Tuesday, June 20: No meltdown today, but I have to say that the prior two days really took it out of me. As I described it to Judy and Dave, I felt as though I’d just woken up to a horrible hangover, with headache, sick stomach, lethargic body, the works. And mulling over the prospect of another ride in that freaking Suzie Homemaker Oven heat, that was analogous to getting up to face the gallows. I know…I asked for it, I planned it, and I wanted adventure. Yea, I got it all right. 

Slept like crap last night, maybe getting like 4-5 hours of sleep, that on top of being KO’d from yesterday. So I got up feeling awful. Now I was able to eat last night, actually I ate pretty well, and I’d thought that would put me back in a good place. No luck there. I had half a subway sub from last night, so I ate that for brekkie. We got out of the Travel Lodge hellhole bright and early at about 6 AM, and got back to our ending point from yesterday by 6:45. Now that drive was almost ALL down mountain, so our first 18-20 miles of riding would be up paved Rt 20 to the Rt 53 jcn. 

I kind of got ready solemnly, knowing what lay ahead with the way I was feeling. Took off before Dave cuz I knew that he come flying by me like the tortoise and the hare. Started straight into a steepish climb. Just put it in the little cookie and did what I could to survive my way up the climb. Temp by then was probably about 80. By the time Judy had stopped at the first support stop, about three miles into the climb, I was soaked. Now I’d though I drank a ton of liquids yesterday, like 7 16-oz drinks, and yet I was still a mess, so I thought I’d go a bit less on the strength of the Gatorade but drink more total liquid volume today. My goal was to down a bottle before each support stop, which was going to be like every 3-5 miles. 

At the first support stop I told Judy that the day was going to be a VERY long one indeed. Nothing was there. Got refueled and continued on the mission to “simply make progress”. Now on the second climb, that felt just as miserable as the first, and that was the one that made me think that I’d better make a change to my itinerary or I could quite possibly be cracking again for the third day in a row. So at the next support stop I told Judy to convey to Dave to go ahead at the High Valley Rd turn-off without me and do the gravel portion of the ride. I’d just stay on Rt 20, which parallels High Valley. Pretty simple decision actually, I mean I did not want Dave to have to drag my sorry ass up and down the backcountry like he did yesterday, and worse yet I didn’t want to temp fate and meltdown out in the backcountry again feeling as I was today. Figured I’d just stay on Rt 20, that way if I did move closer to another meltdown I could pull the plug immediately having Judy close at hand with the van. She drove up the road to tell Dave of my plans. 

Made it up to the third support stop, and that’s when I became a “believer” in eating pickles and drinking pickle juice for electrolytes. Now I’ve heard this before from some of my ultra-distance clients, but the thought of munching on pickles and drinking the juice - gag me! Well, Dave’s a big believer in the pickle and juice thing. So as we’ve been going along here, I’ve ate a pickle or two before and during our rides, but today….hell, I totally dived into the pickle jar. Today I became a full-fledged pickle convert, a cycling pickle lover. Because today I just craved those damned salty pickles, and I was even more desirous of drinking the cold juice. Yep, I actually felt somewhat better as the day went on what with my pickle munching and juice drinking. 

By the time I hit the Rt 53 jcn. and then got up to Clearlake Oaks, I was at least feeling like I could continue the ride. And what really made things better was that when I got up to Clear Lake, the biggest fresh water lake in CA, the breeze out of the north right off the lake was nice and cool, like cool, cool. Man that made all the difference in the world. Stopped a couple more times for support, but by that time I knew I’d make it without a bonk or meltdown. Rode through Lucerne, then Nice and finally got to Upper Clear Lake where Dave was supposed to come out on the backroads. 

By this time temp was in mid 90’s, and I could definitely feel it. So I waited under a tree at the jcn. of Upper Lake/Lucerne Rd for both Judy and Dave. Judy came by first, so we loaded my stuff and then drove up the road. Problem was - it was a loop road surrounded by private, gated ranch roads. This got me a bit worried about Dave, with what happened to us yesterday climbing over gate after gate. 

So then we decided to go back south to Barltett Rd, which definitely drops off of High Valley Rd. So if Dave had some problems, that would be a good road to get back down to Rt 20 on. On the way Dave called, telling us he indeed descended down Bartlett and was waiting in Nice. Mission accomplished. Dave said the initial climb on High Valley was a doozie, like a couple K of elevation gain. Honestly, I probably made the right choice by forgoing the backroads section today. 

We’re chilling in a local little motel in Lakeport, on the west side of Clear Lake, right now, with the AC cranked at 68. Washed my two days of cycling kits in the sink and it’s all hanging on the van right now. I even got Dave to join in on the Beverly Hillbillies thing by hanging his cloths on the van. Looks great out there with cloths blowing in the hot wind. 

Hoping today being a non-cracking day will bode well for the next two days, which are supposed to sky-rocket back into the stratosphere with high temps. This heat wave is going to follow us all the way to the Pacific.