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Today was supposed to ba a bit of exploring, and a grocery run. Most of the explorations ended up in dead ends, I headed out Canada Larga Rd for a bit, and then had to head home before Getting the food. The fog is still in tight through the mornings, and the flowers are getting thicker every day.
At least I finished off the fun parts, now to figure out when I am getting the groceries.
Today I had the good fortune of some company for a ride out and back along the coast. Our friends Courtney and Michael came out, he and I rode the coast, and met up with the ladies in Carpinteria for lunch before heading home. The weather was perfect, shorts and t-shirts perfect.
A little time on the road, a stop in La Conchita for some coconut water, and then some dirt on the coastal cliffs. Theis stretch between the cliffs and the railroad tracks makes the time on the 101 shoulder worth it. With the recent rains everything was still in great shape and the trails were hard packed. The trails are only a couple of miles along the railroad tracks with a good amount of single track woven into the route to keep it fun. It was Mike’s first foray into skinny tires on dirt, and I think we may have a convert. A quick run through Rincon Cycles with some tandem questions as well as a look through a shop that actually sells touring gear, then lunch with the wives. Back on the bikes through the trails.
After the trails there is a stretch where you are squished in on beat up black top between the ocean and the freeway. I know the mountains cause most of it, but will never cease to be amazed how California manages to squeeze many of its highways and railroads right up against the ocean.
Back to a bit a sanity on the side roads home. Great day, great company and looking forward to the next ride
I was out in time to catch the moon set this morning over Santa Barbara, tonight is the full moon
Full moon tides combined with swell for sea water puddles along the coast.
About 3 miles into the ride I crossed paths with a pod of dolphin surfing down the coast in the other direction, ended up chasing them a mile back to grab some pictures.
Lets see if the rest of the day is as good as this morning. Have fun, Play outside.
Watching the sun come up over the strawberry fields, the smell of fresh food all through your ride is fantastic.
And on the way home, the siren song to the north
Saturday started off with a drive down to Santa Monica for a screening of Ride the Divide put on by Erik Mathy of 1Gear1Cause fame. The movie was awesome, it really put the difficulty of the ride into perspective. For readers not familiar, the Divide race is an informal unsanctioned race along the continental divide that was pieced together from a collection of forest service, ranch, logging and other dirt roads and trails by the Adventure Cycling Association. The route is over 2700 miles with 200,000 feet of vertical climbing, and the racers that do complete are averaging it in around 20 days, that is really hard to think about when you sit down and think about the sustained daily averages. Erik had organised the screening as part of his pursuit to raise funds and awareness in the battle against cancer and will be riding the race next year on a single speed Salsa Fargo. Prior to the race Erik had ridden down the coast with Jason and Joe from Salsa and Eric from Adventure Monkey. It was great to meet these guys after reading on their blogs about their inspirational adventures and photography for so long. Salsa had helped to sponsor the event, and after the movie there were raffle prizes from Swerve, Ergon and 1Gear1Cause, as well as water bottles from Salsa. I won the first draw and took home a set of Ergon Grips, the only time I came in first all day. Thanks guys
After the movie everyone headed over to Topanga reek Bicycles for a BBQ and ride. If you are in the area and have not been to their shop yet, you are really missing out. They are one of the few shops have been to in southern California that actually sell and STOCK touring bikes and gear, Arkel, Brooks, Berthoud, surly, salsa, tubus etc. Great shop and great people. The food and company were great. After the BBQ most of the group headed on a ride up Santa Maria Rd for a little dirt and single-track in the Mulholland area. Genius that I am, I had all my camera gear, tripod too, and even my 6lb Ulock. It is likely I was hauling more gear than the guys did on their tour. Needless to say I was running sweep the whole time and my legs were feeling dead, thanks to the whole crew for waiting for me to catch up more than once. Again though it was a great time. Here are a couple of pics from the trail:
I was pretty Lazy with the camera and hopefully some others will chime in with more pics from the ride.
Sunday was back to normal 22 mile loop to the farmer’s market at Chanel Islands Harbor. It was a beautiful day and a chance to run at my own pace, working out yesterday’s sore legs. The haul was not as big this time, but respectible:
The Rawland performed well when front loaded.
I am working on a writeup for later this week on the Bruce Gordon rack and bag set up I have switched to with this bike. Even with 20-30 lb loade on the front the handling has been fine, but that is another post.
Fun weekent, lots of time in the saddle, and it feels good.