Day 3:Up and Down to Warner Springs

After last night's pretty good sleep and very fancy dinner (cold black beans from the can and microwave rice)  we started otu the day feeling reasonably confident about the climbs ahead and what looked like our first long down hill sections.

We kicked things off with a two hour climb to get to Mount Laguna (super glad we didn't try to get here last night). I had the first casualty of the ride on this climb.  At a stop to grab some water, one of my bottles cracked and fell apart in my hand.  Next time I will leave the ancient water bottles at home.  I still have two others but it was not an exciting loss.  At almost 6000 feet the air temp was chilly with the strong winds. It wasn't too long before we both were wearing all of our bicycle clothing.  It stayed on almost the rest of the day.

Sun coming up over the hills

Gulping down what didn't manage to spill out 

Long climb but nice scenery

Yes, that really says 4.8 mph for 2 hours...the beast is heavy

Once we reached the top of the climb we were in Clevland National Forest and the scenery continued to improve even as the temperture dropped.  We saw some stunning views including very evident remnants of a large 2003 fire.

Wearing ll the clothes

New growth mixed with remnants of the old fire

From my horticultural knowledge I identified this as a "purple" flower

Justifying carrying the extra camera up the hills

At this point in the ride we are pretty much running adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and are just behind the main wave of through hikers.  Tonight we are staying with Sarah's friend Monty who is a major long distance hiker and "Trail Angel" taking in hikers and helping them with all manner of things (including filling their stomachs).

When we reached the town of Julian, CA we had to stop and look at their pie.  not because we were hungry for pie (neither of us eat pie these days), but because we had heard about it from about a half dozen folks since we wee at the border.  The couple that offered to take our pictures at the border were quite insistant that we stop for pie when they heard we were passing through Julien.  When we arrived, w efound the pie.  It is impossible to miss...every business in town sells apple pie and many are exclusively pie shops.  While we never quite figured out what was so special about the pie, I assume it is really good so maybe you should try it.

The pie does look tasty

We finshed up our ride in Lake Henshaw at Monty's hiker haven.  It was truly impressive to see what he does for hikers.  The night we wee their, there were 6 PCT hikers, some of whom would be laid up there for several days as feet and blisters healed and new shoes arrived. They would stay and he would feed them and feed them a lot (apparently not finishing is seriouly frowned upon).  We contributed some eggplant from a market passed earlier and Monty did a generous job of accomodatng my eating peculiarities.

Dinner with the hiker crowd

That is a crazy amount of food.

Day 2: Official Start and Uphill Slog

Our day 1 campground turned out to be okay, measuring by the quality of sleep.  After an early dinner I was in the tent by about 8 o'clock and after just a few pages of my book I was quickly asleep.

We had figured that it would take us about 18 miles to get to the border at Tecate and it would be another 42 miles to the campground at Mount Laguna.  The elevation map showed that our route would be continuously uphill until we got to Mt. Laguna.  We decided that this wasn't going to happen on day 2 so we planned to stop at Pine Valley, about 8 miles shy of the top of the hill.  The plan is to stay with a friend of Sarah's in Warner Springs on Wednesday.  That will give us about 60 miles to ride but at least half of it will be downhill.

With this in mind, we decided to aim for being on the road this morning by 7:00.  I woke up at 5:30 and decided to start the day.  Travel with Sarah means oatmeal for breakfast.  Not my favorite dish but I am learning to eat eat and find it much better with apples in it.

The apples are key

After eating enough oatmeal for two people (I have no idea how she eats so much of that stuff), we got started just after 7.

I thought that this would put us in good shape for finishing the day in the early afternoon.  That was before we discovered that the route from the campground to the border start (not on our elevation map) I realized I was wrong.  We were often progressing just faster than a brisk walk.  If not for being in the middle of nowhere, I would have worried about being passed by joggers.  It was clear that we were in for a long day.

Those hills were just the start

They just keep going up.

With the exception of one 2.5 mile stretch of downhill, it was uphill all the way today.  The downhill would have been pretty fun if not for starting to wonder at what point the momentum of me and my 100lbs of bike would wash out around a corner when catching one of the very strong gusts that dogged us all day.  I am not generally an advocate of lots of braking during descents, but as the bike started to get a little squirrelly in some of the turns, I started trying to keep it under 45mph.  I remember many rides years ago on very light bikes pedaling quite a lot downhill to try to hit 35 or 40 mph.  With this beast (I think the bike may have just found its name), I was shocked to find myself coasting downhill braking to keep it at 45.  Crazy!

Unfortunately, we had and even longer uphill after this to reach the turnoff to the border.  Once there, we stopped to take the official start photos, buy some stamps, have lunch (the first of several), and chat briefly with a border patrol agent.

Finally made it...to the start

Time to turn around and head North

During lunch, with the experience of the morning and the knowledge that it wasn't going to get better, we started to search for an alternative destination for the night.  Unfortunately, the only campgrounds along our route were 10 miles before and after Pine Valley.  turning the 8 mile morning uphill into an 18 mile uphill would likely mean we would not make it to Warner Springs (extensive plans for which have already been made by our host).  Adding another 10 miles to our all uphill day was quickly nixed as well.  Our conversation with the Border Patrol agent confirmed what we had already heard about trying to camp along the road somewhere...Don't do it, it isn't safe around here.  Pine Valley it would be.

During a brief stop in Campo, I was able to get phone service (which has been pretty spotty) and make a call to the only motel in town and arrange a room for the night.  It was pretty cheap and not too far off our route.  Credit card camping it would be for Day 2.

We didn't encountered any picture worthy roadkill today (with the possible exception of something that may have been a skunk, but it also may have been an oily rag).  However, we found the good folks of Campo to be very intolerant of monkey business.  So much so, that they have warnings posted on the way into town.

He is now a caged warning to other Naughty Monkeys

We had some nice stretches of road during the later part of the later part of te ride but since we had turned back west a bit, we also had a fierce headwind (the most evil of all bicycling perils).

Still have to get over that last hill

We made it to Pine Valley and found the motel only 1.25 miles off our route.  Unfortunately it was downhill, which means we just added some uphill to tomorrow's ride.  Additionally, now that we were in a valley (aka wind tunnel), the headwind was magnified.  While heading downhill at a more moderate 30 something, I got smacked with a wind gust of about 50 mph.  I was definitely ready to be done for the day.  A quick chat with the hotel clerk told us that these were in fact Santa Ana winds and they have been having frequent 50-60 mph gusts (some taking out electric poles).  The good news is that it will be a tailwind tomorrow back to our route.

The temperature has been reasonable most of the day wit everything from low 50s to 70 degrees.  Great biking weather (without the wind).  The warm shower was very welcome as I found myself  pretty chilled after the last downhill stretch (shocking to those that know me).  We found great wifi at our home for the night (no phone service again) which has made blog updates no problem.  I am really beginning to enjoy the process and now find myself looking for good photo ops to share.

Updating the blog

It started!

Today is finally the start of the riding adventure.  After a very early start to the day (3:45) we made the first flight out of Seattle headed to San Diego.

All the gear was packed up and ready to go early enough yesterday that I was free to spend the evening trying to remember all of the things that I am sure that I have forgotten. I went through my list again (twice) and made sure that everything was checked off.  After shipping the bike I knew exactly how much it weighed and against my better judgement, I weighed all of my gear once it was packed up.  This is how I absolutely knew this morning that even with 43lbs of bike and 35lbs of gear I absolutely needed another shirt and more socks.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and corralled me with a reminder that I didn't have any food on board yet and that is how weight adds up.  The shirt and socks went back in the drawer and we headed for the airport. Now that additional 10lbs of gear that I tossed after the test ride (hammock, crazy creek chair, extra clothes, bike locks, duplicate knives) seems like a really good idea.

Fortunately, Yosemite hiking gear (boots, small pack, and more socks) are being mailed directly to Yosemite and won't have to be hauled on the bike.

The flight was uneventful with the exception of getting orange juice spilled in my lap by an overly apologetic flight attendant.  As I mopped it up she passed me a few mini bottles of vodka and assured me that it would help with the mess.  As it was 6:45 in the morning and I am pretty sure she wasn't suggesting it as a stain remover, I offered to trade them to her for a wet towel.  Problem solved and now I don't have to worry about keeping my pants clean as long as possible.

After arriving, we took the bus to the train station and found our bikes waiting for us with no issues.  We spent some time putting the bikes together from the minor dissambly needed for shipping and then unpacked and re-packed everything now that airplane consolidation was over.  

Can I cram any more colors in there?

The next order of business was to head to the grocery store to stock up on food for the next two and a half days.  We won't be passing any sizeable grocery opprtunities for a bit after today.

We mapped out a route to a grocery store a bit less than 20 miles from the train station.  It was on the way to our destination for tonight and would minimize how far we have to carry it.  The bug in the plan is that after getting up so early and not having breakfast, the idea of a twenty mile ride before lunch was not enticing.  We turned off and took a brief tour of the gaslight district in San Diego and hit a Subway for a veggie sub.  

Turns out this is the nightclub district and not very historic

We had a few minor mechanical issues which slowed us down a bit in the first several miles. After banging around a little bit on the train, my front disc brake was rubbing quite a bit and besides slowing me down quite a bit it was making quite a bit of noise (annoying).  It took two quick stops and one longer stop to get it all squared away and we were on the road again.  Once we got through the not so scenic industrial parts of of the city and were headed out of town, Sarah had shifting problems that required another stop to fix.  Hopefully everything is now good to go for a while and we won't have more of those stories.

We encounted what is sure to be the first of many roadkills encountered on the trip and it may be a regular feature in the daily events.

Day 1 roadkill

We stopped at a TraderJoe's and a Von's (California Safeway) in Chula Vista and stocked up for the next couple of days. 

Groceries are the same all over

 Shortly after, we were out of anything resembling town and enoyed a nice tailwind and some scenery.  

Finally out of town

Tonight we are staying in an RV park/campground.  It is not my first choice but there is really nothing else between here and Tecate (another 17 miles) and the camping in Tecate (right on the border) received several negative reccomendations from fellow cyclists.  We are going to wait to start the "camp wherever you like along the side of the road" portion of the trip for when we get to the National Forests in a couple of days.

Not exactly private but the warm shower was nice

Opening Day

With all the bike trip packing completed, I was able to get back to some water activities this weekend.

In addition to better weather and beautiful scenery, the return of Spring brings the return of many boats to the waters around Seattle.  For those folks that don't manage to get out year round, it marks the beginning of the boating season (the rest of us think that the boating season never ends).  To celebrate the start of boating season, several of the local yacht clubs organize the Opening Day event.  It is a bit of a throwback to old school yachting and involves several festivities, the largest of which is the boat parade.  There are all sorts of boats in the parade and the run the spectrum from modern to very traditional (i.e. antique show pieces trotted out once a year for the parade).

In general I think a big crowd is something to be avoided and a crazy crowd of boats is definitely something to be avoided with my boat.  Because of this, I have never attended the parade in my years in Seattle.  This year however I did attend but still managed to keep my boat away from it and kept the crowd exposure to a minimum.

A month or so ago, I began doing volunteer work with the Virginia V, a 1922 passenger steam ship that is now a historic landmark and operated by a local non-profit.  In addition to helping out with some maintenance work, I also volunteer on the deck crew during cruises (line handling and assist with ship operations).  This means that for this year's Opening Day festivities I was in the parade (a great location for watching the craziness).  There were lots of really beautiful boats to see and quite a crowd turned out to watch.

Virginia V

This was a good opportunity to take some pictures of the wooden boats that I love so much (but dread the thought of maintaining).  I also got play with the new Instagram and photo editing apps on my phone that I have decided to bring along on the bike trip.

I love the little steam driven boats!

Very traditional

The HMCS Oriole (Royal Canadian Navy)

A pile of geese in the park (my current favorite picture)

Amtrack and Mileage tracking

Yesterday the bike was dropped off at Amtrack to begin the journey to San Diego.  I guess that means that this ride is really happening.  It turns out that shipping a bike on the train is really easy (almost no disassembly required) and allows some bulky  extra gear to fit as well (helmet, sleeping bag, tent).  We dropped the bikes off in the early morning to catch the morning train headed south.  The bike should arrive in San Diego in a couple of days and will be held at the station until we arrive to pick them up.

The train station in San Diego is only a could of miles from the airport so it will be just a short bus ride once we get there to retrieve the bikes and begin the commute to the route start at Tecate, CA.

It is really starting

I have been playing around with different ideas for showing the ride progress on this blog.  I am not sure if updating the google map images is going to be sustainable during the ride (the interface is a bit challenging from the iPhone and the Kindle Fire interfaces).  After a suggestion rom my pal Jake (Sr. Tech Wizard), I have put together a mileage tracking chart that I can easily update along the way via a web form.  Even if I cannot update the blog frequently, I should be able to update the mileage when ever I have a phone connection.  I am looking forward to seeing how it works out.