No warm up today as their was only one way out of the valley and that's straight up a 1.3 mile hill steep enough that I had to switchback in my granny gear. Unfortunately Aaron's bike has the turning radius of a tractor trailer so he has to go straight up. Thankfully he has a smaller 27 tooth front chainring and a 34 tooth large cassette to give him a better mechanical advantage. His bike is pretty heavy and I doubt I could make it half the distance he does each day if I had to pedal with my arms.
After the 1st big hill Aaron had a priceless smile on his face as we hit our 1st major downhill since the trip started. We finally got gravity to pay us back for all the hard work from yesterday with a 3 mile 30-35 mph downhill. Aaron's has a disadvantage pedaling up the hills but we found out how much better he can descend on his recumbent arm bike. He put in a half mile gap on me by the end of the downhill.
Got a glimps of the border fence. It is quite impressive in size and distance. Saw more border patrol cars today than civilian ones.
Aaron got his first flat tire. His rear wheels don't need to come off in order to change them. I just push his bike onto two wheels while he balances it with his forearm them do a Nascar style quick change for him so he doesn't have to dismount his bike as it's a chore to do since he is all straped into it.
Incredible 15 mile coast down the east side of Sierra Nevada Mountain range.
We met our 1st cyclotourist. His name is John Cross and he is a retired Lutheran Minister who is also riding the same cross country route.
Rick Mason met us at camp and will spend the next week following us. Rick is the organizer of the ride but had to pull out due to a rotator cuff injury. Hopefully he will be well enough in March to ride the final portion of the trip.
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