Biking Palm Springs, CA.

 
If you already live in Southern California, I recommend you bike Palm Springs and its nearby towns for the following reasons:

1. Its cheap and easy to get to
2. The scenery, both natural and man made, is spectacular
3. The bus system jells nicely with the bike route
4. Its not over run by cyclist, yet

Can't bike to this destination - so don't even think about that 'cause of its dessert locale - but its a fast one and a half hour car ride from L.A.  The area encourages cyclists but hasn't yet fully exploited its potential as a biking mecca, as have places like Santa Barbara or Portland, Oregon.

The Palm Springs Metro Area is a bourgeoisie vacation/retirement/resort community that hit its peak in the '50s, back in the days of the 'rat pack', and now is filled with lots of old people and one time real estate whores who profited nicely from selling dreams to out of towners until mortgage money dried up.  The whole area is chock full of vacancies, both commercial and residential,  and strangely enough - that's what saves it for biking.  Not the hodgepodge of unmarked, disconnected bike routes; but the big empty parking lots that are the largest spaces available for bike riding.

There really is no uniform, well marked bike route through all the desert towns - Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City Rancho Mirage and Indio - except for the City of Palm Springs, which does have a very nice bike loop that surrounds the City.  The dessert towns line the  111 Highway that stretches like a bow string parallel  to Interstate 10 for about 35 miles.  The whole area is referred to as the Coachella Valley.
I left my hotel in downtown Palm Springs early and alone with lots of water and a change of tops for when it would heat up.  You should plan to be off the road - one way or the other - by 11 am 'cause after that it's way too hot.  Luckily, if you stick to a path along the 111 you can always throw your bike on the front of the local '111' bus that runs along the route.  ( They have these extra wide bike racks to accommodate 3 bikes.) Separate bus route wind thru the urban communities that line 111.

When I told the bell hop at my hotel that I was traveling to Indio on a bike he told me in Spanish that I'd never make it 'cause I wasn't Mexican.  A tired old, white Gringo like me shouldn't even try.  He was wrong about that.  I made it fine; getting back was the challenge.

Bike lanes are well marked in Palm Springs for the most part, but once you leave the City limits you're on your own.  You see, biking is a good idea in theory for Seniors but the dirty little truth is that folks in good enough shape to be out on a bike in the dessert are probably still back in LA making a living or hustling to make more money.  By the time your out in the dessert your either too frail, too sick or too wasted from working your whole life to be out biking around.  And the cash strapped municipalities of the dessert just can't afford to complete the grandiose planners designs for bike trails.  But thanks to high vacancies in the commercial land parcels that abut Highway 111; biking at a good clip is still possible.

Heading South-east from Palm Springs you see mountains on your right and some great relics of the past in front of you.  Passing Bob Hope Drive and Dinah Shore Ave lets you know the era your in.  And then there's these road side joints like Shields Date Garden where "Everyone enjoys the theater presentation of the 'Romance and Sex Life of the Date' in sound and color".  Well, don't know about that but nothing beats wolfing down a fresh Indio grapefruit after a long ride.  ( Get their original 1950's postcards for 25 cents while you can - they sell for $ 5 bucks at a flea market in LA.)

To experience first hand the grand period of '50s mid-century, modernity just go toward the mountains in Palm Springs.  There are a ton of post and beam houses right out of a Shulman photograph.  The architecture and landscaping are striking enough to not require a cell phone camera photo - they stick in your mind like a visit to a museum.  Frank Sinatra's ghost can be seen peeking through the window blinds. 

I learned fast to be real careful about obeying lights and traffic rules.  Working people in these communities who use their car aren't used to looking out for bike or giving any sort of right of way. And besides, lot of drivers are old people who can't adjust quickly to driving obstacles or distractions.  Extreme defensive cycling is advised here.  But because traffic was light doing a week-day and the weather was outstanding (as it often is here) I was O.K. navigating the jagged path along the 111.

Camping opportunities, cheap restaurants and clean air make this a fun adventure for 2.5 hours. Just be sure your bike pump works and take 2 inter tubes.  All kinds of road conditions can be found and this is not a great ride for true roadies with their real thin tires.  Great ride for true street riders.  Lots of outdoor camp sites along the way and if you peel off towards the mountains you see huge Heron and reptiles and lots of cactus plants that never make their way into LA County.

I took too long sightseeing and didn't make the 11 am cut-off.  Bus life proved pretty interesting.  Alex, a local house sitter, gave me the guiding principals about biking Coachella

Good, clean hotel rooms can be had for as little as $75 a night and resort spa's, like the one we stayed in Downtown Palm Springs, are $ 125 a night with mineral water hots springs, big outdoor pool and gambling casinos thrown in.  Can't do that in Santa Barbara.