Outdoor For Ever

Today I had four flat tires … Two on the back wheel, and two on the trailer wheel…

The first flat was on the trailer wheel… I was lucky to see other riders doing the MS150 (charity race done once a year in many states), and one rider helped me patch the tire – I have to tell you … At this point it is really good being helped even for a flat….

At around mile 40, I had two more flats – the second flat on the trailer wheel and another one on the back wheel….I was able to fix them, but I have used up all the patches, and I did not have anymore extra tubes…so if I had another flat, I was in trouble….

Well…guess what… Fourth flat at mile #45…and I was about 19 miles from Malibu…so I started to walk – I did not have any other choice…until a rider passed by and stopped when I signaled him for help …
Mike – an Ironman in training- did not have any patches and his spare tube was not the same as mine …
He told me that he was an hour away from his car which was near to a bike shop … He said that he could buy me a patch kit and bring it to me … I said : ” sweet, I will see you when you get back”…
I kept on walking, until another rider showed up -Ron. He had a patch kit, and he was willing to help me….

We examined the tire, and found out that it needs to be changed ASAP… The tire is so worn out that any debris (little rocks, glass, etc) can puncture it … We were able to fix it temporarily (at least for today), but I need to buy a new tire if I want to keep riding…

When I was back on the road, Mike showed up with a patch kit as promised … I asked him how much it was…he said : “no worries dude”…

At the end of today’s ride, I had a slow leak on the tire … This forced me to stop every five miles to put some air…

Oh yeah…it was a fun 90 mile ride, but I made it to Manhattan Beach (south of Los Angeles International Airport) ….

Cool pictures from Santa Monica Beach State Park and Venice Beach…

The day got much better when Juan Pablo’s parents (My godson) invited me not only to stay at their place but also to eat some awesome Colombian food…

Tomorrow I need to buy a new tire and -of course- ride more miles….

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…that’s what I told my bike when she got two broken spokes, one flat tire, and we were 18 miles from the nearest town (did I mentioned that it was raining?)

And she didn’t … Slowly but shortly we were able to get to Goleta – a town north of Santa Barbara … We got to the first bike shop I saw, and she was fixed ….

We cruised the town of Santa Barbara…and we even saw a wedding at the beach…

Now she is happy and ready to roll like a champ to the Mexican border…

67 miles to Carpinteria

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As I was riding south of Santa Cruz, I noticed I really nice smell….smelled like a really nice air freshener…I knew it was not me, since I have been wearing the same clothes for the past three days..so I stopped and noticed fields and fields of strawberries…

Not only that, but I saw people picking and packaging them….so I had to get close to see the whole deal …

At first the people working on the fields were not that friendly…but as soon as I began speaking Spanish everything changed….

I saw some lady checking the strawberries and putting them in the boxes…She was Dona Celia…her job was to check the quality of the product – strawberry had to be ready, without sand, and in a good shape….
If the strawberry comes out bigger than a normal one….they throw it away…

Lucky for this one…It was thrown away into my belly…

I asked her how much money they make doing this job….she said 5 dollars/hour plus 0.85 cents per box… A really good picker can do up to 6 boxes an hour…so you do the math!…

Each picker brings the boxes to her, she checks them, and then she scans the badge of the picker to register the box….

They work up to ten hours during the season….and -let me tell you – it is hot…

So next time you guys buy your strawberries or any type of produce, remember how much work this is put into…

It was a good day…not only I rode 78 miles but also learned a lot from hard working people….

Oh yeah….finally I got to do some laundry….no more smelling like a camel (well, for now)..

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It was an easy day today… I count this one as a rest day…just 36 miles…

I wanted to stay in the Pigeon point Light House Hostel located 55 miles south of San Francisco…I saw so many pictures and heard good things about it before my trip… when I got here, I was not disappointed at all!

The hostel itself is located right next to the Pigeon Point Light house…so close that I could see it from my window….

The hostel has a fully equipped kitchen, private or shared rooms, and a hot tub…oh yeah! A hot tub … You can watch the sun set while relaxing in the hot tub….it is just crazy amazing….

Peter, one of the guides of the place gave me a small tour…unfortunately tourist are not allowed to go inside of the Lighthouse…it is not safe…during the years they have found structural damages … So they need about 9 million dollars to get the Lighthouse back in a good shape…

The sunset was just amazing….

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Beautiful ride in the morning…

Finally made it to San Francisco…This picture was taken from Sausalito – north of San Francisco.

And of course …I could not get enough of the Golden Gate – since it was my first time looking at this amazing structure.

Oh yeah..since they knew I was coming … they decided to do an air show while i was crossing the bridge… jejejeje

Even The Blue Angels flew over to say hello … (you can see Alcatraz!)

My 75-mile ride ended on a good note by having dinner with Margarita’s parents (a really good friend from Houston)…don’t worry they picked me up and dropped me off at the same point …

Oh yeah … It was a Good day!

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Today I got to ride the sonoma coast….

Again, it was a beautiful yet hilly route….I even had the chance to ride for a few miles with other riders…. They were racing for a charity event…and part of their route was on Hwy 1….

I stopped for a late lunch at Bodega Bay…this town is one of the many fishing towns you can find in the coast. What’s special about this one is that it was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie, “The Birds”.

As I was approaching my 68th mile, I was entering the town of Tomales… I then realized that the next town with an available campground or hotel was about 26 miles away …and it was almost 5:30 pm….I was tired, and I did not want to ride that late…so I decided to finish the ride of the day at Tomales … The only problem was that there were no campgrounds around, and the only hotel of the town was all booked due to a wedding … So there was no place to sleep -other than the park, of course…(nothing like sleeping in the park like a homeless)…

So I asked around… I went to the local bar, market, coffee shop, and even the post office…and nothing…nobody could (or wanted to) help a stranger with a 15 day beard and a crazy Afro – don’t know why?

I went to the last store in the town – a Deli- and I asked the girl of the counter if she could help me … As expected, she said no…but there was an old lady in the store that overheard the conversation…and she was willing to help me…

We began to walk around the town asking for a place to sleep … Until We found Greg…An interior designer that had a shop used for his company…without any question, Greg let me stay at his workshop…He even gave me the code of the door so I could get in and out at my convenience…

I said “dude, let me buy you a beer”..He said with a smile in his face…”well, my girlfriend works at the bar, so I get beer for free….don’t worry ..I will get you a beer”…..I did not believe it…I did not only got a place to sleep for free but also free Guinness!…

His Girlfriend, Chris, was a sweetheart…she gave me some bed sheets for the night… I even got a free shirt – that they designed – from the bar…

Go check out their website … www.form3.net … He is also one of the editors of a NBA news blog called www.lowpostnews.com …

They were just angels on the road!

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