Pahrump, NV and baking in Death Valley to Baker, CA

The ride today was arguably one of the hardest things I've done in my life. The ride was 84 miles long, but, we decided as a team to cross the CA state line together. So our photo shoot slowed us down immensely. Arden,David, Kristin and I made it to mile 35 before the van so we stopped in the only shade we could find to wait for lunch. Soon more riders had shown up but there was still no sign of Timmy or Ms. Susie. There was no cell phone service either. We finally, after more riders came and we had waited for more than an hour hailed down a passing car and found out that Ms. Susie, our trailer, had a flat and was as a result currently out of commission. We knew we were wasting precious cool morning hours, so, we assessed our water situation, filled up water bottles with green tea given to us from a passing car, and headed on towards Baker. About 5 miles after leaving "lunch" we started tying to hail down passing cars to replenish our water before we got into a desperate situation. We hailed down an RV and got a gallon of water and carried on. Around mile 50 Timmy and Ben came over the crest of the hill (just like out of a movie) with water, ice and supplies for PB sandwiches. We sat and soaked up all the shade we could. We carried on and soon we began to very seriously feel the effects of the 118 degree day. There was no shade and as a result nowhere good to stop for a break. Kristin said it best when she said she felt like an ant in a hair dryer.

With some serious headwinds coming at us we were only averaging around 8 mph. We were quickly running out of water. We flagged down a truck with NM plates who was very generous and was able to give us enough water to completely fill our camelbaks. We took frequent breaks to snack and assess our water situation. During one break we hailed down a pickup with 2 guys who handed us the vitamin water and dasani that they were in the process of drinking, but they were cold and we didn't care. During that same break a nice French family stopped for us as well and even had ice to spare.

At this point we were within 11 miles of town. We made a goal to make it 5 more miles before out next break. We were close, however, rounding a bend a minivan passed us and pulled over to the shoulder. Out hopped a woman who offered us cold soft drinks. I have honestly never stopped and hopped off my bike so quickly. She offered to let us sit in the van and cool off and we immediately accepted. Once inside we learned their names were Randy and Shelly and they had been traveling and seen our bikers in our group. They immediately stopped to offer what beverages they had. When they learned what had happened to the trailer they began driving up and down the road to find other B&B'ers to offer them cold beverages and a chance to cool off. Shelly even had windex to clean our sunglasses with, and offered us gum and chapstick. We tried to convey what a blessing and how grateful we were for this couple who had just spent their afternoon searching us out to provide such an oasis. But I don't think any amount of words can express that. Honestly, to everyone that helped us words cannot come close and typing this is bringing me close to tears. Thank you.

We made it into Baker at 530 and soaked up all the air conditioning we could. Dinner was not provided so we were cooking, however, the trailer and dinner ingredients were an unknown number of hours away so we went to DM. We had some Arby's followed by some tacos, followed another 4 hrs later with some pasta and veggies.

Other riders trickled in and everyone looked rough. Because the closest towns with water were 56 miles apart the van was having to double back to fill up. Many riders ran out of water, but many were not as proactive about flagging down cars.

One rider was in a particularly rough state. After doing what we could we determined her pulse was too high to be safe and called EMS. They came in site and assessed the situation. Later she had an IV, but never had to go to the hospital.

We really lucked out, and very much survived by the generosity of others. The 4 of us stayed upbeat and positive and I would not have made it without that. We joked about it being like the amazing race...but seriously.