There
Monday, May 15. I was a bit slow to get rolling, apparently I'm a bit out of the habit, but with the help of some gummy worms, I got started. Thanks to some quick work by Box Dog Bikes, we're rolling a bit better with rear brakes, a new chain and a few other magic minor tweaks. The coastline was again, gorgeous, and I soaked in the views with a substantial tailwind the 132kms to Santa Cruz. The flowers today were magnificent - everywhere I looked, whole hillsides were in bloom. I ran into the only other solo female I've met, and we traded fun stories of amusing comments and conversations we've had. I spent the afternoon on the beach watching pelicans dive in the harbour for their dinner, and then headed to a friend's. She was a great host, and as she's an elephant seal researcher, her and her friends had plenty of very entertaining stories for the evening.
Tuesday, May 16. I rolled out and reluctantly left the coast for a detour. The bridge at Big Sur is quite out of commission after the winter, so a several hundred kilometer detour is required (grr, I'll just have to come back). The detour I found took me on a lot of country roads, which was actually quite neat as a 'farm tour.' I passed giant fields of strawberries, brocoli, vineyards, lettuce, artichoke, you name it. There was an army of workers in the fields, and I was surprised to see how much of the harvesting happens manually. I ate lunch with another cyclist, and enjoyed hearing about his journey to do this bike route over time. I hit the road again, and had a lovely tail wind shove me the rest of the way to King City for 163kms. I set up camp, and was joined by two other bikers for a fun evening and an early bedtime.
Wednesday, May 17. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. I actually got a moderately early start to the day, and after ransacking the Safeway for questionable fuel, I hit the road. After a climb, the lush valley of vegetables quickly turned into a hot, dry desert. The terrain was rolling mountains (as the locals call them, I'm not sure Vancouverites would agree), and the bushes rustled often as I rolled by. I know they were almost certainly all ground squirrels, but after passing 4 dead rattle snakes and 1 live one, every rustle renewed my pedalling intensity. After one last climb against yesterday's strong, helpful wind, I had a glorious 6 mile, 6% descent that made me grin my way to the coast and a noticeably different climate. I followed the coast for a few more hours with the wind at my back, ate the last of my entire box of Safeway cookies (ugh), and set up camp in Morro Bay after 176kms.
Thursday, May 18. I packed up from my last night of camping (hence why I actually took photos) and hit the road. It was another scorcher - I'm not at all used to the heat, and I feel kind of like an orange being squeezed when I go up hills. It was a day of riding lots of random roads and mostly avoiding the highways and snakes (don't ask, you don't want to know). Highlight was some handlebar strawberries, and just a great day of pedalling. The bike is starting to feel light, and I'm able to do hours of 'hard riding' up on my toes without needing those chill-out breaks where I lean back and take the pressure off the pedals. I ended the day at another fantastic Eli connection and enjoyed a very substantial amount of homemade sushi - yummmmm.
Friday, May 19. Blah, blah, blah I SAW DOLPHINS!!!! I was riding along thinking how nice it would be to see some dolphins, looked to the ocean and there they were. I managed to not swerve into traffic, pulled over and got the following crappy photos. I have now seen at least one other thing having as much fun getting where it's going as I am. Other than that, I am definitely in SoCal now! Lots of palm trees and long white beaches that most people seem to be quite enjoying, but frankly I have no idea what to do with. Speaking of things I have no idea what they're about... I'm passing a lot of familiar sounding names from various pop culture references but should probably be excited about - Hollister, Malibu, Santa Monica, Hollywood beach. Other highlights of the day were an inspirational breakfast burrito for lunch, sh*t traffic aka parked cars on the side of highway 1, Venice beach and it's bike path kind of through, and spending the night at @burrritos wonderful grandparent's!
Saturday, May 20. I took a bit of a tourist detour De Hollywood day. I rolled along Sunset boulevard, checked out the Hollywood 'Stars', rode Hollywood boulevard, and climbed the hill up to the Griffiths observatory for a view of the city... and the Hollywood sign. Then on to Pasadena to catch the finale of the men's tour De California stage race. It was fun to be surrounded by excited cyclists and get a @bianchi cycling cap:p I then toured the bike lanes along the apocalyptic, empty aqueducts and canals back to the coast. It was hotttt, so hot my clips stopped unclipping and after all this way, I had a clipless fall hahaa. I caught the sunset on sunset beach, and road to the wonderful hospitalilty of a two-wheeled friend I met on the road.
Sunday, May 21. I rode out in the company of my host, which was fantastic for setting a good pace and navigating through endless coast road twists and turns. The beaches went on and on in a paradise of surf and sand, but I kept rolling by, on a runway (lol), through Camp Pendelton, more beaches, and then 131kms later, my home base for a few days - La Jolla.
Monday, May 22. 20 days and almost exactly 3000kms and ZERO flat tires later, I made it to Mexico! Thank you to everyone who has helped, hosted and encouraged me - it means more than you can know. Cheers to rocking out on the bike; to pedalling with Power; to that dang day in Oregon that I would change nothing about; to roaring alongside a sprinting deer; to screaming into the headwind; to laughing at my own bad jokes; to feeling stronger than I've ever felt; to spreading my arms, taking the lane and flying when there was no traffic; to actually not getting a single flat tire. I can't summarize this trip, and I don't want to.
Across the border
May 15 - 22: Across the borderMonday, May 15. I was a bit slow to get rolling, apparently I'm a bit out of the habit, but with the help of some gummy worms, I got started. Thanks to some quick work by Box Dog Bikes, we're rolling a bit better with rear brakes, a new chain and a few other magic minor tweaks. The coastline was again, gorgeous, and I soaked in the views with a substantial tailwind the 132kms to Santa Cruz. The flowers today were magnificent - everywhere I looked, whole hillsides were in bloom. I ran into the only other solo female I've met, and we traded fun stories of amusing comments and conversations we've had. I spent the afternoon on the beach watching pelicans dive in the harbour for their dinner, and then headed to a friend's. She was a great host, and as she's an elephant seal researcher, her and her friends had plenty of very entertaining stories for the evening.
Tuesday, May 16. I rolled out and reluctantly left the coast for a detour. The bridge at Big Sur is quite out of commission after the winter, so a several hundred kilometer detour is required (grr, I'll just have to come back). The detour I found took me on a lot of country roads, which was actually quite neat as a 'farm tour.' I passed giant fields of strawberries, brocoli, vineyards, lettuce, artichoke, you name it. There was an army of workers in the fields, and I was surprised to see how much of the harvesting happens manually. I ate lunch with another cyclist, and enjoyed hearing about his journey to do this bike route over time. I hit the road again, and had a lovely tail wind shove me the rest of the way to King City for 163kms. I set up camp, and was joined by two other bikers for a fun evening and an early bedtime.
Wednesday, May 17. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. I actually got a moderately early start to the day, and after ransacking the Safeway for questionable fuel, I hit the road. After a climb, the lush valley of vegetables quickly turned into a hot, dry desert. The terrain was rolling mountains (as the locals call them, I'm not sure Vancouverites would agree), and the bushes rustled often as I rolled by. I know they were almost certainly all ground squirrels, but after passing 4 dead rattle snakes and 1 live one, every rustle renewed my pedalling intensity. After one last climb against yesterday's strong, helpful wind, I had a glorious 6 mile, 6% descent that made me grin my way to the coast and a noticeably different climate. I followed the coast for a few more hours with the wind at my back, ate the last of my entire box of Safeway cookies (ugh), and set up camp in Morro Bay after 176kms.
Thursday, May 18. I packed up from my last night of camping (hence why I actually took photos) and hit the road. It was another scorcher - I'm not at all used to the heat, and I feel kind of like an orange being squeezed when I go up hills. It was a day of riding lots of random roads and mostly avoiding the highways and snakes (don't ask, you don't want to know). Highlight was some handlebar strawberries, and just a great day of pedalling. The bike is starting to feel light, and I'm able to do hours of 'hard riding' up on my toes without needing those chill-out breaks where I lean back and take the pressure off the pedals. I ended the day at another fantastic Eli connection and enjoyed a very substantial amount of homemade sushi - yummmmm.
Friday, May 19. Blah, blah, blah I SAW DOLPHINS!!!! I was riding along thinking how nice it would be to see some dolphins, looked to the ocean and there they were. I managed to not swerve into traffic, pulled over and got the following crappy photos. I have now seen at least one other thing having as much fun getting where it's going as I am. Other than that, I am definitely in SoCal now! Lots of palm trees and long white beaches that most people seem to be quite enjoying, but frankly I have no idea what to do with. Speaking of things I have no idea what they're about... I'm passing a lot of familiar sounding names from various pop culture references but should probably be excited about - Hollister, Malibu, Santa Monica, Hollywood beach. Other highlights of the day were an inspirational breakfast burrito for lunch, sh*t traffic aka parked cars on the side of highway 1, Venice beach and it's bike path kind of through, and spending the night at @burrritos wonderful grandparent's!
Saturday, May 20. I took a bit of a tourist detour De Hollywood day. I rolled along Sunset boulevard, checked out the Hollywood 'Stars', rode Hollywood boulevard, and climbed the hill up to the Griffiths observatory for a view of the city... and the Hollywood sign. Then on to Pasadena to catch the finale of the men's tour De California stage race. It was fun to be surrounded by excited cyclists and get a @bianchi cycling cap:p I then toured the bike lanes along the apocalyptic, empty aqueducts and canals back to the coast. It was hotttt, so hot my clips stopped unclipping and after all this way, I had a clipless fall hahaa. I caught the sunset on sunset beach, and road to the wonderful hospitalilty of a two-wheeled friend I met on the road.
Sunday, May 21. I rode out in the company of my host, which was fantastic for setting a good pace and navigating through endless coast road twists and turns. The beaches went on and on in a paradise of surf and sand, but I kept rolling by, on a runway (lol), through Camp Pendelton, more beaches, and then 131kms later, my home base for a few days - La Jolla.
Monday, May 22. 20 days and almost exactly 3000kms and ZERO flat tires later, I made it to Mexico! Thank you to everyone who has helped, hosted and encouraged me - it means more than you can know. Cheers to rocking out on the bike; to pedalling with Power; to that dang day in Oregon that I would change nothing about; to roaring alongside a sprinting deer; to screaming into the headwind; to laughing at my own bad jokes; to feeling stronger than I've ever felt; to spreading my arms, taking the lane and flying when there was no traffic; to actually not getting a single flat tire. I can't summarize this trip, and I don't want to.
