Keep Pedaling…

Day: 85

I woke up with the sun this morning (like 5:30) then after a piss, quickly decided to head back to my sleeping bag. I woke up again about an hour later and packed up my camp, loaded my bike and decided to try to make it to Gaviota; which was nearly fifty miles away. Fifty miles that I soon came to realize was half covered in the hills of Santa Barbara. The first ten miles where easy and a nice warm up but as I came into the outskirts of Santa Barbara the road decided to make it’s way up and down the bluffs of the Pacific Coast for the better part of 25 miles. Fortunately I meant a nice cyclist named Patty who rode with me for about ten miles and guided me through the easiest route of Santa Barbara. By the time I had cleared the worst of the hills and was near Goleta on the busy 101, my legs had turned to jelly.

Keep pedaling Rob, 12 miles to go…

Keep pedaling Rob, 8 miles to go…

Keep pedaling Rob, 6 miles to go…

Keep pedaling Rob, 4 miles to go…

Break for an orange.

Keep pedaling Rob, 2 miles to go…

Keep pedaling Rob, 1/2 a mile to go…

I finally arrived just after two, and although my body was feeling it, though I had made great time. The only problem now is that for the last twelve miles I had been hoping to find a restaurant or a grocery store and the ranger just told me the closet thing is 10 miles away, uphill. F that. I took a quick inventory to see if I could make it without trying to bum food off a neighboring camper. One can of tuna, four pitas, a chunk of cheese, a bag of peanuts, some carrots and two Clif bars. I was cutting it close but decided to stretch that over lunch and dinner and save a Cilf bar for breakfast. I made a little lunch of pitas, tuna, carrots and cheese; took a shower and did my laundry. I know kind of mundane. I headed down to the beach to see what was going on but just ended up passing out on a picnic table for an hour, listening to some Jimmy Eat World on my Ipod..

After my nap I looked at my maps and tried to decide what to shoot for tomorrow. Did a little reading; It looks like I’m in a pickle. I have a place to stay with some people I meant on Couchsurfing.com in San Luis Obispo on Friday night. Its 80 miles away and the only campgrounds between Gaviota and San Luis Obispo are in Lompoc (20 miles) or Pismo (70 miles). So it looks like one of the days, either tomorrow or Friday, I am going to have to ride sixty + miles in a single day, and after todays struggle with fifty, I won’t lie it makes me a little nervous; like my legs will stop working before I make it. I decided to take my dinner down to the beach picnic area, to watch the sunset while I eat my Clif bar, pita shells, and apple and some carrots, and think over my choice.

When I got down there, an older gentleman (and fellow ex-boy scout) started talking to me as I got my dinner out and saw that I didn’t have much of a complete dinner. He offered me some left over chicken that he had and was planning on throwing away. We glanced around and saw that someone had left some charcoal burning and before I knew it I was on my way to a hot dinner.

After a better dinner than was expected I made my way down to the sand to watch the sunset, have a smoke (it’s lighter that alcohol!), and take a few pictures. I made my way back to my tent and went to work on my bike tightening some things up, greasing my chain, and adding a little air to my rear tire, which seemed low.

Peeeeessssssss….. Fuck.

I bust the stem and now had to take my entire bike apart in the light of dusk and change the rear tube. It took me a while to figure out how everything came apart and even longer to put it back together properly. The sun deep beyond the horizon. My hands covered in grease. My bike fixed. Bed time.

I guess I’ll go gung ho tomorrow and try for Pismo, even though its probably not the best choice; It might be fun.