Bicycle Diaries

DAY TWO: Vet’s Mem to Kirk Creek

Miles: 62.52

Time: 7:06:01

Barely energy to write. Gnarliest day EVER! First hill out of Vet’s was killer at 8AM.

and traffic whizzing by at 70+Only got worse from there. Road had tiny shoulder

Big Sur has gnarly hills. Foggy and cold all morning riding uphill into the wind. Stopped halfway up first

really tough hill at about 9AM and a family in a minivan gave me an apple and some water. Thought that was the biggest hill I had ever seen in my life. I had no idea what was coming.

Cursed Jesus and the Lord a lot. Also cursed Mother Nature – fucking bitch. The views were spectacular, but after a certain point it was like, “Okay, I get it!” At the moment I feel like if I ever see another stretch of pristine unspoiled coastline, I might swim out until I find a baby seal and club it to death.

Around lunchtime it got hot. One hill I had to get off and walk a bit. Luckily jut then I came upon a coffeeshop and “spirit garden.” Filled up water @ shop and walked spirit garden, which was exactly what I needed – shady and soothing and full of beautiful statues and art work, fountains and tree houses. Art all very Mexican. They had a stage for live music and a restaurant with a nice patio. Too bad I’m too broke to eat somewhere like that.

Feeling refreshed, got back on the road. Every hill went on for days. I kept thinking, “this must be the end,” only to round a corner and see more uphill bullshit. Hilly all the way to the end. Cursed cars going by – “Fuck you! You have no idea what this is!” So easy to push your horn at me while you breeze by at 65 mph. Mitch Hedberg and Earl Greyhound on the iPod got me through some tough spots.

Kirk Creek is beautiful – right on the cliffs next to the ocean. I barely made it here before dark. I can hear the waves and smell them. No showers, which totally blows as I am absolutely filthy and covered with tacky, near-dry sweat. Ranger gave us free wood, so we made a fire and ate Top Ramen. Pretty sweet. Mina got here before me. I have no idea how.

Tomorrow will be more hills for the first 22 miles, then flat (I think!) Only 40 miles, so we can hike at the end or go to the beach (hurrah!)

My shoulder is screaming.

Whose fucking idea was it to build a road through Big Sur anyway?

Bicycle Diaries

August 18^th, 2010

DAY ONE: 521 Encino Drive to Veteran’s Memorial Park

Miles: 42 Time: 4:30:58

This was the same ride – nearly – I did on Monday, so not much to report except that this time

the weather was much clearer – warm and perfectly sunny – and the ride felt easier, even with the added weight.

I set out at 10:15 AM, an hour later than I had planned to, and hit Seaside pretty quickly. Lost a pannier outside a mechanic’s and got help from the owner – a really friendly guy who gave me an alternate route to the one I had, and also fixed my pannier and gave me a couple of bottles of water. He had an Asian assistant named Manny who didn’t speak English, and a cute dog named Jenny.

The ride from there to Monterey was beautiful – right beside the ocean, literally.

Got to Monterey early and felt like ploughing on, so got directions to Los Lobos. Proceeded to waste an hour getting horribly lost in Monterey and gave up on Los Lobos and went back to original plan

to stay in Monteret at Veteran’s Memorial Park. P.S. the hill up to Vet’s Mem is ridiculous. Steep and never ending. I made it up the first half okay, got to a building and thought I was there – it turned out to be a rec. center and bar, not the campsite. The campsite was another ½ mile up (and I mean up) the road. Eventually had to get off and walk – too exhausted by this point in the day.

The campground is small with a nice maintained park (i.e. swings, slides and roundabouts.) Cash only, which I didn’t know, so I have to go back down the hill to the bar and get cash. Oh well – good excuse for a beer! J

Met a girl named Mina in the site next to mine, who is doing the same ride, but carrying on to Mexico. Maybe we can ride together some way. All in all – first day went SPLENDIDLY!

Bicycle Diaries

August 17^th, 2010

ONE DAY BEFORE LEAVING

Yesterday I rode to Marina (actually, I rode to Seaside by mistake.) It was tough – today I am sore, neck and shoulders especially. But it feels good.

The ride was beautiful. San Andreas road was bright and sunny and even though

it was the middle of the day, there was almost a full moon in the sky. From San Andreas, I wound through the farmland behind Watsonville. The air smelled like warm strawberries, heavily fragrant, almost muggy, and the roadside was lined with trucks and old Hondas belonging to the Mexicans working in the fields. Time was I would feel guilty about enjoying a bike ride on a Monday afternoon while other people slaved away in the hot sun, but I have learned to accept my good fortune and be grateful for the life I lead.

The route followed the highway for a while. I recited iii vi ii V I progressions to myself to keep my mind off the enormous trucks blasting by me at sixty miles an hour.

Out of Moss Landing I turned back into farmland and rode into the wind for what felt like days. The weather turned chilly. The sky was getting grey and wet and the road was rough. I put my iPod on and rode slowly, hating wind.

Coming up on Marina, I followed the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail, which ran alongside the highway, next to the railroad. Sand dunes rose up on either side of me, covered with tiny wildflowers and bushes.

I passed some cyclist heading the other way and waved. Everyone I passed – cyclists, runners, dog walkers – I had the absurdly strong desire to wave at. I felt immediately connected with these outside people, enjoying the cold, foggy air, enjoying the pain of physical activity, feeling – I assumed – much the same way that I did about many things. Most of the cyclists – old yuppies with streamline helmets and spandex body suits – seemed not to take me seriously in my rolled up yoga pants, cheap windbreaker and little brother’s old skateboarding helmet.

At REI in Marina I bought bicycling shorts, a couple of jerseys, an odometer and some other bits and bobs I will need – so fucking expensive! Don’t they realize that it’s not just rich old yuppies who ride bikes? Broke students need spandex shorts too!

I leave tomorrow. Today will be devoted to packing and picking up the few remaining items I need. I think this is going to be okay. I think I’m actually going to make it.

Bicycle Diaries

August 12^th, 2010

SIX DAYS BEFORE LEAVING:

I figured I’d better start writing again to get back in the habit before I leave, since I want to log every day on the trip.

The last couple of weeks have been relatively stressful; being right in the middle of Cabaret – this is the last weekend – trying to plan this trip and prepare for it, both physically and in terms of equipment; working at the Lutheran church camp and finding out today that I have bronchitis – so it turns out the haggard, phlegmy cough I have had for three weeks is not just going to go away by itself. I’m freaking out about money because all the stuff I need for this is really expensive and I still need to pay for food and camping, and I’m starting to wonder if I will even physically be able to do the ride. All signs point to the craziness of the whole endeavor, but I guess I am going to do it anyway, bronchitis and all.

Part of me is absolutely terrified and part of me is like, “dude, chill, it will be okay.” Such is life. Talking to Adriane today at Cabaret after the show reaffirmed the feelings I have towards life right now. I’m very confused, I’m pretty scared most of the time and I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m doing, but apparently I’m okay with it. Maybe working at the Lutheran church is getting to me – God has a plan and everything will be cool if I try to do the right thing. If I hadn’t been raised a strict Atheist I probably would have made a good pastor. I mean, I get it. It’s all the same shit. Just people trying to deal with being scared.

So I am doing this thing. At least attempting it. I might end up being pretty miserable for most of the trip, but I said I would do it. I’m really excited. If I actually pull it off it will be awesome. My mom is really excited. Lolly is excited to see me in LA. I would be letting a lot of people down – especially myself – if I didn’t do it. This is not going to end up being one of those crazy ideas I have that I never follow through on. This is going to work.

UPDATE (next morning): The more research I do, the better I feel. The book I got – Bicycling the Pacific Coast, is phenomenal, and YouTube videos about packing for long tours put me at ease J

Gun Control and the Black Market

I remember in 9th grade having to present an argument in my social studies class - we could argue for or against anything we wanted - and I chose to argue for a ban of the second amendment. I was astonished at how many kids were angry. I thought that everyone would agree with me - I mean, this is Santa Cruz - but most of them were very offended. They started claiming that the second amendment is an American institution and that it can't just be changed. They seemed to think that taking something, anything, out of the constitution was like taking away one of the Ten Commandments. And when I argued against the entrenchment of institution for the sake of institution alone, many of them came back with exactly what second amendment purists seem to say - that outlawing guns would only force them onto the black market. I didn't have an argument for this when I was a freshman in high school, but I knew there was something illogical about this statement. As it was, I couldn't form a decent response, and I lost the debate. I still can't really put into words what I think is wrong with this sentiment, but I think it has something to do with the defeatist attitude it implies. A "Why even bother to try and make anything better - it's all going to shit anyway" mentality. This is the kind of mentality that destroys the morale and motivation of citizens, and it is absolutely rampant in the world today. The black market is the black market - a completely separate issue that should be dealt with as and when needed. Allowing the threat of the black market to determine whether or not we outlaw guns in this country is cowardly and ass-backwards. Should we also legalize cocaine to take it off the black market?

I'm not saying that the second amendment should be banned - I no longer believe that it is an appropriate thing to do. Though I do not personally agree with the use of hunting rifles and shotguns, I can see that for many people they are a part of life and it is not for me or for anyone to decide to take them away from citizens who do use them responsibly. Semi-automatic weapons and handguns, on the other hand, are a completely different story, and they need to be controlled. Unfortunately, I don't believe it will happen within my lifetime - America is too entrenched in its constitutional tradition, just as England is still clinging desperately to its royalty. And anyway, as with most natural and man-made disasters, it doesn't seem to happen very often, really, and it hasn't ever happened to us, has it? These kinds of things don't happen to us, we just hear about them on the news. Every time some lunatic with a gun kills a bunch of people, the issue is raised, and for a few weeks it's all anyone talks about. Then something else happens, and the issue is dropped, forgotten about, or played out. Didn't the same thing happen a decade ago at Columbine? And what really came of it? The same thing that will come of this, probably - Michael Moore will make a movie and we'll all go and see it because, you know, it's like, a relevant issue, and then suddenly it will be Valentine's Day, we will realize we haven't bought a present for so-and-so, and we will completely forget about it.