Saturday, March 07, 2009

Tour de Palm Springs 2009

The Tour de Palm Springs is a century ride around the Coachella Valley. The ride starts off with a gradual climb to about 1,700 feet, a few rollers along Dillon Road, and a very nice descent into the city of Coachella. From there the ride is relatively flat, but there's always a headwind heading back to the finish in Palm Springs. Total ascent just over 3,200 feet. The pace line forms on Garnet Avenue up towards Windy Ridge. It was a tough early start with a Northwesterly blowing about 10 knots. It was so windy that trucks seemed to float in mid air along the I-10. Brand new paved road on the way up to Indian Avenue and Desert Hot Springs. The city of Coachella should take note. Dillon Road rest stop with the snow capped San Jacinto Mountains as a backdrop. This was a first. Cheerleaders at a bike ride. "Go bikers, go bikers, go bikers!" There was also music at every stop, courtesy of the local schools. "We will, we will rock you!" At mile 88, Steve and Matthew Schmidt were kind enough to feed me with a baked potato and chili from Wendy's. Took a nice 45 min break, recharged the legs and cruised into the finish.6 hours: 11 minutes, average speed 16.1 MPH, average power 148 watts, energy used 5561 kcal.

1 comment:

Vic Liu said...

Thanks for posting the elevation for Palm Springs and Granfondo San Diego. Great references for these ride. Stay safe on the road, and enjoy riding in 2010. :)