Tour de Palm Springs 2011

We had more than 30 Adobovelo's signed up for Tour De Palm Springs on February 12, 2011. The temperature was at 43 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the ride. Everyone was bundled up as we started one block from the start line. Fifteen Adobovelos waited for the rest to appear. We were waiting on others including Kumander Agimat, Jonas, El, Ed, Egay, Filbert, Carlo A decision was made to regroup at the first SAG stop at mile 16. So off we went. It was a relatively fast ascent to mile 16 considering the 2-4% grade. Everyone climbed with ease, spinning to the tops of the hills. You can tell our riders have been training hard for this ride. As the sun warmed up, we shed our warm layers to cool off. The group swelled to 25 riders at mile 25. Still no sign of the others so we headed for mile 50 SAG stop. We hooked up with a group of 15 other riders when we approached the long descents to reach speeds of up to 40 mph. Once the road flattened out, we maintained a cruising speed of 25-27 mph. We were trading pulls. Gil and Deo were just hammering away. Deo, for his part, kept complaining his bike was too light! He felt he was not working hard on his bike at all. Deo debuted his fully assembled new Adobobelo bike for it's maiden voyage.

At mile 50, at long last, most of the Adobovelo riders caught up with the main peloton, except for Jonas' group. A couple of MMCC riders were present and stayed with us for lunch. We then trekked to our own personal Adobovelo SAG on mile 68. Roehl, Froy, Edmond maintained a steady pace of 22-25 mph as we passed other riders. The Adobovelos were looking good. We reached Eva Rivera, Frances Gorospe and a few of her running buddies at our SAG station on 54th and Jefferson where they had food and drinks ready. Non-Adobovelo riders would stop too, thinking we are at an official TdPS SAG station . We told them they are welcome to stay, but the official SAG was another 2 miles away. Some decided to enjoy our hospitality. I overheard some riders say,"They know what they are doing."

As we left, El the Dies-EL, hammered at a blistering pace of 25mph into headwinds as we left La Quinta for Rancho Mirage. We had a quick stop on mile 91 to refuel and restroom breaks. The remaining 12 miles was on easy pace to keep the group together as we crossed the finish line in one large group.

The day finished with, of course, Chicken Adobo, BBQ on a stick, drinks, chips, salsa, salad, beer at the Gorospe residence in La Quinta. About 30 riders with their families, children were present. Thanks to all who brought drinks and food. We had a great company.

We missed Kuya El at the BBQ. I understand he was on his way home to celebrate his birthday ASAP. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUYA EL!

The Adobovelos used the TdPS as a training ride for Death Valley Double Century. Looks like we will break our last record of 15 riders finishing the DVD. Let's wait and see.

Our total riding time was 5:39 with average speed of 18.1 mph. (from my Garmin, I'll bet Kuya El's average was faster)

Congratulations to all the Adobovelos who finished this year's TdPS.

Looking forward to next year's TdPS,

Dennis