Showing posts with label 2011 Pacific Bike Tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011 Pacific Bike Tour. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
The Moment that Made the Year for Me
Sitting on a plane has always felt like a homecoming for me. Having lived in a different state from my parents for 6 years means lots of plane trips home for Christmas and summer. Like Pavlov's dog, I had it stuck in my head that sitting on a plane meant going back to something familiar-something comfortable.
I guess that's what made the plane ride such a surreal experience. It felt like the same old flight home, but I had to keep reminding myself, no Jon, you're not going home. You're going somewhere you've never been, all by yourself. It didn't feel real. I had a hard time comprehending what this flight really meant.
Over the previous 6 months I had been preparing to go on a bike tour from the Canadian border to the Mexican border along the Pacific coast. It started as a daydream and as the months passed, it came a lot closer to reality. I started buying gear and training. Slowly but surely I worked up to 40 mile rides and my pile of cycling and camping gear got bigger and bigger, not to mention the money in my bank account started depleting.
My whole approach to preparing for the trip was non-committal. I started out buying gear that would be useful for me whether or not I actually went on the tour. I saw my training routine as something that would be good for me even if I decided not to leave on the trip.
I had been telling myself this adventure story, but I couldn't decide if the story was fiction or non-fiction. But sooner or later I would be forced to decide.
Looking back at the experience, I'm reminded of Don Quixote. He lived a boring life as an old man with his niece taking care of him. He sat around the house reading chivalry books about knights and giants. He kept reading stories, but never had a story of his own. But his life changed when he really believed the stories were true. Even under the ridicule of his closest friends and family he chose to believe the story of chivalry and decided to live it himself. He got off his bed, constructed a suit of armor, and began his adventures as a knight. It was only at the point when he believed the story was true that he was changed as a person.
I finally got to the point where I acted like my adventure story was really real. There was still some doubt in my mind, but on May 23rd I packed my gear and got on the plane to Bellingham. I looked out the window and saw the Rockies pass by--a familiar sight that only made the flight feel like my homecoming flights to Alaska. After a few hours we landed in Seattle, the airport I almost always fly through on my way to Alaska. I spent the night sleeping on the Seattle airport floor and it passed by incredibly slowly. So this is what I'm getting myself into--sleeping on hard surfaces for 40 days straight. Great.
In the morning I got on my connecting flight to Bellingham, which is a town very close to the Washington-Canada border. I had heard that one of the most beautiful parts of the Washington leg of my tour would be the view across Puget Sound at the evergreen covered islands jutting out of the water. As the sun was rising I could look out the window and see the breath-taking Puget Sound view. I wonder if I'll be riding across any of those islands. The flight was short-only about 30 minutes and as we were descending I looked out and saw the roads of northwest Bellingham. I had seen these roads before on Google Maps. I saw the interstate that I'd be riding under and then paralleling on my way to the border. And I saw the airport just to the west of the freeway in the same place that Google showed me. This was starting to feel real.
My knees started shaking and I was, all of a sudden, very nervous. Here we go. The plane landed, I got my gear off the baggage claim, and started assembling my bike. I spent an hour in the middle of the tiny airport putting the bike together and packing my gear. People stared at me, wondering what the heck I was doing. My whole body was shaking out of excitement and nervousness. I eventually changed into my cycling clothes and came out to my bike. It was ready to go. Tires inflated, handlebars attached, brakes engaged, bolts tightened, water bottles filled, and panniers closed.
I walked out to the drive way and straddled my bike, taking a picture to prove that my odometer did, in fact, start at 0.0 miles. I looked around me with a huge smile on my face. I pushed forward, clipped into my pedals, and started pedaling.
Finally, I knew this was real. I knew there was no turning back and I knew that this was going to be the greatest adventure I've ever done.
A Note from Jon: This was my submission to my friend Anthony's annual writing challenge. The assignment was to write about an hour or a day that really made the year for you.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Pacific Tour Reflections (I have 20/20 vision, so hind-sight is 20/12)
It feels really really good to be home again. I landed around 8:45 last Saturday, assembled my bike, disposed of my cardboard boxes, and caught the bus back to Denver. It just felt good to see familiar sights--the airport I've been to a million times, the downtown area, the pepsi center, Invesco Field, my bike route I take from downtown to my house, my house, Javier who was inside watching tv when I arrived, struggling to speak to him in spanish, my own bed, a good shower, all those little details that I take for granted when I get them every day.
Anyways, I felt like it would be appropriate to reflect upon my tour as a whole.
Bicycling:
It was really cool to see how I transformed physically as I moved south. A great part about touring is that you get in better shape as you progress. My attitude towards hills shifted greatly as I progressed. I was afraid of them at first, not knowing how well I would be able to ride them, but eventually I started looking at hills as something that I just didn't like doing. I knew I could do them, but just didn't want to. Then my attitude completely shifted to actually enjoying climbs, churning along in first gear in order to conquer the hill. I started seeing them as a challenge that I wanted to test my body against.
After having some knee pain myself, the most important thing I would tell someone who is thinking about touring is to make sure your bike fits you properly. Cycling is very low impact, so it's really hard to injure yourself and it's incredibly good exercise for your knees...if your bike properly fits you. My seat was too low to start with and I ended up having some pretty bad knee pain before I got to Oregon. I lifted my seat little by little until the pain went away, but it would have been better for my bike to have been set up correctly before I left. You can really kill your knees if you don't make the adjustments you need to make. Another piece of advice I would give is to make sure you train. First of all, it will just make everything easier, but it will also prevent knee injury. A guy I rode with for a day named John didn't train at all. He exercised regularly, but his knees were not used to the kind of work out they get when riding a bike. He started his tour with a 100 mile day and had excruciating knee pain the next day. For the most part, knee injury is one of the worst things that can happen on a tour and it can be prevented by training, correct fit, higher cadence, and lower gears.
Before the tour, I wasn't a huge fan of camping. It was always cold, uncomfortable, and annoying to set up and take down camp. All the inconveniences of camping made me not like it that much. But after I got used to sleeping in a tent every night I started loving camping. It's pretty much awesome. There's something cool about carrying your house with you, knowing that you could set up camp anywhere. The cool temperatures at night are actually awesome as long as you have a good sleeping bag and warm clothes. The noises like wind in the trees and waves are wonderful to fall asleep to. The sun's schedule forces you to go to bed early and wake up early, giving you the perfect amount of sleep. After getting used to it, all the great things about camping blinded me to the inconvenient things about camping. So now I love camping.
If you asked me what my favorite part of the tour was, I probably would tell you that it was meeting so many interesting people. I'm not an outgoing person, but I met a ridiculous number of people in the 40 days I was riding. My favorite people were always the people I met at the campgrounds who were on a bike tour themselves. There was such a good camaraderie between all the cyclists. We always made friends with each other and hung out with each other for the evening. So many people invited me to join them at their campfire. Some people gave me food. One person gave me a chain cleaning lesson. One person washed my dishes for me. Several people joined me for dinner. It was really great. There were also lots of people not on a bike that I met. Some cheered me on from their cars. Some gave me popcorn, brownies, ice cream, waffles, bananas, sandwiches, carrots, and a yard to sleep in. Some gave me wine and a 2 hour conversation. Most of the people I saw were very nice and I liked them a lot. There were very few people who were rude or mean to me.
Even though the tour was a fantastic experience, there are some things that I would do differently. Here's a list of technologies that could be improved upon: More comfortable saddle, more waterproof and smaller tent, and a better sleeping pad. My route that I took was pretty awesome, but if I did the tour again, I would probably cut over to Olympia National Park instead of going through the boring part of Washington to get to Portland (I'd just make Justin meet me in Tillamook or something). The last thing I would do different is to bring a friend. It was a great tour, even by myself, but it would be a cool thing to be able to share the memory with someone else.
I don't think I gained any huge revelations through my tour, but I did learn some things. Washington made me realize that my circumstances are completely at the mercy of God. I have no control over the rain. I have no control over whether the wind is a headwind or a tailwind. I happen to think that those things are God's decisions and that the only reason there is ever a break in the rain or a lack of a tail wind is because of God's grace and has nothing to do with anything I could ever control.
The tour has also made me want to be a better steward of the things that God has given me. I had to be very intentional about the things that I bought. Every item that I acquired added more weight to my already heavy load, so I tried to just use what I had and not buy extra stuff. An example of this would be my desire I had to buy a frying pan. It would have been pretty nice to have one to cook fresh meat in instead of always eating the canned stuff. But my insight came when I sat there and thought about it. How much would I use it? How much enjoyment would I get out of it? Do I need it? Do I really want to have the extra weight? I decided not to buy one and was just content with the tall, skinny jet boil pot. This is kind of a stupid example, but because of my limited capacity and limited budget, I realized that at the time it was just a luxury that I'd be fine without. Back home, I realized that riding around the city without a load was super easy compared to with a heavy load. Why don't I just ride my bike everywhere? This would be easy compared to riding 50 miles per day with a load. So I decided not to buy a bus pass. God gave me a bike, which works just fine for transportation, so why not just use what I have and save the money I would spend on a bus pass?
So I can't say that my tour really changed me as a person, but it has given me a different point of view on some things. The tour has made me love cycling more though. I'm already thinking about what tour I want to do next because this one was such a good experience that I wouldn't want to leave my touring career and call it good at a whopping...one tour. I'll definitely be doing some very short bike camping trips and some long tours in the future. Who wants to come?!
This concludes my Pacific tour-related blog posts. Stay tuned for my normal blog posts about random things that I feel like writing about.
Anyways, I felt like it would be appropriate to reflect upon my tour as a whole.
Bicycling:
It was really cool to see how I transformed physically as I moved south. A great part about touring is that you get in better shape as you progress. My attitude towards hills shifted greatly as I progressed. I was afraid of them at first, not knowing how well I would be able to ride them, but eventually I started looking at hills as something that I just didn't like doing. I knew I could do them, but just didn't want to. Then my attitude completely shifted to actually enjoying climbs, churning along in first gear in order to conquer the hill. I started seeing them as a challenge that I wanted to test my body against.
After having some knee pain myself, the most important thing I would tell someone who is thinking about touring is to make sure your bike fits you properly. Cycling is very low impact, so it's really hard to injure yourself and it's incredibly good exercise for your knees...if your bike properly fits you. My seat was too low to start with and I ended up having some pretty bad knee pain before I got to Oregon. I lifted my seat little by little until the pain went away, but it would have been better for my bike to have been set up correctly before I left. You can really kill your knees if you don't make the adjustments you need to make. Another piece of advice I would give is to make sure you train. First of all, it will just make everything easier, but it will also prevent knee injury. A guy I rode with for a day named John didn't train at all. He exercised regularly, but his knees were not used to the kind of work out they get when riding a bike. He started his tour with a 100 mile day and had excruciating knee pain the next day. For the most part, knee injury is one of the worst things that can happen on a tour and it can be prevented by training, correct fit, higher cadence, and lower gears.
Before the tour, I wasn't a huge fan of camping. It was always cold, uncomfortable, and annoying to set up and take down camp. All the inconveniences of camping made me not like it that much. But after I got used to sleeping in a tent every night I started loving camping. It's pretty much awesome. There's something cool about carrying your house with you, knowing that you could set up camp anywhere. The cool temperatures at night are actually awesome as long as you have a good sleeping bag and warm clothes. The noises like wind in the trees and waves are wonderful to fall asleep to. The sun's schedule forces you to go to bed early and wake up early, giving you the perfect amount of sleep. After getting used to it, all the great things about camping blinded me to the inconvenient things about camping. So now I love camping.
If you asked me what my favorite part of the tour was, I probably would tell you that it was meeting so many interesting people. I'm not an outgoing person, but I met a ridiculous number of people in the 40 days I was riding. My favorite people were always the people I met at the campgrounds who were on a bike tour themselves. There was such a good camaraderie between all the cyclists. We always made friends with each other and hung out with each other for the evening. So many people invited me to join them at their campfire. Some people gave me food. One person gave me a chain cleaning lesson. One person washed my dishes for me. Several people joined me for dinner. It was really great. There were also lots of people not on a bike that I met. Some cheered me on from their cars. Some gave me popcorn, brownies, ice cream, waffles, bananas, sandwiches, carrots, and a yard to sleep in. Some gave me wine and a 2 hour conversation. Most of the people I saw were very nice and I liked them a lot. There were very few people who were rude or mean to me.
Even though the tour was a fantastic experience, there are some things that I would do differently. Here's a list of technologies that could be improved upon: More comfortable saddle, more waterproof and smaller tent, and a better sleeping pad. My route that I took was pretty awesome, but if I did the tour again, I would probably cut over to Olympia National Park instead of going through the boring part of Washington to get to Portland (I'd just make Justin meet me in Tillamook or something). The last thing I would do different is to bring a friend. It was a great tour, even by myself, but it would be a cool thing to be able to share the memory with someone else.
I don't think I gained any huge revelations through my tour, but I did learn some things. Washington made me realize that my circumstances are completely at the mercy of God. I have no control over the rain. I have no control over whether the wind is a headwind or a tailwind. I happen to think that those things are God's decisions and that the only reason there is ever a break in the rain or a lack of a tail wind is because of God's grace and has nothing to do with anything I could ever control.
The tour has also made me want to be a better steward of the things that God has given me. I had to be very intentional about the things that I bought. Every item that I acquired added more weight to my already heavy load, so I tried to just use what I had and not buy extra stuff. An example of this would be my desire I had to buy a frying pan. It would have been pretty nice to have one to cook fresh meat in instead of always eating the canned stuff. But my insight came when I sat there and thought about it. How much would I use it? How much enjoyment would I get out of it? Do I need it? Do I really want to have the extra weight? I decided not to buy one and was just content with the tall, skinny jet boil pot. This is kind of a stupid example, but because of my limited capacity and limited budget, I realized that at the time it was just a luxury that I'd be fine without. Back home, I realized that riding around the city without a load was super easy compared to with a heavy load. Why don't I just ride my bike everywhere? This would be easy compared to riding 50 miles per day with a load. So I decided not to buy a bus pass. God gave me a bike, which works just fine for transportation, so why not just use what I have and save the money I would spend on a bus pass?
So I can't say that my tour really changed me as a person, but it has given me a different point of view on some things. The tour has made me love cycling more though. I'm already thinking about what tour I want to do next because this one was such a good experience that I wouldn't want to leave my touring career and call it good at a whopping...one tour. I'll definitely be doing some very short bike camping trips and some long tours in the future. Who wants to come?!
This concludes my Pacific tour-related blog posts. Stay tuned for my normal blog posts about random things that I feel like writing about.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day 40
July 1, 2011
Here it is, day 40, my very last day on the road. If you had asked me a day ago (before the world's worst hostel), I would have told you that I had mixed feelings about today. After 40 days I've become accustomed to camping every night and riding every day. Not only am I accustomed to it, I love it. This is really an awesome way to live life for a while. Everything that comes along with it adds up to an amazing experience and every day is an adventure waiting for me to jump in. But reality calls. Bank accounts drip dry, and separation from friends and family becomes difficult. As I was sitting at Starbucks I was talking with a man who asked me, “Would you have done it any different?” I told him no, but thinking about it again, I realize that I would bring a friend with me. You get used to sleeping in a tent every night and you get used to riding your bike every day. It's not that different from life at home, but it would really be difficult for me to be away from friends forever. So that's why I'm excited to be done. I'm loving living off of my bike, but I'm also very excited to come home.
In an attempt to get away from that darned hostel as fast as possible, I woke up at 6:00 and was gone by 7:30, my all-time record. It was so nice to have that hostel to myself this morning. It's not that bad of a place when there's nobody else there. The ride started out on the beach trail in Pacific Beach which was pretty pleasant since there were few people on it and the ones that were were mostly runners. I made my way towards downtown San Diego via some main roads with bike lanes and got slightly lost along the way. My route had me take a pedestrian/biker ferry from downtown San Diego to Coronado, so I waited at the ferry station for 20 minutes and took some pictures of the aircraft carrier.
After a quick ferry ride, I made it to Coronado and jumped on the bike again, heading across the Silver Streak which is a very narrow strip of land with a road and a bike trail on it. It was a pretty fun section of the ride because I had a very nice tailwind the entire time, so I averaged around 15mph for about 7 miles.
The route I'm following takes you to a state park called Border Field Park, which is pretty much the perfect place for a Canada to Mexico Pacific coast tour to end. It's on the Pacific and Mexico is right there. However, in order to get to the park I had to go out of the way to traverse some federal land, which was either a wildlife reserve or military land...can't remember. Anyways, I was getting closer and closer. The hills in the distance were getting closer and then they were right in front of me. I turned right and soon enough I entered the park. It is only open on Saturdays and Sundays to cars, but has a place where pedestrians and cyclists can go through. So I passed through the gate and rode along the half dirt, half paved road until I reached the border. I could tell it was the border because there was a 20 foot tall fence with a big city on the other side. It's such a stark contrast right there at the border. Tijuana is this huge, tightly packed city and the California side has a few small ranches and empty public land. The majority of Tijuana is hidden behind the hills, so I couldn't see that much. But the next day when I flew out of San Diego I could look out the window and see a clear line where the city starts. The Tijuana side was very very hilly compared to the California side and houses are crammed everywhere on the hills, making it look like ocean waves of buildings as far as the eye can see.
I couldn't believe that I had made it to Mexico. As tears gushed from my eyes I tried to restrain the sobbing for long enough to take a few pictures. It was kind of interesting that the fence just stops out in the water, making it very easy to just swim around. But then I noticed that there was a border patrol officer sitting in his jeep only 100 feet away from the border, keeping his eye on the end of that fence. I think that Mexico has a border park too because I saw people on the other side of the fence looking at the border just like I was doing. I saw a sign that had rules for the “Friendship Circle.” As I read it, I realized what it was. It was a little area right on the border where 25 people could go inside and chat with people from the neighboring country. I really wanted to go into the friendship circle, but sadly it was closed.
After a snack and a break at the border I got back on my bike and headed back north along the same route I had followed before. I stopped in Coronado for a pizza lunch and then stopped near the airport to figure out some logistics for my departure the next day. I arrived back in Pacific Beach and the day started to dwindle to a close. I cooked my dinner next to the beach and went on a walk along Mission Blvd before heading back to the hostel for sleep. The hostel was having a deck party tonight, so I had the opportunity to end the trip “with a bang." But the party wasn't exactly a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey kind of party, so I went into loner mode, inserted ear plugs, laid my sock across my eyes, and tried to drown out the noise of the music and the loud drunk people with positive thoughts about my adventure.
A really depressing end to my bike tour, I admit it, but as someone I met several days ago pointed out, When it's all said and done, the memories that will stick will be the good ones, not the bad ones. And as I write this post the next day I'm looking back on my tour with fond memories, excited for my next one. Who knows where it will be and what kind of things will happen to me along the way, but I'm looking forward to it.
Day 39
June 30, 2011
Today was a fun day because the ride was nice and I made $100. The agenda for the day was to ride from Doheny State Park in Dana Point to Banana Bungalow Hostel in Pacific Beach, San Diego. I left moderately early (8:30) and started heading south along the PCH. Only a few miles into the ride some ladies on the sidewalk motioned to me asking if I had a phone. One of them had injured a tendon and needed to call her husband to pick her up. Only a quarter mile down the road I saw a phone on the ground. It was a MyTouch (fancy smart phone) and it looked like it had been thrown out of a passing car. I imagined that some guy's girlfriend got mad at him for texting, took his phone, and threw it out the window. I picked up the phone and since it had no reception at that spot I kept riding hoping to find some reception further down the road. As I rode through the side roads of San Clemente, I kept checking the phone for reception and never found any--stupid T-Mobile. So I finally decided to just call someone using my phone, hoping they would know the person who had lost their phone. Luckily the first person that actually answered their phone knew the guy who lost his phone and 20 minutes later the owner pulled up in his fancy sedan to get the phone. I couldn't believe how happy he was to get his phone back. He was just ecstatic. "Jon! I don't even know you, but I'm gonna give you a big hug!" His name was Kevin, I think, and he had just gone on a trip to New York and had taken all his pictures with his phone. He hadn't loaded them to his computer yet, so the pictures on the phone were very important to him. "I want to give you $100 for returning my phone. Not too many people would have done that." I couldn't believe it. We chatted for a bit about my tour and then I left to head down the road, $100 richer. As I left, Kevin motioned his arms like he was bestowing good karma to me and he said, "You have no idea how much good karma is coming your way, man. Thank you so much."
The rest of the day was a nice ride. I passed through Camp Pendelton, a Marines base, rode up a big hill at Torrey Pines Reserve, and then I arrived in the San Diego area. The first area of town I passed through was La Jolla, which seemed like a very cool place. I rode along the beach road traversing the hill and saw some very beautiful beaches. They had lots of big, smooth rocks and areas with sand. There was one spot that was particularly awesome at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, which had a sandy beach, bordered with smooth rocks where lots of sea birds were perched alongside s a few seals. There were lots of people swimming in the water, snorkeling, which looked like a lot of fun because the water was very colorful, indicating something very interesting underneath.
It wasn't long until i arrived in Pacific Beach where I'd be staying for the night. I found Banana Bungalow Hostel and went inside to check in. As soon as I stepped in the door I was starting to regret my decision to stay there. There were guys sitting around inside drinking Bud Light and who's new motto should be "Bud Light-A Sure Sign of People Who Only Drink Beer To Get Drunk." I checked in with the rude hostess who didn't speak clearly. She gave me a tour of the hostel and showed me my bed in the 12 person dorm, which was coed. I asked where I could keep my bike and she showed me an area behind the hostel where tons of junk was piled. It was at that moment that I spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to keep my stuff from being stolen. The hostel had 7 blackboards with colorful chalk writing describing the special event for the day. 6 out of 7 were basically different ways of getting wasted. Party Bus, Deck Party, Beer Pong, etc. Tonight's event was a party bus where you get driven around the city to check out all the bars, including 2 strip clubs and a couple places with live music. Why did I come here? I had already paid for the two nights ($40 per night), so I was stuck. I went into loner-mode and didn't really talk to anybody there. One Brazilian guy talked to me for a minute, but that was it. I left the hostel and decided that I would try to spend as much of the evening as i could away from that place.
So I spent a lot of time that evening at the beach, at Starbucks, and at the grocery store where I had the foresight to buy ear plugs, knowing that it would be impossible to fall asleep without them. One pint of Ben and Jerry's, one Americano, and one Passion tea later, I went back to the hostel around 9:00. Still in loner-mode, I got my computer out and worked on a few blogs. As I was working on them, the staff were standing around, talking about how great a community they had there. At 10:00, I headed to my bed, inserted earplugs, and placed a sock over my eyes while the guys in the dorm were standing around chatting, and I was able to fall asleep in about 45 minutes. I was happy enough to fall asleep that fast, given how much music and loud talking was going on out in the common room. I will say that when the guys noticed that I was going to sleep, they left the room and turned off the light, which was much appreciated. What a place though.
Today was a fun day because the ride was nice and I made $100. The agenda for the day was to ride from Doheny State Park in Dana Point to Banana Bungalow Hostel in Pacific Beach, San Diego. I left moderately early (8:30) and started heading south along the PCH. Only a few miles into the ride some ladies on the sidewalk motioned to me asking if I had a phone. One of them had injured a tendon and needed to call her husband to pick her up. Only a quarter mile down the road I saw a phone on the ground. It was a MyTouch (fancy smart phone) and it looked like it had been thrown out of a passing car. I imagined that some guy's girlfriend got mad at him for texting, took his phone, and threw it out the window. I picked up the phone and since it had no reception at that spot I kept riding hoping to find some reception further down the road. As I rode through the side roads of San Clemente, I kept checking the phone for reception and never found any--stupid T-Mobile. So I finally decided to just call someone using my phone, hoping they would know the person who had lost their phone. Luckily the first person that actually answered their phone knew the guy who lost his phone and 20 minutes later the owner pulled up in his fancy sedan to get the phone. I couldn't believe how happy he was to get his phone back. He was just ecstatic. "Jon! I don't even know you, but I'm gonna give you a big hug!" His name was Kevin, I think, and he had just gone on a trip to New York and had taken all his pictures with his phone. He hadn't loaded them to his computer yet, so the pictures on the phone were very important to him. "I want to give you $100 for returning my phone. Not too many people would have done that." I couldn't believe it. We chatted for a bit about my tour and then I left to head down the road, $100 richer. As I left, Kevin motioned his arms like he was bestowing good karma to me and he said, "You have no idea how much good karma is coming your way, man. Thank you so much."
The rest of the day was a nice ride. I passed through Camp Pendelton, a Marines base, rode up a big hill at Torrey Pines Reserve, and then I arrived in the San Diego area. The first area of town I passed through was La Jolla, which seemed like a very cool place. I rode along the beach road traversing the hill and saw some very beautiful beaches. They had lots of big, smooth rocks and areas with sand. There was one spot that was particularly awesome at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, which had a sandy beach, bordered with smooth rocks where lots of sea birds were perched alongside s a few seals. There were lots of people swimming in the water, snorkeling, which looked like a lot of fun because the water was very colorful, indicating something very interesting underneath.
It wasn't long until i arrived in Pacific Beach where I'd be staying for the night. I found Banana Bungalow Hostel and went inside to check in. As soon as I stepped in the door I was starting to regret my decision to stay there. There were guys sitting around inside drinking Bud Light and who's new motto should be "Bud Light-A Sure Sign of People Who Only Drink Beer To Get Drunk." I checked in with the rude hostess who didn't speak clearly. She gave me a tour of the hostel and showed me my bed in the 12 person dorm, which was coed. I asked where I could keep my bike and she showed me an area behind the hostel where tons of junk was piled. It was at that moment that I spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to keep my stuff from being stolen. The hostel had 7 blackboards with colorful chalk writing describing the special event for the day. 6 out of 7 were basically different ways of getting wasted. Party Bus, Deck Party, Beer Pong, etc. Tonight's event was a party bus where you get driven around the city to check out all the bars, including 2 strip clubs and a couple places with live music. Why did I come here? I had already paid for the two nights ($40 per night), so I was stuck. I went into loner-mode and didn't really talk to anybody there. One Brazilian guy talked to me for a minute, but that was it. I left the hostel and decided that I would try to spend as much of the evening as i could away from that place.
So I spent a lot of time that evening at the beach, at Starbucks, and at the grocery store where I had the foresight to buy ear plugs, knowing that it would be impossible to fall asleep without them. One pint of Ben and Jerry's, one Americano, and one Passion tea later, I went back to the hostel around 9:00. Still in loner-mode, I got my computer out and worked on a few blogs. As I was working on them, the staff were standing around, talking about how great a community they had there. At 10:00, I headed to my bed, inserted earplugs, and placed a sock over my eyes while the guys in the dorm were standing around chatting, and I was able to fall asleep in about 45 minutes. I was happy enough to fall asleep that fast, given how much music and loud talking was going on out in the common room. I will say that when the guys noticed that I was going to sleep, they left the room and turned off the light, which was much appreciated. What a place though.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Day 38
June 29, 2011
Today was day 2 of riding through the LA area. I started the day with a delicious Belgian waffle breakfast at the Long Beach Cafe where the 60 year old waitress called me 'sweetie.' (You know it's a good diner if the waitress calls you 'sweetie.') The day was quite uneventful. I rode through several smallish beach towns, rode along some beach paths for a while and then the highway.
I passed through Huntington Beach, a place that holds a few of my memory files from when I was in high school. When I was a sophomore in high school I did a construction mission project in the LA area and one of the days we visited Huntington Beach. We spent the whole day at the beach and somehow my sun block didn't block the sun like I wanted it to. I ended up having the worst sunburn I've ever had, blisters and all. It was so bad I had to skip out on a baseball game because it hurt too much to move my arms. That day we also went to Joe's Crab Shack where I ate fried clams for the first time, so I had to take a picture when I rode by there today in memory of the good ole days. Ironically, when I was in high school, I bought a shirt there that claimed, "Joe Plays Hardball," even though I was about to NOT play hardball due to the piercing sun of Huntington beach and my pasty white Alaskan skin. No sunburn this time around thanks to Colorado's 300 days of sunshine.
Along the beach path I met a German couple named Patrick and Peggy, who had been on the road for almost a year and a half. They started their tour in Germany, rode to India, took the plane to Cancun, rode through Mexico, and are now making their way to the Oregon border and flying back home to Germany. They told the that they stretched their money out as far as it would go and were finally starting to run out, so it was time to go home. I talk about bikes and touring gear with most of the touring cyclists I see and this couple noticed my Ortlieb panniers. 90% of cycling tourists have Ortlieb panniers, but they especially noticed mine because the orange colored panniers are near impossible to get in the US. They had only seen them in Germany, so I apparently have uniquely colored panniers.
The rest of the ride was nice. Stopped in Laguna Beach for a Clif bar snack and made it to my campground at Doheny St. Pk. in Dana Point. I spent the rest of the evening either at the beach watching surfers or back at my campground eating dinner. The campground was horrible though. Train tracks nearby, bright light shining on the hiker biker spot, and the ground was impenetrable dirt, which made staking my tent impossible. I shan't dwell on the unpleasantries of the campground, but I will say that it was a lame last camping night.
Today was day 2 of riding through the LA area. I started the day with a delicious Belgian waffle breakfast at the Long Beach Cafe where the 60 year old waitress called me 'sweetie.' (You know it's a good diner if the waitress calls you 'sweetie.') The day was quite uneventful. I rode through several smallish beach towns, rode along some beach paths for a while and then the highway.
I passed through Huntington Beach, a place that holds a few of my memory files from when I was in high school. When I was a sophomore in high school I did a construction mission project in the LA area and one of the days we visited Huntington Beach. We spent the whole day at the beach and somehow my sun block didn't block the sun like I wanted it to. I ended up having the worst sunburn I've ever had, blisters and all. It was so bad I had to skip out on a baseball game because it hurt too much to move my arms. That day we also went to Joe's Crab Shack where I ate fried clams for the first time, so I had to take a picture when I rode by there today in memory of the good ole days. Ironically, when I was in high school, I bought a shirt there that claimed, "Joe Plays Hardball," even though I was about to NOT play hardball due to the piercing sun of Huntington beach and my pasty white Alaskan skin. No sunburn this time around thanks to Colorado's 300 days of sunshine.
Along the beach path I met a German couple named Patrick and Peggy, who had been on the road for almost a year and a half. They started their tour in Germany, rode to India, took the plane to Cancun, rode through Mexico, and are now making their way to the Oregon border and flying back home to Germany. They told the that they stretched their money out as far as it would go and were finally starting to run out, so it was time to go home. I talk about bikes and touring gear with most of the touring cyclists I see and this couple noticed my Ortlieb panniers. 90% of cycling tourists have Ortlieb panniers, but they especially noticed mine because the orange colored panniers are near impossible to get in the US. They had only seen them in Germany, so I apparently have uniquely colored panniers.
The rest of the ride was nice. Stopped in Laguna Beach for a Clif bar snack and made it to my campground at Doheny St. Pk. in Dana Point. I spent the rest of the evening either at the beach watching surfers or back at my campground eating dinner. The campground was horrible though. Train tracks nearby, bright light shining on the hiker biker spot, and the ground was impenetrable dirt, which made staking my tent impossible. I shan't dwell on the unpleasantries of the campground, but I will say that it was a lame last camping night.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Day 37
June 28, 2011
Today I rode from Malibu to Long Beach. I was somewhat dreading the experience of riding through the huge city. The ride started with a few small hills in Malibu while I gazed at the highest density of really cool houses that I've ever seen. The route went along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for a while and much of it didn't have a shoulder, especially in the town of Malibu. I've been desensitized to traffic and the lack of shoulders, so I was hardly phased by it. I got to a state beach just west of Santa Barbara and my route took me onto the beach bike trail. That trail is so amazing! It's so nice to have a bike trail to follow. About half of my 60 mile day was on a beach trail and it was a kind of cloudy day, so there weren't that many people on the trail, which made for perfect riding.
I apologize on behalf of Los Angeles because it doesn't have very nice scenery, so you'll notice the lack of pretty pictures. One interesting sight I saw was the Santa Monica Pier, an amusement park on a pier.
Part of what made the ride through LA fun was the places that I went that I had either been to before or had heard all about from others. I had heard all about the Santa Monica Pier from Rebecca E. and later the next day I would pass through Huntington Beach, which holds horrific memories of the worst sunburn I've ever had and delicious memories of fried clams at Joe's Crab Shack.
I got slightly lost while circumnavigating Marina Del Ray, but a homeless man put me back on track. I didn't spend any significant time on the road in LA till Redondo Beach where I cut inland to Torrance and Carson. The road I went on was pretty nice as it had a bike lane half the time and a very large lane, big enough for a car and a bike, for the rest of it. I found myself at the Los Angeles river, which was a sight to see for its world renown beauty.
I made it to Long Beach and saw a big boat.
And a nice inlet
I stayed at a hotel in Long Beach that night, taking a good chunk out of my budget, but it was totally worth the extra 30 dollars to be in a hotel of the non-prostitute variety. That evening I went to Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery for dinner and met a cool guy named Jason who is a Colorado native. Woot
Day 36
June 27, 2011
Today was a surprisingly nice day. I didn't really know what to expect of Malibu with its reputation for having lots of rich people and surfing, but I liked it. I spent the day resting even though I wasn't too tired, but I needed to reserve a plane ticket and hotels for LA and San Diego.
It's pretty much impossible to sleep in for me when I'm camping. The sun rises early in the morning, shines on my yellow and blue tent, and wakes me up at the same time every day. So even on my rest day I woke up at 7:00. No worries.
The day started out with a very casual ride to Malibu averaging about 10mph (pretty slow). Well I didn't ride all the way to Malibu. I just went to the western edge of Malibu since the entire city is 27 miles long. I stopped at the Starbucks in town and used their internet for several hours. Pretty sure I spent 4 hours in there. It was the most productive 4 hours I've had on my tour though. 1 plane ticket bought, 1 hotel in LA reserved, 2 nights at a hostel in San Diego Reserved, and directions to all these places copied into my notebook. To boot, I had a good conversation with Jessica, a girl who was in the big group I had met the previous day at the Orcutt Starbucks. She teaches middle school at a private school somewhere in the LA area, so I might be picking her brain if I'm ever confronted with the choice between public and private (and if I am ever possessed to consider teaching middle schoolers...shudder).
Since I was in Malibu, I figured I should check out the beach. It was just like any other beach I've been to actually. Lots of sand, lots of people, and saltwater. No surfers. I ate my very big lunch of 3 bagels, half a square of cream cheese, 2 bananas, and maybe something else that I can't remember.
I was craving ice cream, which happens daily, and I also felt like going to watch the surfers at the Leo Carrillo State Beach where I was staying. So I stopped by the store and rode the 6 miles back to the campground. Before heading down to the beach I met Maggie and McGee, two smart ladies. They planned to do something like a week long tour, but after their first day riding up to this campground from LA they realized that they weren't physically prepared for a week long tour and decided to turn back the next day. Before my ice cream melted completely I went down to the beach and watched the surfers for a while.
It looked like a pretty sweet place to surf and I even witnessed someone "hang heel," which I didn't even realize was a trick. I thought hang 10 was pretty cool.
Back at the campground I met an older man who looked like he was in his 60s. It was kind of hard to tell whether he was homeless or touring. He was riding some longer distances, but got to LA and just decided to stick around here for a while. He told me he usually sleeps on the beach since it's legal without pitching a tent, but he'll occasionally treat himself to a night at the campground for a shower.
It was a nice relaxing day in Malibu.
Today was a surprisingly nice day. I didn't really know what to expect of Malibu with its reputation for having lots of rich people and surfing, but I liked it. I spent the day resting even though I wasn't too tired, but I needed to reserve a plane ticket and hotels for LA and San Diego.
It's pretty much impossible to sleep in for me when I'm camping. The sun rises early in the morning, shines on my yellow and blue tent, and wakes me up at the same time every day. So even on my rest day I woke up at 7:00. No worries.
The day started out with a very casual ride to Malibu averaging about 10mph (pretty slow). Well I didn't ride all the way to Malibu. I just went to the western edge of Malibu since the entire city is 27 miles long. I stopped at the Starbucks in town and used their internet for several hours. Pretty sure I spent 4 hours in there. It was the most productive 4 hours I've had on my tour though. 1 plane ticket bought, 1 hotel in LA reserved, 2 nights at a hostel in San Diego Reserved, and directions to all these places copied into my notebook. To boot, I had a good conversation with Jessica, a girl who was in the big group I had met the previous day at the Orcutt Starbucks. She teaches middle school at a private school somewhere in the LA area, so I might be picking her brain if I'm ever confronted with the choice between public and private (and if I am ever possessed to consider teaching middle schoolers...shudder).
Since I was in Malibu, I figured I should check out the beach. It was just like any other beach I've been to actually. Lots of sand, lots of people, and saltwater. No surfers. I ate my very big lunch of 3 bagels, half a square of cream cheese, 2 bananas, and maybe something else that I can't remember.
I was craving ice cream, which happens daily, and I also felt like going to watch the surfers at the Leo Carrillo State Beach where I was staying. So I stopped by the store and rode the 6 miles back to the campground. Before heading down to the beach I met Maggie and McGee, two smart ladies. They planned to do something like a week long tour, but after their first day riding up to this campground from LA they realized that they weren't physically prepared for a week long tour and decided to turn back the next day. Before my ice cream melted completely I went down to the beach and watched the surfers for a while.
It looked like a pretty sweet place to surf and I even witnessed someone "hang heel," which I didn't even realize was a trick. I thought hang 10 was pretty cool.
Back at the campground I met an older man who looked like he was in his 60s. It was kind of hard to tell whether he was homeless or touring. He was riding some longer distances, but got to LA and just decided to stick around here for a while. He told me he usually sleeps on the beach since it's legal without pitching a tent, but he'll occasionally treat himself to a night at the campground for a shower.
It was a nice relaxing day in Malibu.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Day 35
June 26, 2011
Mike left early to catch his train back to Tucson, so I was alone again. Riding alone has a completely different feel. It's fun in some ways and less fun in other ways. I left at 8:30 and stopped in town for groceries. It felt like I was back in Denver with the numerous Hispanics in the area speaking Spanish. I rode along a road that paralleled the beach in Santa Barbara and was a bit jealous of the people playing volleyball in the sand.
The ride didn't have too many hills, but there were some very pretty mountains to the left. I passed through several smallish towns and got to Ventura, a cool-looking beach town where I stopped for lunch. There was one section of the bike trail that was closed due to construction and I had to ride and push my bike through the sand. It was a pretty horrible 100 meters.
I stopped in Oxnard for some more groceries and decided that I would go to the Starbucks nearby to use their internet. Writing this blog has been great, but it's a ton of work to write 7 blogs at a time, so I just posted 2 while I was there and would wait till later to catch up on them. There was a group of touring cyclists there and I met them. They were doing a short 4-day tour up and back from LA to somewhere 2 days north of LA.
I finally left the starbucks and made my way to my campground at Leo Carrillo State Beach. Just 3 miles before the campground I met a couple guys who rode from New Jersey and were now making their way up to San Francisco. They were pretty cool, but boy they weren't touring right, so they weren't enjoying themselves at all at this point. They just couldn't wait to get to San Francisco. They were riding really light Aluminum road bikes with light weight (and weak) wheels. They started out with camping gear, but had some wheel damage because of all the weight, so they ended up mailing their camping gear back home. That meant they were staying in hotels every single night. I can't think of a more lame way of doing a cross-country tour. Hotels are depressing and holy cow they're expensive. I have no idea how they afforded that many nights at a hotel. They asked me if I was just doing the tour for fun and then I found out that they were raising money for cancer. That was pretty awesome to hear, but they weren't in it for the fun of it at all, which was really sad. They just wanted to get from point A to point B, get the money raised, and then go home. They really didn't seem like they enjoyed touring at all, which was depressing... I said goodbye and went to my campground.
At the campground I met a fellow cyclist named Ed. He rode from Denver to Costa Rica and is going back via San Francisco!! That's quite a tour. We talked all evening. He wants to move to Costa Rica and live on a boat. He is a retired Navy Seal who was injured and retired back in 1993. It was nice talking to him for the evening. I found out that he only had 86 cents, completely broke. So before I went to bed I gave him all my extra food to help him get to pay-day. I felt sorry for him. Hopefully he'll contact me when he gets back to Denver so I can hear how the rest of his tour went.
I went to bed and slept nicely. There were apparently tree rats outside, which kind of creeped me out, but whenever I heard them I just ignored them and went back to sleep, knowing that my food was safely hanging from a tree branch.
Mike left early to catch his train back to Tucson, so I was alone again. Riding alone has a completely different feel. It's fun in some ways and less fun in other ways. I left at 8:30 and stopped in town for groceries. It felt like I was back in Denver with the numerous Hispanics in the area speaking Spanish. I rode along a road that paralleled the beach in Santa Barbara and was a bit jealous of the people playing volleyball in the sand.
The ride didn't have too many hills, but there were some very pretty mountains to the left. I passed through several smallish towns and got to Ventura, a cool-looking beach town where I stopped for lunch. There was one section of the bike trail that was closed due to construction and I had to ride and push my bike through the sand. It was a pretty horrible 100 meters.
I stopped in Oxnard for some more groceries and decided that I would go to the Starbucks nearby to use their internet. Writing this blog has been great, but it's a ton of work to write 7 blogs at a time, so I just posted 2 while I was there and would wait till later to catch up on them. There was a group of touring cyclists there and I met them. They were doing a short 4-day tour up and back from LA to somewhere 2 days north of LA.
I finally left the starbucks and made my way to my campground at Leo Carrillo State Beach. Just 3 miles before the campground I met a couple guys who rode from New Jersey and were now making their way up to San Francisco. They were pretty cool, but boy they weren't touring right, so they weren't enjoying themselves at all at this point. They just couldn't wait to get to San Francisco. They were riding really light Aluminum road bikes with light weight (and weak) wheels. They started out with camping gear, but had some wheel damage because of all the weight, so they ended up mailing their camping gear back home. That meant they were staying in hotels every single night. I can't think of a more lame way of doing a cross-country tour. Hotels are depressing and holy cow they're expensive. I have no idea how they afforded that many nights at a hotel. They asked me if I was just doing the tour for fun and then I found out that they were raising money for cancer. That was pretty awesome to hear, but they weren't in it for the fun of it at all, which was really sad. They just wanted to get from point A to point B, get the money raised, and then go home. They really didn't seem like they enjoyed touring at all, which was depressing... I said goodbye and went to my campground.
At the campground I met a fellow cyclist named Ed. He rode from Denver to Costa Rica and is going back via San Francisco!! That's quite a tour. We talked all evening. He wants to move to Costa Rica and live on a boat. He is a retired Navy Seal who was injured and retired back in 1993. It was nice talking to him for the evening. I found out that he only had 86 cents, completely broke. So before I went to bed I gave him all my extra food to help him get to pay-day. I felt sorry for him. Hopefully he'll contact me when he gets back to Denver so I can hear how the rest of his tour went.
I went to bed and slept nicely. There were apparently tree rats outside, which kind of creeped me out, but whenever I heard them I just ignored them and went back to sleep, knowing that my food was safely hanging from a tree branch.
Day 34
June 25, 2011
Today was Mike's last day of riding and it was to have a pretty fun ending. He met a lady up in Santa Cruz whom he talked with for 5 minutes and she invited him to stay at her place in Santa Barbara. So we planned to stay at her house that night and coincidentally, Santa Barbara was having their famous solstice festival that day. So we tried to leave pretty early so we could enjoy the festivities.
It was a pretty cool ride today. The day started out with some uphills, peaking over 1,000 ft. The elevation charts are always deceptive, so we weren't quite sure if the uphills would be difficult or not. They ended up being very very low grade climbs for several miles. We honestly had a bit of trouble telling when we were on a climb and when we were on flat ground. We had a very gradual hill at one point and thought that it was the big long descent at the end of the hill, but it wasn't.
Finally our confusion was relieved when we saw a steep grade sign indicating that we had finally made it to the top of the easiest 1,000 foot climb ever. On the downhill we both reached 42mph, which was pretty awesome. The views were beautiful as we passed through canyons and tall, steep mountains. The downhill was awesome, but I did have the self-control to stop for a couple pictures. We got out to the coast and enjoyed a nice tailwind for a long time. The mountains right when we got to the coast reminded me of Boulder.
In Santa Barbara, we passed through UCSB on a bike trail and eventually made it to Camille's house, where we'd be staying that night. The ride went by really fast even though it was about 55 miles. We averaged almost 13mph, which is awesomely fast for us.
Camille left a key for us under a flower pot, so we let ourselves in and helped ourselves to showers and laundry. After just relaxing on her couch for a while, we went down to town to check out the festival. It was pretty crazy. People were everywhere. Many of them were dressed up, hippy style, and tons of people had face paint. There was live music, a dance party, a collection of stands, food, etc. Mike and I were itching for a burrito, so we asked a local for directions to where we could get a burrito since there were none at the park. Just 4 blocks away, awesome. We walked the 4 blocks and didn't see the Chipotle. Kept walking a few more blocks and still didn't see it. Nobody we asked knew where it was really. They just said it's down there a few blocks on this side of the street. So we probably walked about 3/4 of a mile to get there, but we finally did. After walking back to the park, we ate our burritos next to the drum circle (about 30 people banging on drums). Camille called Mike and invited us to come to her friend's party a few blocks away. We went there, met Camille and her friends, and chatted with a few random drunk people. The party was pretty annoying, so we left with Camille and her friends and hung out with them for a little while downtown. They were all really cool. Several years older than me, but very nice. After hanging out with them for a while Mike and I went back to the house and slept soundly on Camille's couches.
Today was Mike's last day of riding and it was to have a pretty fun ending. He met a lady up in Santa Cruz whom he talked with for 5 minutes and she invited him to stay at her place in Santa Barbara. So we planned to stay at her house that night and coincidentally, Santa Barbara was having their famous solstice festival that day. So we tried to leave pretty early so we could enjoy the festivities.
It was a pretty cool ride today. The day started out with some uphills, peaking over 1,000 ft. The elevation charts are always deceptive, so we weren't quite sure if the uphills would be difficult or not. They ended up being very very low grade climbs for several miles. We honestly had a bit of trouble telling when we were on a climb and when we were on flat ground. We had a very gradual hill at one point and thought that it was the big long descent at the end of the hill, but it wasn't.
Finally our confusion was relieved when we saw a steep grade sign indicating that we had finally made it to the top of the easiest 1,000 foot climb ever. On the downhill we both reached 42mph, which was pretty awesome. The views were beautiful as we passed through canyons and tall, steep mountains. The downhill was awesome, but I did have the self-control to stop for a couple pictures. We got out to the coast and enjoyed a nice tailwind for a long time. The mountains right when we got to the coast reminded me of Boulder.
In Santa Barbara, we passed through UCSB on a bike trail and eventually made it to Camille's house, where we'd be staying that night. The ride went by really fast even though it was about 55 miles. We averaged almost 13mph, which is awesomely fast for us.
Camille left a key for us under a flower pot, so we let ourselves in and helped ourselves to showers and laundry. After just relaxing on her couch for a while, we went down to town to check out the festival. It was pretty crazy. People were everywhere. Many of them were dressed up, hippy style, and tons of people had face paint. There was live music, a dance party, a collection of stands, food, etc. Mike and I were itching for a burrito, so we asked a local for directions to where we could get a burrito since there were none at the park. Just 4 blocks away, awesome. We walked the 4 blocks and didn't see the Chipotle. Kept walking a few more blocks and still didn't see it. Nobody we asked knew where it was really. They just said it's down there a few blocks on this side of the street. So we probably walked about 3/4 of a mile to get there, but we finally did. After walking back to the park, we ate our burritos next to the drum circle (about 30 people banging on drums). Camille called Mike and invited us to come to her friend's party a few blocks away. We went there, met Camille and her friends, and chatted with a few random drunk people. The party was pretty annoying, so we left with Camille and her friends and hung out with them for a little while downtown. They were all really cool. Several years older than me, but very nice. After hanging out with them for a while Mike and I went back to the house and slept soundly on Camille's couches.
I get the feeling we aren't supposed to be going up this ramp.
Day 33
June 24, 2011
I can hardly believe that I only have one week left. The time flies by and it just seems crazy that I'm almost done. When I started the tour, the distance I'd be going was just too great for me to really imagine. I took it one day at a time and here I am 33 days later almost done.
Mike and I rode together again today and went from Pismo Beach to Lompoc--pronounced Lom-poke as the ladies at the church explained while poking Mike.
You're probably wondering about this Mike guy. I originally met him in Monterey, saw him again at Kirk Creek, rode together for the day and we have just ended up riding together. At this point it looks like we'll just stick together until he catches the train in Santa Barbara. He's a very cool guy from Tucson and works part time as a Montessori teacher and part time at a bicycle co-op in Tucson called Bicas.
The ride was pretty boring since we were several miles inland among lots of flat farm country. There was one climb for the day in the Purisma hills which we tackled around lunch time. Mike was having some knee pain so we stopped half way up for lunch. As we ate two other touring cyclist passed us, going uphill. The wife waved and a minute later the husband came up and stopped to talk to us. He seemed happy for the break. We saw them again at the grocery store in Lompoc and got to know them a bit. Their names were Randy and Karen and they were from Portland, doing a portion of the Pacific Coast. They were very nice and a lot of fun to talk to for a while.
We had heard that the Lompoc area had no hiker/biker sites, so we tried to find a church to stay at again. It was pretty ridiculous though. We went to about 5 or 6 different churches and all but one said no. The other place had nobody there to give us permission. The area is apparently kind of ghetto and all of the churches had had problems with homeless people staying on their property. Eventually we called the campground in town and found out that they do in fact have hiker biker camping. So we just went over there after putting a ton of effort into finding a church. Oh well. Now we know how ghetto Lompoc is.
The campground we stayed at was alright. We met a group of mountain bikers riding around the area trying out different rides and we also met some Kiwis named Dan and Anna. We talked with them for an hour before going to bed about all the many differences between New Zealand and the US. Then we went to bed.
I can hardly believe that I only have one week left. The time flies by and it just seems crazy that I'm almost done. When I started the tour, the distance I'd be going was just too great for me to really imagine. I took it one day at a time and here I am 33 days later almost done.
Mike and I rode together again today and went from Pismo Beach to Lompoc--pronounced Lom-poke as the ladies at the church explained while poking Mike.
You're probably wondering about this Mike guy. I originally met him in Monterey, saw him again at Kirk Creek, rode together for the day and we have just ended up riding together. At this point it looks like we'll just stick together until he catches the train in Santa Barbara. He's a very cool guy from Tucson and works part time as a Montessori teacher and part time at a bicycle co-op in Tucson called Bicas.
The ride was pretty boring since we were several miles inland among lots of flat farm country. There was one climb for the day in the Purisma hills which we tackled around lunch time. Mike was having some knee pain so we stopped half way up for lunch. As we ate two other touring cyclist passed us, going uphill. The wife waved and a minute later the husband came up and stopped to talk to us. He seemed happy for the break. We saw them again at the grocery store in Lompoc and got to know them a bit. Their names were Randy and Karen and they were from Portland, doing a portion of the Pacific Coast. They were very nice and a lot of fun to talk to for a while.
We had heard that the Lompoc area had no hiker/biker sites, so we tried to find a church to stay at again. It was pretty ridiculous though. We went to about 5 or 6 different churches and all but one said no. The other place had nobody there to give us permission. The area is apparently kind of ghetto and all of the churches had had problems with homeless people staying on their property. Eventually we called the campground in town and found out that they do in fact have hiker biker camping. So we just went over there after putting a ton of effort into finding a church. Oh well. Now we know how ghetto Lompoc is.
The campground we stayed at was alright. We met a group of mountain bikers riding around the area trying out different rides and we also met some Kiwis named Dan and Anna. We talked with them for an hour before going to bed about all the many differences between New Zealand and the US. Then we went to bed.
Day 32
June 23, 2011
Today Mike and I rode from Hearst San Simeon State Park to Pismo Beach. The ride was pretty nice, but mostly uneventful. We passed through a few towns, stopped in Morro Bay to use the library's internet, and made it to San Luis Obispo for lunch. 40 miles before lunch feels good. San Luis Obispo seemed like a very cool city. It had a cool downtown area and a little creek to go hang out at, so we went down to the creek for lunch, gorging ourselves as always.
We were sitting down next to the creek, enjoying our food when I heard the name Jonathan shouted out. I looked up and heard it again. Some people up on the footbridge were calling my name and noticed me look up. They had my little green bag, which is the little bag that I keep absolutely everything important in. It has my wallet, keys, and cell phone. I'd be devastated without it and thankfully they found it on a bench I was sitting on for a minute before lunch. I thanked them and went back to gorging myself.
Mike had heard that there was a hotel in town called the Madonna Hotel that has the best bathroom ever and we had to go try it out. Along the way to the hotel we stopped at a bike shop to buy a new tire for me--an expensive touring tire which would hopefully prevent all the puncture flats I've had (2 this morning and many on previous days). We got to the hotel and planned how we would find this famous bathroom. We walked into a door that went to the cafe and it just so happened to be a side door, so nobody bothered us when we walked in. I was afraid we would have to do the old dine and dash in order to try this bathroom out, but we just walked right through and found the bathroom. It was just okay. Definitely a nice bathroom, but the only cool thing was the faucets were old pumps, like the ones you'd find in an old school state park, but it was automatic. Later on, we found out that there was some other bathroom in the hotel that has a waterfall you pee in and we missed it. Oh well.
We followed the route to Pismo Beach and started thinking about where we'd be staying. We had heard that there was no longer hiker/biker camping at the campground in town and we didn't feel like spending double the price for the normal tent sites. So we decided to find a church and ask if we could stay in their yard. Best idea ever. Kurtis did that on his tour from Denver to the east coast every single night, so I figured we could pretty easily find one to stay at for one night. The first church we went to was Community Presbyterian Church. There were a couple ladies and kids inside preparing for something so we walked in and asked if the pastor was around. They told us that they were pretty sure it would be fine for us to camp in the back yard, but that we could wait for 15 minutes for the pastor to come. They were having a kids sleepover ("VBS on speed") and he'd be by to drop his kids off. So we waited for a bit and Pastor Bob came up and gave us permission to stay there. He was very nice and was smart enough to make copies of our IDs, just in case. While we were in the backyard making dinner the kids all came running through. It was hilariously chaotic and we were very entertained by them. There were two ladies in charge of the sleepover named Suzanne and Karen. They came back and told us that they had some extra pizza for us, but we had already eaten dinner. Pretty awesome that they offered it though. Around 8:30 we went inside to brush our teeth and were caught by the ladies. We ended up spending a good 30-40 minutes in there joking around and eating pop corn while the kids watched a movie. It was a lot of fun and they told us they would make breakfast for us in the morning! So we went outside, slept like babies, and in the morning we came in for breakfast. They just kept offering more food. I had two big waffles, a couple bananas, and milk. Then when we got around to leaving, they piled a bunch of sandwiches, carrots, and bananas into our arms. We were really impressed by how nice they were to us and that night was one of the coolest nights I've had on my tour. So glad we stayed there.
Today Mike and I rode from Hearst San Simeon State Park to Pismo Beach. The ride was pretty nice, but mostly uneventful. We passed through a few towns, stopped in Morro Bay to use the library's internet, and made it to San Luis Obispo for lunch. 40 miles before lunch feels good. San Luis Obispo seemed like a very cool city. It had a cool downtown area and a little creek to go hang out at, so we went down to the creek for lunch, gorging ourselves as always.
Mike had heard that there was a hotel in town called the Madonna Hotel that has the best bathroom ever and we had to go try it out. Along the way to the hotel we stopped at a bike shop to buy a new tire for me--an expensive touring tire which would hopefully prevent all the puncture flats I've had (2 this morning and many on previous days). We got to the hotel and planned how we would find this famous bathroom. We walked into a door that went to the cafe and it just so happened to be a side door, so nobody bothered us when we walked in. I was afraid we would have to do the old dine and dash in order to try this bathroom out, but we just walked right through and found the bathroom. It was just okay. Definitely a nice bathroom, but the only cool thing was the faucets were old pumps, like the ones you'd find in an old school state park, but it was automatic. Later on, we found out that there was some other bathroom in the hotel that has a waterfall you pee in and we missed it. Oh well.
We followed the route to Pismo Beach and started thinking about where we'd be staying. We had heard that there was no longer hiker/biker camping at the campground in town and we didn't feel like spending double the price for the normal tent sites. So we decided to find a church and ask if we could stay in their yard. Best idea ever. Kurtis did that on his tour from Denver to the east coast every single night, so I figured we could pretty easily find one to stay at for one night. The first church we went to was Community Presbyterian Church. There were a couple ladies and kids inside preparing for something so we walked in and asked if the pastor was around. They told us that they were pretty sure it would be fine for us to camp in the back yard, but that we could wait for 15 minutes for the pastor to come. They were having a kids sleepover ("VBS on speed") and he'd be by to drop his kids off. So we waited for a bit and Pastor Bob came up and gave us permission to stay there. He was very nice and was smart enough to make copies of our IDs, just in case. While we were in the backyard making dinner the kids all came running through. It was hilariously chaotic and we were very entertained by them. There were two ladies in charge of the sleepover named Suzanne and Karen. They came back and told us that they had some extra pizza for us, but we had already eaten dinner. Pretty awesome that they offered it though. Around 8:30 we went inside to brush our teeth and were caught by the ladies. We ended up spending a good 30-40 minutes in there joking around and eating pop corn while the kids watched a movie. It was a lot of fun and they told us they would make breakfast for us in the morning! So we went outside, slept like babies, and in the morning we came in for breakfast. They just kept offering more food. I had two big waffles, a couple bananas, and milk. Then when we got around to leaving, they piled a bunch of sandwiches, carrots, and bananas into our arms. We were really impressed by how nice they were to us and that night was one of the coolest nights I've had on my tour. So glad we stayed there.
Day 31
June 22, 2011
Today I rode from Kirk Creek Campground to Hearst San Simeon State Park. I woke up, ate my breakfast and got ready to go. I was just about to pull out of the campground and was going to say goodbye to Mike at the neighboring campsite, but he was about to leave too. So we decided to just ride together for the day.
The ride was pretty nice and it was cool riding with someone else. The ride started with a long climb after a town called Gorda. During the climb we saw a group of cyclists doing the climb at about the same pace as us. They had several SUVs and a big truck carrying all their stuff and one of the suvs was trailing the riders to keep the traffic down. It looked pretty plush. After the fun descent we stopped at Ragged Point where the other cyclists had stopped for a break. They were a boy scout troop doing a week long supported tour. The troop leader came up and talked with us and one by one the scouts started coming up too. It was kind of funny because the man was telling all the scouts about my bike, explaining every little detail, and saying that if they ever go on a self-supported tour, they should do it just like I did it. He made me look like I was super well prepared and looking back at the tour I think he's right. I've been very happy with my preparation for this tour and I've met lots of people who have ended up getting in some unpleasant situations because they were unprepared.
Anyways, we said goodbye to the scouts and headed down the road, hoping to get a few more miles before lunch time. The scouts were in a few groups and the fast group passed us along with the troop leader in his SUV. He stopped ahead of us and took some action photos of us riding while he cheered us on. Just another mile down the road Mike and I stopped at a creek for lunch, gorging myself with vast amounts of peanut butter, bread, and fruit.
The day really passed by fast because it was pretty flat and we had a tail wind the whole time. Along the way we stopped at a couple beaches to look at elephant seals and to just chill. We arrived at the camp ground and just chilled for the evening. There was a beach nearby so we went over there, looked for cool pebbles, and grabbed some driftwood for a fire. After putting an enormous amount of effort into building a fire, I finally got it to start. Stupid fog makes everything damp.
Today I rode from Kirk Creek Campground to Hearst San Simeon State Park. I woke up, ate my breakfast and got ready to go. I was just about to pull out of the campground and was going to say goodbye to Mike at the neighboring campsite, but he was about to leave too. So we decided to just ride together for the day.
I love these roads that are on the edge of the cliff. It gets the adrenaline pumping.
The ride was pretty nice and it was cool riding with someone else. The ride started with a long climb after a town called Gorda. During the climb we saw a group of cyclists doing the climb at about the same pace as us. They had several SUVs and a big truck carrying all their stuff and one of the suvs was trailing the riders to keep the traffic down. It looked pretty plush. After the fun descent we stopped at Ragged Point where the other cyclists had stopped for a break. They were a boy scout troop doing a week long supported tour. The troop leader came up and talked with us and one by one the scouts started coming up too. It was kind of funny because the man was telling all the scouts about my bike, explaining every little detail, and saying that if they ever go on a self-supported tour, they should do it just like I did it. He made me look like I was super well prepared and looking back at the tour I think he's right. I've been very happy with my preparation for this tour and I've met lots of people who have ended up getting in some unpleasant situations because they were unprepared.
Anyways, we said goodbye to the scouts and headed down the road, hoping to get a few more miles before lunch time. The scouts were in a few groups and the fast group passed us along with the troop leader in his SUV. He stopped ahead of us and took some action photos of us riding while he cheered us on. Just another mile down the road Mike and I stopped at a creek for lunch, gorging myself with vast amounts of peanut butter, bread, and fruit.
Elephant seals fighting
The day really passed by fast because it was pretty flat and we had a tail wind the whole time. Along the way we stopped at a couple beaches to look at elephant seals and to just chill. We arrived at the camp ground and just chilled for the evening. There was a beach nearby so we went over there, looked for cool pebbles, and grabbed some driftwood for a fire. After putting an enormous amount of effort into building a fire, I finally got it to start. Stupid fog makes everything damp.
Mike at the beach
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