Thursday, October 27, 2011

"Some days are better ... than others"

The last time I posted on the blog, Jim and I had just completed a 95 mile ride down the Big Sur coast, and it was beautiful.  After a rest day in San Simeon, Jim and I proceeded south down to Pismo Beach.  While we were riding to Pismo Beach, Dennie and her mom were touring Hearst Castle, definitely a ‘don’t miss’ place to see.  I had taken the tours before, so cycling was a priority to me.  Jim was convinced he would not enjoy it, so I did not dissuade him and we proceeded cycling south.  The ride was nice, but the coast was foggy and it never lifted.  That made for a pleasant ride through Morro Bay, and then over to San Luis Obispo and then down to Pismo Beach, but it was not epic or one of our best rides.  It was just a nice ride down the central California coast, but nothing close to Big Sur, or the northern California coast, or the redwoods, or Oregon coast and Washington.  It was just another leg we had to complete in order to get to our Mexican border endpoint goal. However, it did turn out to be a much better ride than the following day. 
The next day we got up and Jim and I headed towards Lompoc or Buellton.  We had reservations at Motel 6 in both destinations.  It was the first time we would be staying at a Motel 6 and Jim was not thrilled it was the only location we could find vacancies on a Saturday night.  That, in itself, should have been a ‘go back, it’s a trap’ signal.  So we started pedaling south and on the way, Jim let me know how unimpressed he was with his last Lompoc experience, so we mapped out Buellton as our destination.  Pismo Beach was the last time we cycled next to the ocean for the day.  As we were going south, we came to the little city of Guadalupe. In the late 70’s, I used to hang glide and I spent many, many week-ends camping and hang gliding with lots of my buddies in the dunes west and south of the little city of Guadalupe.  In the evening, we would head in to Guadalupe for a Mexican dinner at the Guadalajara Café.  When Jim and I cycled in to town, the main street was closed off because they were have a little fiesta that day.  Jim loved it because all the local brought their cars in and had a little car show at the same time.  It seems that Jim was quite the dragster enthusiast years ago in Albuquerque.  So, Guadalupe was probably the highlight of the day. 
After Guadalupe, the temp started going up, we were no longer on the coast and the ride just became a real drudge.  Finally we made it in to Buellton to the wonderful Motel 6.  While we were getting something to drink in a convenience store, we asked a lady we saw in the parking lot if she knew the directions to Motel 6.  She replied, “Yes, but why would you want to go there?” It turns out she managed a Quality Inn and we did a little parking lot negotiating, and wheeling and dealing.  She moved the price down considerably to get us in, but not quite low enough to get us to cancel the Motel 6.  In retrospect, we should have closed with her.  The Motel 6 sucked.  The ride that day sucked (temperatures reached the mid 90’s) and our accommodations sucked.  It was not our best day and we were both in agreement, it was not one we want to repeat. 
Next day we went down to the McDonald’s for a great breakfast (Motel 6 had no microwaves or coffee machines), and Jim and I headed for Ventura, via Santa Barbara.  When we got on the 101, for the first time, we saw a sign that said ‘no cyclists’.  The day before, I called up the California Highway Patrol dispatcher and she said no cyclists north of Buellton on 101, but because there were no frontage roads south of Buellton on 101, cycling was permitted.  I was actually hoping that we were stopped by the CHP because I thought it would make an excellent blog post.  But, it turned out the ride from Buellton, down to the coast at Gaviota, was uneventful.  When we got to the coast, fog again, and it was foggy or overcast all day.  We rode down to Santa Barbara, and through UC Santa Barbara, and down towards Ventura. Just short of Carpinteria, I heard a ‘ping!’ and my bike jerked like it hit something. Jim heard it also and as I looked back to see what I might hit, I could not see anything in the road.  About a quarter mile later, I heard a ‘twang, twang, twang’, and I stopped the bike.  It turns out I had popped a spoke on my rear wheel somehow, and we were not going to be able to get it fixed due to the fact I was riding Ksyrium SL rims.  So, we called up the SAG wagon, and waited.
I noticed a little lady nearby, selling strawberries, huge strawberries, so I bought a little basket to console myself.  Fortunately, Jim had foreseen possible worst case situations and we brought a spare rear wheel.  After Dennie arrived with the SAG wagon and picked us up, we drove the short distance to Ventura.  At the motel, Jim put my bike up on the stand, changed out the rear wheel, did a few rear derailleur adjustments, and I was good to go again. 
That evening, we headed to the Anacapa Brewing Company to try some of their finest because we had another great ride the next day.  The next day we were going to be riding down to LAX, which meant we were going to be going through Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice and other places that used to be very familiar to me.  Years and years ago, I graduated from Santa Monica High School, so we were going to be pedaling through my old stomping grounds.


No comments:

Post a Comment