Tour de Palm Springs - 25 Mile Route Conquered!

Is it over already??! Palm Springs was enjoyable but it went by way to fast!  Had a great dinner gathering with the group before we met for the ride in the morning.  Parking was atrocious so hubby and I walked our way around Palm Springs. Thank goodness our hotel was centrally located to everything.  I'd say approximately 1.5 miles to the restaurant and 1.5 miles to pick up our wrist bands and check in for the ride. It was definitely a good idea to check in early because it was a mad house in the morning. We probably put in a good 5 miles or so of walking that night. Then in the morning it was another mile to our meeting spot before the ride but we were on our bikes so that was accomplished rather quickly.

The routes for the race were changed so the route we took was not the same as the one we practiced on.  All in all, it was a great first experience for us.  We saw so many custom built bikes, people in costume, and even many young kids participating in the shorter rides.  There were sooo many people there, over 10,000 cyclists. I was actually quite nervous about riding with the crowd but it was not as bad as I had expected.  As we got past the starting line it began to thin out.  The ride was really nice and the weather was beautiful. We headed up through Palm Canyon over to Indian Canyon then out past the 10 and as we circled back we went through a small part of Cathedral City.  On the old route we actually went through 3 cities.  The SAG stops were an experience in itself.  Then of course as we neared the end of our 25 mile ride, coming back into the heart of downtown Palm Springs we had the crowds cheering us on. It was an amazing feeling.

There were many flat tires along the way and I am glad to say I wasn't one of them this time around.  We had a few crashes occur no major injuries. However, we did lose a fellow cyclist.  She was participating in the 100 mile ride when she was struck by a van.  From what I heard, a vehicle stopped to allow the group of cyclists to pass through the intersection and the van behind them swerved to miss the stopped cars and ended up striking her and throwing her from her bike.  She was not a member of our group but the group she was a member with often rode with us in our trainings and was well known.  It was sad news to hear on such a wonderful day :-(  I was told by my friend M- that IEAB will place a ghost bike in her honor on Monday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.