We rode into Searchlight, Nevada, crossing the Colorado River. The decent into the Colorado River Valley is about 15 miles of decent that totals something like 3,000 feet, and with that much decent you can really feel the temperatures start to rise. At the bottom of the valley, Bullhead City sits in the lush green oasis next to the tempting sparkling blue of the powerful Colorado River, surrounded by tan and red desert. It was hot enough that I just had to take a careful dip in the Colorado river - still at breath-takingly cold temperatures. It felt amazing in the hot sun. Soon, however, we had a 20 mile, 3,000 foot ascent out of the Colorado River Valley that wore us out. We eventually reached Searchlight and took a bus into Las Vegas. I don't have a whole lot to say about Las Vegas, other than that it seems pretty dumb to have built such extravagant buildings and wasteful water fountains in the desert. It was certainly an experience worth seeing, though.
Onto the Pinnacle of Epic-ness: after my night in Vegas, I woke up at 5 a.m. to ride a century (105 miles, to be more precise) through the Mojave Desert. I just don't think I will ever top that...
Although the terrain in this video looks flat, we were climbing a consistent 7% grade at the time
After riding for a few more days through the California desert, we arrived in the city of Palmdale, a sprawling suburban city in the desert. Again, I don’t necessarily think that the town, complete with a water park, is the most well planned location for a city. Nonetheless, we built with a local charter school interested in engaging their youth in a lifetime of building and community service. The people there were amazingly energetic, and we had one of the best build days we have ever had by helping to restore an old building that is to be used for homeless student housing upon its completion.
Out of Palmdale, we had a short, but thrilling ride that climbed about 1,000 feet before dropping 2,000 feet over 12 miles down a beautiful stream gorge that twisted, meandered, and eventually cut down through high desert peaks. The stream followed the road for the majority of the section, and alongside the road large branching trees reached out over either side of the road and shaded the pavement surface.
In Santa Clarita we all visited Six Flags Magic Mountain and had way too much fun. I let the idea of such a structure in the desert go for a bit and enjoyed myself to the fullest.
Out of Palmdale, we had a short, but thrilling ride that climbed about 1,000 feet before dropping 2,000 feet over 12 miles down a beautiful stream gorge that twisted, meandered, and eventually cut down through high desert peaks. The stream followed the road for the majority of the section, and alongside the road large branching trees reached out over either side of the road and shaded the pavement surface.
In Santa Clarita we all visited Six Flags Magic Mountain and had way too much fun. I let the idea of such a structure in the desert go for a bit and enjoyed myself to the fullest.
