Sunday 4 June. Pahrump to Furnace Creek. Descent into the furnace of the Valley of Death.

Today was the big day of the trip to date as we rode across from Pahrump to Death Valley.

5.00am 60F. After breakfast at the all night Casino across the road we rode in the dark with the first glimmers of dawn showing above the mountains to the east. It was relatively cool in the early morning helped by Pahrump being at 3000ft.

6.00am 62F. We took a minor road out of town, not shown on some maps called Bell Vista Avenue turning into the Ash Meadows Road. The mountains to the east delayed the sunrise till 6.00. We climbed 330ft up from Pahrump over the Devils Hole Hills.

6.30am 72F. We now started a very long gradual descent into the Amargosa Valley. It felt like we had a desert to ourselves as far as the eye could see.The road was empty with a car every 15 minutes. Scrubland dissapeared to the horizon bounded by eroded dry mountains including the Funeral Mountains.

8.00am 82F. After a long descent we arrived at Death Valley junction and took a short break outside the Amargosa Opera House. The town consists of a few houses and the Opera House. We then had a very long gradual climb of 600ft on a dead straight road to the Death Valley National Park boundary

9.00am 86F. The pass was at 3000ft and we then started the long descent into Death Valley with temperatures climbing rapidly as we descended towards the shimmering furnace at the bottom

10.00am 96F. We descended past spectacular multi coloured rock formations and stopped at Zabriskie Point with a spectacular view over eroded rocks towards the valley below.

10.30am 102F. We descended to a point marked as sea level and then kept going down to Furnace Creek at -190ft where we checked in at our accommodation at Furnace Creek Ranch.

1.00pm 118F. After lunch at an all you can eat buffet we walked back quickly to our airconditioned room noting from the temperature guage outside the office that it was as hot as it felt at 118F.

4.30pm 120F (50C) When we left our room to go to the bar prior to an early dinner a strong wind threw a blast of hot air at us. The only way to describe it would be to think of standing next to the open door of a blast furnace. Furnace Creek was truly living up to its name.

60 miles for the day, 1315ft of climbing and 3992ft of descending.

Edwin

Sunday 4 June. Early morning, riding into the desert from Pahrump

Sunday 4 .June.Zabriski Point overlooking Death Valley

Saturday 3 June. Las Vegas to Pahrump
Today up and bikes loaded by 3.45 and we then rode a mile to stop for breakfast. They did some very good apple filled pancakes! Then on the road again soon after 4.30. Sunrise is at 5.30 so we needed lights to start with. Our route took us down the Casino lined "Strip" with their spectacular lights.

After passing the Airport we headed west on route 160. There was a good wide hardshoulder but spoiled in places by rumble strips and shredded pieces of tyre.

On the edge of the urban area we saw a young Coyote which ran in line with us for a while about 100 yards away.

We had a long climb over a mountain ridge to Mountain Springs Pass at 5490ft reached at 9.00am Then a 30 mile descent to Pahrump. We rode in a wide open desert landscape filled only with cactus and brush to far distant mountain ridges either side.

We arrived in Pahrump at 11.30 and had an early lunch. They were still serving their breakfast menu as well as lunch!

60.3 miles for the day and 3343ft of climbing.

Edwin

Sat 3 June. Casino lights early in the morning

Sat 3 June. Climbing to Mountain Spring Pass

Friday 2 June. Las Vegas. Red Rock Canyon circuit.
We are saying 2 nights in Las Vegas. Today we started our routine of early morning rides to avoid the heat. After breakfast at a nearby all night restaurant we headed off at 5.30 am for a ride to Red Rock Canyon to the west of Las Vegas.

The route was quite strait forward as we headed due west on Charleston Blvd but it took 12 miles to clear the urban area. The reward was in a 13 mile one way loop road among spectacular scenery of banded rocks of different colours. The road had little traffic and intervening ridges hid Las Vegas from view.

Temperatures climbed from the low 70s before sunrise to 85F by 8.30 and 103 F by mid afternoon. We saw a lot of local Cyclists doing the same loop in the early morning.

We returned to Las Vegas by 11.00 and after a visit to a bike shop on our route back we stopped for an early lunch. After initially deciding not to have much an offer of an "All you can eat" buffet of salad and pizza got the better of us.

In the late afternoon we got a taxi to Freemont Street. After dinner in a cheap Casino Restaurant we viewed the Freemont Street Experience which is a free lightshow projected onto screens of the roofed over street.

We managed to keep our record going of not spending a dime on gambling during our 2 days in the worlds gambling capital.

47 miles for the day and 2936ft of climbing.

Edwin

Friday 2 June. Early morning in Red Rock Canyon

Friday 2 June. Lightshow at Freemont St

Thursday 1 June Gatwick to Las Vegas
We took a Virgin 747 direct flight from Gatwick to Las Vegas leaving at 11.00am and lasting 10 hours.

I met Martin and Peter at the Airport and the bikes were checked in without problem.

The West Country was very clear and as we flew over Dorset at 30,000ft we had great views of the landscape below stretching to the Bristol Channel and the coast of South Wales. The view changed a little later in the flight as we flew over the unusually clear snow and Glacier covered Greenland and later ice flows scattered about Hudson Bay.

The scenery changed still further as we flew over the Rockies and then the deserts of Utah and Arizona.

After going through the new immigration procedures of fingerprinting and photographs we retrieved the bikes unscathed and built them up in the Arrivals Hall.

When we exited the Building we were hit by a wall of heat of 103F or 40C. We then cycled on the busy Las Vegas strip including the full length of the Casino lined "Strip" up to our Motel.

9 miles for the day.

Edwin

Thursday 1 June, Iceflows over Hudson Bay

Blog Introduction

This will be a 20 day bicycle Tour starting 1 June 2006. The tour will take in some of the most scenic areas of California and the plan will be to fly to Las Vegas just over the border in Nevada and then cycle over two days to Death Valley.

We will spend 2 days at Furnace Creek in the centre of the valley with early morning or evening rides to explore the area. Then across the valley riding in the early morning and with overnight stops at Stovepipe Wells and Paramint Springs.

Then we ride on to Yosemite National Park where we spend 3 nights and explore this spectacular area.Then we ride across to San Francisco from where we fly back.

Three will take part in the ride, all members of UK Cyclists Touring Clubs on the South Coast. Myself, Edwin Jones from West Sussex and Martin Greening and Peter Tindley from Dorset.

Martin and Peter a few years ago in the deserts of Utah