A Day of Rest

I am at Live Oak Springs today taking a day off from riding. The ride so far has been very entertaining for me. Before I began this ride I was not sure if I would be able to maintain a long ride because I have so many physical problems with my lack of walking mobility and my high chronic pain problems. So far, two weeks into the ride I have been dealing fairly well with my tired old body. I did run out of gas the last couple of days which is why I took a rest day.

Along the road I see lots of roadkill and litter. There have been thousands of bottles full of urine along the route. They look like some sort of lemon flavored drink that people threw out because they didn't like the taste. I found one plastic goldfish on the side of the road which I rescued. I mounted it on my handlebars for a while and it got a chuckle from some people. Made me think of Paul Newman and Plastic Jesus.

I have also encountered lots of frogs croaking. It is springtime and this is their mating season so all species are going at it. I have heard Pacific Chorus frogs, Bullfrogs, Leopard Frogs, and several that I could not identify which may have been red or yellow legged frogs or something like that. I enjoy listening to them. At my campsite a couple of nights ago I was talking with the chorus frogs. I used to raise them and can mimic their call enough to get them going back and forth. One camper listening thought it was pretty weird that I could talk with the frogs.

It rained again last night but I slept through most of it except for when the wind was howling strongly at one point. My tent held up well and nothing got wet. I watched the NCAA games here at the campground yesterday. Lazy quiet days is what I am looking for.

WI did some stretching and found that my legs are really tight. That might be one reason I have been having leg cramps the last two days. I am going to try harder to stretch more before I ride, as I ride and after I ride. This is still a learning curve for me. At least my knees have held out so far. If I started to have trouble with them it might end the ride and I don't want that to happen.

More later when I get a good wifi.

Ride Day 14

Yesterday I gassed out on my ride up the mountain. I was weak, had lots of cramping and had no wind or energy. I am not sure what went wrong. Maybe I have just pushed it too hard for an old man like me. I might need more rest to recover from the harder days of riding. I tried to eat well and get the things like protein and potassium that I know I need. I pigged out after I checked into the campground at Viajas Indian Reservation.

After my stop at Starbucks yesterday I rode another ten miles or so before I stopped for the night. The campsite was clean and had all the facilities including good showers and a pool. But I just showered and then laid in my tent eating and drinking. I was still getting cramps even just being in the tent resting. I rested until 5:30 in the morning then I got up.

I broke camp and headed up to the top of the mountain. The scenery was nice with a thick layer of fog in the lower valleys and the peaks standing proud. The first thing I had to do was backtrack to the freeway about 3 miles uphill then 8 miles were also uphill on I-8, just one of the few areas they let bikes on the interstate because there are no other roads. Then I did the next thirty miles on old 80 which mostly ran along the side of I-8. It was a hard ride with a good 3000' of climbing and a few downhill rushes.

I did poorly again today on the hills. My legs are still weak and started cramping while I was on the freeway. I toughed it out to get somewhere to camp but now I am taking it easy for the next day or two up at the top of the mountain. I am the only one camping there. There is a restaurant right next door where I can watch the NCAA games this afternoon and try to rebuild my health a bit. I will try to eat as healthy as I can and hope that I can beat this cramping and weakness problem. The next part of the ride is downhill then mostly flat through the Imperial Valley. I hope I get better so I can enjoy the ride more than I did the last two days of riding which were serious hard work for me.

I tried to add pics but the wifi is not up to it so pics will have to wait till later.

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...