Category: X-Country (Page 4 of 10)

In the morning, after breakfast and coffee, I cleaned the sand from my shoes and off of the bike, did a quick lube job, put them in the sun to dry, and packed up to head out. I did find that a bracket on my front pannier rack was broken clear through, most likely on the same rough path where my phone holder broke. Not an immediate problem as I didn’t have the front bags on, but something I need to address in the next couple of days. I said my goodbyes and thanks to Mary Jane and Sharon and was back on the road.

I had a text from John that he and his friend Reed would like to meet me for a beer on Sunday on my way back to the South Bay. I sent him my route and Reed suggested the Market Tavern in La Brea where John, Reed and Reed’s roommate Hugh met me.

Continuing from my earlier quick update.

The evening before I had told John and Luke that I wanted to take them to dinner and get them properly fueled for their almost century ride today. They protested, but I insisted. Their guidance on the trip down the coast saved me a lot of planning time and even more consternation. John W drove us to his favorite Mexican restaurant and we all picked a special which came with a happy hour priced beer. I had a burrito bowl. Delish.

That’s a line from Simon and Garfunkel’s Punky’s Dilema and so apt.

Time to leave the yacht behind. In the morning, we said goodbye to Harald and Elise who were both staying in a hostel in Santa Monica and flying out of LA in a few days. Luke, John, and I made our way to John W’s house in Torrance after wending our ways down the coast through Malibu and the crowded paths at the Santa Monica Pier. Once past that, we rejoined at a state park and rode together to John W’s house through the much quieter Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beaches.

Dry pack up at Refugio this morning.

I may repeat such little details so much that you’re saying to yourself, “Enough!”, but small things mean a lot out here on the road when everything you have fits into four rather small satchels attached to your bike. At dinner last night John commented that when asked what he learned from the trip he’d say, “You don’t need very much, and simple little things mean a lot and can make you very happy.” Things like a dry tent; a real brewed coffee; a tailwind; a shower that you don’t have to feed quarters; a cheap beer, a night on a yacht.

So much to catch up on since Day 63, and I’ll get to 64-65 as soon as I can. Right now, I’m in Torrance, CA with John W. who I hosted twice through Warm Showers this past June and July. He is kindly returning the favor and I’ve been catching up with him on his April-September 7,000 mile tour. Stay tuned for updates to today and previous days.

Ahhh. Hot Coffee before the ride. And refrigerated yogurt and museli. Luxury.

However, even the ethereal Doty Ranch couldn’t escape the coastal fog and it was a wet pack-up and cool start. The sun was out by ten though, and I was soon stripping off my long sleeve shirt and jacket. The biggest thing I noticed on the ride today was the change in the hills. Instead of burnt-out grass and scrub bushes, the hills were lushly green with trees, grass, and shrubs.

Still a mild reaction to the vaccine, so I rode to Salinas and made a quick stop at the John Steinbeck house and museum before getting on the train to San Luis Obispo (SLO). There, I’ll do a short ride to Morro Bay State Park and camp. Hoping to connect up with John, Luke, and Harald tomorrow at least for a day or two.

First task on day 60 (after coffee) was to fix the flat I got on the way home from errands yesterday afternoon. I walked about 2 miles with the flat because I had forgotten to bring my pump. Turned out to be a brad nail that put two holes in the tube.

It wasn’t a big delay and in the first 36 miles I had only gone up 575′ & down 340.’ The one climb of the day was 900′ so not bad for 50 some miles in CA. The weather was standard for CA so far: cool and foggy in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoon. Coming over Mt. Madonna into south Santa Cruz county, the fields in the valley were covered in white structures. Solar panels maybe? No, as I got closer, I saw that it was plastic covering the fields. Sometimes roofs over blue berries and raspberries, sometimes plastic over strawberry rows, and sometimes a field was just covered completely in long rows of whiteish plastic.