Phil's fall update

Red Rocks, Las Vegas NV, Thanksgiving

The fall has been quite busy between work and various climbing trips. However the latest trip was something else completely. My friend Jesse had been talking for some time of bicycle touring down the California coast from Santa Barbara home to Escondido. Of course I volunteered to go along on this adventure, people come from around the world for adventures like this and we could do it on a weekend! However 230 miles of cycling is no joke (even for climbers accustomed to marching around in the mountains) so when the dates were set I started training, a little. Some mountain biking here and there. Another obvious hurdle was finding a touring bike. After some craiglisting I decided to turn my old GT MTB into a touring machine. New grip shifts, a new ultra comfy saddle, a rear rack, and street tires and I was ready to roll.

Santa Barbara Pier

We set off on Wednesday morning, riding from Jesse's place near Jesmondene down to the Sprinter station in Escondido in the dark at 5:30 in the morning to then catch the 7AM Amtrack train to Santa Barbara. Luckily I had grabbed an LED flashlight and my headlamp to equip my bike because we did end up riding in the dark more than I would have liked. We cruised Santa Barbara a bit and then headed down the coast. Our route followed a bike map put out by Adventure Cycling. The route for the most part is a designated state bike route. Coming out of Santa Barbara we were on surface streets and a sections of designated bike path mostly on the inland side of the 101 freeway. Later we were forced to ride the shoulder of the 101 freeway for 3 or 4 miles as there was just no other way, but then it was back on the coast for some nice stretches coming down to Ventura. We ended up at about 35 miles the first 1/2 day ghost camping on a beach as McArthur camp ground was closed.

The next day Jesse was feeling the effects of his all leather, rock hard, Brooks saddle so we settled on a short day positioning us for a death ride day through L.A. This was a good day with scenic, peaceful roads for the most part and put us in the last campground before L.A., a private RV park in Malibu, approximately a 40 mile day, jacuzzi at the campground and an English couple on Walmart bikes cruising from San Francisco down to Baja on a multi month tour.Path through Marina Del Rey

Friday's objective was to leave early and ride to Dana Point (there aren't any tent campgrounds in between). The ride down along the coast was pretty good. Morning rush hour along the 1 in Malibu didn't make for the most pleasant air quality but the coast was quite nice with a nice stop in Santa Monica to play on the Olympic rings. At Redondo Beach our route took us inland through Torrance and Carson and over to the LA river where we picked up a bike path taking us into the cold thick fog in Long Beach. The fog dissipated and soon, but not too soon we were in Huntington Beach and then Newport beach, but it was dark already and Dana Point out of reach, this had been in the neighborhood of 70 miles. We found ourselves eating subway sandwiches in a Starbucks and out came Jesse's smartphone and facebook to find us a friend in HB to stay with, so we backtracked...

Saturday took us down to San Clemente on a pretty mellow day although we were both tired and Saturday traffic in the OC was not real nice. The rolling pacific coast highway was however more enjoyable to me than just flat road. About 35 miles.

Sunday it was up early to go meet with God at the Oceanside URC. We rode through the Marine base and avoided the 5 freeway. Although we had originally planned to ride back to Escondido we settle on the Sprinter and it was enough to ride back to Jesse's house. About 30 miles. All in all a good journey. One of my knees bothered me pedaling quite a bit so unfortunately I will not find myself on the bike anytime soon rather I will be undergoing intense vertical rehab on the rocks with the ropes for the next several months.