SANTA BARBARA TO SANTA MONICA

LAST DAY!
After a great sleep and an early morning wakeup call, David and I head to the beach for breakfast and a swim. It was a nice way to wake up and prepare for the next 90 miles.

I started out slow and steady. Thankfully it was flat and gentle for the first 3/4 of the ride. I followed a great bike path along the water and past an Air Force base.

Then I hit Malibu and holy crap this was bad, bad and more bad.

First of all Malibu has lots of hills. Secondly once halfway through the city I had to ride along the highway which involved riding between cars rushing past me on the left and parked cars on my right. Cars parked all the way along the highway. I was nervous that I would get door prized, but thankfully that never happened. It was a nasty, never ending ride out of the city and into Santa Monica.

I was so thankful to be finished. Sarah and Dave picked me up at the pier (again, so thankful for you guys) and we went for dinner where I proceeded to eat way too much pizza.

I'm exhausted and full and very happy to have made it to LA! All in all it was a fantastic ride and my brain is still buzzing with images and thoughts and routes.
Thank you for all the support and love. 

OCEANO TO SANTA BARBARA

90 mile day, my longest so far.
While yesterday was tough mentally, today was extremely difficult physically.
The day started out at 7.30 from Oceano. I cycled to Guadalupe for breakfast knowing the town was small and primarily Spanish speaking. Well, upon arrival I felt I was in Mexico, wonderful little community consisting of one street only. I settled on a place called Romo's Deli for breakkie. When I walked in, there were sullen men sitting at long plastic tables eating beef tongue soup in silence. I went to the back where the kitchen was and told the cook I wanted something without meat, but with eggs. He smiled and said OK and got to work. Five minutes later I was handed a giant burrito loaded with what seemed like ten eggs, rice, cheese and salsa. I managed to eat the whole darn thing then left the sullen men with their soup and continued on.
I had two big hills before Lompoc one of which was up road then when I arrived to it said "No Access" and was roped off. I took my chances, also because it was my only option. I was feeling a bit unsure until I saw three cyclists zooming down the hill who said it was fine for me to be there, just that there were firetrucks at the top. I reached the peak of the long hill (so damn hot) to see firefighters still putting water on the charred ground. One of them asked me if I saw the sign at the bottom. I apologized profusely and kept pedalling. I descended into Lompoc sprawling suburbia (and meth apparently) did not appeal so I kept on trucking. Then things got pretty lonely. I had to do the next 13 mile climb with Turkey vultures circling and the odd car passing. This was a slog.
I then came to the 101 which was no fun either. The ocean finally reappeared covered in an oil slick. There were helicopters and cleanup crews along the highway. This was pretty sad to see.

I got within one mile of the Santa Barbara exit when bam, got a flat tire. I changed it by myself at a rest stop exit with cars not even registering what was going on. No one stopped, I wasn't impressed, but once I was about to start filling the tire with air, a cyclist came and held my bike for me which was much appreciated. After this whole incident I had a layer of black grease in strips all over my body from wiping the grease off my fingers over a layer of the worst, whitest and chunkiest sunscreen ever. I looked like a zebra.
From there I still had a good while to my Warmshowers host's house, a beautiful bungalow at the top of a hill. I arrived and had the best shower of my life then me and David, my host, went into downtown Santa Barbara and met up with Sarah and her bro Dave, who had spent the day frolicking on the Santa Barbara county beaches.
Thank you so so much to David, Dave and Sarah for being such a wonderful support team.
We had a great evening in beautiful Santa Barbara and I'm looking forward to rolling into LA! 

MORRO BAY TO OCEANO

Day 5. Welcome to Pismo Beach where you party in the trailer park and drive your truck right onto the beach.
Please excuse me, as today is a sad day. My Sarah has an injured Achilles tendon and I am now riding solo. After saying goodbye to Sarah in San Luis Obispo, a rather need little town (with a cafe that only makes acai bowls) I was feeling a bit shaky in my pins.
The ride through Los Osos Valley was lovely despite the horribly terrifying turkey vultures, arguably the scariest animals I have ever met. I continued on to Pismo beach where I got myself some lunch and a slab of red velvet cake. I was told not to go any further, as my next planned stop is the meth capital of SoCal. Thank you to the Johnny Depp lookalike at the surf shop in Pismo for the heads up.
After a little breakdown in front of Patrick the bike mec who put some air in my tires (he told me I'd be just fine on my way down to LA and gave me a big hug), I found my way to my campground sandwiched between the highway and the railroad. The park ranger is named Miles and starts every sentence with a loud "UMMM". I gave him my bag of food to store. No more raccoon thieves, I've had it.
On to Santa Barbara tomorrow.

KIRK CREEK TO MORRO BAY

What a day.
Started out with a 5.30AM wake up call from raccoons having a field day with our power bars and granola. Big mistake on our part leaving food in the crappy box at the campsite. Amidst the screeching and crunching we woke up at scared the thing away, but were left breakfastless and desperate. After a quick sunrise yoga sesh, we headed to a cafe for a quick breakie.

After our meal we headed towards the Hearst Castle which was an amazing sight. That man amassed an incredible wealth of art and architecture and it is breathtaking

After a break at the castle, Sarah got a lift to Morro Bay due to a bad Achilles tendon issue and I biked over and met Andrew on the way. Wouldn't you know that Andrew invited us to dinner and we just finished very full after a chowder of ling cod broth, rock fish and mussels.

Goodnight, all!

VETS MEMORIAL TO KIRK CREEK

Big Sur. We made it, but this was a big day. Big hills, big lunch, big views.
We hit some big hills from the get go, right outta the campsite. Then we head into Carmel and saw the most quaint seaside town ever. It was fairytale-like. But you know you're in a rich part of the world when ladies are doing their morning walks in tracksuits and frosted lipstick.

Lunch was up a big hill. Serious incline, which lead us to lunch with a pretty killer view (and too much food... Don't know how it all goes down if you're not riding your bike). Lunch was at Napenthe, and I'm not kidding about the view.

After lunch was a long way down from the peak to our coastal hangout for the night at Kirk Creek Campsite. This place was right on the water and we fell asleep to the crashing waves, but not before meeting a fellow UBC alum and eating mac'n cheese with applesauce (which I swear is a thing in Switzerland).

SANTA CRUZ TO VETS MEMORIAL

Waaaa! Day Two ended up in Monterey, outside Big Sur, but hunger drove us to the grocery store to buy a camp dinned and hunker down early for the night.
Today's ride was rolling and pleasant. We rode through the most incredible strawberry fields (Sarah was singing the Beatles the whole way) and the air was filled with the scent of ripe berries while Latin tunes filled the air (Mexican workers picking berries listening to Latin jams).
Lunch stop was at THE MOST AMAZING ( story for yelling, but seriously) artichoke stand. Unbelievably delicious. I'm still thinking about it.

SAN FRAN TO BONNY DOON

Hello all!
Writing you over a dirty chai and way too many baked goods at the Verve cafe in Santa Cruz (or as I like to say, Cruth).
Sarah and I set off from San Francisco at around 12pm, weaving through sad looking suburbia and magnificent coastal views. Drill sargent Cristina only allowed for a quick lunch stop in Half Moon Bay at the beach then we had to keep moving because those 70 miles weren't going to ride themselves.

We stopped for some produce at a roadside stand and graciously accepted some (fresh and cold!) water from a lady not realizing that this was indeed the 27 mile stretch without any water (and this was all I could talk about for two days and here I go and forget. Thanks to this lady we were hydrated and managed to make our way to Davenport with no issues. We rode through eucalyptus and pine and I just cannot tell you how much I love the smell of pine needles being baked in the sun.
In Davenport, we met our most wonderful Warmshowers hosts, Pam and Scott, the most hardcore retired couple we've ever met. He's a bike mech extraordinaire and she still does ski patrol. They both do crazy long cycle tours and participate in the Kinetic competition every year building crazy man (and women)-powered ATVs.

Today we go from Santa Cruz to Big Sir. Wish us luck!

SF to LA

Here we go, round two.

I leave tomorrow for San Francisco to continue our journey. We will be cycling from SF to LA and longer daylight hours = longer riding hours. We hope to finish eight days, one of those being spent hiking and soaking in hot springs in Big Sur. I look forward to our overly ambitious itinerary, spectacular coastal views, sore bums, unbearable heat, sunburns, rad tan lines and of course, more eating.