After my sequential successes in Solvang, Mare Island, and Yountville…. I was full of grand ideas about my next adventure and feeling pretty frisky. I wanted to go someplace different, out of the way, and with low traffic. I looked around on Google Maps, and my eye settled on the Salton Sea.
In December 2008, I drove to San Quintin, Baja California. I had to make a stop in Brawley, CA and so I went around the western edge of the Salton Sea. I thought it would be unique. Turns out…. I chose the worst possible place on earth to ride my bike.
The brochure looked like this:
The reality was this:
I had planned on parking my car at the International Banana Museum, located in Mecca. The one-room museum boasted more than 20,000 items related to bananas. In 1999, the museum set a Guinness World Record as the largest museum devoted to a single fruit. Turns out, it was closed, abandoned, shuttered, covered in graffiti and in disrepair. Not a good start.
Eventually I found the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club. Given the fact that I never saw any beach or yachts, I think this was a bit over-stated. At least I got a nice parking place.
99% of my ride was along State Route 111 (SR 111). I assumed it was a backwater road, that only the locals used. OHHHHH how wrong I was. It is the main north-south route and retail corridor through the Coachella Valley. Its southern terminus is near the Calexico West Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border, and its northern terminus is at US Interstate 10. Trucks are constantly going between the US and Mexico along this 2-lane road.
I rode 50.0 miles, continuously fighting 18-wheeler’s for enough space along the shoulder for me to pass. I got back to the car at 5pm physically and mentally exhausted. I loaded my bike, and drove 2 hours home. I was starving and completely wiped-out.
This was my 3rd “Half-Century” ride (50 miles). I have named it the “Ugliest Ride Ever!” After this trip, I chose to buy a patch to memorialize the adventure. I earned this:
