Day 32 - Carlsbad to San Diego

Last ride of the trip.  One month has definitely been long enough to form good friendships.

This is the breakfast club.  The early risers who ate oatmeal nearly every day.  It became a morning communal event with everyone pitching in.

This was second breakfast club.

The ride was slow with time to kill until we all met at Mission Park to ride in together.

Heading to La Jolla cove after giving all my effort to the Torrey Pines climb.  All the energy I had left.  I averaged slightly over 10 mph, not bad.

La Jolla is beautiful.

Art from Pacific Beach.

More group photos.

Then it was over.  I made it.

1,859 miles and 78,523 feet of climbing in 32 days, with only 1 flat tire.

🌯 10 🍔 9 🍕 3

In the liberally interpretated but immortal words of Forrest Gump...

"I just felt like cycling.

When i got tired I slept, when I got hungry I ate.

I had a lot of company, but most of all I thought about my Jenny.

I cycled for 138 hours 53 minutes.

Jenny told me you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on and I think that's what my cycling is all about.

I'm pretty tired......... I think I'll go home now."

Day 31 - Huntington Beach to Carlsbad

We rolled out of town after having a great Lutheran Church breakfast.

Jumping on the "A"train (Aaron draft) until he runs out of gas.

Finally perfect weather.

Spectacular lookout at Dana Point.

Light second breakfast.  Cappuccino and french toast.

My view for an easy fifty miles.

Look who I ran into. ❤️

One more day.

My view should look something this tomorrow night.  No tent for me, I'm in Ocean Beach with my lady friend.  Driving back to Carlsbad tomorrow @ 6:00 a.m.

One more post (unless I start blogging workdays).

Day 30 - Santa Monica to Huntington Beach

The hammock experiment went well.  Fortunately for me I initially tied it to a tree and ants took over, so I moved it to a couple of columns under an overhang.  It poured rain in the night, so I dodged that bullet.

Easy beach cruise dodging mobs of people for labor day today.  Not quite the right track for a speedy road bike road.

Good for pictures though.

Volleyball everywhere and tractors regrooming the sand.

Heres an example of the sandy path.

I'm thinking this will be an excellent background for my phone.

Sometimes they made us walk the bikes through congestion.  Most of the beach path was marked 8 mph.

Where am I going again?  And where have I been.  I'll have to reread this blog when I'm done.  Everyday it gets harder to remember.

The scummy L.A. River, I was hoping they'd be shooting a chase scene for some movie.  No dice just transients.

Long Beach harbor was beautiful.

We went slightly off route to stop by Gisseles house, a woman passionate about supporting and raising awareness for MS.  She offered up an iced coffee, a popsickle and cold watermelon.

At our destination we are being treated to beds, music, food and drinks from a rider who coordinated the effort with the help of local neighbors.

Sweet bike valet he set up in his garage.

I also met up with longtime friends Aaron and Angie who are here to celebrate my finish.  Aaron is riding tomorrow with his base training of 87 miles.  They generously treated eight of us for dinner and beers.

The crew I've been hanging out with.

Paul (California), Mike (Illinois) and Richard (New Mexico)

A stroll on the pier found this guy.

And a early evening goodnight photo.

Two days left and only hours until I see my sweetheart.  Bittersweet to see the end of my adventure so close, but I'm eager to be with my family and friends again soon.

The message was on the ceiling of my host family's guest room, kind of perfect.

Day 29 - Goleta to Santa Monica

I think this may be my favorite picture of the trip.  Early out with a long day expected.

Great scenery rolling out through the University of California Santa Barbara.

I imagine the view is pretty fantastic from this midpoint on campus.

Amazing ssnd sculpture in downtown Santa Barbara.

Beach life all day today.

Wonderful bike path.

Sad bit of crashing today.  This rider hit a random speed bump off kilter, check out that jacked up shifter.  He rode single speed all day, with only front brakes.  Thats the type of people I'm hanging out with.  Kudos.

:)

During the monster headwind porion of our rode (15 miles maybe) we came about a missle exhibit just outside the navy base.  😬

I saw several of these today.  Seriously, I'm pretty confident it's on my right still.

I'm rolling the dice tonight.  Sleeping in my hammock.  Wish me luck.  All the security night lights just came on. Grrrr.

So much to think about when settling down.