Let the camp begin

We arrived yesterday only to find a large bright sphere in the sky that made my eyes hurt. I think it's called the sun? Ok, I guess that's not fair. It' been pretty nice in PDX the past few weeks. But the warmth was foreign to me. Low 80's with a light breeze. We went straight from the airport to the local pool for a swim. It's so nice to swim outside! We did a good 3500 yrd group workout. Felt great. Then headed to Yucca Valley to the hotel. Yucca is about a 30 min drive up the hill from Palm Springs. I think it's about 2000 ft higher in elevation so the temp is about 10 degrees cooler.
Home sweet home. We are staying at the Yucca Valley Inn. It is a "rustic" motel. It has a lot of character. Here is a picture from my doorway. I took this yesterday
and it is still there. Good stuff. Click on the pic for a full size view. Last night was a tasty dinner at Mitch's and back to the hotel for bike assembly and bed. By the way, the bike made it safe and sound. For those that didn't know the Isaac is too big to fit in a conventional bike travel box. So... Dave at Athlete’s Lounge had to make a custom cardboard travel case. It worked great. The only issue I faced was the teasing from the other Iron heads as my "ghetto" bike case rolled down the conveyer at baggage claim.

Today was a 67 mile 3.5 hour ride with the local bike club. It was a good ride of about 60 to 70 people. Three of us got split up from the rest of the campers and ended riding with the slower group. The plan was to ride with the A group for a more challenging pace and course. It worked out though. After about 47 miles we met back up with the rest of the group and continued on. We rode up a nice 45 min climb to a lookout on one of the sounding hills. It was a great view... Right after ride was a 35 min transition run. What a shock to the system to run in mid 80's and sun. My heart rate was pretty high. I think it was a good reminder what AZ will likely be. Tomorrow morning is a 2hr 20min run in Joshua National Park on some trails that lead to an abandon gold mine. Then a 2 hr ride in Yucca Valley later in the day. Stay tuned...