Thom's Birthday or Commanche Point Road Was Closed And If It Was Open It Was Not Paved

If you recall, I mentioned that we had decided to "only" ride to Mojave today. It was only going to be 72 miles. It sounded nice after two 100 mile + days. I was a little nervous we were going to hit the 70 miles for Thom's ride his birthday ride-my-age-in-miles ride. Well that shouldn't have been a worry. 

We should have been suspicious when our route tried to get us to turn down some dirt roads. We made it too Commanche Point Road where there was a "Road Closed" sign. We asked a local who had driven down the road if we could ride up. He said "Yes." We started and hit dirt/gravel in about 200 feet. We laughed and identified a different route. Thom even had me take a picture of him on Sunset Boulevard so he could tell people he celebrated on Sunset Boulevard.

Well Royleen was right when she said "Good Luck with the climb." Right outside of Arvin we started a little climb that lasted 24 miles and over 4,000 feet. Whoa! At one of our stops we were serenaded by a herd of cows in a pen, we think they being brought to slaughter. They aren't great but here are some pictures.

The climb ended in Tehachapi, where I was required to get off of Hwy 58. It was a cute town. I followed the route only to be led back on to Hwy 58 next to a sign that said No Bicycles. I saw no way to get to Mojave other than by Hwy 58, so I rode on. The downhill started there. I rode 15 miles of the last 18 miles in over 20 MPH. The 20 to 30 MPH tailwind made the ride down quite challenging. The climbing was easier.

Here is the ride on Strava:

We ended Thom's birthday at the local Denny's. Delicious!

Here is a local historical sign.

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Let's hope tomorrow is less challenging.