Reasons 4057 - 4203

Rising in the morning to fix a flat tire is always a downer, but this far into the tour I’m very nearly over it. You just have to fix it and move on. It’s still a bummer when you pack up, have breakfast, stretch out and find that all the other cyclists in the campground have long since left and hit the road.

When we left the Sycamore Canyon Campground and started our ride, we didn’t think we would catch up to any of our touring friends. As we passed dozens of colossal, movie-star mansions along the rolling hills of Malibu it was far easier to be distracted by all the hardcore, racing road cyclists zipping past on a Saturday morning ride. With time we caught up to the girls from Québec and passed the Kiwi girl as she walked her bike up a moderate hill. It was satisfying to be somewhere in the middle of the pack instead of dead last.

Eventually, we approached the sandy, beachside bike trails that run alongside the busy boardwalk of Santa Monica. There is a windy, concrete trail that runs right through the beach. We zoomed along in the sunshine past folks on foot, bikes, roller-skates and skateboards. We were making good time, but not riding full-out as we casually checked out all the beach activity on our right and the tiny restaurants, boutiques and tattoo parlors that flew by on our left. I very nearly crashed into Collin while doing a triple-take at a woman riding a tandem bicycle. I would absolutely bet money that it was the actress Jennifer Garner. I got a very good look, and I heard her speak to the teens she was with. It was totally her.

The bike path ended at Marina Del Rey and we had a decision to make. Do we stick to the coastline and take a longer ride or take our chances riding through a bit of greater Los Angeles? Well, if you’ve never been to LA then take my advice. Don’t do what we did. Riding the multiple-lane boulevards of those many overlapping cities is stressful enough with all the traffic. What makes it even worse is the overwhelming disrepair of so many of the roads. We rode mile after mile of heavily cracked-up, pot-holed mess through the cities of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena and Carson long before it got any better. These were entire cities, folks. I do not exaggerate. In fact, the next morning when I took a close look at my bike I discovered that I had actually broken two non-drive-side spokes on my rear wheel. Two spokes in one day! You can see our ridiculous route through semi-sketchy neighbourhoods HERE.

Our destination for the day was Long Beach, and we were so relieved and excited to meet our host who goes by the moniker Captain Jack on Warm Showers. Jack has lived on his 40ft sail boat for the last twenty-five years. It has fantastic detailing outside and in. Beautiful wood details everywhere inside, and really fun, space-effective nooks. Jack is out-going and a hoot to share stories with. Lots of laughs. He has already ridden parts of the route that we have planned and hopes to do very nearly all of it a section at a time. We bonded over cycling, travel and food.

Captain Jack aboard Intrepid.

This is the tiny sleeping cabin I conked out in until I had a crazy hamstring muscle cramp in the middle of the night. I had to twist and turn around into a position that made the cramp worse just to be able to get into a position to stretch it out. It was actually a little bit frightening.

'The Head,' as Jack called it. Nautical term for the bathroom. Who knew?

Fanatical row team, rowing and shouting early on a Sunday morning.

Fixing my wheel. Yay.

It took a few hours in the morning to thoroughly clean all of Santa Monica’s sand out of my bicycle’s drive-train and replace my rear wheel’s broken spokes. When we left around noon all the thick mist we had woken up to had melted off from the sun and it was a bright, clear, sunny day. We rolled our way back around the bay area that contains Jacks boat and continued South.

Collin, Cameron and the electric cruiser.

We only had to ride twenty miles to our next stop, so we took a tip and visited a trendy, little café called Alta Coffee Warehouse in Newport Beach. While at the café we met Cameron. Cameron recently started his own small business, Motiv Electric Bikes. He’s currently working on a design for a hybrid commuter, but at the moment has variations on a basic cruiser. He had one of his bikes with him and gladly offered for us to take it for a spin around the block. Now, I have to admit that I’ve always had a thing against cruiser bikes. I don’t find them practical or comfortable for any reason. Cranking the handlebar, just like a motorcycle, while riding Cameron’s cruiser was actually a really great time. This was especially true when you pedal and use the motor at the same time. It only took a few seconds to easily get up to the same top speed I have on my fully-loaded, touring bike. I ripped up and down the block a few times before giving the bike back.

Entering The O.C. and loving it.

After coffees and cruisers we headed just ten minutes Northeast to Costa Mesa to meet our host, Keith. We were connected with Keith by a mutual friend named Leah. Keith knows Leah through their involvement in YoungLife. And, I know Leah through my sister, Sarah. Keith lives with a few other guys. The whole lot of them were really friendly and easy-going even with all our stuff spread out in their living room for a couple days.

What's up, Keith?

Yeah, we got pounded by those waves.

Keith showed us all around Costa Mesa. We visited the boardwalk in Newport Beach where Arrested Development was filmed. Remember the banana stand? We also went to the beach. Keith laughed a lot at us getting crushed by waves, flailing and floundering around. My pockets were so full of sand by the time we left. The three of us went for Mexican food, and Keith introduced us to my new favorite beverage, Horchata. Horchata is essentially cinnamon rice milk, and very delicious.

The three of us also went for a barbeque with a group of Keith’s university friends. We had a lot of food and a lot of laughs with them. Afterward, nearly all of us went to a concert at the Detroit Bar. Some of the guys are friends with one of the bands that was playing. It was a pretty great show. A highlight for me was when the band, Future Fix covered the song The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. The song is most commonly known from the soundtrack of the movie Back to the Future. After the set, most everybody went outside to smoke and hang out. We had some great chats with some of the BBQ guys and members of the band about travelling and staying with strangers. It was definitely interesting how skeptical they were of the positivity of staying with people you’ve just met. But, I think I was able to help them see the other side of things just a little bit.

Throughout that day we had multiple conversations with the guys at the BBQ and Keith’s roommates about what to expect of Disneyland. I’ve wanted to go to Disneyland my entire life and was super curious about what were the best rides and attractions seek out. When we told the guys that we only had one day to experience the whole park they insisted that we use a common trick to avoid the crazy line-ups. They told us that if one of us wore a knee or ankle brace and went to City Hall on Main Street, USA in the park we would easily be given a special pass. Our friends assured us that it would be simple, easy and that people do it all the time. Enoch, one of Keith’s roommates lent Collin an ankle brace. Sure enough, Collin had a really easy time acquiring a Guest Assistance Card, or what we like to call our ‘Golden Ticket.’ There were several times we walked right past a couple hundred people waiting in line and went right to the front. We laughed a whole lot about it.

The Golden Ticket. Yes, we sang the Golden Ticket song from Charlie and Chocolate Factory.

They sell crazy, ridiculously large turkey legs at Disneyland. Delicious.

We watched the Christmas Parade, Fantasmic show AND Christmas themed fireworks. SO awesome!

The rumours are true. Mitt Romney attempted to soothe the pain of his loss to Barack Obama by going to Disneyland. We rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds just minutes after him. We were seriously so close we could have reached out and touched him.

We seriously had SO much fun at Disneyland. My hopes were extremely high for the day and my expectations were completely exceeded. All the staff everywhere in the park seem so sincere and happy. Every possible detail of everything is so well designed and thought out. A whole lot of imagination has gone in to it all. Throughout the day we rode a tonne of rides and ran into different Disney characters. We chatted with all sorts of people, most of whom were from Southern California and had previously visited multiple times. Lucky for them.

Something that was pretty funny was my natural reaction to the rides. For whatever reason, I just laughed so hard. I think it’s because I was sincerely so giddy and excited the entire day. When we rode Space Mountain I actually laughed so hard I was crying by the end. It was such a great time.

Splash Mountain. Loved it.

Big Thunder Railroad. Loved it.

Matterhorn Bobsleds. Loved it too.

Our day at Disneyland was truly one that I won’t ever forget. The next morning we woke up early and quietly snuck out of the guys' apartment so we wouldn’t wake any of them. We continued South along the Coast Highway to Pedro’s Tacos in San Clemente where we would meet up with our next host.