Ride Day 13

I packed up to leave my hotel this morning and I got screwed by the hotel. They charged a $20 key and remote deposit. I told them I was leaving at 6AM and they assured me I would get my deposit back at that hour. Well along with several other people, I waited and waited until 7:30 before I gave up on getting my $20 back. Those assholes knew I had to leave so they just did not come out of their apartment to help me so that they could keep the deposit. They were in there the entire time. The hotel is called The Welcome Inn on Washington street in University Heights San Diego. Please do not use this hotel.

I hit the road pissed off but quickly got over it. When there is nothing to do about something it is best to get over it so I did. I rode down the hill to pick up my route. Then there were hills and more hills all with long slow grades that were easy early but quickly became a problem for me. I wasn't even at the mountain yet and I was extremely tired. I had breakfast when I got to Santee and rested for a bit.

It has been all uphill since I left Santee this morning. I have made it to 2500' so far but still have 2000' to the top. Not sure I will make it today. Those little hills in San Diego took away my energy and they must have added up to a lot of climbing for me. They might have only been 300 or 400 foot climbs but there were a lot of them. It was foggy for most of the day so far but now the sun is out and it is hot. I am sweating like a pig. Texas is looking worse by the day if it is this hard for me to ride already. If I continue today I will try to take some pics, if I have the energy. More later

Ride Day 12

I left Oceanside as usual at the crack of dawn. After riding in the drizzling rain for an hour I stopped at a coffee shop and posted yesterday's blog. Breakfast was a bagel sandwich and coffee. I hit the road and it was still wet but I kept going. My energy level is low today. I almost feel like I am getting sick. It could also be the two century rides took something out of me and I haven't recovered from them yet. Us old men heal a bit slower. I might have to increase my rest days in the future. I pushed on but had to stop several times to rest.

I hit the big hill just before San Diego and could not make it to the top today. I had to stop three times to rest. Not good. I made it to the top just as the rain let up. Took off my rain gear and put it in my bag. Big Mistake. When I got to my hotel in San Diego I found a big puddle of water in my bag from the raingear. Lots of my stuff got wet that I wanted to keep dry. The good thing is, it lightened my load without a choice from me, maybe a good thing. Had to spread all my stuff out in my hotel room to dry and threw a lot away.

The hills in San Diego killed my already tired legs. They might only be 300 to 400 feet but there are a lot of them. I felt like I was always going up hill. My body is rebelling from all the hills and tomorrow I have well over 5000' to climb.

Big carnitas burrito for dinner then straight to bed. This tired old man needs some rest. Not much for pics due to the rain today.

Ride Day 11

I packed up and headed South. My butt is not so sore today and I only have 30-35 miles to go today so I got a late start for me. I got a bit confused on the road to follow but by asking people along the way I figured it out. My maps could use more detail because my phone too often does not have enough signal to get me maps.

The ride to Camp Pendleton, once I figured out the road, was an easy ride. I got hassled at the gate. I guess they don't like single male bikers. They told me I had to take the bus so I waited for the bus and took the bus. The bus was almost hit head on by a large strange truck pushing what would otherwise be a trailer. We missed the collision but I feel like I would have been safer on my bike.

The bus driver was very talkative and fun to talk to. He gave me lots of history for the camp and told me they frequently don't let bikers ride if they are having things going on and that for the last few days they have been strict even with him. The only thing that irritated me was that there were bikers we passed on the bus that had been allowed through. Such is life.

I made it to Oceanside feeling fresh and strong but I have business here to finish or I would ride on to San Diego. Jeff's mom said I could spend the night here so I am going to take care of stuff, do laundry and rest up my butt so that tomorrow I can ride to San Diego for a day before I turn East for Florida. More later.

I met up with Jean, Jeff's mom and we sat around talking for a few hours. I had a good time with her. She wanted to ride with me to San Diego but I just did not want to commit to any arrangements so I told her I ride alone. I really should have ridden with her and still might call her before I leave for San Diego.

Sorry I did not even think to take a pic today and while on base I was not allowed to take pics. Maybe I will post some pics of Oceanside later on.

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 9

After a couple of days rest in Bakersfield while the rain blew itself out I again hit the road heading south. My plan was to ride down to Gorman via Bear Creek Road and then down the other side of the Grapevine to Santa Clarita. I rode the 35 miles or so to where I was meant to hook up with Bear Creek and I ran into dirt roads flooded for irrigation purposes. It was totally impassable with a bike. I sat there and tried to come up with a way but the fact is I was screwed. The only other ways were to head over to Tehachapi and then go down to Palmdale and take 14 or to backtrack 170 miles via 166 to where I left the coast to come to Bakersfield. The other option was a 23 mile ride to the junction of 99 and 5 and hitch hike up and over the Grapevine. That is what I did. I had ridden almost 65 miles already and I was only 25 miles from where I started in the morning.

I got a ride in less than an hour with a friendly fellow bike rider going home to Santa Barbara from a ride up in the Bay Area. He did photography work for a bike parts company called Specialized. We talked about his ride and my ride along the way and he told me my best bet now was to go down to Ventura with him and ride the coastal highway 1 the rest of the way to Oceanside and San Diego. I took his advice.

He dropped me off in Ventura and I rode another three hours South to Point Mugu State Park just South of Oxnard. It was a good ride but it put me over the century mark in miles for the day and I can feel it this morning in my legs and joints. I put up my tent and went straight to sleep for a couple of hours. I woke up around sunrise and took a couple of pics and ate some food and drank some water. A bit of music and I was right back to sleep. In the early morning before the sun came up I heard whales blowing just off the shore. It was too dark to see them but they hung out for a while blowing and snorting then disappeared.

I was awake before the crack of dawn and rode my bike down to Malibu for breakfast and to write this. Now I am off again trying to get to Capistrano to camp for the night. It is a long ride through the cities of LA but I hope to make it otherwise I will need to get a hotel and I can't afford that. More later...

Easy Saturday

Today I took the day off from riding my bike to rest up. I did ride about twenty miles first thing this morning to go get coffee at the Padre Hotel but I did that with no weight on my bike so it was a breeze to go that far round trip. It actually felt good for my legs. The rest of the day I have just dried out my stuf and repacked but mostly just rested quietly all day.

I repaired a few things around the house for Peggy and we watched some movies on TV. She made pasta for dinner and now we are going to watch some more TV. I don't mind watching a bit of TV like this but in general I just don't like to sit and do nothing.

I am contemplating skipping San Diego entirely now. If I cut across the Mohave Desert I might be able to get through the Texas deserts before it is too hot. Those few extra days going to San Diego just might put me in the hotbox in Texas. I will weight the idea tonight and tomorrow but most likely will not decide until I jump on my bike when this storm blows over. It is predicted to end Monday morning around 6AM But I need to leave around that time to make it to the Antelope Valley in one day. I might need to wait until Tuesday to leave. The time constraints are starting to irritate me.

More later...

Ride Day 8

I woke up really stiff this morning. I am sure it is still from the mountain riding I did over the last few days. It took me over half an hour to get loose enough to get out of my tent and go over to the rest room. Once I started moving I loosened up so I packed up camp and left while the rest of the camp was still sleeping. I headed to Bakersfield.

It was almost 140 mile from my camp to the house in Bakersfield so i rode about thirty miles to the main road to Bakersfield route 166 and I decided to hitch hike. I got a ride in less than ten minutes from an oilfield worker going home and towing his trailer. I was very pleased that he stopped as I could have stood there a long time with my bike and stuff. I would not fit in most cars so I pretty much needed a truck to give me a ride.

We had a nice comfortable ride to Bakersfield. We talked about my bike ride and about his family, wife and four kids. He was Laotian and so was his wife. He worked directing drilling directions but was heading home then to Houston for some more training. I enjoyed talking to him.

I rode my bike the last five miles or so to get to the house. I sat down and talked to my friend Peggy and when I tried to get up I was all locked up again. I do need the rest this weekend if I plan on continuing this ride next Monday. Took a shower and soaked in the tub for a bit then put on clean, not sweaty clothes and sat down to update all my computer stuff. Going out for a beer in a few...if I can get up out of this chair again. Again no pics today but I might post some of the road that I took on a drive a few months ago if I have the time. I just added some pics of the road I took earlier. Enjoy life