Salton Sea Derby 300k

300km/3200ft ACP Brevet

After a series of climb intensive brevets, the Salton Sea Derby will be a break by heading out to Borrego Springs for a fast and furious jaunt. Taking advantage of the 2nd loop of the Load of BS 600k, you can enjoy the desert excursion without having to scale the mountains on your way about and back on the longer brevet on the same day.

Participants will be capped at 20 randos.

You’ll pick up the RAAM route by riding east toward Brawley. Aside from the short climb out of the Texas Dip on Borrego Springs Rd outside of town, the road is a gradual and extended descent out to the south of the Salton Sea. Just before reaching Hwy 86, you will technically become a human-powered submarine as you’ll be below sea level from that point on. Should the wind blow, it will be from the west to push you to Brawley. Though you are in the desert region of Southern California, you’ll instead see vast fields growing various crops on either side interspersed with solar energy farms growing electricity. Continuing north, you’ll see the eastern shore of the Salton Sea when you reach Bombay Beach. On a clear day, you’ll see Mt San Jacinto in the distant horizon. On this portion of the route, distances between turns are in double digits with few, if any, traffic interruptions until you arrive at a town. When you finally pass Mecca to reach Thermal, you’ll begin your journey south to Salton City. At this point, this seemingly “easy” loop will become treacherously difficult as the “favorable” wind will start to collect on the loan. To make matters more challenging, the unmaintained shoulders collect various sharp objects to cause flats. You may be advised to consider riding on tubeless tires for this brevet to hedge against these punctures. After being spoiled by the endless flat roads, your return will be guarded by the climb on Borrego Salton Way. On the Imperial County portion of the road, the tarmac is in such poor conditions that a dental filling or two may be shaken off your teeth. And did I fail to mention the howling winds over the pass that will whip up the sandstorms if conditions are right.