Calexico Border Patrol

Today's ride was the Calexico Border Patrol Route. The route departs Ocotillo and skirts the border along SR98 to Calexico. From Calexico it was north on SR111 which was busy but had very wide and smooth shoulders. On the way to Calexico I took a side trip on Crucifixion Thorn Rd. It was a "paved" road that turned to dirt and ended up at an abandoned gravel pit.

What I quickly learned about Imperial County is that when a traffic sign advises "Pavement Ends" the road is about to get smoother!

Evan Hewes Highway was the next turn and there wasn't much traffic on the ride into down town El Centro. Out of El Centro it's a straight shot to Seeley and the next turn on Drew Rd. I took a short detour to ride by Naval Air Facility El Centro and get a couple of pictures. NAF El Centro is the winter home of the Blue Angels.

After watering up in Seeley the route turned south on Drew Rd. Drew Rd is quite the bone shaker and there's plenty of mud. Had to walk the bike in a few places where the gulley's had overflowed onto the road and left a good six inches of mud.

Mt. Signal is the prevalent landmark that is visible for most of the ride. Mount Signal was used by the early Pioneers and Native Americans as a landmark to help guide them through the desert.

The route was 79 miles with only 1200ft of climbing. However, it is a challenging ride. The smoothest road you'll get is the chipseal on SR98. Lot's of rough road, so I'd recommend 28mm tires or bigger and plenty of Ibuprofen.

The weather was gorgeous and the wind was not a factor. I started late, screwed around and ended up finishing 30 minutes after the sun went down.