Days 31 to 33: The people you meet [Lots of photos, may load slowly]

One of the really fun aspects of a trip like this is the people you see along the way. On this trip, we had the chance to see people we already knew and to meet some new folks. This post will briefly talk about some of each of those groups. First, the two days of riding, which were wrapped around a rest day.

Riding

Day 31: 59 miles, 1014 elevation (no whees or ughs)

This day of riding had it all. First, I got to ride with my college buddy Rich. Rich and I re-connected a few years ago when we found out each of us enjoyed cycling and bike touringl. Then, in 2022, we rode our bikes across America independently. Rich started at the Santa Monica Pier and rode Route 66 to St. Louis and then across the Midwest to Massachusetts. He documented his ride here, a great journal from a journalist. And then we both rode bikes across America. Rich will be my guide and ride with me for my final three days to the US-Mexico border.

Rich started by getting me across L.A. It started easily enough, in the same place where he had started his ride across the country. From there, we rode along the beaches. Then, we had to cut across the city. Luckily, it was a Sunday, because we were definitely in the midst of the urban jungle. We stopped in lovely Belmont Shores for coffee before Rich headed home, and I rode the last 15 miles to Newport Beach. Rich returned the following day.

Day 33: 60 miles, 2575 elevation

My penultimate riding day. I thought the climbing was done, but there were a lot of ups and downs on left along the coast. Rich and I left Newport Beach and basically rode along the coast and/or highway to Encinitas. Along the coast, Camp Pendleton (marine base) gets in the way. Without a special pass, you have to ride around the base. That meant 7.7 miles on the interstate. Ugh! Wide shoulder, so we felt safe, even with cars flying by a 75 mph. Chris met us for coffee in Oceanside, before we finished up in Encinitas.

The Other People We Met Along the Way

Friends we saw on the ride

We caught up withe some friends along the way. I previously mentioned riding over the Golden Gate Bridge and through San Francisco with Edward. Then, we were joined by Rob and Mary who were out from Fort Collins while we rode from Carmel to Big Sur and beyond. And of course, this post introduced you to Rich, who is riding with me for three days.

We scheduled a rest day in Newport Beach because we had several good friends we wanted to see. First, we saw Frank, one of Joe's former students who has become a close friend to both of us. We also met his son on this trip. Thanks for breakfast Frank and thanks for your friendship.

Grant and Katrina were our next door neighbors in Atlanta, and they worked at Emory University, where Joe also worked. They are now at UC-Irvine. We have continued to keep up with them. It was so much fun having lunch with them and hearing what they (and their wonderful daughters) have been doing.

We also got to visit with Peter and Cheri, parents to Mack, our daughter Ally's fiance. Ally and Mack are getting married right in this area next summer. We had dinner with Cheri and Peter, who we had met previously, and got to talk about our kids and the upcoming wedding. We forgot to take a picture at dinner, so they sent along a photo for us to share here. Thank you both for raising such a wonderful son.

People Joe Met on the Trail

When you do an adventure like this, you find a lot of people to talk to. Many are doing the same adventure. Others are just interested. Chris finds it easy to strike up conversations with strangers..

Buck and Sally. Buck and Sally were driving along the Oregon Coast and stopped at a scenic vista point at the same time I did. They approached me and asked about my ride. It turns out that this South African couple had also traversed the Pacific Coast Trail a few years earlier--Buck by bike with Sally SAGging him in their RV. They did the ride in 18 days, which is an average pf 100 miles a day. As you will see, every time I think I am doing something special, I bump into others that are doing even more.

Tom. It took us a week or so before we met our first fellow Pacific (Bike) Route traveler. We met at a restaurant along the Oregon coast. Tom is from the UK, but was recently working in the ski industry in British Columbia. He was bikepacking and was loaded down. See his bike below. He was riding about 75 miles a day, but told me that he had ridden 143 miles on one day! On that packed bike. Respect.

Jack. We met Jack, an older gentleman, in a restaurant in Florence, Oregon. We had stopped there for a late lunch. Jack was seated next to us and we started up a conversation. He told us about the area and we had a nice chat. Later that evening, we were walking around in town and who do we see, but Jack. He was walking around as well. We got into another conversation before saying good night.

Kai, Elly, and ???. I met these three at the Welcome to California sign where they were trying to figure out how to create a fun picture for their return to their home state. They started their journey in Alaska. They were true bikepackers with loaded down bikes and camping every night. Ahh, to be young again. No photo of them, but they took one for me.

Hans and Nick were also loaded down campers, Nick was heading from Astoria to "home" in Santa Cruz. Hans is from Chile and will ride a few more days and in a few weeks fly back home. We rode together for about 20 minutes or so and had a nice conversation.

Elly, Kai, and ???.

Carlos started riding in Calgary and plans to go to the US-Mexico border and maybe beyond. He is from Madrid proudly flies his Spanish flag. He asked if I would take a video of him riding, because he didn't have that kind of image to share. So I did and sent it to him on WhatsApp.

Kurt and I met in front of a little store along the Avenue of the Giants. We had a lot in comment, including frequently yelling "wheeee" when we were on bikes. He is about my age, but we both ride because it makes us feel like kids. He was heading home to Chico from a trip up north.

David is from London. He was doing the whole trail (though he seemed to be looking forward to a few days in San Francisco). We also met along the Avenue of the Giants and chatted for about 15-20 minutes.

Joe and Malasu (?). I met this married couple while riding down from Mendocino. It was hilly, they had a lot on their bikes, so I offered to give them a pull. For those who don't ride bikes, giving a pull means riding in front of them so they can draft along behind. It can save you 20-30% in effort. While I did that we talked. They were riding from Port Angeles to San Francisco. And, small world here, Malasu (not sure about that name or spelling) was once a student at Poudre High School where two of my daughters went to school. She graduated a few years before either.

You may recall that riding around Monterey Bay, there was a lot of agricultural land. I stopped for coffee and chatted with Gus, who was riding back from a weekend camping trip. He worked on a farm in Carmel Valley. He answered a lot of the questions I had about local farming.

We both met Jim and Joani at a coffee shop in Isla Vista (right near UC-Santa Barbara campus). They had just moved to Santa Barbara a few months before and loved it. Joani had just come from the "Best bagel shop in the world, and I am from Brooklyn." She even shared one of those bagels with us. It was delicious.

People Chris Met

Chris also met a lot of people. Many of them were shopkeepers and others she would meet on the street. She met a nice man in Santa Barbara who proudly shared pictures of his daughters, who were first generation students at UC-Santa Barbara.

She met this guy (see below) in Mendocino. He was selling stuff he found along the shore after a particularly violent store. He filled her in on a lot of recent Mendocino history.

What did Chris (and Joe) do these last few days?

I promised to catch you up on what Chris has been doing while I have been riding.

Lompoc to Carpinteria

This was a fun stretch. Chris saw me riding the shoulder of Highway 101 (a major expressway with a 65 mph speed limit) and pulled off to see if I was comfortable. I was, so she continued to Isla Vista and then Santa Barbara. We agreed to meet at Old Town Coffee. It was here that we met the owner of the shop, Tim, a super nice guy, and a cyclist, a UCSB student, Jim, and Joani (talked about above). Each found out about my ride and was curious, and we talked quite a bit. The coffee and breakfast burrito were exceptional.

From there, while Joe rode through UCSB campus, Chris went and found the Santa Barbara Wharf and beach areas. She took some great bird pictures. This was one of my favorites.

Sometimes the most fun comes from stumbling into something interesting. Little did we know when we planned our trip that we would be staying in Carpinteria the weekend of the 39th California Avocado Festival. We had a ball. There were four stages, and the music was great. We saw three different bands perform. We tried the guacamole (quite good), but not the Avocado ice cream.

Carpinteria to Santa Monica

You may recall that my dead legs made this a short day on the bike. Chris picked me up 25 miles into a planned 70-mile ride. We drove together through Malibu (a beautiful place), but didn't stop. That afternoon, we went down to the famous Santa Monica Pier and walked around a bit. We then went out to dinner with Rich (my college buddy and partner for the last three days of riding) and his wife, Susan, at Socalo. The food was wonderful and the company even better.

Santa Monica to Newport Beach

Next June our daughter Ally will be getting married in Newport Beach. So Chris was anxious to get over here and check things out. She had a great time seeing the place Ally found for the rehearsal dinner. Chris also did some more research for the wedding. We also saw and had meals with the friends mentioned above.

What's next?

One more day of riding. Tomorrow Joe and Rich head to (somewhere close to) the U.S.-Mexico border.