Made it to California with no problems. The hotel sent the courtesy van to pick up me and the bike at the airport. The driver was a Mexican guy who, by his own admission, was not fluent in English. Nevertheless, he had seen the American by Bycicle vans at the hotel along with my own bicycle and wanted to know what was going on. I explained that we would be biking across the country. The immediate question was "why" followed quickly by "dey pay you?". I don't know how the phrase "no, I pay them" translates into Spanish, but apparently it is hilarious.
Weather is just a little chilly, but perfectly clear. Just as I remembered from last year, southern California is such a car culture - no one walks in LA. I had to run a few errands and grab food; I was the only person on the sidewalks. Or at least the only person on the sidewalk who had both their front teeth and wasn't talking to themselves. Ok... not arguing with themselves. And losing that argument.
Weather is just a little chilly, but perfectly clear. Just as I remembered from last year, southern California is such a car culture - no one walks in LA. I had to run a few errands and grab food; I was the only person on the sidewalks. Or at least the only person on the sidewalk who had both their front teeth and wasn't talking to themselves. Ok... not arguing with themselves. And losing that argument.
I reassembled my bike in the morning and sorted through the various powders, gels and supplements that I had shipped to the hotel. Something I learned last year was that it was very easy to get dehydrated in this dry weather. And once you're dehydrated, you lose your appetite. And if you don't eat, you bonk on the bike. I noticed that most of the other riders had brought electrolytes (in tablet form), recovery drink powders and quick energy gels. I tried these products during training and found that they actually make a difference, especially on rides of 2 hours or longer.
The staff had already arrived. Mike, Barbara and Karen were the only staff on last year'side and they are back again this year. Also with them is a dedicated mechanic, Jim. Another rider from last year, Jay, arrived during the day. In the afternoon, I joined Mike, Karen, Jim and Jay for a quick 26 mile ride. There is a good network of paved bike paths in this area that kept us off the busy streets for most of the ride.
As soon as we finished our ride, I met another rider who had just flown in. Paul is from Connecticut, and we headed to dinner. Yet another thing I learned on last year's ride was that the other riders were one of the best parts of the trip. We had an excellent group of people last year, and it is looking good for this year as well.
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