Day 25 part two.

Good company, no great company.  Shay's infallible energy was motivating and uplifting!  As I mentioned we met up in Oxnard, not my favorite town, but we were soon rolling through strawberry fields and turning the corner on Malibu. 

Let me pause for a minute to give you some a quick recap of Shay's cycling experience:

Prior to meeting me in Oxnard he had, ridden a distance of 15 or twenty miles.  He had ridden the bike he was about to use 2 times for about 40 minutes (earlier that day).  Thats all.  

Shay was very strong and in a fantastic mood.  We cruised by beach after beach and passed through Malibu with ease.  I was nervous about the Malibu section of the ride since we hit it at 5pm on a saturday.  Soon we were sitting in a bar in Santa Monica, where Shay and I both met up with old friends.  After a beer we were back on the road.  Traffic was high, but we found a flow and were soon cruising along the beach paths, dodging the occasional kid and enjoying the incredible scenery.  It was mind-blowing to be riding through the beaches of LA after having ridden through the trees and hills and rain.  It all seemed so surreal to me.  My heart dropped a little, I was getting close.  We met even more friends that night and hung out in Redondo Beach.  It was nice to have a roof over my head again.  

Shay rode 70+ miles averaging 16mph on his first long ride ever!  Making me look bad :)

Day 26

We woke early and were on the road by about 7 am.  Shay was a machine!  We quickly swept through city after city.  We were able to make it through the craziness of Long Beach and the other bad traffic cities before 10am.  We had aspirations of pushing hard, so we kept our motivation high and tried to strategically stop and eat at planned distances.  The traffic was a little more aggressive and complacent so we shouted "Cuidado!" as our way of communicating dangers.  The rolling hills and the coast were beautiful, the ocean was more blue-green than I have ever seen it in Southern California.  Shay commented it was like being in the Caribbean or Hawaii.  We had a fantastic thai lunch in San 

Clemente, which marked the approximate halfway point of our day.  With our full bellies we lumbered back onto the road.  Shay pulled us through Dana Point, where the water kept getting more and more beautiful.  Riding through Camp Pendelton was admittedly one of the coolest things for me.  The bike path leading prior to the base was fast and smooth, we were able to hold very fast speeds and cover some ground.  The terrain and road through the Pendelton itself was less enjoyable.  I was just blown away by another stunning juxtaposition, beautiful beach to an arid military base.  In Oceanside we stopped to relax a bit, and made a few adjustments to Shay's bike.  At this point we were getting to the just details portion of the ride.  Cardiff, Lucadia, Solana Beach, Del Mar…home was close.  After a few pitstops we were sitting at the base of Calle Cristobal, the last challenge of the day.  A 300 foot hill between us and our house.  As we summited, Shay reminded me that we would be turning right on Camino Ruiz and then left on Aquarius.  I thanked him as it had been over a month since I had been home.  We rolled into the garage where Josh and Laurel met us.  Soon we were drinking beers and sharing stories…it was good to be home.  

Shay's second day on this bike he did, 115 miles, averaging 15mph!!!!!!!  That is simply un-freaking-believable!  Great job Shay and thanks for the company!  It made the last few miles much easier!!! 

So now I have to make it to the border…I plan on meeting up with whomever wants to ride with me in Mission Bay on Saturday the 14th of July.