One Wheel Each: Into the desert

23^rd November

Emma Wood State Park, Ventura to Santa Clarita 85kms

Woke up chilly in the dusty wasteland between the railroad and the freeway but there was a lovely sunrise and we went out to the beach and watched some surfers. Set off at 8.30am. Long ride to get out of Ventura and made excellent progress to Santa Paula despite a really massive head wind! 25km/hour! Hard to find the centre of town so asked at a bike shop and met a really nice guy there called Tony. Found town and had eggs at a diner and lots of coffee and carried on into the teeth of the wind.

Had only gone about a kilometre north when John noticed my wheel had a broken spoke, so it was straight back to awesome Tony who replaced all of the spokes in about an hour. It was 1.30pm when we left there, with still about 28 miles to go (45kms). Carried on and the wind was fairly relentless but did die down later in the afternoon. Fairly uphill all day, gaining 1500 feet elevation to Santa Clarita.

The sun set about 4.30pm and we carried on into the twilight, arriving in Santa Clarita about 5.30pm – only it looked to be all motorways and became hard to navigate in the dark. Also the shoulder of the road was closed – really closed – for about a kilometre before town which made things difficult. Saw Subway so went there and tried to book a hotel and had some Subway for dinner. Managed finally to get one and biked two dark miles to the huge Magic Mountain Theme Park intersection where we found our very nice Best Western Hotel. I had a spa and we went to Denny’s for dessert since it was across the parking lot and it was just great to sit down and relax. Back and collapsed into bed.

Ventura to Santa Clarita

Lunch stop followed by a broken spoke in Santa Paula

Endless lemon orchards out of Santa Paula

Sunday 24^th November

Santa Clarita to Palmdale 66kms

Had breakfast at the hotel which was nice and got away at 9am. The first hour was calm and the wind came up again after that, making it a bit trying. Great cycleways which were welcome. Stopped at about 11am at a supermarket Starbucks and had coffee and a bite to eat and grabbed some bread for lunch. Carried on into the Soledad Canyon which became hilly quite quickly, but very stunningly beautiful. Lots of rock outcrops and barren yellow hills. Had lunch at the Indian Canyon railhead and carried on again quite quickly to Acton. Passed a movie set on the way where a road was closed for filming. Also passed a private wildlife park complete with lions and tigers!

Rode up the Soledad Pass after that which was hilly but a manageable gradient all the way. Long slog to the top but great to get there about 4pm. Put on lots of clothes and rode down into the desert on the other side which was hectic until we branched off to Palmdale. Beautiful sunset over the entire basin and on the freshly snow-covered hills towards Wrightwood. Very cold by then.

Navigated our way into town fairly easily and found The Palmdale Hotel. Great to get here before darkness fell. Had a cheap meal across the road at the diner which was nice. Back and watched The Wizard of Oz on tv. Bed.

Santa Clarita cycleway

Soledad Canyon

Lunch stop at Indian Canyon

Hughes Canyon

Movie sets in Soledad Canyon

Approaching Soledad Pass - snow on hills

Soledad Pass - up onto Mojave Desert

Monday 25^th November

Palmdale to Adelanto 66kms

We left the Palmdale Hotel and went to the Mexican supermarket before hitting the 60km straight line road to Adelanto. And it really was. Rode to the horizon through Joshua trees, brush and scrub all day. Stopped about twice – and only briefly – as absolutely nothing there except desert and more desert.

Biked the 66kms in about four hours. Got a bit lost towards Adelanto and couldn’t find the hotel, but asked at a market and eventually got there. Settled in and later walked to a Mexican diner – only it was a mile down dark scary streets and there were roaming dogs and no sidewalk and dodgy looking people and it was scary.

Mojave Desert - beautiful morning out of Palmdale

Endless Mojave Desert

Palmdale to Adelanto - 60km straight road with two corners!

Joshua trees in desert

Hugh in the desert

More straight road

And more...

And then the corner...

And a bit of a plane on the corner

Exotic desert lunch spot

Tuesday 26^th November

Adelanto to Barstow 64kms

Omg! What a day! Started out fine with breakfast at the hotel and got away just after 9am. The first obstacle was getting down the dog-ridden street out of town – lots of run-down houses and barking dogs.

Arrived at Adelanto Street and it looked a bit sand-covered but followed the Google instructions down past a dodgy-looking police car and yes – the policeman did look a bit surprised to see us there. We carried on onto real sand and endless desert which was a bit disconcerting and had gone about 11kms when John noticed my wheel was buckled. We also felt we were lost as there were NO road signs on any of the roads. We did see one sign finally and had a vague idea that we were heading the right way.

We carried on once John had tweaked the wheel and after 21kms we finally saw the sealed road we were supposed to meet in the distance. We were elated and rode through the sand – only to find a Private Property sign and the road end! We decided to see if there was anyone around to help us and approached the deserted ranch. No sign of life so decided to follow their road, thinking it was the road we were supposed to be on.

Passed a big shed and then saw a house and some pickups and three big dogs erupted into aggressive ear-shattering barking bounding towards us. I was terrified. When I thought things couldn’t get worse, a guy came out of the house wanting to know what we wanted. Some quick talking and a total admission we were lost led to him softening and letting us carry on along their driveway road three and a half miles to the sealed road at Helensdale.

We were never so glad to see a sealed road in all our lives and we went and had coffee and nachos at a Mexican cafe. We sat there for ages relieved to be somewhere. Continued onto Barstow and were surprised to find ourselves on Route 66. Just glad to see a sealed road beneath us. Continued without incident except Lucy and I being chased by a dog. Outran it but our hearts were beating fast.

Barstow went on for ten kilometres from the city limit sign to Starbucks at the other end of town. Arrived about 4pm as twilight falling and we sat and drank hot chocolate and chatted to some people and enjoyed being there. Pater arrived at 5pm and it was truly great to see hime and to get in the truck and head to Vegas. Stopped at a place called The Mad Greek on the way, arriving in Vegas at about 9pm. Great to see Monique as well and slept soundly.