Long Beach to Joshua Tree...cycling with the wind

Swollen hands hurting with blisters, cuts and scrapes, face wind chaffed and sunburned and body so tired I've been known to fall asleep anywhere at anytime for the last 24 hours.

It was the shortest, toughest, and most unpredictable bike adventure thus far! 148 miles

Day One.

Breakfast then hit the road: March 12


[San Gabriel River Trail to El Monte Metrolink station]
Once you get out of Long Beach the river trail is strange and beautiful... small animal farms, trees, parks, and decent road conditions. [another adventure making me grateful I stuck around LB long enough to discover just how great this place can be] 36 miles to El Monte






Metrolink from El Monte to San Bernardino, rode 30 miles to KOA in Banning
Nice campground-hot showers! [interesting fact: it is a camping stop on the ACA (www.adventurecycling.org) transcontinental map guide] cool!

a long Day...

Ridding through a few not-so-great towns, an awesome 5 mi stretch of nicely paved "bicycles only" road, detours and getting train conductor to blow the air horn (below)





Day Two.

[Banning to Morongo and beyond]

A.M tail wind (if you know the desert, it's prevailing wind is awesome for cyclists headed East!)
The afternoon brought cycling on hwy 10, mountain biking (ON MY ROAD BIKE) through and at a snail's eye view of the wind turbines, more up.. more up than down through sand, rocks, dirt and gravel!








[Grueling leg, but empowering- Bike touring has forced me to overcome situations I NEVER thought I would have to. Breathing, meditation and concentration are my three saviors when my path is crossed with unpredictable hick ups.

A knock on a man's door (in the middle of nowhere) leads to a comfortable short cut down a drive way to Hwy 62. That part is over, now what?(Almost hitched, above)big rigs, trailer trucks, vans, fully loaded hay semi's fast cars, that's what. 10 miles north UP. Fun. A ride awaited us (Thanks John!!) on Hess blvd and 29Palms to take us to Pioneer Town.
A night with The Fling [http://www.myspace.com/thefling] (a great up and coming band) at Pappy and Harriet's, beer and solo (chilly) camping in a horse corral.

Day Three.

Pioneer Town (everybody should visit this place) to Joshua Tree (Indian Canyon camp.)

Yipee!! Another day with the wind at our backs. 29Palms hwy up and down, up and down to Indian Canyon Campground turn off, not before grabbing a cold 22oz New Castle to devour when we arrived at camp!

An amazing Joshua Tree evening, night and morning-what more could you ask for!

Day four.




Shawn (saving grace, and comic relief) comes to J-Tree to pick up Jenny and I. A stop back in pioneer town was needed to get Jenny's phone charger, eat an amazing lunch and spend just enough time with The Fling and the making of their first music video.

The Fling boys

This particular bike tour comes with a disclaimer: Good planning is a must to be comfortable and to avoid big hick-ups.  
Beware...the desert has been known to suck you into it's beauty, heat, and long dusty roads flipping your normal bike touring world upside down. It helps to be in good shape mentally, spiritually and physically. Physically I was great!- pretty impressed with my strength and positive mindset. Mentally and spiritually- some times it was quite draining and made me want to hitch hike with desert strangers driving big flat bed pickups! (We all know, that's not good)
The best parts:  morning coffee never tasted so good, food never tasted so good,  I have a new kick ass friend-Jenny, we will be forever desert biking soul mates, and all the rest in between that always seams to encourage the next trip, and the one after that, and one after that.... Peace, Bernadette

Ferndale, Ca to Jenning, Ca...a cycling tour

[An old blog started but never finished....oh well!]

Shawn and I recently toured California's Pacific Coast on our bikes. We rode for a total of 254 miles, traveling from Ferndale, Ca to Jenning, CA. This was the second leg of our coastal journey; the first one occurred in November 2006 and took us from Salinas, Ca to San Louis Obispo (about 154 miles). Adventure Cycling Association provides the touring maps, information blogs, and advice. They are a great resource for any cyclists wishing to see the our beautiful country.

When asked about our adventure my brain sifts through about a hundred memories trying to pick out the ones that people would find the most compelling...

There were blown tires, popped tubes, and broken chains . Lets not forget about aches, pains, and lactate acid build up. Oh, and that awesome feeling of getting on the bike every morning and warming up my legs (and by awesome I mean dreadful). Maybe you want to hear about me almost getting pulled under a fully loaded log truck while riding down the "bicycle route" on Highway 1, and how I sobbed like a baby for five minutes [the pic. below...That's tire left-overs from the truck]

The most exciting part... taking on a unique lifestyle, one that made me feel so at ease and comfortable. Waking up everyday in a new place was as good as it gets, trees, ferns, waterfalls, rivers flowing past your campsite, ahhhh!
stay tuned...