Fit Fun Mom

When Mike and I spent the weekend in La Quinta for his sprint triathlon, I took the opportunity to get out on a new-to-me bike trail. Bullet and I rode out of La Quinta Resort right onto Eisenhower Drive to the Bear Creek Path that starts on the corner of Eisenhower and Calle Tampico. I followed the trail through the suburban desert neighborhood to the path along the creek.

Gorgeous view of the Santa Rosa Mountains

The path runs 4.75 miles through the desert homes and along Bear Creek.

That’s the “creek” on the right.

As you can see, Bear Creek was bone dry, just like the desert air on my ride. I swear it hardly felt like I was putting out any effort at all given that any sweat I generated instantly evaporated in the dry desert air. I had plenty of water with me and I passed a drinking fountain along the way.

It helped that the views were spectacular and new to me. I love getting out to explore new territory! While the “creek” and the Santa Rosa Mountains bordered my right, the Fred Wolff Nature Preserve bordered my left. It was like riding through a desert botanical garden complete with signs to identify the local flora. I even got treated to seeing a few roadrunners cross my path! I wasn’t fast enough to capture a photo of them but it’s no wonder — according to a local neighborhood association those birds run up to 18 miles per hour on feet that have four toes (two in front and two in back, making the tracks look like an “X”).

I rode a total of 18 miles in about 75 minutes. Not particularly fast but the slight grade was deceptive and it didn’t help that the path was concrete with lots of joint lines, which means it was not the best bike path but would be awesome for running. There was even a dirt/gravel/sand path that ran alongside the trail for much of the way if you’d prefer that as a runner.

One last thing I need to share about the trail and the bike lanes along the nearby roads. This made me giggle:

I guess we know who takes priority in the resort town of La Quinta!