One of the challenges of having a blog is the need to consistently post something.  I will hopefully make this, at minimum, a weekly occurrence and if there is a lot going on, perhaps daily.  In any case, here I am at the end of Week One of my nomadic life!

There have been a few ‘firsts’ this week.  For example, this is the first time I have stayed in an Airbnb rental.  It is quite sufficient for my needs for the next couple of weeks.  I am hoping the Airbnb rental I have lined up in New York will serve me equally as well. Continue reading Week one

I have decided to resurrect this blog more for my own record of what happens than for the purpose of trying to reach a huge audience.  If anyone wants to come along for the ride or check in from time to time, you are more than welcome.  I have outlined a plan but like all plans, it is subject to change without notice.  I heard someone say recently, “As soon as you announce your plans to the world, God starts laughing.”  I’m not a religious person but I like the thought.  So, we’ll see how things turn out this year.

Continue reading Happy New Year 2018!!

I have decided to resurrect and reconstitute this blog that I used last year to chronicle my bicycle adventure across the country on Route 66.  This coming year will be full of many new adventures and really will be a journey into the ‘unknown’.    After living in Los Angeles for most of the past 40 years, I have decided to leave Southern California.  I have never been much of a ‘crowd person’ and its just getting a little too dense here in Southern California.

Continue reading A New Adventure Begins

Well, I have shuttled everyone to their respective planes and trains and the trip is now officially over.  A few final thoughts!

It was a great adventure and, in my mind, an unqualified success.  I set out to learn about long distance bicycle touring and I certainly did that.  I will have no qualms at all about taking another trip either with a group or by myself.  It was a great learning experience.  I saw some neat things and parts of the country that I had never experienced.  I made some great friends and I had a lot of fun – most days!  I survived the heavily trafficed roads in Chicago, St. Louis, Oklahoma City and LA.  I survived the roller coaster roads of the Ozarks in Missouri where we sometimes hit grades up to 12%.  I survived the long climbs up the mountains in New Mexico peaking at over 7,000 feet.  And, all of this riding a bike with 45 to 50 pounds of gear on it!  Some days were better than other days but taken as a whole it was a great experience.

I have no regrets about leaving the trip when I did.  And, as it turned out, had I not been able to go back out to the Mojave to play ‘road angel’ the rest of the group would have been in a world of hurt on the trek from Needles, CA to Fenner, Amboy and finally Newberry Springs, CA.  Dave, the tour leader, told me that he would have never attempted the run from Needles all the way to Amboy had I not been available for ‘Plan B’ – which we implemented in spades because of the high winds.  That little adventure was far more rewarding to me than simply grinding along everyday on my bike.  And, everyone was very happy I was there with a truck load of food, water, Gatorade, etc – not to mention hauling people into camp off the windy highway!

Reuniting with the gang for the final 50 mile ride in to Santa Monica from Glendora on the last day was great fun.  So, for me, the trip could not have worked out better.

There was much discussion at dinner the last night and in the day or two afterward.  The consensus was pretty much that no one would recommend this particular trip to anyone.  That was even true of the experienced tourers who had been on several long distant tours before.  The Route 66 route is really better done on a motorcycle or a car – bicycles, not so much.  As I stated in an earlier post, the eastern part of the trip was interesting and fun because there was a lot to see, i.e. little cafes, museums, Rte 66 landmarks, etc.  Once we got into western Oklahoma, support services, interesting things to see, etc just got farther and farther apart until we got to New Mexico.   The mountains in New Mexico were pretty and provided some nice riding – even in spite of the 6,000 to 7,000 foot elevation.  However, once past Flagstaff, AZ  it just turned into grinding out mile after mile through country with sparce support services and often high winds. I don’t think anyone has fond memories of trying to get across the Mojave.

So, no regrets about anything.  I am already thinking about where the next trip might be.  Seeing the country on a bicycle is pretty cool.  You see a lot that you would easily miss in a car.  I suspect there is another trip in my future.  If it’s a group trip, I think it will be a month or less.  If it’s on my own, it will be shorter days, more motels and on my own schedule.  Now I have all the gear – I just need to figure out the next destination!!  So, until the next bicycle trip – I’m out!  Thanks for reading.

Linda drove me out to Glendora Thursday afternoon to hook up with the gang for the final leg in on Friday. They were staying at a motel in Glendora – no more tents, no more camping!! Everyone was very happy to have soft beds, nice showers and private bathrooms!  It turns out that after I left them in Amboy, they had two more days of really bad headwinds and, in fact, Dave had to rent a UHaul van in Barstow and picked up all but five riders on the way to Victorville!! Needless to say, everyone was happy the ride was almost over.

Everyone was very happy to see me and they all came out as I was offloading my gear. And, Linda got to meet all of the characters I had been talking about the last few weeks. Linda headed back to LA while we had the final “map” meeting to review the route to Santa Monica and then we walked down the street to a local pizza place.

Friday morning we agreed to meet at Flappy Jacks just down the street for breakfast at 6:30 so we could hit the road early and have time to make a few stops along the way.

We rarely road as a single pack but after breakfast we all headed out together. They let me take the lead since we were in my “neighborhood” and figured I knew my way to Santa Monica. We road as a single pack for a while but it became a little unwieldy trying to keep everyone together through all of the stoplights so we finally broke into two groups. I took my old gang, the fast group, Krista, Kate, Cathy, and Kiwi John and Ben took the others and that worked out pretty well.

We made our way westward through Azusa, Duarte, Pasadena, etc. there were bike lanes most of the time so the traffic wasn’t too much of a factor. We had decided to stop at Phillipe’s for lunch and we rolled up about 11:30. We had a nice relaxing lunch before the crowds hit. We were just walking out the door to leave when Ben and his group showed up!

We decided to stroll through Olvera Street before we hit the road again. It was a nice little detour but soon everyone was ready to get going and off we went. We followed Ceasar Chavez to Sunset. Once again there were bus or bike lanes so we were out of the busy traffic. In Silver Lake we turned onto Fountain Ave which parallels Sunset but it is narrower. By this time it was quite warm out and we rode for many miles in the heat and the traffic – it is very tiring!

We finally got to Beverly Hills and I took them by Sprinkles so they could try the cupcake vending machine!! We had a quick break and then started the final push to Santa Monica Pier.

We were all tiring of the stop and go drill from all of the stoplights and stop signs so I took them up to San Vicente in Brentwood rather than down Broadway in Santa Monica.  We stopped briefly to admire the view of the Pacific and then it was a final easy downhill to the pier.

The second group showed up about an hour after we arrived at the pier and we had the obligatory group photo.

Everyone but Kate was staying at a nearby hostel and so we started to disburse to get ready for our final dinner at 6:30 at Ye Olde Kings Head English pub just up the street from the hostel.

I rode home and my odometer registered 55 miles when I rolled up to my garage. A good days work! I got cleaned up and then Linda and I headed back to Santa Monica to join the party. We had a great time!  A really eclectic but fun group of people.

So even though the ride is over there is still a bit more to do. Since I have a truck, I offered to shuttle bikes, bike boxes and people to airports and train stations as needed. So yesterday I delivered bike boxes and picked up two bikes to store at my house until Dave and Cathy leave on Wednesday!  I took Sir John to the airport last night and have another round of deliveries and pickups today. I think the last to leave will be Dave and Cathy on Wednesday. After I get them to the train station, the trip will be officially over! – and then I can start thinking about the next one!!! I will post a few more thoughts about my trip in the few days before I close this chapter.

Yesterday when I woke up in Victorville, I could hear the wind blowing and when I checked the forecast, I knew it was going to be a tough day for the gang – I just didn’t know how hard!  I finished my shopping for supplies at WalMart, picked up my trays for BBQ, cornbread, coleslaw, etc from Itchy Foot and headed out of Victorville about noon.  I was getting blown around pretty good on the highway so I knew that wasn’t a good thing.  I got to Amboy around 2:30 and checked in at Roy’s ‘cafe and motel’ (using the term loosely!).  The guy at the desk told me we should set up our camp behind the hangar because ‘that way no one will see you’! – Great!  I found the hangar and like most of the buildings in Amboy it was delapidated at best.

Oh,well!

No one was in yet and I didn’t want to offfload the truck with no one around to look after things so I headed out on the highway towards Fenner on my ‘sweep’ to make sure everyone had sufficient water/Gatorade to get them to camp.  The wind was still howling so I knew everyone would be having a rough go of it.  I first encountered Krista and when I parked my truck and stepped out as she approached, it took her a second to recognize me!  Dave had not told anyone that I was going to be the ‘trail angel’, i.e. the guy helping them out today.  We chatted for a minute and she assured me she had sufficient water but told me she was quite concerned about some of the slower riders.  I assured her I was on my way to check on everyone.  She headed for camp (another hour away) and I headed down the highway.

I was quite confident that the next people I would see would be my riding buddies, Kiwi John, Kate and Cathy.  Throughout the trip, it almost always worked out the same, no matter what time people started or in what order, after a couple of hours, Krista was in the lead, my gang was next, the middle got mixed up a little and then at the end were always Ben, ‘Helo’ Bob (former chopper pilot) and Volker (German guy who currently lives in Italy).  And today was to be no different.  A few miles down the road I saw my buddies coming and pulled over and stepped out of my truck.  They did a double take and then realized it was me.  They stopped, came over to the truck and it was hugs and handshakes all around.  It was good to see them and they were very happy to see me.  We chatted for a while as they each downed a bottle of Powerade.  I knew they were in good shape and they’d make it to camp OK so they headed one way and I headed the other.

I checked in with all of the riders and when I came across Ben, Helo Bob and Volker I was about 30 miles from camp.  They told me that Volker needed a ride, which I expected (he’s 72 but has done remarkable on this trip!), because the wind was taking a toll and they were only making about 5 mph!  I told them I would have to go back to camp to offload the truck and then I would be back.  So, the good news was that everyone had water but we would soon be running out of daylight.  I sped back to camp and Krista was there so I offloaded the truck and headed back to get Volker.  By the time I got to them, they had only moved about 5 miles.  I piled Volker, his bike, and gear into my truck and then we also loaded Bob’s trailer to lighten up his load.  I told Ben and Bob that I would be back to get them after I dropped Volker off.  They both knew that they’d never make it to camp before dark.  Once again I turned around and sped back to camp.

Over the next couple of hours, I made three more round trips to pick up riders and bikes.  The last trip was to get Dave, the tour leader.  He was still about 8 miles from camp when I got him and it was pitch dark out.  Even though everyone has lights and reflectors, it’s just not a good idea to be on the highway (2 – lane) after dark.  In any case, after 5 round trips to various points on the highway between Amboy and Fenner (about 200 miles total!) , I got everyone safely back to camp just before 7 p.m.

Facilities at Roy’s Cafe are minimal so there was need to worry about showers!  Everyone changed and we heated up the BBQ and ate dinner under headlamps and flashlights.  Tents were pitched on a gravel area behind the hangar and everyone was in their tents by 9 p.m.  It had been a long day for everyone.

Unfortunately, the wind continued to blow thoughout much of the night and the trains on a nearby train track blasted their whistles throughout the night as they crossed the highway nearby.  No one got much sleep!

But, this morning, everyone was up and packed as usual.

We had breakfast, people packed their lunches, and then they set off down the road.  I got many thanks for my work as the ‘trail angel’ and was glad I was able to help.  Life would have been pretty ugly had they not had someone out there to help them over this stretch.  After everyone but Dave left, he helped me load up the truck and I set out on the 230 mile trip back home.

They asked me to meet them for the last leg from Glendora to Santa Monica so I will have Linda take me out to Glendora Thursday afternoon and then I will ride in with my buddies on Friday.  And then Dave asked me to join them on Friday for their celebratory dinner so Linda and I will join the gang for dinner Friday night.  So, more to come!

 

Well here I am in Victorville. I drove up yesterday so it wouldn’t be such a long drive today. I have food ordered from Itchy Foot BBQ here in Victorville which I will pick up at noon. In addition I have the shopping list from Dave, the tour leader, for breakfast and lunch supplies. I will head over to Walmart this morning to do the shopping. In addition to all of that I have 20 gallons of water, two dozen bottles of Powerade/Gatorade and a few other surprises for the gang. Not to mention they don’t know that I’m the ‘Road Angel’.  They know they are getting some help today – they just don’t know it’s me.  It will be fun to see everyone again.

I plan to pick up the food at Itchy’s between 11 and noon, grab some ice for the coolers, and head for Amboy which is about 130 miles from here. Once there I will start driving back towards Needles on the bike route to see if anyone needs water, etc.

I can hear the wind outside now and the forecast for Needles and Amboy is winds in the 19 to 20 mph range in the afternoon. They are supposed to swing around out of the SSE which would be good but we’ll see. It’s going to be an 80 mile day for the gang today which is going to be tough. We’ll see how it goes but I told Dave I’m prepared to transport bikes and riders in my truck if need be!  Should be an interesting day!! More to come.

I got word from Dave, the tour leader, today that they could use a little help getting across the Mojave – there are not a lot of services out there!  So, I get to spend Halloween in Amboy, CA!!  Otherwise, the gang will have to carry all of the groceries for dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day, during the entire ride from Needles, CA.  That’s just insane.  It was hard enough when we had to carry groceries an extra 10 or 15 miles to camp – all day is insane.  Plus, they will need extra water, Gatorade, etc.  So, now I need to figure out how to get a warm dinner set up at Amboy, CA on Halloween night!!  This should be another interesting adventure!  At least I have a few days to think about this.

I loaded up my bike today with some ballast and went out for a 40 mile ride for two reasons.  First of all, my appetite has not yet come to grips with the fact that I have stopped riding 50 to 60 miles a day so I needed to go burn a few calories!  And, I don’t want to get too soft since I still will be meeting my friends in San Dimas and riding back to Santa Monica in a few days – after I figure out how to feed them in the middle of the Mojave Desert!!  Trick or treat!!

I got a text from Kate, one of my riding buddies, this morning after inquiring how everyone was doing.  Yesterday, Kiwi John and Cathy crashed after being chased/attacked by 4 dogs!!  We had all been plagued by loose dogs several times during the ride – one actually got hit by a car when he dashed in the road after us! (He hobbled away.)  But yesterday was the first crash due to dogs.  I guess John chipped a tooth and bent his derailleur – not good!

I texted Kate that if John needed parts, I could probably find them here in LA somewhere, given the number of bike shops – and then we’d figure out how to get them to him.  I really hate the thought of him starting across the deserts of Arizona and California with a bike in ‘iffy’ shape – damned dogs!!

I’m recovering well and, in fact, went out for a 30+ mile ride on my road bike today.  It felt really weird after riding on a bike loaded with 40 to 50 pounds of gear for the last several weeks!  It felt like I was on a rocket!  More to come!

I am home! At least temporarily.  As I said in my last post, I’m still waiting to hear from, Dave, the tour leader, if he needs me to head to the Mojave with supplies.  I will know the answer to the that in a few days.  And, if asked, I will gladly do it.  As I was driving home from Kingman today, it was very apparent to me that there is very little in the way of support services  and what services there are, are a long ways apart.  If I can help my friends out so they don’t have to carry two days worth of food and water in addition to their already heavy loads, it’s a no brainer.

It struck me as I was driving across the Arizona and California deserts that this section of the Route 66 ride is really more of a multiday endurance event than a cultural/tourist adventure.  The first half of the ride, even with the time limitations we had, allowed us to stop at some of the Route 66 landmarks, etc.  Out West, there are far fewer Route 66 landmarks and they are much farther apart so it really becomes just an exercise in riding the road. Just an observation on my part. Perhaps this section of the route might be better suited to a motorcycle!! I will be interested in speaking with the rest of my riding buddies to see if they share the same view.

In any case, I drove my car directly to the car rental agency near LAX, unloaded my gear, packed my bike and rode the last few miles home.  It’s good to be home.  I will enjoy my R&R, wait to hear from the tour leader about support in the Mojave, and get ready to go out to San Dimas in a couple weeks to meet up with my riding buddies for the last days ride to Santa Monica. In the mean time, it’s good to be home!  I don’t think I realized how tired I really was and am enjoying a the R&R – and wearing different clothes!!!