Sometimes I astound myself at my own stupidity, why the hell did I think about the finish? Why allow complacency to come in. You complete twonk! It’s wasn’t painful, my legs are not broken today my mind started to make me think I was done, I screamed at the Tarmac, yelled at anything and everything but really I was mad at myself. Today was harder, heat, exhaustion, the roads it felt like the universe was sending me one hell of a test.
Pushing out of Needles this morning after what felt like a 3 minute sleep last night, we left with sunrise. The heat at this point was quite balmy, pleasant you might even say. The old road seemed not to bad and off we went. Afer about 15 minutes the undulating terrain started to get to me, I just couldn’t find a rhythm, no gear seemed to be the right one to sit at a decent cadence, it was plain and simple hard work. After 30 minutes I could feel my body searching for energy, I had done everything the same as the previous 29 days, something was different. I was empty. Yesterday had taken much more out of me than I had thought, it felt like my body was eating itself. An hour passed and I started to see dots, it was time to refuel. I knelt on the road, urgh, was the only think I felt.
The second hour improved, pace was averaging 26mph and I felt strong again. The dessert is a strange place, dry (obviously) but also quite serene and spectacular at the same time. The train line carves through the dessert, huge trains with an endless amount of carriages barrage their way across the country. I knew of the road was near the train line it would be relatively flat. The old road goes from bowling green smooth to rugged edgy canal path tarmac within seconds, which when moving at 30mph, hurts.
Arizona Map Photo Gallery
We passed a few towns today, probably the most famous was Hinkley, made famous by the film Erin Brokovich. Needless to say we didn’t stop for a drink of water. The temperature today was 39 degrees, that’s hot. Very hot. I see now why the Tour De France riders are so small, its nothing to do with pace, it’s so their bodies don’t act like a massive solar panel. At 6’3 and one of the palest men alive the sun is not my friend.
We broke the day into 1 hour stints just so I could rehydrate. I tried to carry my water on the bike but when I went to drink it, it was boiling. Not particularly refreshing. Usually when I get back on the RV at end of the day I have a cold shower. Even the cold water on the RV is hot.
Today was my last full day on the bike. It feels great knowing I don’t have to cycle 150 miles
again. Today was tough, very tough. I never thought the heat was this bad. I can only describe it as cycling in an oven, the air im pulling in as warm stagnant air. There is no relief from the heat. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
We have nearly got to 5500 like so let’s try push 6000. We have made it to £3000 on the donations. Brilliant guys. Thank you. Sam.
We are into double digits, what a brilliant thing to be able to write. I can almost feel the ocean on my feet. The rain of New York seems like a life time ago. 3000 miles and we are almost there. I feel like I should write something motivational and inspiring but words are failing me, whether it’s fatigue or just knowing I’m so close, I’m exhausted.
We spent our penultimate night on the RV in a small campsite in Victorville. A beautiful little site, we had a BBQ and sat in the sun. We watched as rabbits and squirrels hurried around the site. Considering how hot the day had been the temperatures did drop to something almost bearable.
I look back and think of everything we have come through, the states, landscapes, towns and cities. I look at how different each day has been. How the people have changed, the waves, the accents even the buildings. I will miss telling the different people what I’m doing and looking at their reactions. You can see the cogs moving as they try and work out what I’ve just said to them That’s right, 50 mile run and 150 mile cycle. It’s been met with a number of different responses, generally “wow”, “dude, you rock” or the most common “sh*t thats a long way”. All of the responses are met with a little grin and a “yup, it’s a flipping long way”.
If you were thinking about coming out here and you had any reasons not to, just come for the people. The people are what has made this trip amazing. There are 326 million people in America, I have only encountered 3 idiots. That’s a pretty good ratio.
Out of Victorville this morning was a tough run. As has become our routine, kerry led me out. We were straight into climbs. The town certainly has some interesting inhabitants! We met a few of them, one guy was cycling with a fridge on the front of his bike! They were probably wondering what these two runners were doing before sunrise charging up the Main Street. As kerry jumped back on the RV, Helen came to run. It was more like trail running while Helen was with me. The pavement gave way to gravel tracks down the side of the highway, not ideal. We made good progress out of the town onto the quieter roads. Darren joined us as we continued on towards LA. At the height of today’s climb we went up to 4000 feet. The climb was hard and so going but coming down made the hard work worth while. We descended most of the afternoon making great time, Darren managing a half marathon.
We entered the suburbs of LA, the smog over the downtown area obvious from a far. We ran through Fontana and into Pomona, a leafy little suburb with a very nice campsite. Tonight will be our last night on the RV. In some ways I’ll miss it. I’m sure on the weeks and months to come I’ll look back and think about it a lot. Right now I just want a normal bed, not one that rocks when a mouse farts! I want to be able to walk around without banging my head.
Tomorrow I will run on to Santa Monica Pier and finish. I aiming to finish at 1pm here or 9pm back home. It will hopefully be live so check it out if you can. Thanks to everyone that has liked/shared/donated or anything that has made me smile. One more time people. Let’s give it a push!
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