Reno, NV to San Diego, CA

First off, apologies for the lack of updates. Life has been incredibly wonderful on the road and the time to update has not come up yet.

Upon leaving Reno, I was slowly finding myself in more familiar terrain and it was certainly starting to feel like home again. I was also digging the fact that I was now able to rattle off info about landmarks, places and cool facts about where we were cycling. Josh kindfully tolerated my blabbings.

We planned on a full 2 days of cycling to get us to Lee Vining where we were scheduled to meet a few friends of mine and high-tail it (in car!) to the local hot springs for a nice relaxing evening. The next morning we were deposited right back where we met them and we took a shuttle up and over Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park.

Our thought was that since Josh has never seen Yosemite and I was anxious to see some friends and play tour guide, it only made sense to make time for an extended stay. With climbing gear on hand, a house to crash in (thanks Laura!) and a car to get around, we were set!

Our rest days in Yosemite included climbing Cathedral Peak, hiking to Nevada Falls, resting, eating mega-calories and watching the Reel Rock Climbing Film. All in all it was a very relaxing and worthy stop, but soon we were itching to take off again. We got another ride from a buddy back to the top of Tioga Pass and ZOOMED down Lee Vining Canyon to our last stop in Lee Vining.

The next day saw us cycling into Bishop where to my horror I discovered that my netbook was broken. This was a serious blow to me and I knew I had to deal with it ASAP, and the next major stop we had planned was San Diego. So sadly, a day after leaving Bishop, Josh and I split ways for a few days.

Josh’s plan was to ride through Death Valley, J-Tree and the Salton Sea while I high-tailed it to San Diego to take care of things while he enjoyed himself on the bike. It was sad watching him cycle away and the next few days were a solo tour through SoCal desert and scary small meth towns…

Honestly, the ride past Lone Pine into the LA area was not all that great. Hot, scary urban centers, more traffic and less “wild”. A necessary evil for sure, but not totally enjoyable. I even decided to take public transit from Upland to the coast in an effort to avoid the LA madness which turned out to be a great idea.

Luckily for me this is where it all started to turn around as that night camped on the beach I ran into a group of 5 42-60 year old guys who were 1 day away from finishing their San Francisco to San Diego bike tour! These guys get together every year, for the past 20 years, and bike tour together. These guys were a HUGE inspiration to me and we spent the evening making fun of each other’s ages and drinking on the beach.

We all rode into San Diego the next day and managed to snare a couple other cyclists in our wake, Remo from Switzerland and a German man whose man escapes me right now. Turns out these two guys are headed south into Baja in the next few days, so it looks like Josh and I will have some more company after all. Funny how everything comes together eventually.

My rest days here in San Diego thus far have proved to be far more productive the I originally anticipated. I am lucky enough to be staying with my uncle and aunt, Ramon and Lupe, and have access to internet, showers!, and wonderful warm company.

The first order of business was sending out the busted laptop and purchasing a new laptop. Yes, it is true. I am now a member of the Mac Cult and lovin’ it. I bought myself an 11 inch MacBook Air and am excited for the photographic editing possibilities that are now open to me. Not to mention that this machine just radiates sexiness.

I also happened to get in touch with just the right friend here in San Diego. “Melly Bess” is dating a local hotshot cyclist, Cale from Team Pegasus, who has an entire workshop in his garage. Together with him, Melly, myself and a couple that came over to hang out we whipped my bike back into shape in no time at all. And all it cost me was a case of beer! Cale, thanks! I owe you one for sure.

Today was actually spent on Cale’s bad-ass Pugsley fat bike, ripping it up on the local single track out here. Too much fun!!!

As for the rest of my rest days ’till Josh gets here….

1.Find a Lonely Planet guidebook for Baja

2. Eat a ton of food

3. Surf

I’m sure these next few days will find me doing something exciting.

That’s all for now.

enjoi.

The Numbers:

Reno to Topaz     79 miles

Topaz to Lee Vining     66 miles

Lee Vining to Bishop     69 miles

Bishop to Lone Pine     64 miles

Lone Pine to Inyokern     78 miles

Inyokern to Adelanto     86 miles

Adelanto to Upland     52 miles

Upland to Carlsbad State Beach     8 miles (+public transit)

Carslbad S.B. to San Diego      44 miles

Total thus far     1917 miles

Nevada Mountain Roads

Looking down into the Mono Lake area

Home.

Tioga Pass in all her might.

Ah, lovely Eastern Sierra.

mmmm… E. Sierra

Lonely desert riding along the 395 past Lone Pine.

Not the best, but I honestly think this stopped saved me from heat stroke!

A random Buddhist Temple in Adelanto, CA had this and other beautiful statues.

Joshua Tree.

I rode on Historic Route 66, if only for a few miles.

Me at Tourmaline Beach. From desert to oceanside.

Always meeting new friends. Always.

Switching out one Surly for another.

Taking the Pugsley out for a spin.

wait…. Didn’t I leave Vancouver 36 days ago? What am I doing back here?