Morning at the Best Western in Lompoc, and time to figure out what to do about my rear tire that had stranded me here.

The one bike shop in Lompoc that seemed like it may have what I’d need was by appointment only on Sundays, so no luck in town. I would either need Steve to bring something down from the San Luis Obispo area, or get something from one of the many bike shops in Goleta or Santa Barbara further down the road.

My rear tire held its air overnight, so the second patch job I did was working at least. I wasn’t sure how it would do with the weight on it, but maybe it would hold the 40 or so miles until I could get to a bike shop. If I ran into problems, Steve could swing by and save the day, but it was possible I could make it on my own. I decided to give it a go. I had to leave soon if I was to complete the mileage I needed today.

I mounted the rear tire back on the bike and headed over to the cafe for my breakfast. At about 10:30am I was ready to go, had the bike loaded up and was just pushing it out the hotel door when I discovered my front tire was flat.

Double Shit.

Not sure what was causing this new flat (could it have been hit by whatever cut my rear tire?), and getting the message loud and clear that my bike wasn’t going to make it out of here unless I carried it, I called Steve to get Plan B going. While he got ready to head down, I was calling bike shops in SLO and Atascadero to find a suitable tire. Unfortunately, nothing was open until noon because it was Sunday. Even if Steve could pick up the right tire where he was at, it wouldn’t be in my hands till 1pm at the earliest… it’s looking like I’m not going to be on the road until 2pm. My planned route for today was over 90 miles, and when you add the 15 or so miles I wasn’t able to complete the day before, we had moved beyond the realm of possibility for me being able to pull this off on the bike.

For lack of anything better to do, I checked out the front tire and patched the leak (a small but tough wooden splinter, nothing major) while I waited for Steve to arrive. It was agonizing, trapped in the hotel room with with my lame bike as time I couldn’t afford to lose continued to slip away.

Steve arrived at about 12:30pm. We loaded up the bike and were off to Santa Barbara. We drove the route I would have been riding and went over the last real hill of the trip I had to conquer. You’d think it was custom made for cycling with an easy slope to climb and a very steep, speedy descent. The rest was all flatland I didn’t care to miss.

As we made it into Santa Barbara traffic was very heavy on the freeway. Steve found out later that it was due to a plane that had made an emergency landing on the freeway. Had I not had the tire problem, I would have been riding on that section of road around that time… dodging a plane on my bike would have made for some kickass helmet cam footage. Oh well, maybe next time.

We exited and took State Street down to Velo Pro, a shop that had an appropriate replacement tire… the going was real slow here as well. After hitting every stoplight and lurching along at a crawl, I was so annoyed with the stop-n-go traffic I popped my bike off the rack in the middle of the street and rode it the rest of the way to the store.

The bike shop had the tire replaced and fresh tubes in both in less than 10 minutes. Hulk bike is road ready again.

Steve and I headed across the street to grab some burgers and shakes; both of us were starving at this point. Lunch consumed, we headed back to the car. I reloaded the panniers, got the sunscreen going, and clipped in the pedals to finally begin the day’s ride at about 3:30pm. I had maybe 60 miles to go to Leo Carrillo State Park on the outskirts of Malibu, and needed to make good time if I was to get there before dark. Steve wished me luck and told me he’d be in town for a bit in case more trouble cropped up, but that I was screwed after that. :)

I headed down State, took a left when I ran out of road, and started heading south. I had gone maybe a mile when I met up with an older rider on the bike path. We started to chat and I ended up riding with him for the next 45 miles until I was south of Oxnard.

cruising past the jammed-up cars down the Ventura Highway

It was a great ride; didn’t have to worry about where I was going with the other rider showing me the way. He took me on some alternate routes to cruise by the beaches, a much better ride than what I would have been doing. We rode at a steady but assertive pace, which was probably best for me at the time (despite my desire to get to camp as soon as possible, I still needed to pace myself). The weather was beautiful throughout the day.

Great conversation and a great ride with the cyclist; never did catch his name though. It’s funny, cyclists – you can be riding along and there’s this natural camaraderie… it didn’t really matter that I didn’t know the guy.

passed by literally thousands of boats on the ride today

He reached his turnoff and I continued on my way, and shortly thereafter got off the route as it diverted away from the 1. I was headed in the right general direction though and wasn’t too worried about it. I stopped at a KFC (they should sponsor my ride since I’ve eaten there the most on the trip :) and wolfed down a mashed potato bowl. It was maybe 6pm when I headed out… pushing it for time.

I figured out the way with the help of my phone and GPS, and in short order was back on track. I made it onto Navalair Road and passed an Air Force facility and some Navy thing with a missile display by the side of the road. The sun was on its way down as I made it back onto the highway, people pulling over to admire the sunset.

getting dark, still moving…

I was on the highway in the dark for maybe 10 miles or so, which went well with my lights and a decent shoulder. Made it to camp and tracked down the hiker/biker area, which was nicely positioned away from the other campsites and the sometimes noisy RV people. Two perfectly spaced trees awaited me in an empty spot and I set up my hammock in record time with the help of my headlamp. I snacked a bit while I chatted up the other two riders who were out that evening, and hit the sack not much later.

Back on track after starting the day on the brink of failure, here I am camping in Los Angeles County, now on the brink of the biggest metropolis of my trip. The ride that awaits me tomorrow could be the most challenging, from the sounds of the cycling book at least. Better rest up and savor the last night in my hammock for this journey… it’ll be hotels and beds from this point on.

Most Exciting Moment
As I was approaching the turn to the Air Force facility, I saw a grove of lemon trees to the right, most of the fruit halfway ripe. Maybe it’s growing up in a place where it was too cold for such trees to grow, but I enjoyed seeing lemons on trees and not in a bin at the supermarket.

Roadkill Report

• small bird
• gopher
• possum
• raccoon
• blackbird
• rat
• one blue and one grey glove