By the time the first 23 miles were up in LA, our friends had bounced out, and Jesse was ready to drive again, still tired from the 94 miles the day before, I slammed some fruit snacks and got on the bike. The first part of the LA path follows a bike path along the beach. It was really fantastic! We were riding with sand on both sides of us, watching people play volley ball, surf and sunbathe. The going was a bit tougher as we climbed over the Palos Verde peninsula and down into some not-so-pretty parts of Long Beach. We had missed a turn and were headed through LA on surface streets that were not on our bicycle map. It wasn't hard to get around and people seemed eager to give directions. As we crossed the gorgeous industrial parts of Long Beach, we came over the immaculate LA river on Anaheim Blvd. As we were hooking up with a bike path in the area, I noticed a building that said "West Coast Choppers". We, by happenstance, had arrived at the Jesse James garage where they filmed Monster Garage. We stopped and took pictures, and then took off to have an immediate flat tire on Jon's bike. We put in a new tube and inflated it, only to have the new tube puncture. We didn't have any more CO2 cartridges, and so we just called Jesse Sprague (I guess we could have tried Jesse James) to come and bring us the floor pump. Not only did Jesse save us on the mechanical problem, he had lunch in tow. We gobbled down some fried rice. I suppose it was delicious, but I didn't really take time to savor the taste. After we left the flat site we were off down to the mouth of the LA river.
As we reached the coast, we found the Long Beach coast was a little bit nicer than the industrial inland. We again rode along the sandy beach until we found and filled up at a In-N-Out. Orange county was a great scenic improvement. Huntington beach was really nice, and so was Newport. I had been calling campsites all day long, and couldn't find a place to stay, but Jesse again came to the rescue by locating a reasonably priced hotel room in Laguna Beach. We fit 5 people in a king room and locked the bikes up outside. We obviously didn't have enough room to cook and were famished, so we looked up a Italian resaurant in the area. We decided on a Macaroni Grill in Laguna Hills. We walked in at 9:30, and they had no Idea what hit them. The first thing out of our mouths was - "What has a lot of food?". The hostess suggested the Mama's Trio, and it still wasn't sufficient, We downed about 8 loaves of bread, and they gave us our own water pitcher, that was refilled about 3 times. We might not have been able to cycle with the best, but we were definitely top-notch eaters. We were all pretty tired, and filled with endorphins, so it turned out it we were especially giggly. I don't know if we were oxygen deprived, but everything seemed funny and we were excited, because this was our last supper before we would hit the Mexican border and the trip was over.
We figured out that we had to do 100 miles on Thursday to get to the border, and so we tried to get out early. We had hit the road by 9:00, Having fueled up on Granola cereal and fruit snacks. We rolled through Dana Point and San Clamente, where Ryan stopped by a bike shop to adjust a pedal, and I picked up two CO2 cartridges. We now had three, and a spare tube. We continued on through towards San Diego along another incredible beach. We saw tons of people in wet-suits and surfboards, and we had a good tail wind, so we were making good time. After we passed the beach, we entered Camp Pendleton, a marine base that allows cyclists through if they have an ID. We met another cyclist around our age before the base and showed him how to get through. I think he was appreciative.
After Camp Pendleton we me Jesse in Oceanside and crammed a footlong subway. In Oceanside we were once again along the beach for a while before we hit Encinitas. It is here that Jon has a flat tire. We were close to a bike shop, so we turned around and he used their floor-pump and purchased another tube for us to carry. We then started off again, to have his tire blow out again, almost instantly. We went back to the shop and had the guy look at it, he found a broken tread, and made a sell to Jon for a new rear tire. It had taken a lot of time, but I was thankful to finally get back on the road when in about four minutes later, Jon suffers his 3 flat. We decide that there was a problem the new wheel that he had bought in Santa Barbara, and he decided to stay there and call Jesse to pick him up. Nate, Ryan and I continued on. We hit the big hill right before Torrey pines and decided to take the more direct, steep route. It was fun and we got to see some pretty scenerey, after we peaked out at the top of the hill we rode along Torrey Pines Golf Course and UCSD. After we dropped down and rode through La Jolla, Ryan stopped by another bike shop in San Diego, because he had a spoke break off of his wheel and it was badly out of true. They fixed it within 25 minutes and we were off again.
The route had us riding along the boardwalk in San Diego, but it was too crowded and again we had to use surface streets. We had to move quick, because we were very time pressed, we were racing the sun for the border. Our time situation just got worse as we passed through the Mission Bay area and Ryan had flat #4 on the day. We had used all the tubes, and so I found I was the only one carrying a patch kit, and the glue in it had evaporated away. I didn't know where a bike shop was, and so we had to call in Jesse for a second time. He came, we fixed the tube, and Jon jumped onto Jesse's bike and we were off again. We were starving and had no time to stop for food. This is where I started to get testy and push it, and I lead people the wrong way, and then we had to turn around and finally hit the pedestrian ferry late in San Diego. We had another 40 minutes before it left for Coronado and we decided to pay the $7 each and get there right away. The ferry ride was gorgeous as the sun was going down and everything in San Diego harbor looked magical. I snapped some good pics, and then we hit it hard when we landed in Coronado, we still had 18 miles to ride.
I am sure the Silver Strand was pretty, but I couldn't see it in the dark. I was concerned about it being a downer to bike in the dark, but it turned out pretty nice. We were on a bike path, so we didn't have to worry about cars. Riding in the dark made the moment just seem more memorable, and since we were no longer in a rush, we just slowed down and enjoyed the pleasant weather. The bike path took us into imperial beach, but it was not as it was shown on the map, so we again took surface streets over to where were supposed to end the trip. As we approached the border, we were stopped by a Border Patrol agent who told us where we were trying to go was only open during daylight hours and we couldn't really proceed any further because the border was completely wired with cameras and infra-red to catch people crossing it, and
we would definitely attract attention. We decided to go towards the port of entry to get better pictures of Mexico. Here we were again stopped by a Border Patrol agent, who further directed us to stay off the border and showed us a way to approach it, and get food. Both agents seemed happy to hear out cycling story and told us how they catch about 50 people a night between I-5 and the ocean.
We reached the port of entry for pictures and then proceeded to the nearest mexican restaurant on the American side of the border. It was about 10:00, and I had biked 104 miles without eating anything since a 11:45 AM subway sandwich. I ordered a fish burrito combo meal, and a kids taco combo meal. We ate and then had the pleasant experience of packing all guys and gears on and in the car and very tiredly driving to a Motel 6 in Oceanside. Jon and Ryan had to catch a 6:00 AM train to LA so they could meet up with Ryan's brother and catch a ride back to Utah. I slept hard, but not enough and woke up in the morning to see Ryan and Jon gone.
Jesse, Nate and I hit up breakfast in Oceanside, and then the beach for some body surfing and sun bathing. We left Oceanside around noon, and got into Albuquerque around 3:00 AM. It was long and tiring, but the most fun I have had in years, and very fulfilling.
I would do it again in the drop of a hat.
I echo your conclusion. Great trip!! I'm really glad we all did it.
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