Friday November 28th

Santa Barbara was good to us, but we were on the road again today. Not too many miles from SB to Ventura, but an interesting one. On the way a crew met Bill at a hot dog stand just before we got on the 101 to ask for directions. Danny told him what we were all about, then asked if he had any Gatorade. Bill said no but he had lemonade, and we’d probably like it. We got 5 and he gave it too us for free. “It was really good” said Libby. Then he came out with some red vines because we “need some sugar for that bike ride” according to Bill. He gave directions and just then two other people came up to get hot dogs. As they rolled up he said “Sorry I was just playing Santa Claus to a bunch of non profit” Libby described it as “the highlight of my day”.

Libby and Adam both got another flat tire today. The personal count of flat tires for those two in the last two days stands at this; Libby 4, Adam 5. That’s 9 within 48 hours. There’s talk that half of all the flats we’ve had have been from those two! What’s causing this bad luck? According to Libby she was talking to Danny just before we had the Bici Centro event about not having a single flat yet. Danny said, “yeah, knock on wood”, Libby just laughed. Now she’s learned her lesson. Adam’s take? “I hate Santa Barbara” And well he should.

Tonight we sleep at Emma Wood, one of those campsites with character. Really an RV park, we’re staying in the small tenting cul-de-sac behind it. Sandwiched within a hundred feet of both the 101 and a railroad, it’s so noisy there can’t even be a video blog tonight due to the highway noise. It is home to some of the most fantastic sunsets. “ The sunset tonight was one of the best I’ve seen” said Libby. It was even clear enough to see the channel islands as the sun set behind them.

It’s a return to camping for the crew for the next two nights. “Tents have become like home, today when we set them up it was like, ‘oh here’s our little home again’” said Libby. We usually roll into our campsites just before dusk. From there, we have a little routine that generally we follow;
STEP ONE: Quick set up your tent, you’ve got to do it before dark . Find a good spot, level & protected from the wind. If you’re lucky enough to have a tent mate then you get them to help you set up.
STEP TWO: Even quicker change into your clothes you’ve been dreaming about for the last hour, cozy slippers and warm pants etc. Hang spandex on a nearby tree for the night.
STEP THREE: See if you can catch a sunset,
STEP FOUR: Try to help cook dinner in the bus. There’s not always enough jobs or enough space for everyone, so when it’s obvious that you can’t help you succumb to washing dishes afterwards.
STEP FIVE: Eat a hot meal
STEP SIX: Wash the dishes
STEP SEVEN: Meet to talk about the next day. Talk about the route/ school/ anything special you need to know. Set up who will sag and who will sweep. Sweeps ride last and make sure no one is stranded with bike trouble. Ideally a sweep always has a tube, a pump, a patch kit, a tool, a cell phone to call the bus if the need it, and the knowledge of how to change a flat tire. More on why this is important later.
STEP EIGHT: Brush teeth, etc. get to bed, you have a big day of riding in the morning

THE ORIGIN OF SWEEPS
“I always knew you were good with a broom, honey” -Courtney

The SLBT first established “Sweeps” on the very first bike trip to Phoenix. I bet you didn’t even know there was a bike trip to Arizona, there’s not even a blog for it’s that’s how primitive it was. On day two of riding, Kathy Rose got a flat tire in Camp Pendleton. Camp Pendleton is a barren stretch of road that goes through the military base between Orange and North San Diego County. Civilian cars are not allowed, but cyclists can go through if they have a valid form of ID, it’s about as scenic as it sounds. From Kathy, “I was riding my upright bike with a basket and a tiny walkie talkie. Because it wasn’t a road bike, every one else could ride more efficiently and it was hard to keep up. I’d also never had a flat before and I didn’t recognize the funny noises the bike was making, and was finding it increasingly harder and harder to keep up. I skid out going down hill, and by then it was obvious that the rear tire was flat. I pulled out my tiny walkie talkie to call for help. After many attempts to reach someone with “This is Kathy, do you hear me? I need help!” I realized the walkie talkie had a range of about 10 feet. It was time to attempt to fix my first flat tire, which I had never done before. We’d been shown how too,… maybe I don’t remember. I got out the tire levers and was about to take off the wheel,… and then realized that I didn’t own a pump, and had no way to get more air into the tire… so taking the tire off wasn’t going to do any help. I went back to the radio, and started pushing my bike . I’d get really excited when I heard any static back- maybe someone heard me. I was stranded, I realized that I’d be waking for awhile, and I did. My only company was military men driving by, slowing down to give me weird looks but not to help. The rest of the crew had stopped miles ahead wondering where I was. After what seemed like hours, but maybe was only 45 min, my friend Erica was sent back to check on me, she had a pump and knew how to fix a flat, my savior.” From that night on we decided that a sweep must know how to change a flat and have a pump, and there needs to be two of them, and we threw out the radios. And so now we learn from our mistakes.

Before we go to bed for the night we want to send a shout out to our friend Chris who always makes us feel at home in Ventura.