Sunday, July 21, 2013

Rain, Floods, BBQ

Amber and I arranged to meet at Anaheim at 5pm Saturday to ride to Seal Beach and back. We were going to eat at Beachwood BBQ on the recommendation of a chap we were talking to the prior week while waiting to get into The Crema. When we got to Anaheim we found the Angels playing again - don't they ever play away games?

The weather was perfect, overcast and cool. There had been some heavy monsoonal rain in the afternoon so there were actually puddles on the bike trail. We had the usual headwinds down to the beach but a nice tailwind when we turned North. The beach was more crowded than I ever remember seeing it before so we gave up and rode on PCH. It always amazes me that as soon as people pull up in their beach parking spot all they think about is getting their kids, BBQ, coolers, chairs, umbrellas, beach balls, buckets and spades onto the beach. There could be an eight lane freeway between their car and the beach - they'd run across it without looking carrying all their crap and their kids would run back and forth screaming excitedly. Then when they get mown down their stupid parents would blame the motorists.

So we rode on PCH.

Everything in Seal Beach was busy. I managed to wangle two seats at the bar at Beachwood BBQ and grabbed a couple of menus. They have an amazing selection of food at very good prices. The selection of sides was particularly impressive. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with a side of smoked asparagus. Despite them being full to overflowing, the food arrived in a timely manner. I'm not sure what kind of roll the sandwich came on but it had the texture and look of brioche.  It was stuffed with pulled pork topped with tart coleslaw (more of a sauerkraut) and a smoky BBQ sauce. There were about eight grilled asparagus stalks on the side.

Amber ordered a brisket sandwich with blue cheese grits (I told you those sides are amazing). It went down pretty well. This is definitely a place I will go back to and recommend to others. While we were there I noticed the chap sitting next to us was wearing an El Avion polo shirt from Costa Rice so I mentioned I had been there on business. Next thing he's telling us all about his trip and recommending a restaurant there which is housed in a crashed military cargo plane at the top of a mountain called El Avion. A step up from a diner in a railway carriage :-)

The return on the beach trail was still fraught with problems so we jumped onto PCH again until we could get around the worst of the partyers. As we turned to go inland we discovered the tide had come in really high and flooded the bike trail under PCH to a depth of about a foot. This was totally dry when were outbound two hours earlier! We both ended up with soaked feet that lasted all the way home.

We had a strong tailwind for the final stretch and got passed by a Mexican on a GT mountain bike with skinny tires hammering at 20mph. Platform pedals, upright stance, just hammering. We jumped on his wheel but I think my lights were bothering him because he kept saying something in Spanish and gesticulating in what, I have to assume, was not a complimentary manner. I dropped back 100' and left him to his own weak front light. He was very strong though, I can only imagine what he could have done on a better bike.

Overall a first rate ride, even if my socks were still dripping wet when I took them off to shower.

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