Tour de Palm Springs

The Tour de Palm Springs is a 102 mile loop through the Coachella Valley, passing all its cities with views of the San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, and Santa Rosa Mountains. My TREK- polished, pumped, lubed-ready to go.Breakfast before my ride: Special K with milk, FRS orange juice, banana, and sushi.Sunrise foretelling a perfect cycling day-temp 75 degrees with mild winds.
Thousands of cyclists at 6:45 a.m. line up in Palm Springs on Palm Canyon Drive.Honorary cyclist Monte Hall entertains the riders by making a dog choose between pocket number 1 or pocket number 2.It took about half an hour to get to the start.A major traffic jam at Indian Avenue and Hwy 10-cars, big rigs, and hundreds of cyclists. Drive thru at Jack in the Box was slow.A Double-Double. Double the fun?The SAG stop at mile 52 had enough food to feed . . .. . . an army of cyclists.I saw a few down bikers, many flats, and orphaned water bottles scattered along the bumpy roads of Coachella-the armpit of the desert. My Polar heart rate monitor record of the century. I spent 70% of my ride time (5 hours) in my upper heart rate zones (142-179)-upper red tracing. Maybe that's why every muscle in my legs cramped in the last 30 miles of my ride.

102.96 miles, 6 hours: 22 minutes, averge speed 16.2 MPH, 5442 Calories. Second century completed.