Happy New Year!
The good news of the day was it was sunny and no rain. The bad news was it was cold with the high temperature in the low 40s, and they had 20-30 mph headwinds that gusted up to 40mph off and on all day.
The first portion of the ride required three miles on I-8 which had me pretty nervous. They did fine, thank goodness.
From The Willows and I-8, they got on Hwy. 79 and made their way up to Guatay. About seven miles before Guatay, we encountered snow and ice on the road. The shoulders were a mess and Tobey hit a big patch of ice and wiped out. He has a big road rash raspberry on his hip and sore thumb, but was able to continue the ride. I am glad we have a supply of ibuprofen!
About five miles east of Guatay at Pine Valley, the snow was gone and they only had to battle the cold temperatures and wind. Their route switched to Old Highway 80 and took them south through Boulder Oaks.
After a lunch break and rest, they were off again. Needless to say, the wind had not let up!
We didn’t have cell service for a good portion of the day, so I wasn’t able to follow their route on my Google maps, so I stopped more often to make sure they were okay.
Near Jucumba Hot Springs, we were very close to Mexico. You can see the border wall in this picture. It goes for miles, then disappears in the more mountainous areas.
I did take a wrong turn and got onto I-8 by mistake. Fortunately, the next exit was where I was supposed to meet them! It was after 4, the sun was starting to dip behind the mountains, and it was freezing cold outside. They decided to call it a day and loaded the bikes on the RV and we drove to the BLM land where we are camping for the night.
They rode 46 miles today – short of what they had hoped - and gained another 1000’ of elevation. Click this link to see the map of the first two days. https://ridewithgps.com/events/71165-tobey-s-coast-to-coast-ride-2018-2019
It was a rough day. Dinner, hot showers, and early bedtime should help.
Tomorrow we will backtrack so they don’t miss any miles. Let’s hope for warmer weather and no wind!
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