Ride Day 10

I left Point Mugu early as usual. When I got to Malibu I stopped at a Starbucks and caught up on the internet and ate. Then I hit the road. My goal was San Juan Capistrano. The little hills in Malibu were surprisingly hard for me today. They were just small rolling hills with easy grades but I guess my legs were just still tired from yesterday's century ride of over a hundred miles. It really was not my legs causing the problem but it was my sore butt. The last 8 or 10 miles yesterday were along a road with road expansion caused bumps two inches or so high every 8 to 10 feet. I did not notice yesterday that it was hurting me but today I felt it for sure. The first little bump I hit I groaned and immediately remembered the bumps from the day before. I presume that all the endorphins created on the long ride yesterday were acting to block the pain when it was happening to me. I will watch out for that happening again. Tonight after I completed my ride I was very sore. I hope it is better by morning.

After Malibu it was almost rural until I got to Santa Monica. There was a long slow grade That I had to rest twice on. Then it was city riding the rest of the day. Sometimes very busy city riding. The Santa Monica coast was a bit crazy but when I got to Venice Beach it just got weird. There is a bike trail That starts at the Will Rogers Beach State Park. I took that trail and sort of regret that I did. The path was full of sand which is very difficult to ride on. I was slipping and sliding if not outright just sinking into the irritating sand. The beaches were mostly deserted this early in the morning except for all the street freaks. I enjoy a good freak show but these people were all more clinically insane than they were just freaks. Lots of them seemed angry also. Maybe it is just a reflection of the tough times economically that we are all feeling.

I stopped for a burrito for lunch. I got a double carnitas, brown rice, black beans, cheese, guacamole and lettuce one. With all the meat in it the guy could barely roll it but I gobbled the entire thing. I waited about twenty minutes after eating before I got back on the bike.

After lunch I rode along the beach past LAX and into Manhattan Beach where I met up with another biker and we talked as we rode along. We talked and still rode hard for about ten miles to Redondo Beach where he gave me directions which made it easier for me. I have my Adventure Cycling map but it lacks fine details and I have made a few errors using it so a bit of personal knowledge of the area was nice to have. Plus he was fun to talk to which broke up the monotony of my long hard ride. I tend to ride hard and fast pushing myself basically to the limit all the time. It seems to work for me but when I run out of steam I sputter to a crawl until I catch my breath again.

The ride through Redondo Beach and Long Beach sucked. There was mostly no shoulder or bike lanes to speak of and the cars were skimming past very close to me at high rates of speed on the Pacific Coast Highway. Long Beach is appropriately named because it seemed like forever before I was out of the place. The breaks between the next few cities all had some shoulder but every city like Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport beach were all tough dangerous cities to ride a bike in. There was a long break with good shoulder after those cities until I got to Laguna Beach which I think had the worst bike riding roads of them all. I ended up riding on the sidewalk there a lot. A cop stopped me for riding on the sidewalk in Laguna Beach. I told him the bike was my wheel chair and that I needed to be allowed due to the Americans with disabilities act. He let me go when I pointed out that there was no one else using the side walks and that the road was extremely dangerous so this was the safest alternative. He warned me to walk it when there were pedestrians around and I was off again.

My butt was really sore by now and I knew I wasn't going to be able to ride much further but I made Dana Point just before dark. Long hard day again just like yesterday but tomorrow will be a fairly light day of only about thirty miles. I need the rest to heal this sore ass. More later...

Ride day two

I woke up this morning to everything covered in frost. That was sort of a surprise. I packed up my bike and headed to the coffee shop for my morning caffeine fix. I then headed South. The entire ride had fantastic coastal scenery that was truly epic. My legs were a bit slower today because I rode hard yesterday. My one big mistake was that I did not bring enough water. It was 40 miles before the first service along the way. I did not know that. My fault for not checking my plans close enough. I will try not to make that mistake again because it proved to be a bad mistake.

The day may have started off cold but the sun was bright and the temps climbed quickly to around 70 degrees f. I was sweating heavily from all the long grades and was using my water liberally. When the water started getting low I stopped at a state park to ask about where I could get water. She told me the next place was just before my destination of Santa Cruz. I was taken by surprise. I knew I was in trouble but I also trust that people would help me if it got critical.

I started conserving my water. That quickly proved to be a big mistake. I got thirsty and then my energy started to slowly go down. All of a sudden the hills that I had been climbing became mountains to my tired dehydrated old body. I had to stop frequently to rest and all that did was make it take longer for me to get water. Finally I decided to take an 8 mile detour to go to a small town off my route. I got my water and sport drink to try to rehydrate me. I never recovered from the dry spell. My energy stayed low the rest of the day.

I bought some Girl Scout cookies the night before and I was glad I had them with me. They were the Somoa ones with chocolate and coconut. High fat high energy food. I was still hungry. I dreamed of a big cheeseburger or a roasted chicken and lots of other foods. It just made it worse thinking about food.

The last few hills were brutal for me. I felt weak and light headed. Had to rest a lot. The twenty somethings in their fancy low friction Italian jerseys started to fly past me on their lightweight racing bikes. That just made me feel worse. I toughed it out. I had to get angry at myself and force myself to keep going despite the huffing and puffing and the burning weak rubbery legs.

I learned a lot today. Bring more water than you think you need. Bring more food. Spend more time learning about what is along the route. And trade my tired old body in for one of those twenty something ones.

I took a lot of pics because I had to stop and rest so often and I figured I would not look so much like a woooose if I took a pic each time. I won't post them all here just a sample of them. The scenery was worth every burning muscle and all the thirst issues.

Tomorrow will be a lighter day. I will post when I am able to find a wifi.