Death Valley Part I

Well, here I am, back in the UK! (And four days after my arrival, my bags have now turned up too). I'm sorry for the silence, but I thought it was about time to let you all know how I got on in Death Valley. There's a lot to say, so I'm going to break it down into days to keep the posts short. That said, if you want to know more - do get in touch and I'll tell you all about it.

So 5 November - a busy day: the day of departure. I was really looking forward to it but also dreading leaving my gorgeous little daughter for so long. As it happened, it was full-on from the word go. I'd been finalising client work to 0130 that morning and was then up at 5 to finish packing and do all the other bits and pieces I had woken up in the night trying to remember that I mustn't forget....

I had a really nice telephone intveriew on BBC Sussex Breakfast Show, which included a teeny interview with Imy. I was very proud of her - it goes one way or another on the phone - she'll either go silent or chat away happily. Thankfully she was in a chatty mood. Lanie at BBC Sussex was great and helped later on in getting a piece done on the BBC website.

Leaving Imy at the airport was the hardest thing I'd done for a long time. In fact, it still makes me sad to think about it. However, after she'd left (and I'd got control of my emotions again) it was straight onto the plane. I must have missed the bit where it said the flight to Vegas is 11 hours - still, I was sat next to such a lovely couple who made the flight, well, fly. It wasn't so bad. The Inbetweeners movie made me laugh til I cried.

Although I could see the odd cyclist around on the plane, it wasn't until we were through customs (yes, they actually let me in the country) that I met everyone properly. 

It's quite a big thing to fly out for a tough physical challenge, not knowing a single person with whom you're going to spend the next 5 days. I have to say though that from the off, everyone was lovely and there was not a single person I didn't get on with.

As if 11 hours of travel wasn't enough, we got straight on a coach and travelled 98 miles north out of Vegas (for 2 hours) to a place called Beatty. Interesting place....! One word: Deliverence... After dinner at Denny's we all went into a local saloon for some beers to catch up with the local cowboys. ...No, literally.... Old weatherbeaten guys with Chaps, Trenchcoats, grizzled looks and guns....

After teaching the cowboys how to drink their weak beer, it was back to the motel for a sleep before bike fitting and the first day of cycling. I shared a room (pretty much throughout) with Tony - an accountant from Leicester - a great guy who took everything in his stride despite being the oldest on the trip and refusing to reduce his intake of Senior Service cigarettes, whatever the altitude and whatever the distance... 

I slept like the dead. and the next day got fitted up with my Trek 7.2 Hybrid, which was to take me nearly 270 miles around Death Valley and California and Nevada. Thanks Trek for making such a reliable bike - and thanks also for the tweet mid way through my ride which cheered me up just when i needed it - more on the dreaded Day Three in a separate post!

I'll start the actual cycling on the next post, but I do need to set the scene for you. Death Valley is supposed to be hot during the day and cold at night. As a result, all of us had been expecting 20-30 degrees C during the day. However, thanks to a low pressure system in California (which dumped snow on the other side of the Sierra Nevada) the temperature plummeted somewhat.  THE hardest thing about the whole trip was, for me, the cold. We just weren't prepared. At altitude the temperature drops by about 1 degree per 100 metres. At 5,000 feet (c.1,500 metres and a not unusual mountain height for us to cycle over)  this took our temperature down by another 15 degrees. Don't get me started on the windchill...... 

Cycling is all very well at keeping you warm but we needed regular 'Fruit stops' - a chance to take on water and calories in the form of energy bars, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate etc and lunch stops . Each time you cycle, you sweat and each time you stop, you cool.  Massively. If the stop is at height, it's even colder. I learnt after Day One to take a daybag with a hoodie and a tracksuit with me everywhere I went.....

So the next post will be about the actual cycling - Beatty to Stovepipe Wells 34 miles away, via Daylight Pass (over 4,000 feet up...), getting to know my co-cyclists and an encounter with a menacing looking Tarantula...