tiffanie.. yep! That's Ocotillo... in the Anza Borrego desert... and this was hands down the hardest century I've ever ridden. The first 50 miles to lunch are all a 2% climb... with a couple of 14% hills thrown in, just in case your not hurting enough...

the REAL problem tho was the wind... it was a head wind the entire climb... with gusts up to 50mph. It was actually scary... and many, many people turned back. By the time we got to lunch we had 10 minuted left before they were shutting it down... us and everyone else who'd just arrived! took us just over 4 hours to do the 50 miles...

THEN you turn around... tailwind and downhill... there were 5 mile stretches where we'd be doing 30mph and not pedaling once! THIS pic was on the way back! LOL