day thirty six

July 15th

Leo Castillo State Park to Doheny State Park

95 miles

Up around 6:15, slept like shit again.  Made oatmeal, broke camp.  Noticed rear tire near flat!!!  Not a good start to the day.   Decided to pump it up and see how it did, must be a slow leak somewhere.

John up, talked my ear off again about the coming of Jesus.  Said bye and thanks, hit the road later than I wanted to, around 8:45.

Back on busy HWY 1.  Approached Malibu, more hills than I expected.  Stopped at Starbucks to use wifi, need to start thinking about how I'm getting myself and bike home.  Also wanted to research better campsites.  Got a coffee, but didn't end up pulling my laptop out.  Not feeling comfortable, seems like people are staring and smirking. Definitely starting to get into the more "affluent" areas of southern CA.  Finished my coffee and asked around for a bike shop, none in Malibu I'm told.  Rear tube low again, thinking about getting a new, better rear tire.  Getting tired of putting new tubes in this tire, must be something up with it.

Hit the road again, next up, Santa Monica.  Should be bike shop there.  Ran into Canadian couple from last night.  Rode with them for a bit, they changed their plan to go to Chica Blanca (?) State Park outside Huntington Beach.  They didn't have hiker/biker sites there but they invited me to share a regular site with them if I wanted.  Told them I'd get there and see how I felt about going further.  Day was going slow and I still had all of LA to ride through.  Still needed to find a bike shop, too.

Headed out again, reached Santa Monica.  Nice bike path on the beach that went right through town into Venice.  My old roommate Todd and I used to come here and hang out when I lived in LA, so it was cool to see this place again.  Lots of good people watching in Venice.  Kept running into Canadian couple, I asked them to keep a look out for a bike shop.  Tire still partly holding air, figured its losing 5 PSI an hour.

Found a bike shop finally, but it was just a touristy place that rents bikes.  No tires in stock.  A good tire is around $50, so I'm starting to think I'll just keep putting air into this tube and just ride it til I have to change it.

Route took a turn inland, into the city, rode through Redondo Beach, Carson, Long Beach, Seal Beach.  Very busy, lots of traffic.  Turned out to be pretty bike-friendly and easy to navigate.  Took forever though.

Route went back to the beach, rode through Sunset Beach, then Huntington Beach.  Tons and tons of people, all having fun.  Still plenty of energy left, and plenty of daylight.  Decided to keep going to Doheny State Park, outside Dana Point, another 20-30 miles.

Back on Pacific Coast HWY now, rode through Newport Beach then Laguna Beach.  Bumper to bumper traffic, nice to slip past stopped cars and through lights.  So much money here.  Passed Ferrari's, Lamborghinis, R8's, a few Corvette ZR1's... insane.

Kept on riding, eventually got to Dana Point.  Found Doheny State Park, a few miles south.  Very small hiker/biker area, but pretty nice campground.  Old couple from Netherlands in camp and another guy from some town 50 miles away, just doing an overnight trip.  Talked for a bit, then headed back into town to find some food.  Found a Subway, perfect.  Had a footlong and then stopped at McDonalds for a milkshake, dessert.  Needed to refill on calories after today, proud of myself for going so far.  95 miles.  Kinda wanted to ride the extra 5 to make it an even 100 but there's no campgrounds for about 40 miles.

Rode back, showered, went to bed early.  Glad LA is behind me.  70 or so mile day tomorrow to San Diego, where I'll have to get a hotel.  Really want to ride to the border and finish, but since its 20 miles south of San Diego, I'd have to ride about 110 miles.  Better to take my time and do a nice easy day for the finish.  Still need to reserve a hotel, figure out a flight/train ticket, etc.  Allllllmost there!!!!!!

outside Malibu

nearing Santa Monica

bike path along the beach in Santa Monica

Santa Monica pier

Venice

Huntington Beach