morning.