2021 Southern Transcontinental - Day 2 El Centro CA

 

Canyon Sin Nombre Summit

Tim leads the way out of Julian

We rolled out at 7:10am after a nice parking lot breakfast in the cool pines of Julian. Soak in that coolness and enjoy the descent, its going to be a bake sale when we hit the desert. I hopped on Tim's wheel and we covered the first 32 miles to the first SAG in 90 minutes.

Tim taking monster pulls!

We rolled into the first stop to top off bottles and grab some snacks. I was ready to roll quickly and soft pedaled out alone at my own pace. The descent continues, although at a much lower grade. There is a 3.5 mile climb to the next SAG at Canyon Sin Nombre. Tim's group flashed by near the base of the climb, but I let them go and continued at my own pace. The climb has a switchback or two, and was eerily similar to the start of the Hillcrest Climb in Panamint Springs in Death Valley.

Ice sock

I rolled into the SAG at the top of the climb. Refilled bottles, slammed down a Coke, and with the temperature well over 90, time to break out the ice sock.

A what? Take a tube sock, fill it with ice, drape over your neck, and tuck into your jersey and zip up. WOW, that's cold and almost uncomfortable at first. Then the ice starts to melt, dripping cooling goodness all over!

Bridge closed

Rolling into Ocotillo, we head east on closed highway 80.  Closed because a bridge is closed on the way to Plaster City. Its hot with a breeze on the nose. There was supposed to be a SAG in Ocotillo, but it was moved up the road beyond the closed bridge.

Not sure where it was, I kept seeing a mirage up the road that looked like the SAG. After a few more false sightings, I hit the real thing. Stephen had just arrived and we helped set up the pop-up shade tent. A Mountain Dew, a handful of Oreo Cookies, and an ice sock reload and I am again on the very rough road.

Terrible road surface for miles

US Gypsum Plant at Plaster City

I'll just say this about the road surface: It sucked! I was happy that had my 28mm tires. Since the road was 'closed' there was very little traffic so you could wander all over; left, right, center, trying to find a line sucked a little less. 

Well the lack of traffic lasted until we passed the USG plant, then a steady stream of empty flatbeds headed west toward the plant, while trucks loaded with fresh gypsum board headed east! Greatly reducing the options to try and find a smooth line.

Lunch Oasis 10 miles from El Centro

Great lunch

Its 12:30 and the rooms won't be available until 3pm. Luckily, the lunch stop is in a green oasis at Sunbeam Lake County Park. The food was fantastic, and with chairs set up in the shade, it was great place to catch up on calories. So I took a nice long break (about a hour) and enjoyed a great meal in the park.

8 miles of this

With the building heat (over 110) I figured it would take an hour or so to cover the last 10 miles. Hot and humid from the agriculture/irrigation, at least the road improved. Dialing back the pace due to the heat, it did take close to an hour to get there.

A few miles of this

Soon we are in the suburbs of El Centro. I rolled into the Holiday Inn Express at about 2:30, by the time I had recovered in the shade about 15 minutes later, my room was ready and checked in.

 

We headed out to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a great dinner, and picked up some supplies at the 7-11. Check the board for tomorrow and call it a day!

Check the board, check the board, check the board!