Hammered in the desert

What a great beginning on Friday evening! After a prayer and blessing from Bishop Arthur Williams, many pictures and an short interview, 6 riders took off from the Anaheim convention center around 5:45PM. Even though we were riding on busy city streets we did not have any trouble getting out of Anaheim with Mark Hollingsworth and MichaelObel-Omia taking the first riding shift from 6PM-midnight. They handed the reins over to Carl Petersen and Greg Daniels who rode through the night until 6AM. I had never tried to sleep in a moving RV before and the operative word was try because there was not much sleep.

Daniel relieved Carl and Greg and took off from the RV around 5:45AM into an absolutely beautiful morning although at 6AM the temperature was already 91 degrees. I relieved Daniel about 90 minutes later. The temperature was climbing steadily into the 90's looking like it would go far beyond that. I spent most of the next 90 minutes climbing steadily uphill trying to catch a short draft from the trucks and campers as they went by. I did have a brief downhill reprieve and the difference between traveling at 27mph downhill and 5mph uphill can not be stressed too much.

By now the temperature was approaching 100 degrees and it was only 9AM. Daniel and I still had more than 3 hours left on our shift which lasted until noon. We appoached another long uphill. This one more than 12 miles long. We climbed steadily upward spelling one another at shorter and shorter intervals as the heat took its toll. I was wearing 85spf sunblock which did the trick. Even after more that 2 hours in the desert sun I was not burned at all.

Finally by 11AM we could go no longer. We had been climbing uphill for nearly 5 hours. Mark and Michael started their shift early headed out on Rt. 95 towards Las Vegas. Mark caught a tailwind and was travelling at 35mph. They, too, hit some uphills and by 2PM the temperature on the pavement was nearly 120 degrees. For everyones health and safety we took a break because it was too dangerous to continue. Hoping that the heat will dissapate some and we will be able to continue.