The Oddessy Begins

Huzzah! I have a blog! Now I can keep all you loyal readers (or occasional passersby) updated on my progress in the new realm of cycle touring. :)

I'll come back and fill in the details soon (or maybe later...), but I am half-way through my first trip and it's going great! I left Friday from Seal Beach at 5 PM after having my wheels trued by the highly skilled, patient, and really cool mechanics I have gotten to know rather well over the last week of almost daily shop-visits during touring prep at Jax bicycles in Long Beach, CA (Thanks Chris and Tommy!). After a gorgeous sunset over the ocean between Catalina Island and Palos Verdes Peninsula, I biked on into the night past Huntington and Newport Beaches, Laguna Niguel and on into Dana Point where I found the $3 hiker-biker site around 10PM, stretched out, worked on my capoeira kicks for a few minutes, recorded my mileage (52! my longest ride ever...) and crashed for the night around midnight. One other cyclist was sharing the space, but he was long-since asleep before I got there and packed up and left before first light while I was toasty in my sleeping bag, so I didn't talk to him.

mmmmm, breakfast-time...I pulled my food bag out of my Xtracycle side bag (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my xtracycle, btw...www.xtracycle.com...they rock! more on that soon). A small shower of plastic and nylon shreads comes out with it...odd, it wasn't torn when I packed it. argh, rodents! Someone had visited while I was sleeping and absconded with a few of my veggie chips (which I had not yet tasted) and gnawed off about half of two of my carob energy cubes. The rest of my food seemed intact, so in the interest of avoiding rodent microbes I sadly threw my veggie chips and carob cubes into the camp trash cans and sat down to a tupperware bowl of granola and powdered goat's milk. Very tastey.

Back on the road at about noon, shooting for San Diego, I find a pay phone (conviently located near the very tempting commuter train station in San Clemente...) and call my friend Manni in SD. He offers to come get me as far north as Oceanside if I need him. "I'll think about it, but I want to see how far I can get first." Perhaps that was my downfall, or perhaps it was just unrealistic of me to think I could ride 70-80 miles the day after having ridden 50+ miles for the first time ever, but suffice it to say I called him from Carlsbad and got a ride from Encinitas (Thanks Manni!).

Wanna hear the really funny thing? By the time we got back to his place and I took a shower (mmmm, hot shower....) I was too tired to go to the Brazilian Carnival that had motivated the timing of my trip! lol, oh well. We shared some tea and some food and got to catch up on the personal and mutual friend news of the last few years and I got to talk to his very cool girlfriend I hadn't seen in forever, either. It was a great evening.

So here I sit, pounding out my first blog entry, debating my return plans, hoping I am being more realistic this time around because SambaDa and Delta Nove are playing at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica Tuesday and I really really really really wanna be there!! I wonder what my mom is doing Tuesday evening and if she might feel like a drive to Newport Beach... ;)

PS- Cyclists are awesome! I don't think a single person rode by me without asking if I needed help whenever I stopped (for a snack, to rearrange gear, put on another layer, get out my headlight...). That was really cool. More soon! Have a great day, all!