Las Vegas to Los Angeles: looking for advice

"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
news:xX8lc.15592$0H1.1423563@attbi_s54...
"Jean-Pierre Jacquot" wrote in message
...

Having the good fortune to go for a conference in Las Vegas, I'm
planing to spend a few more days of vacation as a ride from Vegas to
Los Angeles, through Death valley. It will be in June.

- General bits of advice : I already know that June is not the
best of month for this travel, but I don't have the choice:-) I've
dealt with heat during a crossing of Sahara (not on a bike though) some
years ago, so I think I can manage this point.

OK, you say you've crossed the Sahara, so you might know something about
deserts. But I'll just pop up my head and say, it is really something else
to be dealing with the desert when you plan to go. I've done a fair bit of
desert hiking in Southern California, and some in the Las Vegas area. Just
_driving_ between LA and Vegas we would carry a gallon or two of water in
the car, just in case.

I remember a hike I did outside of Las Vegas in June one year. It was 106
F
(41 C) in the shade. That was OK for most of the hike, which was in a
steep,
shady canyon. The final km back to the car was completely in the open,
though, and I would estimate it to be more like 120 F (49 C) -- no joke.
We
had taken a gallon of water per person, and thought we were doing pretty
well on water for most of the hike. Still, when we got back to the car we
had been completely drained, mostly because of that last bit in the open.
That's not safe -- you want to have something in case of emergencies.

Two years ago we did a three hour bike ride at Red Rocks at the beginning
of
July. The trip report may be viewed he http://tinyurl.com/34nqt. My
husband went through 300 oz (nearly 9 L!) of water in about three hours.
We
did not ride during the main heat of the day.

If you're on your bike, you'll be out in the open -- no shade. Mike
Vermeulen in his post suggests riding at night, and it's not a bad idea.
At
the very least, you should consider being on the bike at the crack of
dawn,
and then having a siesta between noon and four.



Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
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Here is one thing we did in Israel all the time. Fill a Camelbak with ice
cubes and enjoy the cold water for a good portion of the day while walking
around...

Bruce

Hi,

Better late than never: I want to thank all the kind people who hage
provided me a lot of useful information. It should have been done
one month ago, just when my computer broke and lost all my
mail/news/boxes...

Preparation is going well. I will try to make a report as I come back.

Jean-Pierre