The Amgen Tour of California starts Sunday. Stage 6 is the epic ride from Palmdale to Big Bear with 12,000 feet of climbing. My plan is to ride SR39 to Highway 2. This puts me somewhere between the Cloudburst KOM and Dawson Saddle KOM. I must arrive prior to the peloton about 11am in time to watch them fly by.
Based on my timings last week, I want to hit the road 30-40 minutes earlier today.
After training with a 7.8 pound back pack on Wednesday, I have a new rear mounted water carrier.
The Wednesday descent from Monroe was quite eventful. It was about 6 pm as I cruised past the shed only to meet up with my arch nemesis a kamikaze squirrel, who decided to play chicken with me in the middle of road. Running straight towards my bike down the center yellow strip as straight as a squirrel can which is to say all over the road. I stopped and shouted while it turned around. Hightailed back along the center line for twenty feet then crossed into the hillside. Feeling confident I only had one last hill to climb on the way home. I was tired. The extra 7-8 pounds does that to you. I was riding slow at the top of the last hill a blind curve around mile marker 7, when a squirrel brained driver in a white camaro or mustang decided to play James Bond and used the entire left lane (my lane) to turn this bend. Being on the outer white line, my choices were try to move to the opposite lane. Nope. too slow. Car too wide. To the right was a dirt turn out. That would mean instantly crashing. I had just a few inches of road on the right which I moved into and thought the skinniest thoughts I could. The driver did move back into the proper lane. Narrowly avoiding impact. I had some choice words for his squirrel like driving patterns. I live to see another day.
SR 39 has spoiled me. Beyond the gate there are few vehicles and solitude. Later.
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