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| Start of Tour de Palm Springs |
When I bought Rocinante just about a year ago, one of my goals was to ride in the
Tour of Palm Springs. I figured it would be something of a homecoming for my bike and to celebrate that I made it so far. The Tour of Palm Springs is one of the largest organized ride in the west. I think they said there were about 6,000 riders, riding on courses varying from 25 miles to a full century (100 miles). I signed up for the 55 miler. This was my longest ever single bike ride.
Last Christmas, I bought my son a carbon road bike. He's got the perfect physique for riding, tall and lightweight. I told my wife and son that all I wanted from them for Christmas was for them to commit to riding two organized bike rides with me.
The first was kind of a warm up for the Palm Springs ride. We signed up for the Tour of Borrego Springs a couple of days before the new year. We got a bit mixed up at the start and started early with the guys riding 100 miles.
When we turned off to follow our route, no one was ready for us at the
rest stops. When we finished, we came in 1, 2 and 3. The rest of the 33
milers started arriving about 20 minutes later. We didn’t tell anyone we
started 20 minutes ahead of everyone else in our group.
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| MMCC at the Tour of Palm Springs |
The second ride was Tour of Palm Springs and rode 55 miles with my wife and son. It was an easy 55 miles, with just a bit of wind, lots of rest stops and lots of stops because of the huge crowds, particularly at the beginning and at the first rest stop. Once out past the first 10 or so miles, the riders thinned out and we had lots of room. The CHP was out in force doing a great job of protecting the cyclists. Overall, it was a really great event, and very well organized.
The Palm Springs ride was special to me because it marked the first anniversary of my getting back on a bike. I was feeling much better physically, my riding was strong and I'd made some progress in the weight loss department. I weigh 240 pounds; in a year I managed to lose 30 pounds. I'm beginning to wonder if I need to do anything else to shed the weight a bit faster.
