Kudos to OC Parks and Recreation

Amber and I found out that one of our favorite BBQ places, Beachwood BBQ, is now open for breakfast so we headed out early from Anaheim and got there with a raging appetite. It was well worth the ride so I took the time to speak to the manager and complement him.

Two weeks ago we noticed a small subsidence under the SART that had caused the edge of the bike trail to fall away. Last weekend Orange County Parks & Recreation had closed that section of the bike path off, although it wasn't too difficult to get around the barriers. It astounds me that they think forcing us onto busy roads for a mile is preferable to negotiating a pot hole with cones around it.

This weekend the hole was fixed and the barriers gone. I've never seen a bike path hazard fixed so quickly. Kudos.

PBP is running right now. I followed the progress of some of my friends. I see Greg Kline is ripping the road up and on track for a Charly Miller time. Good luck to all of you.

Sometimes I post an idea for an invention. This post includes an anti-invention. What's that?
You know how long fire trucks can be steered from the front and back at the same time to help them get around tight corners? How about a tandem that can do the same thing so the stoker can get more involved? I can only imagine the chaos this would cause. I hope no-one ever tries to build one of these.

Taking advantage of the weak Pound

About a year ago my daughter and I rode Lejog with Peak Tours. It was almost fully catered with overnights in B&Bs and hotels. It cost about $2200 for 14 days plus $600 for the plane fare. We paid an additional $200 to rent high-quality touring bikes so we wouldn't have to deal with transporting our bikes.

Today I got a email advertisement from Cycling Adventures for some rides. I clicked on one in the Natchez Trace and was astounded to see it cost $1400 for 5 days of cycling - fully catered and camping.

So right now you can get a 14 day tour with every meal catered except the evening meal and great overnight accommodation (and it was great) for $2200 in the UK or a 5 day tour, fully catered and with tents for $1400 in the USA. I'm not saying Cycling Adventures is overpriced, but the weak Pound is making the UK a great place to vacation.

I think the UK is going to crash out of the EU with no deal and the Pound will plummet - possibly reaching parity with the Dollar. The next year may be the best opportunity to have a UK vacation ever.

My daughter and I are heading back next Summer for a one week hiking vacation. I've found tickets on Virgin for $500. The vacation is going to cost about $800 (maybe less by the time we pay). It's going to be great.

Riding in Wisconsin

Amber and I spent the weekend in Green Bay, Wisconsin riding two of Michelle Brougher's populaires on borrowed bikes.

We flew out from LA to Milwaukee on the red-eye and drove to the Quality Inn in Green Bay. This is where Michelle is hosting the Dark Chocolate Cow 1000k, Door County 300k, Chocolate Chicken 120k, and the High Cliff 110k. Michelle loaned Amber her new rando bike and her treasurer loaned me one of his many classic bikes.

That evening Amber and I walked up and down the Fox River bike trail and were very impressed by the Green Bay waterfront. It's well paved, clean, graffiti-free, and beautifully illuminated at night.

Bridge from Fox River trail

The Saturday Chocolate Chicken ride started in Egg Harbor, about a one hour drive from Green Bay. The riders were Michelle and Lisa on a tandem (Lisa's first time), Regina, Amber, and me. I had authorized this route in my role as route committee member and just loved it. It's scenic as heck, on quiet roads, and fairly flat.

Michelle brought a tow vehicle in case her Prius broke down

Regina and Lisa at Northport Ferry

We started by riding north up to, and through, Peninsula State park, then on to Ellison Bay where we ate at the Viking Grill. I was disappointed to find we weren't going to quaff mead out of horned helmets, but the food was great. The black fly there were a joy - the way they can bite you through socks gave me considerable pleasure - not! We continued on to Northport Ferry, meeting many of the 1000k and 300k riders at various times.

At the ferry Michelle had put an info control in the window of the ticket office but, despite providing the clearest instructions imaginable, at least one rider couldn't find it. We headed back along a parallel route, crossing and re-crossing our outbound route enough times to confuse my gps system, but not Michelle. We rode a large chunk of Door county and it is gorgeous.

About eight miles from the end we were at the last control in Bailey Harbor. While reviewing the route I felt a control a mere eight miles from the end was excessive but it seemed perfect on the day. Kelly's bike (1000k rider) was outside so I went in to say hello to her. Despite having met at least twice already today, she looked at me without a gleam of recognition. "Who is this guy, and why is he talking to me?" It wasn't until I invoked Michelle's name that she realized I wasn't a weird stalker.

Bailey Harbor

We got back to Egg Harbor after a very leisurely day and I had the best plate of loaded fries imaginable before the drive home.

The eponymous Chocolate Chicken

Sunday we rode the High Cliff 110k from Green Bay to the Marina in Sherwood and back. This was even flatter than the previous day. Michelle and Lisa had been working the 1000k all night so it was just Regina, Amber, and I today.

Fox River trail

We started south on the Fox River trail and worked our way over flattish wood and farm land to the High Cliff State Park marina.

High Cliff State Park marina

Again, we met up with some of Michelle's 1000k riders so I was able to offer them a few slices of my pizza. Then we headed back up to Green Bay, finishing on the Fox River bike trail again. What a great way to finish a ride.

The best part of the trip, though, was that the St. Brendan's pub across the street from the hotel sold Murphy's Stout.

Murphys!

While supporting the 1000k riders, Cathy accidentally purloined a sign advertising a Christian school.
It made us all chuckle to see that the sign had an error on it and advertised 3K instead of Pre-K. If this is a quality school, I can only cringe at the thought of what kind of kids a merely average Christian school might churn out. I'm thinking Mike Pence.

3K or Pre-K ?

Post flu ride

I had a light case of the flu last week so was feeling a bit fragile for today's ride. Amber and I just rode The Crema. Fortunately it was calm and overcast for most of the ride and never got too hot. That was a blessing considering how I felt.

It was nothing like as busy as last Sunday so we were able to treat ourselves to a table at The Crema and only had to wait 10 minutes for it.

Still overcast at the pier

I had an idea for a tail light. How about one that looks like a miniature cop car light-bar? Drunks would see it from 100 yards back, think there's a cop half a mile ahead, and stop or turn around. Probably illegal. That proves what a good idea it is!

There were many planes towing advertising banners up and down the beach. One in particular caught my eye.

Museum of Weed - I hear they have a great gift shop

Summer is here

I rode Anaheim to Seal Beach and back with Amber on Sunday. We were going to ride Back Bay, but it was 77F by 9am at Anaheim and I really didn't feel like climbing Pioneer in 90+ degrees so we opted for the easier ride.

Everything was crazy busy - I don't know why. The bike path, the roads, The Crema had a 60-90 minute wait. So we just bought stuff at the counter and ate outside.

Really hot

As soon as we started heading inland on the way back the temperature shot up. Even with the onshore tailwind it was tough riding. When we got back to the cars I was toast. It was 91F. Yuck!

Greg and Stacy are off to Europe tomorrow and will be doing some tough riding to get ready for PBP next month. I wish them the best.

Bicycle cartoon

Found these at https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/28/a-cyclists-guide-to-biking-the-city-a-cartoon

Enjoy.

Greg and I were talking the other day and both expressed frustration at having to leave things at airports because of questionable security issues. We realized all airports have a collection of things, such as tiny penknives, that people had to leave behind at security. Why not give us a chit that we can redeem at our destination for something similar. Charge us a small fee. Take my one inch key-ring penknife at LAX and let me have a similar one that you confiscated from someone else at Denver International when I get there.

On the way back I'll had it in (because I will forget to put it into checked luggage again) and maybe get my original back at LAX. We don't lose our stuff, you don't accumulate mountains of crap, we're all happy.

A weekend of hiking and biking

On Saturday Sherry and I hiked the Exploration trail which is 8.7 miles with 1300' of climbing, all of it above 6000'. Sherry started to bonk about a mile from the top and eventually some chewy gummy bear type candy got her to the top but she started getting confused and trembling for a while which was scary. It turns out she had been having problems with the bite valve on her hydration pack so she had dry mouth that was preventing her from eating. She started drinking from my pack which helped a lot. I lubed her bite valve with canola oil when we got back.

We started off at 7am but it soon warmed up and it got to 77F by the time we got to the top at over 7000'. It was a beautiful day, though.

View from near the top

Water flowing in the creek

On Sunday Amber and I rode from Anaheim to San Clemente over Santiago Canyon. This is about 55 miles with 3700' of climbing so between the two days I got plenty of exercise.

It was overcast during the climb up Santiago Canyon which was a blessing and we decided to stop at Cook's Corner because we had the time. We were too late for breakfast so we enjoyed a grilled cheese and a quesadilla instead which, when you think about it, are pretty much the same thing.

The overcast continued for the descent on Aliso Creek trail which was awesome as usual. As we rode between Dana Point and San Clemente we came across a landslide blocking PCH!

We got to San Clemente with two hours to spare, despite spending an hour at Cook's Corner and treated ourselves to lattes. The train was 20 minutes late which was is actually better than average.