Day 4 - MCCBikeRide (Tehachapi to Palmdale)

Theme of the day was heat. I missed my turn to get out of Tehachapi, so I added about 7 miles to my day. I was riding quite a bit with a headwind. I had 1 stop for lunch with the family. I'd probably choose a different way through Lancaster next time. Was a great day considering the heat and the headwind. I feel good and hopefully ready for my toughest day yet. I will most likely be climbing about 5,000 feet with a 80 mile ride. We'll probably drive through tonight to scout out the road conditions of 138. My highlight of the day was when I starting seeing some California Poppies just south of the 58 on Tehachapi Willow Springs Road. Thank you for reading and if you'd like to donate to the cause that I'm riding for, you can visit the link below:

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/carlos-cardenas-guatemala-livelihoods

Day 3 - MCCBikeRide (Bakersfield to Tehachapi)

Well after a great night stay at Casa Malamma, we headed out bright and early at around 6:15 AM. I was joined by longtime MCC supporter/volunteer Kevin Malamma and he helped me pick the best route to Tehachapi. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was out but it was cool, which was nice considering I had about 5,000 feet of climbing on the day. I saw quite a bit of the Kern River, as water has been the theme of California this year. It is one of the most deadliest rivers around. I saw some frogs, hills and oil drills. It's hard to tell, but my first panoramic photo was taken on Panorama Dr. ( I couldn't resist). Way off in the distance are oil drills as Panorama overlooks the city of Oildale. I saw the Tehachapi Loop and you can read the monuments in my pictures below. It's a remarkable engineering accomplishment for the rail system. I even saw pro cyclists Cory Lockwood who happens to be a Tehachapi local. His weekly rides and climbing put my miles to shame lol. (I had to look him up too 😄)

Overall a great day! My body is feeling great and I haven't been cramping. I'm the right amount of tired and I expect to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is a shorter day as I work my way over to Palmdale. Thank you for reading and if you'd like to donate to the cause that I'm riding for, you can visit the link below:

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/carlos-cardenas-guatemala-livelihoods

Day 2 - MCCBikeRide (Delano to Bakersfield)

The biggest surprise of the day was rain. It was nice to have the cooler weather, since, as of last week, we were expecting everything to be in the 90's. I guess that's what I get for jokingly praying for rain yesterday. Today was a short ride of 39 miles (feels strange to categorize 39 miles as short).  I tried to push myself to go fast since the weather was cooler and the distance was shorter. i was able to average 20 mph, despite the rain, getting lost and taking a couple photo breaks. Nothing too exciting today, just a lot of wide open rode and different fruit crops. I can't get over how perfectly placed each of these trees are. The roads out here are in really good shape. It's a weird experience to ride in complete silence for miles, but it was very peaceful. I hardly saw any cars. We'll probably do something fun with the kids this afternoon. Thank you for reading.

To donate, visit: https://donate.mcc.org/registry/carlos-cardenas-guatemala-livelihoods

Day 1 - MCCBikeRide (Fresno to Delano)

What a great day to complete my first 100 mile bike ride. I was fortunate enough to have Jerry Linscheid join me for the first day He works for Mennonite Insurance and has been a long time supporter of the MCC and he's really an all around great guy. Both of our bikes ran well, although I did get 1 flat in the first 20 miles in Sanger. They  must have heard a Reedley local was with me ;), After a quick tube change we were back on the road. We road through Jerry's home town of Reedley and  home of  the MCC West Coast Office in downtown. We had a wonderful group of people to welcome us and give us some much needed refreshments. We were also met by the local newspaper, The Reedley Exponent. It was a long day but fortunately all the mile were flat. The ride was very peaceful as we rode through a number of nut and fruit crops. The picture below shows how cuties are seedless. The net keeps the bees from pollinating with them.We saw a bunch of cows, bulls and very protective small dogs that love to chase bikes.  It was nice to ride on some open roads and not have to battle cars in traffic. The most random thing I saw was a Camel!!! Photos to follow. Tomorrow will be a lighter day as I ride in to Bakersfield. Donations can still be made on the link below.

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/carlos-cardenas-guatemala-livelihoods

1 Week To Go

Well it's been a several weeks since my last post, but things are going well. I've been averaging just under 200 mile/week and commuting twice a week from Ontario to Santa Ana round-trip and I've lost 20 lbs.

My wife has been amazing! My commute days typically involve me leaving the house around 5:00 AM and getting home around 8:30 PM. While my sacrifice involves training and riding my bike, my wife and kids have been missing me a lot and they have sacrificed their time with me for this cause. Their support has been crucial to making this bike ride possible.

I have a few photos to share below from some of my bike rides over the past few weeks. I've seen my share of beautiful sunrises and sunsets and road kill :P. I was able to go mountain biking with my boys and I also set up one of my bikes to tag along with my two youngest kids. I road up to Mount Baldy Village one afternoon. Recently I got to see the pro cyclists in Stage 5 of the Tour of California. It was a great day and I even got to see the basketball legend Bill Walton on a bicycle as a spectator at the event. Apparently he's a cycling fan. You can see in the photo how tall he is with his custom sized bike.

Lastly, I'll be making posts for each day of my ride. Donations can still be made up to my last day of riding. To date, between my donation page and the MCC Upland Auction, I've been able to raise $7,400. Thank you everyone for your support and encouraging words.

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/carlos-cardenas-guatemala-livelihoods