The Long Ride

Day 36: Refugio to Malibu

Today's Distance: 84 miles

Total Distance: 1,789 miles

As I packed up this morning I spent some time talking to the older peeps for a bit.  It was another dry morning, a little windy, but sunny.  My tent almost flew into the ocean when I was packing everything up.  Luckily I was able to chase it down before it was fully submerged, but I was ready to get going after that.  After a quick 12 miles or so, I reached Goleta and flew through town on the smooth, level road.  Right after Goleta I hit Santa Barbara, which at least for today could be called the land of yoga pants and luxury cars.  I made a special side trip down State St. specifically for Chipotle.  It felt peculiarly touristy for a Tuesday afternoon in Autumn.

After Santa Barbara, the book suggested I stop at Carpinteria State Beach for the day, but I had already made up my mind long ago that I would combine today's route and tomorrow's route into one long ride.  I crossed into Ventura County and accidentally rode on the busy 101 until I finally noticed a bike path in between the freeway and the beach.  For some reason there were a bunch of tumbleweed on the path, but the ride was gorgeous with the mountains to my left and the beach on my right.  I've driven this stretch by car multiple times, but it's a much more different and beautiful ride via bike.  It also helps that I caught a bit of a tailwind!

Just before Ventura I followed the book suggestion to take the bicycle path through Emma Woods State Beach.  I was taking pictures and enjoying myself, until I hit a dead-end.  There was a closed off area with a beat up, old, sandy road but it was chained off.  The last thing I want to do on an 80+ mile day is backtrack.  All that went through my head was, "It's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission."  I forget where I learned that and I definitely don't remember the context in which it was taught to me, but in this particular moment I made it my motto.  I squeezed my bike through and pushed it onto the sandy, closed off road.  The road was crumbling due to erosion, which I assume is the reason it was blocked off in the first place.  Eventually the beat up old road next to the beach ended as well, and this time my only option was to backtrack even further, or push my bike and gear over train tracks surrounded by rocks and then up a dirt hill.  I wasn't even sure what was at the top of the dirt hill but I could only hope it was the 101 or a least some type of asphalt.

Long story short, I made it...and I didn't even have to ask anyone for forgiveness.  I flew through Ventura, Oxnard, and Port Hueneme; I had no time to rest if I was going to make it to Malibu with any light left.  After I passed by a display of jets and rockets, I turned onto the PCH where I would spend the next 10 miles or so.  The sun was setting as I pedaled as hard as I could along the PCH.  The only real climbs of the day came in this last stretch before Leo Carrillo, which only sucks because this has definitely been my longest ride of the trip.  I was beat at this point but still took a moment to celebrate reaching LA County...I'm so close!  The sun had already set when I rode into the Leo Carrillo Campground, but it was still light enough for me to set up my tent real quick.  I noticed that both of my big toes were numb, but I wasn't sure if it was just cause I was cold or because of the long ride.  I thought a warm shower would help, but unfortunately the showers (that were supposed to have running hot water), never warmed up.  One of the camp sites was bumping mariachi music when I went to bed around 9:30pm...ah how I've missed SoCal!