The Last 60 Miles

Technically it was 56, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it. I did it though, today I came to the end of my month long, something around 1600 mile, adventure down the Pacific Coast. And I did the full stretch from Seattle to LA (to be precise, from Bangor Base to two miles out from Santa Monica, so pretty damn close), solo, no rides down the road, just me and that cheap trailer, cheap bike, and cheap self. Part of me feels like I cheated myself not doing the very short extra distance it would have taken into Los Angeles proper, but at the same time, the traffic was already terrifying me for as close to LA as I came, basically from Malibu on. And if I start that kind of thinking, I could say, why didn't I go the extra 150ish miles to the border, or start from Vancouver since I did that trip up there anyways, so I could say I did the full US Pacific Coast as many cyclists do? Then why not from Alaska to Chile as others do? No, I did the trip that I did and that I wanted to do, and I ought to feel accomplished in it for exactly what it was, no more or less. I mean, I was holding my trailer together with garden hose at the end for goodness sakes. I'm laughing just thinking about that.

So, today itself, those last (almost) 60 miles? It was a decent ride. I got around early this morning, after waking many times throughout the night anyways. I remember waking around 2 or 3 with the weight of one of my host's cats on my belly, and somewhat sleepily imagining it was my belt bag for a moment, wondering why I hadn't taken it off. I'm glad I realized what the furry object on my stomach was before I tried to unbuckle it. But yes, after a somewhat less than fully restful night, I was up and around with the sun, and I was saying farewell to my still recumbent host by 6:30, and on the road. I wanted to beat both the heat of the day and the traffic, make my pick up from Santa Monica to my friends' in Anaheim as smooth as possible.

Those first couple hours of morning riding were so cool and perfect, and then around 8 or so it was already getting hot. Then it just kept heating still hotter by the passing hour. My NOAA app says it's 91 now. I'm so very glad I got up early enough, and the road was flat and easy enough, that I was finished by 12:30. I'm told this is unseasonably hot for this time of year. My wrists, as well as returned G logo burn from my bike gloves can tell.

Oxnard was as flat and uneventful as I was told it would be, navigating along a combination of trail and a zig zag of bike lane streets, until I reached a road running next to the air force base and roughly parallel to 1/101. Then I soon found myself back on the Pacific Coast Highway once again, for one more stretch. Malibu has some gorgeous beaches, sand, sun, shimmering sea, everything you're told to expect, including the ludicrously overpriced homes where the famous people live. And the warnings I got about cars parked where they shouldn't be all along the shoulder and making my life more difficult held true as well. Once the bike lane vanished and I was riding on shoulder as much as I could, though frequently needing to move in and out of the flow of traffic because of all the parked cars, things got less fun. There were also some hills in there too. ...Up to a whole whopping 180 feet above sea level! It's hilarious to me how much everything is relative, and so spoiled by all the flatness, in the harsh heat I was cursing those little hills, after all the huge climbs of this trip.

I was tired today, and I could almost nap right now. I think it's the less than great sleep I've gotten the last couple nights. Realizing there was no other time coming for it, halfway through my ride I finally drank the 100 calorie shot of caffeinated goo I've been carrying with me all the way back since I got it from my host in Mill Valley, north of San Fran. It did help a little, or at least I convinced myself it did. I've been rationing my bars the last few days to not have to buy more (stupid really), and had what seemed just the right amount to get me through the day. ...Not that I didn't feel famished and wasn't really grateful to stuff my face with quesidilla and cookies my friends provided upon getting back to their place. ...Ah, it will be good not having to worry about constantly stuffing my face to keep weight on now.

The last stretch was way too urban for me, too many cars passing too close, too much shoulder taken up by parked vehicles. It was really not the kind of riding I enjoy, despite the views being gorgeous and the ground totally flat at that point. I called in the cavalry to get me at the rendezvous point, a service station at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and the PCH, about 10 miles out. Somehow I timed it perfectly that they arrived just after I did. My mind entirely on being tired, at the end, and the logistics of getting my bike and trailer into their vehicle (which with both bike wheels off we managed easily), I spaced on getting a picture taken of me there as I should. All I have is the quick, awful selfie I did before they arrived and a standard shot of my bike. Just being at a gas station, it's really not the coolest end of the road photo. But, thankfully, I was given a better one of me and my reassembled bike in their backyard next to the shed my dad helped them with when my parents visited them this Summer (instead of me, their son, up in Seattle, hah (some necessary but not sincere grief you understand)). It just seems so surreal being so suddenly and unceremoniously done with this adventure of the last month. But rationally I know no grand end point or perfect photo op would actually have helped with that. It didn't when I arrived in Seattle. Transitions like this are just inevitability weird and feel like they should be more momentous, less instaneous, than they usually are.

I need to remember I have several post cards I need to send to some special people from the road, my first host of the trip, the host who saved my trip with garden hose, the awesome firefighter who requested one, and my ex-landlady to name the ones I can think of right now. That'll give me a little quest to undertake. But for now, I foresee lazy lounging with my phone. Maybe even a siesta, now that I'm in the right part of the world for that sort of thing. I made it. End of the road. ...For now.