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 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