Last Day of Riding/Club Irvine

Clalipatria to Palm Springs 82
So the riding part of my trip is over and I have officially checked in to club Irvine.  I woke up and got the hell out of doge.  My last ride was almost completely flat so I was expecting to crush it, the wind had a different plan. I was fighting a 20 mph head wind with 40 mile per hr gusts. I will take a log steep pass over head winds any day. They are hard physical and mentally. About 15 miles in I took a break and had a second breakfast. I was hoping that maybe if I took a break the winds would calm down when I started back up. This ingenious plan did not work. The headwinds persisted for about 45 miles. At around mile 25 Emma txted me and suggested a meeting time of 4:00 in palm springs. She was nice enough to come pick me up so I was agreeing to what ever time worked for her.  With about 55 miles to go and the winds really giving it I didn’t know if I was gonna make it. I was riding along a train track and I was thinking I should just jump on one of the trains and id be there in no time. I was pedalling like a mad man trying to get there in time.  Lucky once I hit Coachella and the more populated areas the wind wasn’t as bad. I stopped long enough to crush a chicken burger and then back at it. I am so glad I made the decision to get picked up because riding through urban sprawl sucks and it is dangerous. Emma txted me at 4 and i was 8 miles away so we just went towards each other and met in about 15 mins. it was great to load that bike in to the car and know i was done. we drove back to Irvine and picked up dinner on the way. Right as we pulled up to here place Chris was getting back from working.So im putting Chris in the same group as my dad and uncle Pete. this is the, we are really jealous and wish we were on a bike tour group. After dinner Emma helped me make up my bed which I was not allowed to get in to till i took a shower, i stayed up for about 3 minuets watching tv and then passed out. today Emma and Chris both had school stuff to do so I went out to experience club Irvine on my own. first stop in and out burger double double animal style and a strawberry shake. I figured I was at a college I should really live the college life.  I tagged along on part of a campus tour, sat in on a few classes,went to the lib to write part of this blog, it just all came so naturally. Give me another week here and ill be student body president. So my body hasn't figured out that im not biking all day cuz i am still crushing food. two hrs after getting back from my campus adventures I headed back out for a second lunch I went Mediterranean this time and then some fro yo. even with the ungodly amounts of food i have been eating i lost 5 lbs on my trip. after second lunch i met Emma and now we are just chilling at her place. EK9 is coming tomorrow and i think we r gonna do some surfing i cant wait i hope its going off. i would really like to say a special thank you to the Spiro family shuttle service I couldn't have done this trip with out them. Chels brought me to the trail head, Emma picked me up, and Eath is taking me to the airport on Monday. They really stepped up to do there part. This has been a great trip, I saw so many cool parts of the country. For any one who is thinking they might like to try bike touring I highly recommend it. If any one is going on tour let me know maybe ill go with. Thank to all the people who were reading this blog i hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it and years from now I will be glad I have a record the trip. once I get home to NH i will put up a album of more pics on FB for any one who is interested. I think I will probably do one more post after this with some stats from the ride. thanks again for reading.
-NEO  

Sand dunes

Palo Verde to Calipatria 80. Tough morning of riding. Up and down hills all morning gaining about 1000 ft of elevation. The hills were really steep and they're wind was in my face so it was slow go going. I thought I was in the desert before I was really in the desert today. I went through the North algodones dunes. It looked like desert you see in movies. It was freaking hot all day. I also went by the chocolate mountain navel reservation aerial gunnery range. For about five miles I had these crazy fighter jets flying all over the sky right above me. I ran of the road a few times trying to watch them. I left the ACA route today and started heading north There were no campgrounds in calipatria so my plan was to just find a park. As soon as I road in to the town it was apparent this is not the kind of town that is a good idea to sleep in a park. This whole town was pretty hood. I checked in to the only motel in town.  I have decided that I am not going to ride all the way to Emma's cuz I would have to go through a bunch of cities and that's a pain in the ass. So depending on there scheduled they will pick me up some time in the next few days. So there is a chance tomorrow might be my last day riding.
-neo

No hills no problem( for the 31)

Salome Az to Palo verde CA  85.   Great day of riding, Sun was out and the miles were easy. Today I went through the strangest place I have ever been quartzsite az. This town has a population of 3354 and I didn't see a single house, every one lives in RV's. The majority of the population migrates there only for the winter. Quartzsites claim to fame is that it is home to the biggest swap meet in the US, essentially it's one big flee market. Almost every trailer has a tent and has stuff for sale and trade. Let me tell you this place is bazaar. The people match the place very odd. Its a weird sub culture. It was neat to see but I was glad I wasn't staying the night. The other point of interest  for the day was I saw my first cotton field. I couldn't resist going in to the field to touch it and pick some. It's  just like you would guess plants with a lot of cotton balls on them. Is nice and white and soft. I later found out  that you shouldn't touch it cause they spray it with all sorts of chemicals. O well I'm pretty sure I'll survive. Tonight I had a cheeseburger that tied the one from the ADK cafe for best burger of the trip. Uncle Pete in case your keeping count I had a triple cheeseburger for lunch and a big single for dinner. Emma, Chris and EK9 if you are reading this I'm getting close I'll call you tomorrow so we can work thing out. That's all for now. Hey NH and some of that snow to Jackson.
-NEO

Cacti and tarantulas

Wickenberg to salome 56. After my big day yesterday I decided to kinda take it easy to day. It was an easy but hot 56 mi. I'm really in the desert. There are cacti all over the place. I even saw a tarantula the size of my fist on the road. I got in early and set up my tent at an rv park. I then went out in search of a map. In the next few days I have to deviate from the maps/ route iv been following. The route heads south towards SD but I need to go towards Irvine. While in town I bumped in to another guy on tour. It turns out he works for adventure cycling association the company that makes the maps I use. He leads trips for them. He had just finished leading a trip down the Pacific coast. Joe that's his name,  headed out solo after he was done leading the trip. We had dinner together and talked biking. He had led the northern tier last summer, which I did a large portion on my first tour so we talked about that. It was fun to have some one to hang out with. Riding solo has is advantage social interaction is not one of them. After looking at the maps i have some big days coming up so I'm gonna head to bed.
-NEO

Big day

Ash fork to wickenburg Az 115. Woke up early road hard all day. Put up 115 I'm exhausted. Had my best cheeseburger of the trip at the Adirondack cafe in Prescott az.

Chain problems

Tusayan to ash fork Az 75. Today was the first time in a while where I didn't have any major climbs. Last night I decided it would be a good day to go for another century. I headed out after doing the double breakfast. First I made oatmeal then went to MacDonald for a breakfast sandwich. I was feeling good and making good time. Then about 20 mi in the trouble started. I was pedaling up a small hill and then out of know where no tension and my legs were spinning like crazy. I look back and my chain is laying on the road ten feat back. I ran to get it and then sat on the side of the road and fixed it. After taking out the bad link I rethreaded chain and put it back together. When I reconnected it I bent a piece of the link. U wasn't about to take that link off so I said hell with it and started riding hoping  it would hold. Once I started riding it was very apparent that something was wrong there was a loud rubbing noise. I figured it was just the bent link rubbing on something. I eventually realized that the noise wasn't the bent link it was because I had messed up threading the chain. The way I had threaded it, it was causing the chain to rub. I had to unconnect the chain and rethread it. This chain was pissing  me off and I was praying that they would have a replacement at the bike store  40 mi away. I was also hoping the cain would make it that far. It made it 35. So there I was again sitting on the side of the road taking another link out. I road the last five miles to the bike store not doing much shifting not wanting to stress chain. The bike store want really a bike store. It was a Coffey store with bike repairs in the back. I was really hoping they would have what I needed. They had 3 chains and luckily one would work for me. My rear cog was also warn out and some how this guy had all those parts that would work as well. I got really lucky. With all of these delays there was no way the century was going to happen. After the bike store it was 17 mi to the next town and most of it was down hill. I banged out these last miles and called it a day. My bike is running the best it has all trip. The guy who helped me is pictured below.
-NEO

Grand canyon

63 marble canyon to tusayan az. Like I've said, before leaving on this trip I didn't really look at my route. Even now that I'm riding I only look a few days ahead. The map I'm on now is called grand canyon connector. I think because the name of the map I was under the impression I would be riding along the grand canyon for a while. As it turns out this is not the case, today was my only day on the grand canyon. To be honest I wasn't that impressed. I mean it was cool butt I don't know I expected more.  I was seeing it from the south rim the the North rim is said to be better. Hard ride today up hill all morning then saw tooth all afternoon. It was cold all day. When I finished my ride I was freezing. The thought of freezing my balls off in my tent ( going to be in low 20s) was not very appealing. So I bit the bullet and got a motel. The problem is in I'm so close to the grand canyon all the prices are jacked up. Laying in my nice warm bed right now it was worth every penny. When I write these short shity blogs its cuz of fatigue induced laziness.

- NEO