First day on the road

Well tonight concludes the first leg of my bike tour.  After waking up this morning, I was more excited then I have been in quite awhile.  I was also pretty nervous to be honest.  However, once I was on my bike and I began to pedal, all the worry left me.  I realized that I was in my element and I pretty much had everything covered. To my amazement, I was treated to a wonderful tailwind for a good portion of the ride.  It wasn't until I reached north Long Beach that I had to go head to head with mother nature.  Let me tell you, from a head on view she's pretty ugly.  Luckily my direction changed more northbound and that headwind became a mere push on my left shoulder.  The big highlight today was the Redondo Beach Pier.  I was pleasantly surprised with an array of neat shops, beautiful waves, and nice architecture integrated into the pier.  Overall though, riding virtually right near the beach was quite a pleasant experience.

Tonight I will be staying in Marina Del Ray on a boat that belongs to my host that I found on warmshowers.com.  His name is Mike Roddy and he is a very welcoming, friendly and intelligent individual.  When I arrived, He gave me a tour, showed me where to find the showers, explained where I can shop (after he offered me his pantry of food), gave me a key to the boat and left to volunteer at a bike shop.  Wow! What a nice and trusting guy huh?  Before he left, he shared a story about his big tour from Virgina to San Diego with a group of friends.  Apparently it took 2 months and a few riders dropped out along the way.  During their ride, they met and rode with another tourer from Germany and stayed with strangers they met during their ride!

Tomorrow, I will be making a short trip from Venice Beach to Point Mugu campground in Malibu.  It's approximately 37 miles and I have no idea what to expect from the campsites.  Hopefully I can find something with an ocean view but more importantly, I hope for clear skies to do some star gazing! 

I'm pretty exhausted so excuse me while I tuck in for the night.

Take care and catch you next time

Sincerely, Spinning Gear