Day 7 - Wasco to Bakersfield, CA

Linda writes:

Interesting day ... lot of very busy roads with a lot of traffic. And although there was usually a bike lane, it was a little tight with the trike. The good news is everyone made it through without incident. We (Andy and I) even learned a safer way to make a left turn on a 3-lane road from the right side ... without turning into road kill!

The day was originally planned to be 27 miles, but we changed our plans and went another 20 miles from tomorrow's ride, then we shuttled back to the hotel. So tomorrow we'll shuttle out to where we left off. Looks like 37 miles tomorrow with an elevation climb of 3,700 feet. (Sounds insane!) My Great Uncle just wrote to us and said he has had motorized vehicles die going up this hill. That doesn't sound good! Tomorrow will probably settle all the wagers! Here's a view of the "hill" we'll see close-up tomorrow:

Back to today ... After the shuttle back, we jumped on our bikes in the parking lot and "road in" for the local television station spreading the word!



Then a local church group sponsored the group to a delicious dinner in the 4-star Double Tree hotel, where the rooms were also donated by the hotel! Dinner for those who like to hear about food (aka my family) was lasagna, spaghetti, fettucini alfredo, salad, and oh-so-soft bread. Dense chocolate cake with a very yummy frosting for dessert! ... I ate every bite! Loading up on the carbs! :-)

Statistics:

Miles: 47.1 miles
Average speed: 10.4 (traffic!)
Road kill count: 1 rabbit, 1 very large dog, 1 sofa cushion
Rating for day: 8 (busy roads ... but we lived!)
Riding time: 8:44 - 2:24