{"id":19085,"date":"2016-04-24T23:04:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T03:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19085"},"modified":"2016-04-28T10:38:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T14:38:04","slug":"day-2-sunday-april-24-pine-valley-to-ocotillo-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19085","title":{"rendered":"Day 2. Sunday, April 24 – Pine Valley to Ocotillo, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a cold 40\u00b0 this morning, before the sun rose to warm the morning.\"DSCN9817\"<\/a>But by the time we’d finished breakfast\"DSCN9823\"<\/a> at the retro cafe \"DSCN9821\"<\/a>down the street it was 60. We began our climb (that started in the parking lot) and continued upward for a solid mile.\"DSCN9826\"<\/a> Our legs responded well having Everything<\/em> to do with the initial climb being only a mile<\/em>. After a chilly four mile drop, we settled into an up, up then down ride,\"DSCN9827\"<\/a>plenty of opportunity to enjoy\"DSCN9833\"<\/a> the different landscape.\"DSCN9847\"<\/a>A long \"DSCN9856\"<\/a>climb began\"DSCN9831\"<\/a> and finally peaked at 19 miles,\"DSCN9866\"<\/a> rewarding us with another four mile non-stop drop\"DSCN9868\"<\/a> as we left the mountains\u00a0behind. The high plains desert was noticeably drier \"DSCN9886\"<\/a>and barren.\"DSCN9875\"<\/a> We continued our up and down ride along the Mexican border.\"DSCN9885\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Though well before noon, at 29 miles we reached the only stop for food.\"DSCN9890\"<\/a> A delightful spot in the shade, plus good food.\"DSCN9894\"<\/a>We continued\u00a0along the border for the\u00a0next six miles, a\u00a0constant up and down\"DSCN9898\"<\/a> until the road fed directly into the Interstate and our downhill began. The signs warned of strong winds and possible side gusts, they were right. \u00a0The 20h winds kept us clutching our\u00a0brakes, sometimes with white knuckles, for our entire ride down. An occasional stop was the only opportunity to photograph the increasing barren terrain \"DSCN9907\"<\/a>that looked more like piles of rocks, \"DSCN9908\"<\/a>than mountains. It was a tenuous ten mile, 2500 foot drop into the dry and hot Yuha Desert.\"IMG_1838\"<\/a> The wind that had cooled us all day, blew hot at our backs (a great silver lining) as we pedaled down a road that seemed to go forever.\"DSCN9910\"<\/a>A\u00a0few miles down the road, we escaped the heat in one of the finest of fine<\/em> accommodations in the history of our tours.\"DSCN9914\"<\/a> No internet (or much of anything else), but the shower was hot and the AC cold. \u00a0The only dinner choice was\u00a0the local bar \"DSCN9915\"<\/a>offering frozen and\/or microwaved food, but it worked. \u00a0On our walk back to the motel, we noticed the winds had increased considerably; we only hope they have calmed by the morning. \u00a0Fourty seven miles today, as we try to ease into this tour and not chomp off more than we need to….HA!<\/p>\n\n\t\t