Bike Trip: San Luis Obispo to Carpinteria

So, I'm going to post each of my daily journals, alongside pictures of the trip.

Day 1: San Luis Obispo to Oceano (15 miles), Sat 3/28

Beautiful train ride, one of the most in my opinion. Tisa and I stayed up till almost 3 am the night before the trip getting our gear ready. The BOB was a ton of work - had to saw off part of the quick-release (necessitating a trip to Home Depotat 7 a.m. Saturday morning). On the train, there's a beautiful piece of countryside with houses on it between Gaviota and Lompoc (possible future home here?)

(my bike with the BOB attached)

(Tisa in Shell Beach)

The ride went well, and the BOB is getting more comfortable. At this point my lower back is very sore. The ride to Lompoc will be very challenging. Going uphill is NOT fun, but I'm getting used to it.(The campsite in Oceano)

Weird campsite in Oceano, but I like it. Probably only 15 sites, about 10 with trailers and no one outside. Huge lagoon / nature area right next door--bullfrogs all night. In the morning, Tisa saw a strange spider on the BOB bag, and flicked it off. I didn't think much of it at the time (found out otherwise later). Well, got to get ready for the ride to Lompoc! -K

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Day 2 - Oceano to Lompoc, 47 miles


We're taking it a little bit easier than we originally intended (had initially planned on a 60 mile day today, all the way to Gaviota). Woke up with high spirits--the neighbors in their camper brought over coffee! While the camp ranger was round, I opened my big mouth and subsequently found out that we hadn't stayed in the right campground. This cost us a trip back on the PCH to settle our accounts (which could have meant that we would have to pay for the night twice, once for our reserved campsite, once for the one we ended up in). Luckily someone had already paid for our site!

(Tisa drinking coffee in the campground)

Getting started was pretty rough, not used to the hills and the BOB. By Guadalupe, gusts of wind were crossing the farmland, making it tough to control the bike.

(Lunch in Guadalupe)

After leaving Guadalupe, the PCH headed inland, making the wind push us forward, and we had a smooth 15 miles through farms lined with green hills. Having a tail wind is awesome, it made the long ride seem much more manageable.

(farmland between Guadalupe and Lompoc)

(The Harris Grade)

Around 3:30 pm we turned onto the Harris Grade, a "600 ft. climb over 3.5 miles" (according to our Biking the Pacific Coast guidebook). This was intense, and clearly the toughest riding we've done since moving to LA. Windy streets all the way up the hill, with a minimal shoulder, and many blind corners. The hill was so steep that I spent the entire run of it in my highest gear. Tisa and I took several breaks on our way up.

(Tisa parked at the top of the Harris Grade)

On our way downhill, Tisa's back tire went flat--my first on the road tire changing. It took at least an hour, and while it was frustrating at the time (trying to pull the stiff rubber over the rim is tricky!), I felt pretty good after fixing it. There seems to be something romantic about fixing a flat on the side of the road (or so I imagined it prior to the trip). In reality it's about half romantic, half sheer frustration and cursing.

(Dinner in Lompoc)

We cruised into Lompoc very sore, tired, and cold. Set up camp and met another hiker biker named Roy (more about the colorful people we met later), then went to dinner at the Jalama Beach Cafe for a warm meal before bed. I love my wife for putting up with this adventure.

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Day 3 - Lompoc to Gaviota, 25 miles

Went pretty slow, taking it easy this day. While waking up in the tent, I saw some motion... SPIDER IN THE TENT! I jumped away and grabbed some tissue to kill it. Disaster averted... for now.

T and I packed up after sleeping in and went into Lompoc for groceries and a cup of coffee. Then, by about 2:30 pm, hit the road, turning onto the PCH for a 13.5 mile climb gaining 900 feet in elevation, our highest climb yet. The traffic was light, and frequently we could actually hear what each other were saying. This hill was exactly what I imagined for this trip... a steady bug gradual climb, huge shoulder, and beautiful green hills, semi-forested, broken only by the rare ranch on both sides of the road, as far as was visible. Cows along the road kept a close watch on us... they didn't bat an eye at the passing traffic, but they would all turn and watch as we slowly crept by up the hill. A few of the cows were quite amorous, making for a humorous day all around.

(Tisa next to the hills)

(The cows on the farms next to the PCH)

Surprisingly, despite our overwhelming ride the day before, my legs and back felt fine (until the last mile uphill. At the top we paused for a picture, then began the 2.5 mile, 7% grade down to the 101.

(A pause for a picture, right before our descent)

(The hill we rode down, pictured from below)

I white knuckled it, clutching my brakes desperately down the hill. Especially when the shoulder turned to gravel. I could hear my brakes change pitch as they heated up, but I didn't dare let go of them because of the control over the trailer. My frame is obviously not constructed for touring with weight, and due to that, I felt like the front tire had minimal traction on the road. This did make going down hill a bit tricky, because if I got off balance, or my front wheel hit gravel, I could easily end up over the handlebars.

We paused across the freeway to try and find the Gaviota hot springs. We started to hike up to the springs, then turned back because it was already close to 5:30 and we had a few more miles to make it to our campsite before dark.

We followed the 101 for about 3 miles to Gaviota at one point passing a roadside spedometer that clocked us at 13 or 14 miles an hour. It looked awesome, seeing our small speed posted on the busy freeway. Rode right past the bridge from The Graduate, then pulled into Gaviota state beach. Although the campsite was closed till April (two days away), the host let us camp there. The place was completely empty and at first this seemed like our own private camping vacation.

(T and I on the beach at Gaviota before dinner)

(The train tacks going over the beach in Gaviota)

But, that was by far the windiest night of the trip. By the time we ate dinner, we could hardly sit outside, and so moved into the tent. An eerie evening with shadows and weird sounds. Otherwise slept well and enjoyed waking up in our own private campground.

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Day 4 - Gaviota to Carpinteria - 45 miles


Well, this was our last day of touring, about 45 miles, so we woke up early to get a jump start on the day. Despite our ambitions, it still took until 11:00 am before we hit the road.

As Tisa was packing, five or six of the same spiders were all over the saddlebags. This was the last of our spider adventures. It was weird, freaked us both out. Were there eggs in our stuff? Why are they following us?

The first 20 miles or so were gruelling; hills that are hardly noticeable by car are challenges by bike along the 101. Traffic was relatively heavy, and despite the serene view of the ocean, we could hardly hear ourselves over the clamor of semis and trucks passing us just a few feet away.

(The coastline along the 101)

At refugio beach, we took the off-ramp to see if the bike path to El Capitan beach was open, down the hill to the ranger station just to read the sign saying the bike path was closed. Bummer. So, continued on to Goleta (Hollister Exit), the rest of our travel would be on streets and bike paths making a much more pleasant ride.

(Baja Fresh sounded too good for lunch... guess we aren't really purists).

Once we got towards Santa Barbara, we passed a beautiful area--half suburban, half rural--houses intermixed with farms, all within the city of Goleta. Some streets had equestrian trails alongside the shaded bike lanes, very enjoyable ride. However, almost as though the stretch of the 101 drained us, we were very tired and had difficulty pushing the last 20 miles. Through Santa barbara and onto a bike path along the ocean with stunning wildflowers and views of the waves.

(Part of the bike path along the ocean in Santa Barbara)

The guidebook listed one short steep hill, which we had been dreading all day (after having severely underestimated the 600 foot climb two days before). Luckily, since the guidebook had been written, a new bike path had been built, totally circumventing the ascent, and taking us right into the small town of Summerland, a quaint, upscale community with antique shops, restaurants, and wine tasting. The last of these being closed for the day, we pushed on to Carpinteria, following a bike path with a huge biking culture. We probably saw more bikers thank cars, all wearing the latest gaudy gear. We passed some giant Polo fields, then coasted into the campsite. The hiker-biker sites were tucked behind a fence, making T and I look like hippy squatters. After setting up camp, we went back into town for pizza, beer, and wine, a reward for the end of our 125 mile adventure.

(Our campsite in Carpinteria, clearly the nicest of the campsites we stayed in)

(Sitting on the beach the next day, taking it easy before our train back to LA).

Diaz's Dominican Republic

I quite enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; not only did I learn a ton about the DR (or Dominican Republic for all of you who haven't read Yunior's narrative), but I also found the writing refreshing--this is clearly literature, and it's uplifting that actual literature has been a best-seller.

The story covers Oscar Wao's family curse. Wao's maternal grandfather had insulted Trujillo, dictator for some thirty plus years in the DR responsible for genocide of the Haitians as well as a curtain of ignorance cutting off the island from the rest of the world. The story begins with the story of Wao, then works backwards through Wao's sister's history, his mother's childhood, then his maternal grandparents lives several generations before, then returns to Wao's college life and post-college career. This curse has become most focused in the character of Oscar, who is a severely overweight, sci-fi/fantasy uber nerd who is the accidental hero of the story. His grail (or as he would put it, his one ring)? Finding a woman who would love him back.

All I knew about the book prior to reading it was that it could be compared to The Great Gatsby; and I didn't really understand why till I had almost finished. The narrator, much like Nick Carroway, is more of an observer than a part of the conflict, one who is chronicaling something far more important than his own pitiful existence. I say pitiful because Nick Carroway is reprehensible. Similarly, Yunior (the narrator of Diaz's novel) is a contemptible creation: a cocky womanizer with minimal vision outside of his own sphere of existence. I wondered then, and continue to wonder now, if Yunior is actually named "Junior" but due to Oscar's DR accent, Yunior has no choice but to appropriate Oscar's pronunciation in the dialogue. Interesting, but more of a side note than actual thought about the novel.

At first, I was very turned off by Yunior's voice. I was reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with my English class at the same time, and while I consider the use of the "n word" absolutely essential to the time period of Finn, I thought Diaz was using it excessively. That, mixed with heavy DR slang and historical footnotes made the book very difficult to understand at first. I truly enjoyed reading it once I had grappled enough with the language and had covered enough of the plot to understand the dynamic of the story.

I enjoyed the chronology of the story... by going back through the family's past, I felt very connected to Oscar, and also understood the reverence placed on the curse that Yunior describes. But, as the story progressed, I began to really enjoy the similarities with One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez. The two definitely have the magical realism elements, and it seems to me that Diaz clearly evokes the same style of story-telling by going on long side tangents and footnotes that seem to deviate from the plot, but provide extensive backstory and character motivation that enrich and enliven the story.

Enough of the literary critique. As a read, I found the book enjoyable and informative. I had no understanding of the history of the DR prior to the read... afterwards, I was surprised to find that such horrible travesties had been committed so close to our country. The book has some intense scenes that truly show the cruelty of Trujillo's regime (and even typing this now makes me wonder if I'm bringing the curse on myself).

I also really liked the story of Oscar's search for love. But, to some extent, Yunior's voice clouded the more noble search for fulfilling love with the less noble search for sex. This made me a little sad because it seemed like turning a positive goal into a more base hormonal craze, but is realistic. To some extent, most American males are obsessed with sex. So, while I thought this took away from Oscar's character, I guess it also is just another way that Yunior is affecting the story he chronicals.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I would definitely recommend it to many (namely my brother), and thanks Mike for passing it my way. I think I'll need to re-read it at some point to understand more of the inner-workings of the novel.

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The next few posts are going to be the journals I wrote on Tisa's and my bike adventure. We made it 125-130 miles, and it was MUCH more difficult than I anticipated. Not sure if we actually enjoyed ourselves, but it was an awesome trip.

Also, I'm reading a Nicolas Sparks book, and I'm quite embarrassed about it right now (plus, it's actually pretty good).