Short Ride, Long Beach

The novelty factor of spending a night on a boat likely played a big role but I really enjoyed my night at sea. Okay, we never left the dock but being on the boat was still fun. Maybe I’ll have to consider getting a boat some day – after I build my Tiny House, of course.

Last night’s discovery of a Warm Showers host in Long Beach meant today was shaping up to be a pretty easy day – not that there have been many particularly challenging days of late. Long Beach is less than 30 km from Redondo Beach which definitely falls into the “easy day” category. As such, there was no real need to get on the road early. Instead, my plan for the morning was to head to the library (which was conveniently close) and try, once again, to get caught up on my updates. Once again, the plan ended up being altered slightly.

After taking a photo with Garrett atop his boat, I headed off to the library. Not surprisingly, it was closed. It was only 8:00 after all. Fortunately, there was a Subway across the street. The Subway happened to be close enough to Whole Foods that I could tap into their WiFi. There was a two hour limit to their WiFi connection but I figured that would suffice. It did.

I managed to get a couple of more updates posted before I decided to make my way to Long Beach. As mentioned before, it was a short trip but it was made longer by all the traffic lights. At this point, my decision to not pedal into downtown Los Angeles was looking pretty wise. After spending so much time on highways and bike paths, the thought of riding through heavily populated areas with seemingly endless red traffic lights was not particularly appealing.

My plan was to arrive at Ken’s sometime after 4:00 pm. That left plenty of time for a leisurely ride, plenty of stop lights, and one more trip to Costco. The Costco portion of the day was a last minute addition. It was another hot and sunny day in Southern California so a strawberry sundae seemed like a good idea. Then again, ice cream is pretty much always a good idea. It was more than a little fortuitous that there was a Costco in the vicinity.

I arrived at Ken’s shortly after 4:00 and he was yet another welcoming and generous host. I was also greeted by Alvin, one of Ken’s three dogs. Alvin is also very welcoming and friendly – although, if you don’t like being licked by a dog then don’t go anywhere near Alvin. Seriously, I think he’s addicted to human flesh. Fortunately, I’m a dog person and was able to handle Alvin’s persistent assault. Well, most of the time.

When I arrived, Ken was in the process of painting one of his walls so while he did that I did some more work on my computer. As San Diego draws near, I figured it was a good time to start looking into accommodation options. I also needed to find a UPS store to which I could have my tire forwarded. Again.

Despite Ken’s painting and my trip planning, it wasn’t all work and no play. Ken and I were able to chat quite a bit while we worked. Ken is heavily involved with the Warm Showers organization so I got to hear about some of the behind the scenes drama that has happened. Side note: Ken was happy to see that I regularly leave feedback for my hosts. It’s one of those things they would like more people to do because, at the moment, it’s the only way to really know how many people are actively staying with with hosts.

Ken is obviously a very busy host as two other cyclists were also scheduled to arrive tonight. It turns out we would be guests numbers 73, 74, and 75. The other cyclists were Cameron and Guy. They were young university students from the Seattle area and also on their way to San Diego. They were planning on taking the train into Los Angeles tonight but by the time they got settled it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. That seems to be a common thread.

Instead, the four of us had a great pasta dinner on the patio. The pasta was nothing like the pasta I make. It was actually good. Really good. I should really learn how to make good pasta someday. It’s such a great meal on the road and yet the stuff I make is never particularly memorable. At least, not in a good way. Yes, I’m limited to one small pot and my alcohol stove but I feel good pasta should still be possible. It’s not rocket science after all. Then again, maybe it is.

Ken’s excellent pasta dinner was followed up with ice cream. A lot of ice cream … and sherbet. The sherbet was tri-flavoured. The ice cream was a choice of Chocolate Butter Toffee and/or Pumpkin Pie. Needless to say, I went for the “AND” not the “OR” option. And I may have eaten more ice cream than one person needs in one sitting. Or three sittings for that matter. Who knew Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream could be so good? Then again, how could it NOT be so good?

The rest of the evening was spent primarily talking about our respective cycling trips. It’s still a bit hard to believe that San Diego is less than 200 km away. It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was staying with Jan and Rick in North Vancouver. Then again, it doesn’t seem to be that long ago that I was staying with Sharilyn and Brian in Mildmay, Ontario. But the facts are it’s been 3.5 months and nearly 8,500 km. I’ve now spent almost as many days in California as I did getting out of Ontario. And it’s all gone by so fast. Well, there were a few climbs that didn’t go by so fast, but you get the idea.

In lieu of visiting downtown Los Angeles, tomorrow’s plan is to go to a local attraction with Ken and a couple of his friends. As an added bonus, Ken has access to discounted tickets for said attraction. As for what that attraction is, well … I’ll save that for tomorrow’s update.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 30.27 km
Ride time: 1:36:05
Average speed: 18.90 km/h
Maximum speed: 40.40 km/h