March 10, Live Oak Springs to Brawley, CA:

With Daylight Savings time starting overnight, it was dark when I rode away from the Live Oak Springs resort. The sunrise at least assured no rain, but the temperature was just 33 degrees.

When I arrived at the Boulevard Motel, my fellow cyclists were already gathering snacks. Sometimes we have the breakfast served by the motel, other times our cook prepares breakfast. Each day we have a snack table so we can take fruit, nuts, cookies and the like for the road.

We started the day with about 750 feet of climb. We had been warned that the 10 mile downhill might be quite windy, especially crosswinds. What a blast! It was quite cool at the top, but by the time we descended over 2000 feet it was quite warm – lots of extra clothing left in the truck for the remainder of the day. We finally left San Diego County and entered Imperial County.

Sadly the wind at the bottom was stronger than on the descent, and was mostly in our faces for the remainder of the day. We biked 20 miles through the Yuha Desert.

For about eight miles we endured strong headwinds and some miserably rough pavement. Lots of crops along the way. One gentleman told us they grow lots of Bermuda grass for seeds and for feed supplement.

After passing through El Centro, our final leg was some 16 miles again into a headwind, passing by a sign confirming all of the elevation we had lost today.

Note Sea Level mark on side of silo.

Our overnight stay in Brawley is a new Best Western Motel, a pleasant change from the “resort” last night. My roommate tonight is Susan Gillies, one of the strongest cyclists of the group. She is from Alberta, British Columbia, and ‘prepared’ for this trip by traveling to Nepal last October and November and cross country skiing.

Total miles today 78, plus the extra 4 miles early in the morning.