San Diego

The fireworks were amazing! Everyone put lawn chairs on the beach to watch the fireworks being launched from a boat just offshore. We don't carry chairs on the bike but found an empty bench at the entrance to the sand. The show for Dana Point started at 9:00, but other coastal city displays started earlier. We could see fireworks to our south and behind us. It really was spectacular.

Hiker-Biker site at Doheny State Beach

Surprisingly the campground quieted down quickly. We were concerned about theft since there were multiple signs about not leaving bikes out. The girl working the booth when we checked in took a look at our bike and told me it shouldn't be a problem as thieves were only targeting "high-end bikes". I didn't bother to tell her that our bike cost as much as many of those high-end bikes. To thwart off a disaster we locked the bike to some bushes at the hiker-biker site, hung our bear bells on the spokes, & strapped the front wheel to the frame. Then we set the tent up in front of the bike and tied the rainfly to the bike. We figured by the time a thief got the bike from behind the tent we would hear it. Around 12:30 I woke to footsteps near my head. I nudged Rob when I saw the shadow of a person on the tent wall. We quickly unzipped the tent to find a "cyclist" with some story about not finding his buddies who had his tent & sleeping bag. He left soon after.

The Amtrak trains started around 6:00 am about 30 feet from our tent (at least it seemed that close). We were up early but still didn't get on the road until 9:00ish.  Most of the day's ride was a repeat from previous rides. Once again we pedaled past San Onofre nuclear generating station. Then through the 3-mile parking lot of a campground to the northern entrance to Camp Pendleton. Lots of new construction on the base. A new dining facility & troop housing. It didn't seem as long or hard of a ride as I remembered. I do believe we have become stronger riders.

Pier in Oceanside

We stopped at The Breakfast Club Diner in Oceanside for lunch and to discuss plans. The last public campground was only a 35 mile ride for the day - not quite far enough for our goals. There were a couple of private campgrounds in San Diego, but the closer one was full & the other was too far to ride to. We were across the street from the Oceanside library so I went in to use the computers to find another hotel. Once again we are camped out at Camp Hilton.

We save space in the panniers for food,
but the baguette didn't fit!

The day's challenge was the La Jolla hill at Torrey Pines. We stopped at a small market in Del Mar to load up on no-cook dinner & breakfast foods. We managed the hill with just one stop to catch my breath. At the top of the hill was the hotel - my motivation to keep going  The hotel personnel are always surprised when we say we're checking in. The day's total: 54 miles.

Torrey Pines - Beach trail

So now the bike is in the room (it fits nicely in an elevator), and we are sitting by the pool sipping drinks and reading. We hiked around Torrey Pines State Reserve for a couple of hours this morning. We watched the junior golfers practicing for the world championship at the Torrey Pines golf course as we had lunch. Life is good! Tomorrow we will finish our ride to the border. Kendal will pick us up at the border and come back to the hotel for our last night. We head home on Sunday with a stop at Stone Brewery for lunch & beer.

LAX to Doheny State Beach

Imperial Hwy near LAX on the morning
of the 4th of July; traffic was heavy
the night before.

Doheny State Beach 71 miles. We obviously can't add or read a map. Supposed to be a 60 mile day.  We left our hotel at LAX and back-tracked to the beach. Much less traffic this time. We got back on the bike path.

This was taken before noon. It only
got busier throughout the day.

Lots of people out getting ready for the 4th of July. Seemed every beach, pier, and parking lot was packed with tents, pop-ups and lots of food. We dodged many other bikes on all the beach bike paths we were on today. We rode on Hwy 1 when we could to make up time. Had a head wind most of the day also so it was slow going.

Family we met on the bike path. They
tour on two tandems.

Even though the bike paths were slow we did talk to some interesting people. In El Segundo we saw a whole family on bikes and all three kids had trailers. They go everywhere on bikes and do not have a car. They were heading back home to Culver City. Shortly after that we saw another Co-motion tandem. We caught up and started talking to them. Mom and daughter were on the tandem and dad and son were on solo bikes. They had another tandem at home and have bike toured a lot. We rode and talked a long time and they escorted us to a great coffee house for breakfast.

We said hi to many others and lots of comments on our bike. There was a woman following us (and keeping up) on a cruiser. She was on her way to work. So much traffic she decided to ride the five miles to work. That's pretty good on a cruiser. Near the end of all the bike paths for the day we saw another tandem. They too had toured but were just out for a ride.

The perks of a bicycle vacation!

We stopped for a late lunch in  between Seal and Huntington Beach.  I was hungry and a bit grouchy. The burger & milkshake were good, but I pulled something in my groin & was in pain. I tried to walk it off. We tried to ride but I had to stop. We got off and walked for a couple blocks and I took some Advil. Got back on & rode slow. All was better. Just one of those guy things.



There were many hills at the end of the day riding through Laguna Beach and to our camp site. We stopped for groceries and finally made it. We are beat. The hiker/biker site is a sandy area 50' x 30' behind the showers. All to ourselves but noisy around us. The sky is overcast; guess we'll see colored clouds tonight instead of fireworks.

Day ???

We haven't been very good about posting to the blog. I looked back this morning and saw San Simeon as the last entry. A few thoughts and memories from the past few days:

From San Simeon we rode to Pismo Beach. We stopped for some awesome scones in Cayucos. When we stopped at the bakery, a local man (town crier?) came running in to say they had just found a body floating in the surf. We never found out anymore about it, but after he announced it to several people it was as if life just kept going - everyone went back to reading their papers or serving customers.

Rob & Doug in Cayucos.
The first newspaper we
had seen since June 30.

On a short little climb out of Cayucos, I felt a sharp pain in the muscle above my knee that only got worse the more I pedaled. By the time we stopped at the top the tears were flowing. Not much to do but pop a couple of Advil & keep going.

We met Jan at a sketchy laundromat in the outskirts of Morro Bay. She had gone ahead to do our laundry. Jan has been great to have along! She buys the groceries, cooks, AND does laundry. No, really, it was fun having someone to talk with at the end of each day who had done something other than ride a bike.

Morrow Bay

Ice cream on the pier in Pismo Beach.

We had lunch on the waterfront in Morrow Bay & then pedaled on through San Luis Obispo to Pismo Beach. Jan caught up with us again in Pismo. We had some fabulous ice cream & watched all the people down near the pier. It was a short ride to Oceano State Beach to set up camp. Our friends, Teresa & Leigh came to visit and have dinner. It was so much fun to catch up with them.

View from the top.

The next morning my leg seemed a little better. The Pacific Coast Bike Route had an alternate route - looking ahead at the main route was a long slow climb. The alternate route looked relatively flat. Boy did we make a mistake! Just around the bend was a short, intense hill. It was the first (and only) hill we all walked.







We rode through Guadalupe before a parade. Thankfully the officers didn't make us detour around the parade route. Lots of farming in this area. We came upon a crew picking celery. I was so fascinated by the process I forgot to pull my camera out. We had no idea the field was celery until we saw them handling their machetes.

Encouragement painted on the
road at the top of the hill.

Around the 30 mile mark my leg started really hurting again. Unfortunately this was also the start up Harris Grade Road. We were inland so it was hot too. We rode by some raspberry farms where workers were picking. I think we take our food supply for granted & don't always consider the work that goes into getting it from farm to table.

The ride downhill was fun and long! We stopped at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto for lunch. Rob & I had spent our anniversary this year in the Lompoc area tasting wine & riding. It was fun to be back. He and I split a glass of Syrah - knowing we still had some long climbs ahead of us.

Lunch at Lompoc's Wine Ghetto.

We finally made it to Buellton late in the afternoon. Jan had already set up camp at a private RV park. There were some massive RVs there! Rob & I went to sit in the hot tub for a bit and started talking to some people about our trip. One of the guys looked so familiar to both of us. Turned out we had homeschooled our kids together! It had been 15 years since we saw them last. Small world!

Lunch in Solvang

The next day was a scheduled rest day. We walked to breakfast, did laundry, and went into Solvang with Doug & Jan. Teresa & Leigh also joined us for the day. Rob actually found someone to give me a massage on a Sunday afternoon which was absolutely wonderful! The other highlight of our Solvang day was a little museum about the Danish immigrants to Solvang. We ended the day at a fabulous tapas wine bar back in Buellton. At Avanti we were given a card to insert into wine dispensers. You could choose a 1-oz taste, a half glass, or full glass of more than 20 local wines. The food was great too!

We parted ways with Doug & Jan the next morning. My leg was feeling much better but we weren't sure if we could do the planned 72-mile ride to Ventura. We stopped at a bike shop for a minor derailleur adjustment and ended up with new brake pads and a brake cable barrel adjuster. It took a while so we went across the street for lunch and a bag of ice on my leg. We decided to go for the long day and made reservations at a hotel in Ventura.

We rode the route from Santa Barbara to Oceanside in Oct, 2008, so we already had an idea of the ride ahead. We stopped at an amazing garden center just before Carpenteria - Seaside Gardens. Good thing we were on a bike or we probably would have come home with plants, or my favorite fountain! They had acres of gardens designed by different landscapers. This is definitely a place we want to visit again.

Today's ride was much easier than four years ago. Then we were new to touring, and it was a weekend. Riding through Malibu is tough because all the cars parked along the road. The hill near Pepperdine wasn't as bad as we remembered it.  There's not any tent camping in LA proper so we opted for another night in a hotel. Kendal made the reservations and Taylor & Justin met us for dinner. It's after 9:00 pm now. Time for bed. The plan is to ride another 60+ mile day tomorrow and camp in a hiker-biker site.

Day 6: San Simeon

Cale, our impromptu camp guest, looked at our bike in the morning. We were having a couple issues. The bike did work a little better. We all left around the same time, Cale sprinting up the hill to Hwy 1 while we walked up the steep hill. This was the first time we have walked up a hill! Cale's bike was steel frame but had thin tires and only twenty spokes. He carried all his gear in front panniers. He was breaking spokes. Luckily he rides a lot and has lots of bikes so he knew what to do. Next time I think he will change his set up. Riding day after day carrying gear puts a lot of stress on the bike (and our bodies). Wide tires, deep rims and 48 spokes on our rear wheel. Haven't had a flat yet.

Our first stop was Gorda. Cale was there having breakfast with another bike tourist, Cat. She was riding alone from SF to SLO after rock climbing in Yosemite in between grad schools. We had coffee and goodies.

After Gorda we had two big, long, steep climbs. Our hardest to date. Slow and steady we stopped only once each hill. Imagine we used to stop at the top of Rancho Vista out of breath. That "hill" is barely a bump in the road compared to this trip.

Ragged Point

We lunched at Ragged Point. We had some cell service so I called the office. Gave them encouragement to handle all the issues that have come up.











We had to stop and watch the elephant seals at Point Piedras Blancas.  Mostly young adult males fighting for fun.

Waiting for Jan at our prime campsite

We got to San Simeon State Park before Jan so we picked out a great site and lounged around until she showed up. It was pretty windy so after cooking the steaks we all ate in the camper. Cosy but nice. Funny, we have been together a week but still have things to talk and laugh about. After dinner we walked around the park and then sat around the fire until bedtime (9PM).

Day 5: Limekiln, Big Sur coast

The ride into Limekiln at the southern end of Big Sur was just as scenic as the first half. We had a hard, three mile climb first thing in the morning. It was nice to get it over with right away while we were still relatively fresh. We did have to stop part way up to stretch my back.  We stopped at the Coastal Gallery for coffee and a sweet. The gallery had the coolest bird houses painted in bright colors with steep tin roofs and things like bent spoons, door knobs, or water faucets just under the hole for birds to land on. We bought a beautiful birds-eye maple travel size cribbage board at the gallery. The guy laughed when I said he could keep the box & didn't need a bag - too much extra bulk & weight to carry.  We did a side trip to Julia Pfeiffer-Burns SP for a hike overlooking a waterfall that spills onto the beach below. There are a few walk-in tent sites on the bluff nearby. We made note of them for a future trip.  The last major climb of the day ended just past Lucia. We stopped for our ice cream there and also found a sticker with "I survived Hwy 1" on it. Bought it for our bike tool chest. Everything was expensive at Lucia. Our two ice cream bars & the sticker were over $12; Jan bought us a 6-pack of beer there for $14. It tasted great by the time we found her.  Limekiln campground is on the chopping block next week due to the state budget problems. There were only a few spaces available near the beach when Jan got there. Three fourths of the campground - the part in the redwoods - was already closed. We did get to hike a bit and saw the limekilns for which the park is named. Rob & I crisscrossed the creek a few times to go see an amazing waterfall. We did the same hike with Kendal several years ago.  After dinner (yummy shrimp scampi) another cyclist came by looking for a campsite. We offered him a place to pitch his tent for the night and heard stories of his travels. Cale is much younger than us & is doing the same trip in just one week. We watched the sunset on the beach before returning to our campfire for s'mores. 

Day 4: Pfeiffer Big Sur

Wonderful ride today! Awful climb up out of the campground & a short stint on the freeway but quickly made our way into Carmel. Once again the weather was perfect.  We took a side trip to Point Lobos State Reserve - probably the most beautiful section of the California coast we have seen so far.  Highway 1 into Big Sur was narrow and windy. The first sign said windy road next 90 miles. A bit up the road another sign said "hills and curves next 63 miles". We had some climbs but the biggest hills are still ahead. The wind pushed us up and down the hills. I offered to unzip my jacket to make a sail at one point.  We stopped at the town of Big Sur for a snack which we had sitting on chairs in the middle of the river.  Once in camp, we road to the nature center for a hike up to Pfeiffer Falls. Decided to take an extra side hike to a vista point overlooking the valley.  Sitting in camp now by a warm fire. Have showered & had dinner. Talking about the ride tomorrow.  We are posting lots of photos and waypoints via Track My Tour. Click on the link to see where we are. 

Day 3 - Ride to Monterey

Day 3: Santa Cruz to Monterey. Jan was supposed to race ahead and grab a campsite for it was first come first serve. Well one tire on the camper was low so she beat us out of camp and went to Costco. Two hours later she was back on the road. Stressed that we would not get a site she "raced" to Monterey. Plenty of spots. No problem. She spent the day in Cannery Row and went to the  aquarium.  Strawberries are not all grown in Oxnard! We rode past miles of strawberries, artichokes and Brussels sprouts. It hurt my back seeing all the farm workers bent over gathering each crop. We were on Hwy 1 for awhile even when it was a freeway. Soon after Castroville we finished the rest of ride on bike paths! There were a couple of small climbs but most of the day was constant rollers until the end.  We ate in Moss Landing at Haute Enchilada. Funky place with great food. We had artichoke soup and split a steamed artichoke with sundried tomato tapanade as appetizers.  We met up with Jan, had ice cream and then headed to the laundromat while she and Doug went shopping. After laundry we headed up to Vets Memorial Park. Up is an understatement. Over a mile climb with some sections around 10%. Granny gear all the way. We only stopped once to take our jackets off. Big Sur here we come! No fire tonight but we could BBQ. We are all cold so we are off to bed.  (the weather today was again amazing)

Day 1 (Half Moon Bay) & Day 2 (New Brighton Beach)

Day 1: We said goodbye to Ken & headed up to Golden Gate Park. Deborah came with us to navigate. The Bridge parking area was packed! We finally found two spots, unloaded the bikes, and took the requisite photos with the bridge in the background. We were a bit concerned about fog, but the sky was blue & beautiful. Jan, Kendal, & Deborah headed to China Town for tea tasting & dim sum; the three of us (Rob, Evelyn, & Doug) turned south toward Half Moon Bay. It was a fairly short ride (33 miles)with only one trecherous climb. We stopped for beer & nachos at Half Moon Bay Brewery when we called Jan & found out she was still in China Town. The state beach campground was full so we made reservations at Cameron's Pub RV resort. After dinner we went to the pub for black & tans and ice cream sundaes We rode just under 60 miles today. Sitting in front of the fire, showered, hydrated while dinner is going. Today was beautiful, blue skies and a stiff breeze at our backs. We stopped four times at state parks or beaches. We saw lighthouses, tide pools and seals. The Nor Cal coast is wonderful. Jan met us for lunch at Ana Nuevo where we made our own sandwiches. We toured the interpretive center and watched the movie but did not hike the two miles to see the elephant seals. Davenport was our fist official ice cream stop. Ev had ollilaberry and honey. We made it into Santa Cruz riding on the bike path ending up at Boardwalk. We were off the map and then tried to find our way to the campground using the map, the book and Google maps. We made it but we probably added 5 extra miles. Tomorrow is 40 relatively flat miles into Monterey.

Packing Completed

Several people have asked about what we take on a trip like this. As I double-checked our list and put things in their places I snapped a few photos. We have a three-page checklist that seems to change every time I look at it.

Our Kitchen
From left to right (sort of), fuel, dishes, cook set, utensils, dish towel, coffee supplies, cutting board, foil & paper towels, dishwasher supplies (cat not included).

The Bathroom
Shower, shaving, dental, hair supplies, towels, shower shoes, etc. Nelson never likes to see us go and is always in the middle of packing:)

Accommodations
We carry two sleeping bags (in the blue & gold  [Go Bruins!] stuff sacks), two blow-up pillows, two insulated blow-up mattresses (in the green stuff sack), tent poles, tent, ground cloth, and rain fly. All the tent gear fits in that black packing tube on the right.

Clothing
The rain gear is on the left. We will send the rain pants home with Jan & Doug when they leave us in Solvang. Our new riding gloves are at the bottom of the photo. The rest are mostly Rob's clothes - hiking pants, riding jerseys, etc., and my new Patagonia skirt and top from REI. I didn't get my clothes packed before this photo, so double the amount of riding gear to get an idea of what we take combined.

Miscellaneous Other Stuff
First aid kit, bike repair kit, tent repair kit, maps, 2 Buffs, sun block, straps, head lamps, a Stick, and our security system - two bear bells (plus a cable lock).

All of this stuff fits into our two panniers, a handle-bar bag, and strapped on the back rack of the bike. We leave the handle-bar bag and one pocket of the panniers pretty empty so we have a place to carry food and a bottle of beer or wine we pick up for dinner at the end of each day.

Three more days before we start.

We took the bike to Block Bikes this afternoon for a tune up. We really like Rich and his new shop; he has a whole new crew and the shop has a different and positive vibe. We showed up around noon (Wednesday) and the place was packed! We got new rear disc brake pads and they adjusted the entire drive train. They also replaced the front derailleur cable. We took a spin around the parking lot and wow, what a difference! The brakes felt firm and it shifted great. We ran up and down all the gear combinations, even ones that cross the chain and it was solid. Tomorrow we plan to ride early and then ride the Block social ride tomorrow night.

Ev is again going through all the gear tonight. Looks like Doug's wife, Jan will be joining us. She will sag so we get to bring a little more gear, food and wine at least for the first week. It kinda feels like cheating - not carrying all our gear - but oh well. Most still think we are crazy.

We normally eat oatmeal for every breakfast at the campsite. On our own, we usually eat out for lunch and then buy dinner makings before we get into camp. Jan will probably get picnic supplies for lunches which does save money and some time. She will also get dinner makings. All should be good. Last trip Doug was vegetarian. This trip he's Paleo. Go figure? Jan is also gluten free. Ev and I just eat whatever we want as long as it's mostly fresh. I don't think Paleo does ice cream nor chocolate milk. How does one ride without daily ice cream? Sometimes you just need chocolate milk to avoid bonking on hot days. Sorry Doug but we must eat our ice cream. You ride over 50 miles a day and you deserve it!

Ev is about finished. She took pictures of all our gear in groups (cooking, first aid, sleeping etc.) She'll post these photos tonight or tomorrow.

Oh, Ev's passport came in the mail today! Now we have to really decide if we are going into Mexico the last two days.

T minus 5 days

We leave for the Bay Area this Friday and start our ride on Saturday at the Golden Gate Bridge. We spent last weekend going through all our gear and packing. Took us over four hours.That's all our gear on the guest room bed. Not the LA pillow and the plastic bin is temporary storage for the small stuff, but everything else. All fits on the bike and that's all we need for our two week trip.

 I want to get new brake pads for the rear disc brake and Ev is already stressing about all that needs to get done this week. Have to get in some riding too!

Three Rides in Three Days

Well we rode Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not what you are thinking.

On Friday we had a “Dave Ramsey” date night. Rode the Townies to the mall. Used gifts cards from Christmas to see a terrible movie. Rode to Outback Steakhouse and used a gift card for dinner. Rode back home in the dark with just a small headlamp. Ev was right we should have put the lights on. Great date night!

Saturday we rode over to Block Bikes for the Saturday ride. Good turnout with some new riders. We rode toward the aqueduct and split into the fast and not so fast group. Like last time we rode with the fast group but took a little shorter route. Rich still waxed all of us. We split off before they got back to the shop and registered 25 miles.

We slept in Sunday and by the time we might have thought about riding it was hot. We instead went to Pasadena to see Taylor and deliver Ev’s home-made yogurt. Back home and after dinner we did a neighborhood Townie ride.

We really plan to ride tomorrow morning. Bright and early, on the road before 5:30AM. We’ll see…

This summer's proposed route

We slept in a little today but we finally got on the bike around 10AM. We (actually I, since I have total control) did not have a plan. We ended up on Elizabeth Lake Road and stopped for breakfast in Leona Valley. Pancakes, eggs and bacon at Scramblez. We split one order. We then turned west and continued riding to Munz Ranch Road then rode along the aqueduct. It was a beautiful day in the high 50's and no wind. The snow-covered hills were in the distance. We saw a roadrunner, a couple of hawks, and lots of duck couples. We waved and said hi to many of the fisherman on the aqueduct. We were both pretty tired at the end and the odometer register 39.1 miles as we pulled up to the house. We really need to ride more during the week!

Riding along the aqueduct

Just a few poppies.

Later in the afternoon we got out the book, maps and the two dueling laptops to finalize our summer's trip. We think we have a plan. Hopefully California does not close all the State Parks that have Hiker/Biker sites. We have hosted many bike travelers through warmshowers.org but we have never stayed with anyone ourselves. Ev searched the site and we may stay with one in the San Diego Area. There is also one in Ensenada Mexico. We have a couple extra days at the end and this intrigues us. Ev emailed him to see if it is doable and safe. Our other option is to hit a few of the San Diego Co. breweries for a beer-tasting weekend. 

Even though I told Google Maps to find the bike route, when printed it still shows car driving time. Here is the map!

Kern County Ride

While we love riding in our desert, especially in the spring, you can go up to 90th Street West & Ave L only so many times and not get bored. We scanned the neighboring bike club web sites and found a ride with the Kern Wheelman, a club out of Bakersfield. This club has many rides on the weekends and we joined the Slow Spokes group riding from Caliente to Twin Oaks and back. We were, of course, the only tandem. We left at 8AM and rode with Joe and Raul at the head of the pack... well, we actually left the pack. It is a steady but moderate 15 mile climb to Twin Oaks. We dodged cattle and had a slight head wind but the ride was great.

We stopped at TOGS (Twin Oaks General Store) for breakfast. The four of us ordered while we waited for the others as we were warned about the prompt service. Pancakes and eggs. 

The ride down was sweet and fast. We dodged many more cows and averaged in the mid 20's most of the way down, hitting 30 mph a couple of times. The last 5 miles we faced a fierce headwind as the valley floor had heated up and the wind was racing back up into the canyon. We got caught by a train right at the end back in Caliente. We loaded our bike and said our good byes. Thanks to Richard, the ride leader, for letting us tag along. 

Rob, Joe and Raul.

Here it comes!

We then went to the Tehachapi Loop, an item on Evelyn's bucket list and another place that we have driven by hundreds of times but never stopped. This engineering marvel has a train go under itself around a big loop. We waited for about a 1/2 hour before a train came. It is pretty amazing.

The Loop!

On it's way.

Marina Del Rey to Watts Towers

 We rode with the LA County Bike Coalition and other LA bike clubs on a Funday (fun and Sunday...get it?) ride. We left the AV at 6AM and drove to Marina Del Rey. There were 3 routes and we thought we wanted to ride the 37 mile, non hilly route. We talked to the ride coordinator and he said he "hoped" to do the first 11 miles in under two hours. Well that's just a little too slow for us so we joined the longer, hilly and faster group (about 50 riders). We left at 8:30, first riding on a the Ballona Creek bike path. We were soon in Baldwin Hills. There is a reason it's called Baldwin Hills.  Short but intense hills. We made it up the first three but we walked the last part of the last hill as did about half the group. We then rode through South Central on our way to Watts. One bike club was predominately African American and the leader gave running commentary about riding in the the "hood". While is was all good-natured, we have lived in So Cal most of our lives and have never been to the Watts Towers. Kind of a sad commentary on us and how LA is still segregated. Our group split up on the way back and we rode with about 10 others. The pace was pretty fast for us but we kept up. Got to rest at the many lights, but we were riding at 17-19 mph most of the time. We headed toward downtown and then turned up MLK Blvd and made our way back to the beach. Total miles: 42. It was a beautiful day and even hot as we ended our ride. Hey it's February in LA!

25 miles on the new wheel

It was a little cold but we rode this weekend to test the new rim. Worked great! Very smooth and quiet. I was worried that I would not get the disc brake adjusted correctly, but all was well.

We also met with Doug (and Jan), our riding buddy this weekend. He's in for the next trip! Starting with us in SF, he will  ride down to LA and then he and Jan are off to another vacation. He was previewing the elevation profile through Big Sur. Some big climbs again await us. Guess that's why we are going to spin classes and yoga again. Have to get into shape!

New Rear Wheel

A Christmas present to ourselves...a new rear wheel! This will be the third rear rim for our bike. First one bent when we must have run over something. I noticed cracks at the spokes the last time I changed a tire on the second one. This time we got a Phil Wood, 48 spoke, tandem hub with a Chukker Velocity rim from Peter White Cycles. It's soooo pretty and hopefully bullet proof.  Have to start riding more for we are planning this summer's trip. San Francisco to San Diego which will be the last leg of our Pacific Coast tour. We have already done the Santa Barbra to Oceanside part. That was our first tour and we did it by credit card (no camping and eating out every meal). Not possible since we don't have credit cards anymore and we like the camping with other cyclists too much. SF to SB would be just too short and we did not ride to the Mexican boarder last time. This time we will.