Big miles in Big Sur

What does it like like when I go on vacation? A little bit like this:

A city park. And a bikepacker's bike.

So what is riding through Big Sur like? Kind of like this picture suggests:

Looks like we are on the scenic route!

And, even though this is significantly south of anything you could call Big Sur, it was like this, too. In that there were fog and clouds, and it was basically riding on a highway...

 

After 4 days of riding, we hadn't had enough, so we continued south to Santa Barbara. Which is much less wild, but scenic nonetheless. The very first picture of this post is in a park in Santa Barbara, too, but I feel like this picture captures the feel of the town a little better:

So-Cal style beach.

Of course, it takes some calories to get from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara. So we spent some time in this joint before heading out:

Organic coffee and everything!

And even though it was only two days out of five, the hundred mile stretch from San Simeon to Carmel was what my vacation was about. I say two days because we rode it south to north one day, then north to south the next.

yep.

I'm not a big fan of Lompoc, but apparently Lompoc is a big fan of me. Look at the sign they erected for my arrival:

The trip was not all wilderness and camping. There was a train, a train station, and downtown Los Angeles involved...

Some of the ride felt like this:

Long miles

And some of it felt like this:

There was camping and campgrounds and stretches of night:

And Thai food and cows and a guy with a skateboard who thought my load was too light:

San Luis Obispo and Moro Bay

Mannuel's phone ate all his pictures, so these Instagram collages are all that he has left:

This is the bike Mannuel brought:

And even though it was my ride, I can still say, "Wish I was there!"

 

Wouldn't it be nice...

...if every day ended like this? 

...if I didn't look so goofy?

...if I heard these sounds every time I went to bed?

...if I always had my girl at my side?

...if I could start every road ride here?

...if this little guy wouldn't look at me like this?

For getting a flat right off the bat!

East Bay Ride

I start a new job soon, but I still have a little time off. Why not take a trip? I know, I'll visit Chris and Karen in Oakland!

Beware of Dog

I don't often see Velocipaptor sculptures in front yards. Or stretch WVs. Or little girls swinging from the living room ceiling on a rope. That's why I kind of like the vibe when I go visit these friends. It's a refreshing change of pace. Probably the result of too much Burning Man, but hey, I don't judge.

Beethoven and Savanah

Saryn

But not everything is crazy at Chris and Karen's place. Little kids still like to play in cardboard boxes.

I feel like a little kid too, when I find that it's only a block to the trail. The picture below is not even a real trail. It's running down the central median of Skyline Blvd. 

North bound lanes on the left

When I follow that trail all the way south, to Grass Valley Rd,  I can turn right down into the city, or left into Chabot Regional Park. The park is huge and beautiful, but it's mostly fireroad. Some parts of it are prone to mud and littered with cattle, which makes riding really fun in a strange way. Go towards Bort Meadows if you're into that kind of thing.

As always, steeper than it looks...

Remember the role Eucalyptus played in the Oakland Hills fire of 1991?

Finally I find the singletrack, and it's got stop signs!

 All in all, I think East Bay riding is really fun. I only interacted with a dozen people at most on the pictured ride, and one (a hiker) asked me what gear-ratio I was running. That never happens back home.

Besides the dirt, the nearby roads were littered with roadies. The gentle grades (6%, I think), shade, and relative lack of cars conspire to make it easy to throw down some miles.

Highway 39

I met my buddy Mannuel at Encanto Park in Duarte and we promptly started up San Gabriel Canyon Road aka Highway 39. I have developed this bad habit of riding and riding. As opposed to riding and taking photos. It would be a good habit, were I not a blogger. But since we had stopped anyway, at the waterfall I use to cool off on hot days, I snapped this photo:

Manny in his Thin Kit by Spongebath Falls

I don't think I need to explain why I stopped to take the next photo. It was just too good. It was the first large patch of snow we came upon. We had been seeing big chunks next to the road since 4,000 feet or so, but this was different. The road is going east and the hill to our right is of the north-facing non-snow-melting variety. This is still before we hit 5k.

I don't know which way to position a bicycle for a photo.
Mountain Biker scum...

We took no more photos till we hit the end of the line. The road keeps going, but with the snow, we did not.

Look at those toasty warm knees!

My outfit looks almost the same as Manny's. But with the simple addition of fleece knee-warmers, I was comfortable all the way up. Manny was getting cold in the shadows. Just imagine the descent! For once, I was able to keep up with him.

Sweet ride!

I think I won the clothing contest, but the bike competition goes to the red, green and gold!

Tuesday morning Time Trial

9am sharp, we leave from the big yellow gate on Glendora Mountain Road that marks the beginning of the national forest. We see exactly how quickly we can get up to the maintenance shed that is approximately 7.5 miles up the road. Yesterday I was 23 seconds faster than two weeks prior.

We call it a "time trial" but if you want to ride a wheel, feel free. It's not like there are staggered starts, trophies or anything else. Just a personal knowlege of how fast you are...

New guy in the lead...

I finally made it to the TdF!

Ever since I was a wee lad, I've wanted to ride in the Tour de France. Well, not exactly. More like "since I was old enough to be someone's grandfather, but still in posession of my childish energy and abandon" And I've never wanted to ride in the Tour because that would hurt a great deal.

So it's quite fortunate for me that the Tour de Foothills has the same initials as le Tour.

Lots of tandems today!

Le Foothills, that I was touring today, ranged from Irwindale to Fontana. The ride also included some nice climbs in the San Jose Hills. The other riders were some excellent people. I chatted with quite a few, because what else are you going to do on a bike for seven hours? The volunteers were very supportive, telling us "You're doing great; keep it up," etc. One guy at Fontana Park (about the 85 miles mark) was walking through the riders asking if he could take our banana peels and empty bottles. Can't say I blame him. We probably didn't look like we could make it to the trash cans by ourselves at that point in the ride.

Oh that reminds me. The one negative thing I can think of was the wind. Out in Fontana it can get bad, and today was the worst I have ever seen it. I would easily trade a couple extra reps up Mt Baldy Rd for the stretch to Lytle Creek Rd and Sierra Ave. I was going slower on flat ground than I had on the "tough climb" of the course! Even worse were the gusts that blew me sideways.

That was all Mother Nature's doing. If I were making the route, I would have included that wretched section, myself. It's a classic stretch for cycling. It's just the weather that ruined it. In fact, the whole route was classic. As I rode along Baseline to Mills and up Mt Baldy Rd with some new friend from the westside, I felt a local pride. As if I were showing him the best riding we have in my town. And in an indirect way, I was.

Maybe a massage will help...

This year was the first time the organizers included a full century. Other routes were the metric century and the metric half century. I couldn't go the whole day without cracking wise about the riders doing "just" 31 miles. But that's simply because I was afraid they'd eat all the food before I got a chance to finish. My fears were unfounded.

Over the River and Through the Hoods...

...to Grandmother's house I go.

This is my twice-a-month commute, and I really enjoy the opportuntity to see so much of Los Angeles and its metropolitan area. I doubt I could ride my bike from Pomona to Culver City and back, but with the help of light rail trains, I do just that. Plus I get to make a loop of it (and ride 10 miles along the beach as well)!

Unfortunately, I don't like to get up early. So I have only one picture from my outbound trip. I had to get there on time for lunch which is served promptly at noon. Fortunately, I was planning a little extra time. So I was able to suffer a flat tire and still live up to my reputation (always being on time to a free meal)!

 

I wasn't expecting to see this array of antennae in Culver City.
I just had to snap a shot...

On the way home, I took Venice Blvd towards downtown. My Grandmother talks about the Helms Bakery trucks that used to deliver to people's homes. So I thought I'd get her a picture of the bakery now.

I didn't know what to make of "H D Buttercup" so I looked closer. Turns out the whole place is a furniture bazaar. I asked my buddy H.G. Wells what he thought "manutailer" meant (zoom in on the sign above). He said something about "adspeak double plus ungood."

Not like Grandma remembers...

Union Station has its share of  "adspeak" going on.

I don't remember the billboards on the collumns.

When I step outside to the garden, the station's charm seems intact.



From Union Station, I rode the train to Pasadena. From Pasadena, I rode my bike home. A nice leisurely Sunday with the riding broken up with train rides and a lunch-visit. Like it says, I crossed the river (San Gabriel or Ballona Creek, take your pick) on my bike. But "through the hoods" refers to the communities from Norwalk to El Segundo when I was merely looking out a train window...