Conradstudios Blog

(Part I and Part II )

I’m here at home today, I’m supposed to be riding 158 miles from Universal Studios to San Diego, but I woke up feeling pretty crappy with a sore throat and body aches, so I did the smart thing and didn’t ride. Since I’ve never done more than 105 miles in a ride, I didn’t think that being under the weather was the best way to do my first 150+ mile ride.

Actually, my wife had heard back from our friends that we originally had plans with for dinner tonight, so I was going to cut the ride short, either loop back the SGRT, or come back Amtrak from Oceanside or some place along the way, I will have to try this ride again sometime, probably by myself though, maybe next weekend.

Back to the Century…

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(Part I is below )

The Badwater stop was a welcomed site, for a while I didn’t think I’d make it. I kept thinking about that whole hole in the shorts thing that some riders do. Maybe I should… nah, I don’t think I’m at the point that pissing while riding is a necessity, besides, I’m sure the riders behind me wouldn’t be too pleased. I immediately head to the restroom, which already has a line, and I cannot believe the smell that it’s radiating. Death Valley uses pit toilets, and these ones were ripe. I could tell I wasn’t going to have to pee in the salt pan anymore, so I stood there, eyes crying, waiting for the restroom. Cyn and awiner ventured down to use the facilities, as well.

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My wife, mother-in-law, and I arrived at close to 4:30 pm on Friday at the Furnace Creek Ranch resort, checked in without any issue, unpacked, and went to an early dinner at the Wrangler Steakhouse. Although I usually don’t eat very many carbs, I was doing a bit of the carb-loading, so I had the shrimp and pasta for dinner, ate a fresh roll, damn this is a boring read…

After dinner, we decide to take a drive out to Badwater. Shortly after making the turn by the Furnace Creek Inn I see some movement off the left side of the road, and whip a u-turn once it’s safe. A little back-tracking and I’m now illuminating with my high-beams a small desert fox scampering about the side of the road. This reminds me the time in my youth when I destroyed my knee off-roading near Zzyzx and was sitting outside a tent in the middle of the night, temperature in the teens, my knee swollen to the size of a cantaloupe, and a desert fox decided to pay me a visit. While I was sitting there, this little fox crept up to me, very dog-like, and looked like it wanted to play, very odd behavior for a wild animal.

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