Cycling in Death Valley

We didn't get started as early as we hoped but dumped the car at Furnace Creek ranger station ready to ride. I had picked up a second hand trailer from Randy at work. After a couple of hours and several tantrums I gave up trying to fix it to my bike. The skewer just would not tighten and things were bent which shouldn't have been (the skewer, forks, etc.). So, I put some things in a rucksack and we set off.

The first thing I noticed was just how much I like my new bike. Wow that Carbon Fibre LeMond Versaille is REAL SMOOTH. What a treat. The second thing I noticed was again, how comfortable Kathryn is on a bike. Her new bike has lots of unfamiliar things going on, from the gear changers attached to the brakes, to clip in pedals and drop handlebars, and none of it bothered her at all - with the possible exception of the leather saddle, which we have one each to break in.

We trundled on a fairly quiet but somewhat touristy road to Bad Water 17 miles away. There we strolled out onto the salt flats and listened to the ranger talking about the place. We became uncomfortable with this when he explained how the human body responds to being in the desert for an hour, then 2 hours and then 3 hours. The other tourists were enjoying it but they all had a short stroll back to air conditioning. We had at last 17 miles of cycling to do with a steadily disappearing water supply. We skipped the end of the talk and headed home!