Beginnings

Day 1/June 1

Well, we got off a little later than planned due to last minute organizing/loading (1). We looked a liiiittle ridiculous leaving Lili’s house (2). Neither of us had fully loaded our bikes with gear…Mine is VERY back-heavy and tipped easily (3), and the BOB trailer sort of tips if you turn too fast or… well, lots of other things. David biffed 5 times throughout the day thanks to the trailer/clipless pedals combo. You who do longer rides, can understand that starting in the late am was not ideal, but having STI shifters that only worked in the rear derailleur (4) wasn’t either, so we launched from Jax Bike Shop at 11 (5) after an inspiring story from one of the staff about the last guy who came through on a trip like ours who had a brother who bailed on him after 4 days and borrowed all his cycling money to get home; penniless, he slept under overpasses, almost starved, and wasn’t remotely on schedule. Thanks, JAX man for the encouragement.

David and I were both surprised at how much Adventure Cycling’s route took us off PCH and onto Beach Bike Paths (6); there was one stretch that seemed unnecessarily “routey” inland until we turned around once we got on the Cruiser path and saw the giant mountain the map had us bypass. Yay Adv Cycling! Anyway, while the beach was beautiful (7) it was s…l…o…w. If anyone thought it would be a little faster riding (me!) they are wrong.

We pulled into Malibu (60 miles later) around 7, as the sun was setting. We were able to locate a park nearby that “did not” have overnight camping. Parenthesis because we slept there…down in a little creek bed that had a dry flood bed. Let’s just say we were both thankful for our sleeping pads and pillows. We DID have a deer run within 10 feet of our camp. No cougars, rattlesnakes or thieves, but unfortunately, also very little sleep. Bodies as well as bikes needed breaking-in, and David has a great bikers burn from today.

1. These pics will be uploaded soon… for now you can pretend the pictures we took in Huntington Beach are from our first few days.
2. Not kidding: we looked like two monkeys first riding bicycles.
3. and took MAJOR arms to pick it back up once it fell down. It handles fine once I’m on it
4.got those fixed…the guy @ the bike shop did it for free while explaining everything…although, he called it a science, so…maybe other bike shop dudes will do these things ‘sciencey’ that take years of practice?
5. Just as a bunch of alpha male riders came in trying to outdude each other.
6. Read “beach cruisers and slow walkers.”
7. took us through Long Beach, LA (favorite part of the day for me: Marina del Ray around the marina), Manhattan beach and Venice.


Day 2/ June 2

Whoo! Early start on the day! 6 am launch. One word for this morning: hills. Lots and lots of hills. Pretty hills. Nasty hills. Malibu, will you never end? 27 miles is a long stretch for any city! Especially with hills! Breakfast (1) ended with us programming our bike computers. Consensus is that my computer is retarded (2). The scenery today was outstanding…bend after bend of mountains meeting the ocean. There was one windy stretch through California fruit/vegetable land. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought some cheap fruit from Roberto. We also used a bathroom in the dirtiest house I’ve ever been in. The strawberries were good though. Today was surprisingly easier than yesterday (yes, hills included). I don’t know if it was just getting used to the weight or what, but today went well. Sore butts.

There was a stretch where the map took us on a freeway, and I absolutely refused to go on it because…there it was… a sign that said “Bicycles Prohibited”…and I have it in my head that freeways equal death for cyclists. But… the only way to our warm shower and campground (albeit a 30 mile back-track and giant loop through the mountains) was on the freeway. There was a poorly marked road that “kind of” dead-ended two ways, that ultimately WAS the bike path on the map. This led to the freeway… which had giant markings “BIKE LANE” and 8 ft of berth. It took us a half hour to decide to try the freeway…we both tipped over like cows while deciding (slow tip, then TONK). I felt dumb. The freeway was rough though…I bonked on energy and crawled up the hills. We stopped once we got on our exit and I was spooning peanut butter out of the tub and drizzling honey into my mouth. Kind of pathetic, really, but what are you going to do?

But… then we got to Carpenteria…beautiful, wonderful, sparkling Carpenteria. Imagine a really small, clean, quaint town (barely larger than Tremont) on the beach with mountains behind it, filled with friendly people, cute shops and a grocery store… We could live here on first impressions. Oh yes, hot showers (which we missed yesterday) and non-rocky campsite. This is it.

1. Gigantinourmous breakfast burritos.
2. At the end of today, who had 30 miles on their computer? Who’s computer read 3mph, then 29, then 14? Oh yes, that was me.