OTIS AND THE BIKE RIDE

Today Kicked My Ass, But DAMN! What A Sunset!

Monday, June 25, 2007 - Day 4

Today was the hardest day by far. I think part of it was my expectations and part was just being tired from the last few days of biking. Those on top of it being a hot day full of hills. First of all, for some reason I thought going from Costa Mesa/Newport to Venice Beach was only going to be about 40 miles. I'm not really sure where I got that idea. Then I started out much later than I wanted to, not til about 1pm. I don't think I slept very well at Betsy's. I may have been cold, not sure. Anyway, I woke up kinda stiff and a bit later than I planned.

Going through Newport was alright, but not very excited. Being a Monday, no one was around, so the place was a bit dead. Same with Huntington. Then I got to Seal Beach and Long Beach. That was crap. I had to go on PCH, which is not a very nice road at that juncture. There is no bike lane, so it was back to urban riding mode. I thought about going to the coast, but it's so industrial there, right by the Port of L.A. Then I went by the inland part of the port. So gross. It did not make me happy to be going by such disgusting scenery. And it smelled bad. Seemed like that shit went on for a while. Finally I got out of there, and what comes up next, fucking hills! At first I thought it was going to just be one or two. Little did I know that the next 15 miles were going to be hills. Most of them were not too bad, but there were some mother fuckers.

That on top of gettting a bit lost a few times. I didn't really plan out the route for today, thinking it would be pretty straight forward. It wasn't. I had to make a lot of turns, and I took the long way around a few times. At one point in San Pedro, I had to call Andrea to get directions. At that point I was at a really tough hill that had to be climbed. I was tired, hadn't eaten in at least hours. I was a bit weak. Unfortunately I was in a residential area. I thought I would stop at the next place with food I could find. I figured there had to be at least something coming up. I was wrong. I went over 3 miles before I finally found a Subway. Before that, things were not looking good. I was almost out of water, I couldn't find anywhere to eat, and I was getting really weak and burned in the sun. That on top of realizing that I was so much further from Venice than I originally thought. And of course most of that 3 miles was uphill. Bitch!

After eating a footlong carne asada sub and a cookie from Subway, I felt amazing, ready to conquer the rest of the journey. After that I could enjoy and appreciate the beautiful scenery. Then it made it all worth it when I finally came to the downhill into Redondo. At least a half mile downhill on a curvy road. Exhiliration. Then it was still quite a while to Venice. But I stayed as close to the water as possible. The sunset was nice and really made the whole struggle worthwhile. Getting into Venice, I was exhuasted, and it was after 9pm. Some sushi made me feel better, and I did feel well enough to have a beer. That's a good sign.

So the original plan for tomorrow was to make it up to Venture, but I don't think that's going to happen. I need to take an easy day, maybe go camping up just north of Malibu. I always love going to Leo Carillo. We'll see.