Tuesday, October 30, 2012
PEDALING to the BORDER
Monday, Oct.29th
Cardiff- Imperial Beach 51 miles
The last hurrah started with a fine send off from Barney, Foo and Albie. Along the coast highway in rush hour traffic, up the long Torrey Pines Hill (those hills don't faze us anymore!) and into La Jolla for a final glimpse, smell and barks of the harbor seals, along the beach in Pacific and Mission Beaches, bike lanes along the airport and into downtown. We caught a water taxi with a minute to spare and were in Coronado in 5 minutes. More lovely bike paths then the many miles of Silver Strand bike path where the fog rolled in. As we reached Imperial Beach the sun reemerged. Foo hooked up with us twice for bystander/sag cheer leading then with the border fence in view, we made the final turn onto Monument Rd, a rural horse farm road. Made it to the beach and the nonexistent monument and with border patrol jeeps, forbidding & high double fences, warnings signs, the bull ring by the sea and the Tijuana Lighthouse in the background, we declared victory! The border patrol obviously did not get the memo since there were no margaritas to be seen anywhere!
1700 + miles, 70,000 feet of vertical climb, weariness and a whole lot of new friends- we did it!!!
Cardiff- Imperial Beach 51 miles
The last hurrah started with a fine send off from Barney, Foo and Albie. Along the coast highway in rush hour traffic, up the long Torrey Pines Hill (those hills don't faze us anymore!) and into La Jolla for a final glimpse, smell and barks of the harbor seals, along the beach in Pacific and Mission Beaches, bike lanes along the airport and into downtown. We caught a water taxi with a minute to spare and were in Coronado in 5 minutes. More lovely bike paths then the many miles of Silver Strand bike path where the fog rolled in. As we reached Imperial Beach the sun reemerged. Foo hooked up with us twice for bystander/sag cheer leading then with the border fence in view, we made the final turn onto Monument Rd, a rural horse farm road. Made it to the beach and the nonexistent monument and with border patrol jeeps, forbidding & high double fences, warnings signs, the bull ring by the sea and the Tijuana Lighthouse in the background, we declared victory! The border patrol obviously did not get the memo since there were no margaritas to be seen anywhere!
1700 + miles, 70,000 feet of vertical climb, weariness and a whole lot of new friends- we did it!!!
CARDIFF BY THE SEA
Sunday, Oct. 28
San Clemente - Cardiff 37 miles
Bike paths, state parks,for miles today including through Camp Pendleton (picture id required at the guard shack)and seriously serious peletons of young men all dressed alike everywhere! Made it to friends Sheri and Barney's house to rest up for the last push!
San Clemente - Cardiff 37 miles
Bike paths, state parks,for miles today including through Camp Pendleton (picture id required at the guard shack)and seriously serious peletons of young men all dressed alike everywhere! Made it to friends Sheri and Barney's house to rest up for the last push!
ALMOST THERE
Saturday, Oct. 27th
Huntington Beach - San Clemente 28miles
Hundreds of weekend bicyclists out on the beautiful and heavily trafficked PCH. Coffee break in Laguna Beach. Had a lovely Sat. night sunset dinner on the SC pier with Katie and super sag Foo
*Met with college friend Dee White
Huntington Beach - San Clemente 28miles
Hundreds of weekend bicyclists out on the beautiful and heavily trafficked PCH. Coffee break in Laguna Beach. Had a lovely Sat. night sunset dinner on the SC pier with Katie and super sag Foo
*Met with college friend Dee White
SURVIVING L.A.
Friday, Oct. 26th. Malibu-Huntington Beach. 65 miles
Started the morning in Malibu with strange, inconsistent head, tail and cross winds which luckily soon disappeared. Rode miles and miles of bike paths along deserted wide beaches; Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice ( pretty tame at 10 am on a weekday),Santa Monica, then started the slog through the less scenic parts of LA. Now I know why WT Pacific Coast Tour ends in Ventura!
*Nancy White and family meeting us in Belmont Shores
*Biked along the oh so not scenic, concrete lined Los Angeles River with a boat (oh no that's a truck!) driving up the middle of it)
Started the morning in Malibu with strange, inconsistent head, tail and cross winds which luckily soon disappeared. Rode miles and miles of bike paths along deserted wide beaches; Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice ( pretty tame at 10 am on a weekday),Santa Monica, then started the slog through the less scenic parts of LA. Now I know why WT Pacific Coast Tour ends in Ventura!
*Nancy White and family meeting us in Belmont Shores
*Biked along the oh so not scenic, concrete lined Los Angeles River with a boat (oh no that's a truck!) driving up the middle of it)
Thursday, October 25, 2012
QUEST for the MARGARITA CONTINUES
Ventura-Malibu 48.8 miles
Katie and I take off at a leisurely 9:15, heading south. 14 miles out Katie gets not one but two flat tires and Sir Supersag Jeffrey Fouse has to go into action -finding a bike store to buy extra tubes and a floor pump. He did a fine job his first day of sagging! Rolled through farm fields and alongside Air Force bases and then along the beautiful Pacific on the Pacific Coast Highway
Katie and I take off at a leisurely 9:15, heading south. 14 miles out Katie gets not one but two flat tires and Sir Supersag Jeffrey Fouse has to go into action -finding a bike store to buy extra tubes and a floor pump. He did a fine job his first day of sagging! Rolled through farm fields and alongside Air Force bases and then along the beautiful Pacific on the Pacific Coast Highway
VENTURA REST DAY
Weds. 10/24
Most of the group took off early to LAX and the few of us remaining enjoyed a leisure day in the warm southern California sun. Enjoyed a restorative massage (thank you Patti) and a stroll around Ventura where I saw the biggest ficus tree I have ever seen and a man with a giant boa constrictor around his neck. - couldn't bear to take a picture- welcome to the wild world of So Ca. Foo, aka Senior Sag Manager First Class arrived in the afternoon - VERY happy to see Mr. JP Bigtime!
Most of the group took off early to LAX and the few of us remaining enjoyed a leisure day in the warm southern California sun. Enjoyed a restorative massage (thank you Patti) and a stroll around Ventura where I saw the biggest ficus tree I have ever seen and a man with a giant boa constrictor around his neck. - couldn't bear to take a picture- welcome to the wild world of So Ca. Foo, aka Senior Sag Manager First Class arrived in the afternoon - VERY happy to see Mr. JP Bigtime!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
VENTURA!
Tuesday 10/23. Lompoc-Ventura 57 miles plus a train ride. Started in the cold chilly fog-wait, aren't we in southern California? The only rain of the trip was Monday night in Lompoc. The early fog burned off and we entered the 101 freeway for 20+ miles. The bad news was it is a freeway and the good news was the road surface couldn't have been any smoother and there were terrifically strong tailwinds. So we sailed into Santa Barbara, through UCSB campus ( on the ocean!) and then bike trails through the city. Ended up at the Amtrak Station and took a hop with our bikes on the train, along the ocean into Ventura- what a way to wrap it up! Wildly celebratory farewell dinner at a local restaurant with speeches, poems, songs and lots of wine to fuel it all.
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