Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Long Beach to San Clemente

Long Beach to San Clemente
44 Miles

What a great day of riding!

I got up and almost immediately noticed something very unusual...the sun was out! Hit the snooze button a few times and then mustered and walked a couple blocks down to Chucks, a local favorite featuring "The Weasel" which according to the menu is chili over scrambled eggs. I thought the better of it and had a short stack with eggs instead. I broke out the laptop and worked for a while until Chuck himself wandered over, refilled my coffee and talked for a bit.

Chucks is a nice place stuck somewhere in the 1960's, and I'd recommend it even though you can get better coffee elsewhere (you won't be so lucky with "The Weasel"). I walked back to the motel, checked out and hit the road.

Rolling out of Long Beach the route turns inland slightly and follows Route 1 over an inlet to Seal Beach where the military has a big presence. I only saw one ship (I have no idea what kind...medium sized, gray, giant radar golfball on top). A few miles further at Sunset Beach, the route jumps off Route 1 and onto a bike path that goes from Sunset Beach for miles, and miles, and miles down Huntington Beach. I rode this route once before, so I can't exactly say that I've never seen so much beach in my life, but with that one exception I've never seen so much beach in my life. It goes on for miles, and it must be a quarter mile of beach before you get to the ocean! There are lifeguard stations set up every couple hundred yards FOR MILES...all seemingly regularly spaced and in a straight line. Every mile or so there was a large building with a concession or two (bike rentals, food), and once or twice there were fire pits, all lined up...two rows of them, all identical and neatly and evenly spaced. It's like someone sat down at a drafting board and designed the whole thing. Amazing.

After miles and miles of riding through the beach I finally hit the end at the Santa Ana River and rode on into Newport Beach, and I was back in high fashion and luxury. This is where the money goes. I've never seen so many luxury cars in my life. I rode past Ferrari dealers, Yacht and Ship Brokers (I don't even know what that is) and miles of designer boutiques, fabulous looking restaurants and opulent looking boutiques. Just amazing.

I rode out of Newport Beach and into Laguna Beach and decided that it was the "other side of the tracks" from the super rich to the merely rich. Everything here is clean, beautiful, new or well maintained, and groomed to within an inch of its life. There are security cameras, gated communities, and more Lexus and BMW's than Porsche's and Ferrari's. Didn't get to see the ocean much through these two areas as the ocean front property seems to have long since been parceled off, developed and fenced and gated.

Fortunately Laguna Beach gives way to Dana Point (more domestic than foreign cars) and then back to the beach. A lovely afternoon ride along the ocean again along Capistrano Beach and on into San Clemente where I managed to secure a motel room right on the beach with a beautiful view of the San Clemente pier for less than a pretty dumpy hotel room up in Ventura. Go figure! I'm right at the base of a giant hill that I think I'm going to have to climb tomorrow morning, but I'm leaving that until tomorrow. For now, I've secured a cheap bottle of wine and plan to hit the "Publish" button on this blog, walk out to my front porch and watch the sun go down.


The O.C.

Seal Beach

Route through Seal Beach

Back to the beach at Sunset Beach

The bike trail goes for miles.



Lifeguard stations as far as the eye can see.

Newport Beach




A modest little house on a rock
Up and down the hills of Laguna Beach


Bike trail leading to San Clemente Pier



The room, can you believe this?

Standing in the front door

and looking the other way. Amazing.


Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Santa Monica to Long Beach

Santa Monica to Long Beach
42 Miles

Another fabulous day on the road.

Got up this morning and went down to Santa Monica Pier to check it out and find some breakfast. The pier has several restaurants and amusement rides, but not much for breakfast really except for a Good Bean and Tea Leaf coffee shop. Good coffee!

From here it was down to the beach and a couple hours riding the bike trails which wind back and forth  through the beautiful white sands of the LA beaches. As has been the weather here, it was cold and overcast all morning long, and it's Tuesday, so beach traffic was light (which is good...I imagine those bike paths get rather congested!).

The beach tour ends at Redondo beach and I was sorry to see it go. From here the route takes you east starting at Torrance Boulevard and winding it's way over to 223rd Street where it enters Long Beach and crosses the Los Angeles river, which is well contained in a large concrete aqueduct. From here there is a great bike trail that extends along the top of the aqueduct all the way to a beautiful park on the waterfront in Long Beach. Just before hitting Long Beach, the sun came out.

Trying to follow the Adventure Cycling route through all the bike trails was difficult. It's a confusing situation, but getting lost and wandering around isn't so bad! I rode out to take a picture of the Queen Mary and then rode past the Aquarium of the Pacific and remembered back to a great day Pattye and I had visiting her. It would be so nice for her to be here sharing this with me. We'll get here again soon!

After getting off track again on Shoreline Drive (where the barriers and bleachers are still up from the Long Beach Grand Prix, which is run on the actual streets of Long Beach) I picked up the correct bike trail and headed back into the beautiful white sands of the beach. When I hit the south side of Long Beach I sought out a cheap motel for the evening and called it a day. Tomorrow, San Clemente!

The pier at Santa Monica

Looking back at Malibu

Santa Monica Beach

My Ride

Venice Beach Art

Bike lanes in the sand

A lot of boats at Marina Del Rey






End of the beach at Redondo Beach


Onward to Torrence Boulevard

A curious little jog in the route "Sonoma Street" was a very beautiful diversion from the otherwise ordinary homes in the area. These beautiful trees shade the entire block and the homes and yards are all quite beautiful as well. This was like an unexpected Easter Egg in the middle of the route.

A lot of congestion and heavy traffic along this stretch to Long Beach


Onto the LA River bike trail

The Queen Mary


Looking back at Long Beach


Dolphin fountain near the Aquarium of the Pacific

Shoreline Drive with all the racing barriers and fencing still in place from the Long Beach Grand Prix

Biking the Long Beach beach

Monday, April 29, 2013

Ventura to Santa Monica

Ventura to Santa Monica
58 Miles

What a mix of a day.

Started off at about my "usual time" (if you get my drift) (does anyone even understand what that phrase means anymore?), and the weather started off in "the usual way," cold, cloudy and foggy.

 Leaving Ventura I headed towards Oxnard through an agricultural area that eventually included housing developments on the right (beach) side, many of which had "Mandalay" worked into their names in one way or another. Finally hit a huge marina and crossed a bridge into Oxnard. There are a lot of boats in Oxnard. The route follows two sides of the US Naval Base. As I was riding the south side of the base I noticed that the US Navy Seabee Museum is located here. I regretted my late start; I would have liked to go in and look around, but this was a big mileage day, so I chose to ride on.

Shortly after reaching the end of the second side of the base, the road turned and headed out of town back to Route 1. I rode past several fields of strawberries which smelled wonderful (and looked as if they needed to be picked last week). Then I rode past a field of cabbage that I smelled like cabbage. Too early for lunch.

As I approached Route 1 the wind started to pick up, and as I turned to follow Route 1 south I found myself fighting a mighty headwind. At one point off to the right I heard the sound of a plane landing and soon discovered there is an Air National Guard base here followed by another naval base. All very 'windswept' military installations. As I hit the end of the the navy base and rode back onto Route 1 the wind picked up even more, and soon Route 1 turned west and headed towards the ocean at which point the wind picked up even more. Once I finally hit the coast though and turned south, it was still windy but it was a crosswind and so much easier to deal with.

Fairly spectacular landscape here, almost primordial with lots of baren rock reaching down into the ocean. I immediately rolled up on Point Mugu beach and though "that was quick" but then as the morning went on I passed "Point Mugu this" and "Point Mugu that" and started suspecting that rather than some specific point on the map, "Point Mugu" was more of a geographic region of California. Much like "Malibu" which I rode into in the early afternoon. I saw a sign that indicated I was in Malibu, and then a few miles along saw another sign that said something like "Malibu, 27 miles of scenic beauty". Later in the day I rode into the city of Malibu (again?). So I'm not sure exactly what's up with Malibu.

When I hit Zuma Beach (I think it was around there) that the hills started. A mile up, a mile down, a mile up, a mile down. Fortunately as I started getting into it, the sun finally came out, and it seemed like within a few minutes it was nothing but blue sky in every direction. I'm not sure whether it cleared up suddenly, or whether I finally rode out from under the "marine layer". I was glad to have it.

After a few miles of up and down I passed the Pepperdine University Malibu campus int the route leveled out and it was miles of rocky coastline on the left and a seldom-interrupted series of homes right on the beach on the right, most with very expensive cars parked at all angles in and around them. Ah, the smell of money.

Malibu eventually gave way to Santa Monica where I was happy to leave the road for a little while and ride down on the concrete bike trail right down in the sand of the beach. The sight of the Santa Monica pier with it's ferris wheel came into view and before I knew it, the day was done. I rode a mile or so inland to the "cheap" motel I'd selected for the night.

Harbor Blvd in Ventura

Crossing the bridge to Oxnard

A lot of boats in Oxnard

Riding the perimeter of the navy base
Seabees Museum

Display of Air Force hardware

Blue line identifies "Government Property"