7.22 to 7.29: LA to Palo Alto

Tuesday, 7/22

After flying out of either Florida or TF Green in Rhode Island to LAX (after talking our way into four free drinks from a flight attendant and meeting our new friend, Jalyn), Myself, Mike, and Andrew met up in the valley in Los Angeles after taking a bus from the airport to the valley through ridiculous traffic. After getting lost for about an hour, we finally arrived at Mike's sister's house (Alli) and made some pasta, visited Vito, and hit the hay (or the couch or the floor).

Wednesday, 7/23

We woke up and took some fresh oranges and grapefruit to squeeze for juice, and Mike had woken up earlier and built up the bikes. We took it easy in LA today and did stir-fry night after visiting a fruit market, and we watched the Hurricane.

Thursday, 7/24

Today was the first day one of us almost got hit by a car. After biking to a library in LA, some woman in a mercedes pulled out at a red light and almost nailed Mike (tires screeched). After we got back and got a lift to the library and a quick trip to a bike shop to fix the cassette on my wheel, we went to a beach in Santa Monica. As we walked in, we noticed a group of guys eyeing us down, but we didn't think much of it and put down our stuff. About 10 minutes later, two of them came over and asked us to play volleyball, and so it took no time at all to realize that the guys staring us down were really just checking us out. And so, we played 3v3 volleyball with them and eventually played a few games of 6v6 when the rest of their group manned up to play. The innuendos that came out of their mouths were endless, and I think Mike was laughing the entire time. That night we went back and made a fire pit with Alli's roommate Cyril after eating some enchiladas. Story of the night was Cyril and his huge entertainment system, yelling at his girlfriend, and screaming about "Helo's" in his videogame, which at first he made sound like "Helo" meant "lady of the night," but once we found out it was just a helicopter, I literally laughed so hard i threw up.

Friday, 7/25 - The First Day; LA --> Alta Vista

The night before we convinced Cyril to hitch on his trailer and he dropped us off at the top of Topango Canyon Blvd with a Corona in his hand, and the bike trip began with an awesome 10 mile descent at 10:15am. We took the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for about 45 miles but at that point it turned into a Freeway, where bicycling is prohibited. After a cop pulled over at the military pickup spot we were eating lunch at, we were forced to leave and use the GPS to find an alternate route. Things were going great on a detour inland until about 70 miles in we began to hit hills and mountains on CA-150. The three of us all ran out of water near the top of one of the hills, and we were refused water after buzzing an avocado farming house on the way and explaining we were dehydrated and waterless (they did respond initially, but there was no response after our request for a hose). So, we struggled up the rest of the hills but finally made it out of them in Carpenteria. By the time we made it to 83 miles we stopped at a bus stop to hitch a ride to Santa Barbara, but found out the bus only had two bike racks and the bus driver refused to let us on. Maybe we were destined to ride a century the first day.

After 102 miles we nearly collapsed in front of a liquor store for water and banana's. After a few failed attempts, we managed to hitchhike to State Street in SB from Rusty (biker from bakersville who fit our bikes, and mike) and Ellen Fogle (mother of two from SB who took Greeley and myself). Once we got dropped off downtown, we were picked up by Blake's friends Alex (and alex) in a blazer. We finally arrived in Isla Vista (UCSB) where Alex's girlfriend cooked us pasta, and we bought them some beer in exchange for the ride. That night we went out with them to Del Playa street a few blocks away, which was essentially Bourbon street without pen containers, with tons of kids and bands included. At the party we ended up at, we introduced Chuck Norris (3v3speedpong) and won, and pretty much packed it in and crashed in Alex's apartment, falling asleep watching the lion king and eating burrito's.

quote of the day: "I hope i get hit by a car so i don't have to keep riding"

Saturday, 7/26 - Alta Vista --> Santa Barbara

Recovery was slow this morning, but we woke up and the first stop was the UPS store. I was carrying about 20 lbs i didn't need, which made the hills even worse the day before. Andrew ditched a few things, too. When we rode back to the apartment we went to the beach and played some frisbee and body surfed. Before we left, we decided to cruise back into Santa Barbara for the evening which was about 13 miles (After about 7 miles from earlier), and we booked a hostel and train tickets the next day up to Palo Alto. Partially because we were worried about going through Big Sur, and partially because we had a free place to stay in Palo Alto, plus a few other reasons I'll get to. Anyways, we also refilled the tires at a bike shop (i'm not even going to write the pressure i had in my tires the day before) and went to our private room at Haley's Cottage, and met our new friends Brooklyn Red and his Wife, who latched onto us like leeches as soon as we rolled in. After they took us to the grocery store (they wouldn't just tell us, they had to show us), they convinced Greeley to buy hummus that we would all share after. But, when we got back, I went for a run immediately to check out the pier and Mike went to pack. Luckily for Andrew, there were three british girls that came to hang out with Brooklyn Red and wife as well. After we made some rice and quesedillas, I fell asleep somewhere between 9 and 10, Mike fell asleep shortly after, and Andrew a while after that.

Sunday, 7/27 - Santa Barbara --> San Luis Opisbo

The next morning Mike woke up and felt miserable after a feverish sleep, but the three of us checked out of the hostel and biked to the pier where there was a pretty neat Iraq war memorial. We arrived at the train station for a 10:15am train to San Luis Opisbo, which was a really cool town. We walked around their main street and got some iced coffee before finding a little plaza to watch live music by a creek and rest up. Because we postponed the bus to San Jose until midnight, we got to meet up with Mike's Aunt Sue and Uncle Milt, and we were taken out to Mothers Restaurant which had a 6-piece swing band and lots of swing dancers. This was the first legitimate meal we've had, unless you count trail mix and pb&j.

We parted ways after lunch and went to a grassy area near a Mission, where we took a nap and played some frisbee. Next we went to a a park to hang out and planned our next move, because it started getting cold when the sun went down and we had a midnight bus to catch. So, we went to Barnes & Noble at around 7pm, where Mike and Andrew were delirious to the point they could not look at anything but picture books or calendars. We did eat some food, and got some free scones from a very sympathetic starbucks employee. We rode to the train station at 11 when the store closed and sat outside for an hour, and we caught the midnight bus to San Jose.

Monday, 7/28 - San Luis Opisbo --> San Jose --> Palo Alto

Mike got some sleep on the bus, but me and andrew stayed up watching a movie and arrived in San Jose at 4:15am. After changing into bike shorts and leaving a message with Anna that probably scared her half to death, we turned on the GPS to discover it was not working. So we frantically charged it and set off to Palo Alto before the sun rose and the morning commute began. The ride itself was 18 miles, which we could ride pretty quick since there are pretty good bike paths on the roads and there was no traffic. We arrived at my friend Rachel's house at 6am in Menlo Park (next to Palo Alto), woke her up to let us in, and crashed.

We woke up sometime no too long after noon and went grocery shopping for the next few days we would be here. Mike was cooking most of the day, and I went for a run, with Andrew trailing me on his bike. Today's run was an hour and three minutes and it took us about an hour, but we went through Stanford's campus and checked out some buildings and their sports complex, and i went on their track, just briefly.

When we got back we feasted on eggplant parmesan and watched a movie. I fell asleep at 9, and the rest shortly after.

Tuesday, 7/29

We woke up and decided to go on a hike in the Palo Alto hills for a few miles. The hills were really neat, there were fields of yellow and the views of the valley were prertty good. We also saw a coyote and lots of signs for mountain lions. When we got back, we relaxed some more and I went for a shorter run than the day before. Mike whipped up some homemade pizza for dinner with some fresh vegetables, and we watched another movie and crashed. I also found out there's a marathon in San Francisco in a few days when we'll be there, in addition to probably a half marathon.. and I'm really thinking about running in it...

Stats:

Total miles ridden: 140sh

Total mikes hiked: 4sh

Total miles ran (matt): 1 hr 50 minutes

The Future:

Half Marathon