Dec 6th - But wait, there's more (there usually is)

December 6th was the last day we spent all together. A morning of recouping, sorting, and packing quickly lead to an afternoon of departures. First Adam to the airport, then
Miah, Jenna, David, Lissa in the first car. Sean, Abigail, Courtney, Meagan, & Travis headed north to HB and Emily Fox's wedding. Alexis' dad came to pick her up later in the afternoon. That left Danny, Ashley, Libby, Morgan, Julie, Jacob, and Becky with the very last, almost forgotten task of the Bike Trip... The Encinitas Holiday Parade.

We can still remember when Courtney asked us if we were interested. "How do people feel about being in a parade at the end of the trip?" Enthusiastic hands shot into the air, "I WILL NOT BE THERE TO HELP" he insisted, "I am so excited" "This is going to be awesome" was all that came back. None of us really remembered that conversation this day as we teased him "Thanks for signing us up for this, Courtney." I had spent the morning with Travis at the DAV (frequented Oceanside resale shop) looking for used holiday decorations. His keen eye scored a wreath, some tinsel, lights, and bobbles for under $20. I picked up some sweet new jeans for $4. With a few choice items borrowed from the Langens we had a rough enough idea to get rolling for the decorations.

People were electric when we returned, chomping at the bit to get started... Okay, not true, people had just ridden their bikes for three weeks straight and were tired. The outlook was grim. We'd been tossing around the idea of not even participating. There were a lot of factors against us. First of all most people wanted to or already planned on departing on the 6th. We thought there would only be 5 of us, I was kind of gutted. For awhile we were not going to be able to have the bus... Five people on bikes, whooo hooo Happy Holidays kiddos. Then there was a packet of information we were suppose to bring to the parade... that was sent to the island a couple of days before.

Fear not, things turned around; we logistically worked out a way for the bus to stay in Carlsbad, Julie Libby and Morgan decided to stay back, Travis' brother's school was also in the parade and could give us most of the info on start times, etc... but the ball really started rolling once Ashley saw the tutu. Travis and I were picking through old dress up clothes for people to wear, at this point Libby was considering riding on the top of the bus in a leotard and needed a skirt. We picked out a couple of options and then Travvy pulled out the tutu - a no brainer. I was showing Libby what we had picked out back at the Beach House, and Ashley's eyes perked up. "It really was the tutu that sold me." White with a red sequin trim and just about 4 inches of skirt, she slid that tutu around her waist and it was business time. Before long people started showing up and my anxiety washed away like an outgoing tide. Julie and Libby took on antler making, Morgan - lights, Jacob - directions and bobbles. Before long our little short bus was a delight of holiday making. Quickly we slipped into red and green bike gear, (thanks again, Voler!) stuck our cardboard antlers into our helmets, and we were off for Encinitas.

We pulled into the "staging" parking lot where all the other floats were putting together final touches. The floats that surrounded us were pretty impressive. You could tell they weren't whipped together in an afternoon and that lots of time and money had been put into them. Humbled, we watched as tiny boyscouts zoomed past on bikes and scooters with hand sewen antlers in their helmets wrapped in battery charged christmas lights. We still had to hang lights, bobbles, and our sign made out of outdated Seafood Watch Cards and we were late. Everyone that was riding went to go find our spot in the lineup since the directions were confusing. We sat in our alloted space "Red 66" and waited. We about busted with pride as our little bus turned the corner. Fully light up with christmas lights powered by our solar panel Ashley rocked up to our spot sporting the only brand new item we bought of all of the decorations - the Santa hat on her head.

We were buzzing as we turned off the main route that finished the parade. "That might have been the best thing we have EVER done" said Ashley. To the good people of Encinitas that were so incredibly supportive of our float and of our ride - THANK YOU. "Look at that bus!" "I love biking" "That float's my favorite!" and "San Francisco to Mexico? That's a long way" were just some of the comments were heard coming from the crowd. We also heard "You're almost to Mexico! Keep going!" but we didn't need to correct anyone, it was so rewarding to hear so many people excited about what we'd done. When the announcer explained that we were riding in celebration of 700 miles, the crowd exploded in applause. "My face hurt because I was grinning so much" said Ashley. Our only regret was that the rest of the riders didn't get to be there with us.


December 7th - finally no plans. We dropped Morgan off early in the morning, and Julie was picked up in the early evening. It was 11ish before we were coaxed out of the house by Jacob speaking of ride-able beginner's waves.

Tomorrow a small crew of us head back to the island - and finally we will all be underway with our winter plans, not to regroup until mid-February. Good luck to all of our friends reading this from home and abroad, we could not have asked for a better trip.

Happy Holidays, and enjoy doing things other than cycling all day every day for a bit... we did.

Dec 5th - The Big Finale

Eighteen people in the Beach House is a lot, but we did it. Our agenda today was to set up a booth at the afternoon at the surf shop Patagonia in Cardiff by the Sea. We chatted up customers about protecting the ocean while Sandy from the Solana Center educated folks about composting. After a bit we got to talk to Kaley and Sandy about what their organications. Sandy talked about how the Solana Center sets up gardens and compost systems for schools and the public in the San Diego area amongst many many (many) other things. After hearing about some of the classes the center offers we got all hopped up about potentially becoming "Master Composters" accredited by the Solana Center. Hope to see you or your staff on the island soon, Sandy! Kaley from Patagonia about what makes the Cardiff store special - and it's the more ecologically minded surfboards and wetsuits. Kaley will tell you that despite it's simple appearance, surfing is by no means an ecological sport. The materials used to make surfboard foam and wetsuits can release harmful chemicals in production. Patagonia is approaching these items from a new persepctive. Extruded foam in the boards and merino wool in their wetsuits. Sound crazy? It's working. Check more out at patagonia.com

We slept in Pacific Beach with former island staff Jenna Y (thanks for the Thai J-yo) and at Alyssa's house in Ocean Beach. Alyssa left for the night and it was a good plan with 12 people sleeping in the house. People described it like playing tetrus with bodies and sleeping bags.

The next morning we met up at the ferry stations in order to go to Coronado Island. Coronado's not an island, and the school isn't there, it just makes the ride shorter rather than going around the San Diego Bay - check the google map for details. We were a little panicked when we didn't see a sign for the 8:20 ferrry we were planning on, but there's a reason why. Early in the morning the ferries are for commuters and subsidized at no cost to us! Whoo hooo! We and our bikes piled on and the boat got us there in less than 10 minutes. It was a beautiful ride down "the strand" - basically just a lane or two of highway with ocean on either side. With $3 burning a hole in our pockets from the free ferry ride, we swung into Star Dust Donuts for an early morning treat. Julie had been trying to go to a donut shop just about since we hit Santa Barbara and never really had any takers, but they sounded pretty good this morning. If in the area the "old fashioned" comes highly recommended.

Mar Vista is the only school we have visited on all four bike trips, and one of the schools that has been coming to our program on Catalina the longest. We have always felt such strong support from this group, and the same was true today. Thanks so much to the young adults in the Poseidon Academy for spending time with us. To see young minds at work you know there is hope for the future. We can't wait to see you in the spring.

Mar Vista is in Imperial Beach, the most southwestern city in the entire country and quick jog to the border. We visited the state park there on the bike trip two years ago, and we thought it'd be nice to return. We rode past the usual horse ranches, and saw a new blossoming community garden as well. The road to the very corner of the United States where the fence dividing our country from Mexico goes into the sea was too muddy to cross again this year (someday!) but we head out to the beach for some views of ocean.

We had a little celebration in the parking lot. Not the most scenic place but we had a lot to be proud about; 750 miles; safe, sound, & satisfied. Congrats to everyone on such a monumental ride.

A trip back up to the Beach House and our friends Jenna, Mary, Sam, and Owen were already there. John Leo & his oysters showed up later to celebrate too. Dinner up at the Langens was a treat as always (thanks Janice and Richie! We are blessed by you always!!!) thanks for swinging by Issac, Erin, and the tumblers Reya and Iris.

Dec 4th - Carlsbad to San Diego

How to Sprout

David Klingenberger shares the wisdom...

Wednesday December 3rd - Reunited at the Beach House

FIRST AND FOREMOST - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FRIEND AND SHORT TERM RIDER KATHY ROSE!! WE LOVE YOU LADY, THANKS FOR SPENDING YOUR B-DAY TRAVELING SO YOU COULD BE WITH US.


We woke up in different houses but we found each other on the corner of Broadway and PCH1 in Laguna Beach. Team Sean’s house realized we didn’t pack any of the maps, so we went by the old stadby “just go south” on Pacific Coast Highway. It was a beautiful morning cycling past Huntington and Newport Beach. Libby got a flat, her 4th of the trip. We stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery and wouldn’t you know it Team Heather’s Mom’s House rolled up.
Together we rode on to Dana Point Harbor for lunch. We passed Blue Lantern Street, Amber Lantern, Violet Lantern… we wondered if the Green Lantern would be around the corner. Are there actually colored lanterns in Dana Point? “I’ve never questioned it” commented local and SBLT supporter Will “Coach” Steinreide. Will met up for lunch, and got to hear how much the students at Banning had asked about him. We were so happy to see him we didn’t even notice the seagulls that were feasting on our lunch.

Back on Pacific Coast Highway we “wiggled” through the fun hills in San Clemente, then cruised through San Onofre State Beach. We regrouped before we passed through the marine base at Camp Pendelton. Cyclists (but not cars) are allowed to ride through to avoid the 5 Freeway as long as they have a valid ID - sorry Courtney. Libby had already suffered a second flat, and the tire decided to go out with a bang on a hill in the middle of the base. Patched with a dollar bill she was able to make it out of the base then make it into the van.

Cycling along the beach through the Oceanside and Carlsbad we enjoyed the beautiful sunset, and pulled into the Langen family beach house just about dark. The bus had already vomited it’s contents onto the back patio and had a through cleaning. The sweeps Abbey and Danny showed up about six, and finally we were all together. Reunited and it feels so good! We ate well and shared highlights from the split and Sean got his hair French braided. Thanks to the Langens for making us feel at home. Tomorrow we make it into north San Diego with a visit at Patagonia Cardiff.

Tuesday, December 2

The Inland crew had two missions today.
1) to garden with the ladies of Flintridge Sacred Heart
2) to get to Huntington Beach (50 miles away) before (too) dark.

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy is a beautiful school, a former a hotel converted to an all girls Catholic high school. It’s located on the top of a hill in La Canada with an unmatched view of the LA basin. I still remember the first time I talked to the Youth Minister about visiting the school. “You should definitely come… we are on the top of a hill though.” “Oh we’ll have climbed Big Sur by then, we can do it” “Mmmm…. it’s quite a hill.” She wasn’t kidding the hill is a big deal, it’s even in the fight song. We were definitely taken by surprise three years ago when we first visited FSHA, and to add insult to injury we were coming from the vallly in Burbank. We were strategically placed in Altadena this year, and it cut out at least ¾ of the climb. There were still parts that had me convinced that I was going to fall out of my seat backwards. And the elements were still against us, as we were banked in by a heavy fog. Danny got a flat, and Julie lost a chain, but we didn’t lose anyone in those windy hills thanks to Alexis, an ’03 graduate of the academy.

The AP Environmental Science (APES) teacher met us with the sports medicine class bundled up in blankets. They showed us around the campus and lead us to the new garden & compost area. We’ve been hearing about this space for awhile and we finally got to dig into it. Two APES classes came down to the huge space to turn compost and help install a new bunny fence. We were so impressed last year when we saw the student run composting system in place. There is a small container for compost by the cafeteria area and biology room, then it’s transported to a composter nearby, and eventually brought down to the garden area. The APES class is responsible for emptying the containers, and service hours can be counted by working in the garden. These ladies are always a pleasure to catch up with, and we loved getting to spend time in their growing garden. We left hoping they’ll return to the garden often and leave their mark in the first steps of this garden. We were given a great lunch – compostable plates and spudwear forks and knives – and got to eat with anyone student or chaperone that wanted to catch up with us. We had a lot of Catalina chaperones stop by as well as some students (Block 7 Family, where were you??) and we traded stories about the last visit (and pictures of Jacob), but soon we had to get going.

The path along Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River was long. Don’t get me wrong, they are AMAZING bike paths. Amazing in that it makes it possible to go from north east LA to north Orange County with no car traffic to speak of. We rolled into Seal Beach by dusk and Huntington Beach awhile later. It was cold in Pasadena and didn’t let up for the rest of the day. Cold, tired, and exhausted we rallied together to get back on Pacific Coast Highway to get to Sean’s parents house. Throwing aside crew rivaries, the OC group and members of the coastal crew greeted us warmly as we came together to form Team Sean’s House. We snacked, we dined, we took a dip in the hot tub… what a delight. Many thanks to Scott and Sue for spoiling us with food, drink, and air mattresses; thanks for putting up all 11 of us.

Message from the Founder

That Inland Crew Just Can't Get Enough

We may not clock the longest miles at the end of the day, but as for vertical gain... the Inland crew is simply King/ Queen of the Hill. Not only have we taken on the Malibu Mountains (peaked out at 2000ft from sea level) and the foothills of the San Gabriel Mts. (school visit is at 1400ft) in a short span of 60 hours, but we slept in the Valley the nights in between. Dubbed "Team Biker Chicks" by a server in Burbank (all long-hairs except for Morgan); Julie, Alexis, Jacob, Danny, Morgan & Becky have really been teaching LA a lesson these last few days. We left Leo Carillo early Sunday morning with a task ahead of us, we like to call that task "Encinal Canyon Road." There was a thick layer of fog to chill the riders as we approached the passage. A biker that had just come down the hill let us know that the weather was deceiving on the coast, and it was hot as heck up there. Before we turned the first switch back we were all in our lowest gears. We pounded down for over an hour before we hit the top of Encinal Canyon. The fog was long gone at that height, and we were in a full on sweat. It was Sunday in Malibu, so the windy roads were peppered with joyriders of all types. Fancy cars, motorcycle clubs, and even a couple of cycling groups. Thanks to those that chatted us up along the way! Advice from one rider had us depart our scheduled route to take Mulholland Highway down into Calabasas... which we did with no regret. Jacob always says you have to "earn the turns" meaning all that cranking up hill pays off for a screaming downhill, and boy does this one pack a punch. Downhills in Big Sur you can lay off the breaks and let your bike do the work, not so here. Tight curves and strange banks can send you right off the cliff, so you hold on tight with your breaks and go for the ride of your life. A biker (as in motorcycle and bicycle) restaurant was packed with all kinds of rides and signaled the end of the downhill. Turns out Mulholland Hwy goes on for quite a long time, lots of sustained up and downhills... for miles. Our heroes Adam and Ashley showed up in a red Vannagon with water to fill our bottles and cheers to fill our hearts. They dropped off lunch food at the Vons in Calabasas, which we promptly devoured (some of us even took naps).

Climbs were over but we still had some considerable mileage ahead of us. An established bike path following the Orange Metro line took us most of the way, with a stop at Encino to drool over the local Velodrome. We highly suggest this route to any LA biker, just remember that "Busway" where the Metro runs is not a bike lane, otherwise you might have a local 5-O remind you (whoop whoop). We spent the night at our amazing friends Nate and Sue's place in Burbank. We went out for some Italian eats and mangia-ed until our bellies were bursting - and then had a taste of gellato as well. Grazie to our hosts - Nate has had us at his place for three years running, and we still laugh about the time 20 of us showed up after a week of limited showering, we always have a good time.

Early wake up time because we had a lot on our plate Monday morning. A stop to the southwest in Studio City, then back east to Glendale, then finally up north to Altadena for the night. We rolled into our Studio City school and - boy what a spread - they fed us breakfast! Bagles, juice & and hard boiled eggs, etc. a biker's delight. We checked in with our friends that had come out to Catalina from so many grades, and some that haven't made it out yet as well. We had lots of questions, critical thinking, and outside the box thinking going on today, thanks to our hosts - students & chaperones for the great visit.

It was back on our bikes for some serious city riding. We made it about 100 ft from the school will fate twisted us in another direction. Danny was momentarily distracted by the city traffic and dropped into a nasty rut. The poor road condition was not to have the best of this rider though, as he was able to hold on and come out without taking a spill. The bike casualties were steep, and two visibly bent rims meant some SagWagon time for Danny. Travis and D-bo took off for a bike shop, and the rest of the crew soldiered on through Griffith Park to Glendale. We had a solid idea of a route, opting for some city riding vs bike lanes to save us some time... then quickly got lost. It was probably when we were challenged to a race by a homeless man at one of the stoplights. Luckily a local rider was heading in a similar direction and lead us through the park to near our destination. When he first approached us he said "Looks like you're picking up a straggler" meaning himself. But even though he was on a hybrid he smoked us, that's some serious city riding.

Glass ridden routes lead us to our second school, and we beat Travis in the bus (once again) due to heavy traffic. While we mowed down some lunch on the lawn, Danny was in for an appointment with the mechanics at the Bicycle Doctor off of York Blvd. Treatment for the incident called for two new rims, a new tire, and new tubes. A little bit of fork damage as well, but nothing that couldn't be worked out. Danny was back at the school within the hour, in plenty of time to prepare for the presentation. Thank you so much to the folks at Bicycle Doctor that got Danny back on the road so quick. When D-Bo got on the bus in Studio City we could tell he was bummed, but he was all smiles once we saw him again. He let our students at the Glendale school know that this bike shop comes "highly recommended" by him, you can check them out too at http://www.cycleworxla.com/.

The school visit in Glendale was a riot. So many familiar faces from years past, as well as an AMAZING face lift in the garden. That beautiful space looks like it is getting the attention it deserves, and kudos to those taking care of it for the school to enjoy! Skits, games, and surveys filled the afternoon, and before we knew it, it was 3:15 and school was out! Exhausted we filled up on snacks (from Mr Cline - thank you thank you thank you!) and pulled ourselves together. Although google maps doesn't show any elevation in Altadena, we knew it'd be uphill. A cruise down Colorado Blvd and the stands for the Rose Bowl Parade let us know we were in Pasadena, a little bit farther and we'd made our destination for the night; the CIC office. Thanks to the Horners, CIC & TSC staff (especially Tom & Nick who came to visit & Rasheed who waited for us!) for the roof over our heads for the night. Alexis' dad & family made an incredible meal for us -we got to taste wonders of Persian cuisine with the apex being the Rosewater ice cream - thank you thank you thank you, we're still raving about it.

After checking in with other crews via the blog, and some work on the Google Map - be sure to zoom in or click "view larger map" to check out all the different routes that we're taking through the LA/OC area - we hunkered down with the satellite radio for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we conquer the hills of La Canada, and Alexis gets to visit her Alma mater.

Until then; just keep pedaling
The Inland Crew
TEAM BIKER CHICKS

Venice Beach to Manhattan Beach - Coastal Crew

During each school visit, we see, breath, and interact with the communities that mold our students. This is the part of the bike tour that empowers us as educators. These community experiences help us to better incorporate local environmental issues and interpret the natural world in a way that is personally relevant to our students.

Today, we set off from Venice Beach at 5:30 AM, and made our way through pea soup fog to Bethune Middle School in Inglewood. At 7:30 AM, we met about ten classes of seventh graders. Students rotated through three workshops on ecological footprints, non-source point pollution, and alternative transportation.

After Bethune, we rode ten miles and past fifteen donut shops on our way to the Environmental Charter High School (ECHS), in Lawndale. The ECSH is always an inspiring experience with energetic students and pioneering staff. The campus was gorgeous, with trees, gardens, and signs of a growing consciousness and sustainable successes. Compost bins built of reused materials, a native plant garden, and an organic vending machine show the school leading the way toward a future of green schools.

When asked about the most memorable experiences of the communities surrounding these schools, cyclist, Kathy Rose, said,

“There was a stark contrast between the access to healthy, affordable foods, in the wealthy affluent communities and the prevalence of donut shops and liquor stores in Compton and Watts. It made me think about food justice, food security, and how everyone deserves access to nutritious food that is healthy for them and the planet. As we rode on Crenshaw street, I thought of the Watts Garden Club, founded by Anna Marie Carter, which helps distribute healthy, organic food to low income communities and raise awareness about food issues. I hope that in time, there will be more of these types of organizations, helping local communities eat sustainably.”

When we arrived at the end of our journey in Manhatten Beach, we were welcomed with generous support by Ally, Gay, and Keith Simmons, from the Jean-Michel Cousteau family camp. They gave us a great dinner feast and we celebrated the evening surrounded by even more friends connected by family camp and Catalina’s Howland’s landing.

Malibu Crusin'

Today was an easy day for us in mileage and we had a great chance to cruise through scenic Malibu and into Santa Monica. The ride was beautiful and easy so we stopped for some Thai for lunch and then wandered through Venice Beach and Muscle Beach; people watching and adding to the scene in our gorgeous spandex attire. The day was fast and relatively uneventful, but we can’t talk enough about our meal and accommodations for the evening.

We stopped by David’s mum’s house in Venice for an absolutely wonderful dinner and great all round evening. We feasted on a variety of wonderful dishes with the same key ingredient… love. All the food was amazing, bought locally at farmers markets and prepared from scratch it was a delight and well enjoyed by all. Thank you very much Helen and David St John for your amazing hospitality!

For our accommodations we would like to give a HUGE shout out to the Venice Eco Cottages (venicebeachecocottages.com). We were given a tour by owner operator Karel and shown the wonderful concept that he with his wife has developed. Built in 1922, the cottages and have a varied past but the development kept the original cottages and refitted them with a new environmental consciousness. Everything and I mean everything, was “green”; from the organic cotton shower curtains to walls insulated with shredded denim jeans to ol’ skool 1950’s burners and ovens refitted, the whole cottage was right in line with what we were thinking and how we were operating. Karel showed us all the amazing facets of his cottages… but best of all they are only a big stone’s throw right from Venice beach.

All in all, it was a great day. We all are getting ready to get to bed early ready for a huge day tomorrow starting in just a few hours at 4:45 and going to 2 Schools. We’re really excited to get into the city and teach, after all, this is what the tour is all about.

Sunday November 29th - JULIE'S BIRTHDAY

Emma Wood to Leo Carillo

Miah, a 2nd time SLBTer, recently returned to the tour after spending the days around Thanksgiving with his family. Miah’s had a rough first part of the ride, going down with a nasty cold which some riders have succumbed. He has not ridden since we passed through Cambria, but joined us today in Ventura. While under the weather instead of riding Miah took on the important role of “sagging.” Primarily this means that you drive the Support and Gear (SAG) vehicle, but it takes on many other behind the scene responsibilities. “Sagging was great. I got healthy and got clear insight of what needs to happen daily.” Captaining what became the “Sicksie Bus” for three days with the other infirmed; Ashley, Sean, & guest appearances from David, Miah etc took on many tasks daily.

Riders of the Bike Tour get all the glory, but their days are incredibly smooth due to the sags hard work. The first job of the day is to pack up the bus, not a small feat. Any special errands that need to be run are their responsibilities. For example; pick up pre-arranged food donations, buy additional lunch goods, find biodiesel gas stations, fill up propane, charge essential appliances, get campground reservations, meet up with chaperones at schools, help riders with directions... these could all happen before lunch. Lunch by the way is a production in and of itself. Set up the table, whip up some tuna, slice cheese, make hummus, cut bread, silverware, water, snacks… there’s a lot to be done… and then clean it up after the tornado of hungry riders tears through. The perks are that you get to go to the store and pick up your favorite juice you haven’t even see in two weeks, or get tacos whenever you want. “We were at Vons, and David had been pretty quiet just laying on the counter of the bus because of his bad back… then he just came to life saying ‘We need tacos’, and there was a taqueria right there…. We had carnitas” explained Miah. But he says the best part of sagging is other people’s reactions to the woody short bus. “You can see people stop and look at it, and you know they are thinking ‘What is that?’ Then they just have the biggest smiles on their faces.”

The crew enjoyed a leisurely day in Ventura. Friday was “Buy Nothing Day” a protest against the consumerism of the holiday season. Luckily we hit the Patagonia headquarters store on Saturday what we deemed “Buy Everything Day.” Out of respect for the wood panel floors we left our muddy cleats outside, regardless there’s no way 20 unshowered bikers couldn’t make a scene in the store. After two hours of shopping for responsibly made wares we finally departed, glowing from our screaming deals (thanks, Chris ;).

We were free to enjoy the morning, with the guideline to be sure to be leaving Ventura by 1pm. My group didn’t leave until two. Here’s why… 1) Courtney was really having a hard time deciding if he should buy a base layer that was made from recyclable capilene or the petroleum free merino wool . 2) We decided to buy tamales at the Farmers Market & got sucked into listening to a middle school aged punk band playing on the curb & 3) we stopped into the Channel Island Visitor Center. The Visitor Center gave us an insight into the subtle differences between Catalina and the other channel islands, and some major differences. The center has a fossil of a pigmy mammoth found on one of the islands. The docent told us that it probably floated or swam out to the island and then shrank in size, a perfect example of the breadbox theory. We didn’t get out of Ventura until after 2pm.
The next bit of riding was especially pretty. “It was like a movie, it was perfect” described Miah. He continued, “From Pt Mugu to Zuma Beach there were slightly rolling hills overlooking the beach. The sun was low in the sky, everything was a golden color, and the waves the way the waves were coming in… It was a moment that made me so glad that I didn’t stay at home.”

After celebrating Julie’s birthday for awhile with custard and French fries, we came into Leo Carillo. This was our last night together for the next three days and we had mac and cheese as well as cakes to celebrate Julie’s day. After dinner we fell into work, we needed to divide food, curriculum, and gear for the next day. Since we have so many schools in the LA area we actually need to break up into smaller groups to be able to hit all of them. We had 10 schools to visit and only 48 hours to do it in, every crew would be visiting two schools on Monday. These are the routes

INLAND: Day 1) Over Malibu Mountains to Burbank, Day 2) Studio City & Glendale then Altadena, Day 3) Altadena to Huntingon Beach.

COASTAL: Day 1) Leo Carillo to Venice Day 2) Lawndale and South Central LA to Manhatten Beach day 3) Meet with Inland at Huntington Beach

ORANGE COUNTY: Day 1) 80 miles Leo Carillo to Fullerton, Garden Grove and Orange, to Huntington Beach then Irvine.



Orange County crew left early in the morning so they’d roll into Miah’s parents’ house before dark. They almost got their by lunch

Inland left next to get ready to go over Malibu

Coastal Crew laughed for 4 hours after Courtney ripped his spandex shorts on the bus door and didn’t leave until noontime.

Next we’ll be hearing from the individual crews on their journeys.

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.

Friday Nov 28th - With Full Bellies & Clean Clothes We Left Santa Barbara

Our parents would be proud. We really pulled off a spectacular Thanksgiving last night. We gathered together at dusk at a park near Chris E's house. He lives up on a hill (a really steep hill, ask Courtney, Meagan, and Laurie) that overlooks the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. A lot of work went into preparing our 30 guests, here's a partial list;

• Mashed Cauliflower - ingredients from the Farmers Market
• Squash Soup - Jenny
• Romaine Salad - Farmers Market
• Green Beans - from Farmers Market
• Homemade Salsa & blue corn chips - Jenny & Nicci
• Stuffing - donated bread from Trader Joes
• Squash - Farmers Market
• Cranberries - Dakota!
• Fruit Salad - donated from several farmers markets
• 2 different potato dishes - I know Dakota made one of them
• Rolls - homemade and donated from Farmers Market
• Chocolate Chip Bread - made by Julie
• And of course we had a Turkey - prepared by Brent
• Chris E and Laurie hand made all of the desserts - Pumpkin Pie & Pecan Pie
  

There may have been others food, but I got so sleepy I had to take a nap in the bus for awhile. After dining at dusk at the city overlook, we washed up the dishes and sat around singing and telling stories. The only thing that would have made it better was if our families were with us.

We leave Santa Barbara today, but could not do so without thanking our gracious hosts; Brent & Dakota (Buster & Lola), Chris E, and Danny's Granny. It takes a special kind of person to take in a group of bikers (who had been camping for the previous week) and let them take over your homes for 4 days. Thank you, thank you, thank you! we're blessed by your generosity. And to all of our friends who joined us for Thanksgiving - we could not have asked for a more special & unique celebration. We're blessed to have you in our little Catalina family. And please get let us know when you've got the "Transitioning from Catalina" manual finished.

Today we pull out our fresh and clean spandex and jump back in the saddle (don't call it a bike seat, for whatever reason when you're serious about biking it's more like you're riding a horse then just sitting) and head out the 30ish miles to Emma Wood just outside of Ventura.

Thursday November 27th THANKSGIVING

It's just about 1pm and the kitchen at Brent and Dakota's smells amazing, and things are cooking up at Danny's Granny's too. We've got so many friends in town - Nicci, Jenny, Whitney, Owen, Laurie, Chris, Dakota and Brent - all together with us to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a beautiful day in Santa Barbara, the rain has passed and the beautiful warm weather that we've been enjoying has returned!! We'll get together later this afternoon to dine together. Our food will be a combination of the foods we've had donated, food from the Santa Barbara farmers market, and dishes our friends have made.

We'd like to send a big HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of our family members that have tolerated us being away for the holiday. We miss you and love you, and can't wait to see you soon!

Wednesday November 26

A lazy rainy morning, people did what they wanted to until later afternoon when we met up in Isla Vista. This was such a rad event, we had some folks from Bici Centro come meet us at the Isla Vista Food Co-op for a ride into the city and workshop. Bici Centro is a volunteer bike kitchen in Santa Barbara. They provide education and events to the community for free and boost bike culture. Thomas, Jonathan, and other Bici Centro volunteers met up with us as we started on the Bike trail through UCSB. We hadn't gotten too far before the rain started, then Libby got flat tire. We all waited for her and Courtney to change it, cheered when it was all wrapped up, got about 200 yards and Adam got a flat. Awwww too bad.. then Libby got a flat, then Adam again, and again. Five flats in a 12 mile stretch, it took us 2.5 hours to get there. Adam just decided to walk the rest of the way on his 3rd flat...

We were famished once we got to the bike kitchen and ate the meal Travis prepared for us. After that we tore into our bikes. We got full use of the facilities, Thomas said "this is a community bike kitchen so now it's your kitchen too." Jacob replaced his bottom bracket, Courtney worked on his brakes, I learned how to "true my wheel" (spokes pull your bike wheel into opposing directions, if one gets loose it can actually change the shape of your wheel so that it is not a "true" circle, what you do is systematically tighten and loosen the spokes where the shape has bent until it straightens out). We kept stopping and looking at each other to say "I can't believe we got a whole bike kitchen to ourselves!" What a blessing. We finally wrapped it just before 9 and rode home in the rain... and got three more flat tires (what happened!!??)

Tomorrow Thanksgiving!

Tuesday November 25

THE ELEMENTS

Headwinds, rain, and city riding.

Whooo. We're beat. Forty miles from Lompoc to Goleta and headwinds the whole way. Headwinds is a wind that is blowing towards you and turns your body into a sail. This means you get to pedal your heart out uphill, and keep pedaling on the downhill. After miles and miles of monotanous biking we dropped onto the 101 and rode along the highway for a bit. At El Capitan we ate lunch and that's when the rain started. Personally, I was half estatic. I've been living on Catalina for awhile and haven't seen real rain since January. We were also really excited to finally use the rain gear that we've been lugging around for the last 4 bike trips - it's the first real rain we've even encountered on bikes! Soaking wet by midday, we finally arrived to Santa Barbara. We dropped people off at the different homestayes we'd be staying at for the next couple of days (awesome to have a roof over our heads during the rain - Thanks Danny's Granny, Chris, Brent & Dakota).

We regrouped at Ocean Futures to meet up with our friends Karen & Nancy. They had a full spread out for us and we mowed it down, especially the group that rode down State Street in the rain (keep an eye on the buses!). Lots of the OFS team is out on expedition in Norway studying Orca whales, so the office was a bit quiet. The latest news was that the bilge exploded on the ship (ewwwwww). We hope butter luck comes to our exploring friends up north. We also got to sneak preview some uncut clips for an upcoming special (my favorite was "Pink Dolphins") and generally just got to hang out in the office. Our friend Laura B who works one of the AOTE cruise ship programs showed up later and that was a special treat because she used to work out on the island as well.

We hit up the Farmers Market with her later. Divided into teams we asked the vendors there if they'd be willing to give us anything they didn't want to take back home with them. We came home with bins and boxes and bags full of great food. A couple of things worked in our favor 1) it is the biggest day for the Farmers Market in the year and it was raining 2) the food bank that normally picks up food didn't come today, 3) People were really friendly and overwhelmingly generous!

Monday, November 24

El Churro, San Luis Obispo Montessori, Guatalupe, Lompoc

El Churro Regional Park provided us with so many cultural opportunities; Cuesta "College", a Mens Colony, Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. It was hard to leave the beauty but we had visits to make. We split into two groups, well three groups if you count the small army of sick people accumulating in the SAG (Sicksie Bus; Ashley, Miah, & Sean).

One group head to Grover Beach to check out the Voler (pronounced to our surprise with a French accent vo-lay, not vo-laire like we've been saying for the last two years) factory. The folks at Voler have donated extra jerseys and shorts to us for the last two years. This has helped make an expensive sport (jerseys alone can run $40-$60) affordable for we environmental educators. We got to see the entire screen printing process and even see some pretty cute Twin Six brand jerseys being printed and sewn together in the plant. We had some fun with some of the ladies in the plant, thanks to them and Jeff for showing us the place, and assisting us so much with this trip. Most of us however headed to San Luis Obispo Montessori and got to garden with the 4th, 5th, & 6th graders for a couple of hours! So much fun to learn with and from those students in the garden and compost.

We met up at Pismo State Beach for lunch, but 50 miles and the Harris Grade waited for us before Lompoc. This was a huge day, not big hills, but lots of miles before sundown. Frankly we flew, we made amazing time down PCH1. When we met up at Guatalupe Jacob figured that we were making 15 miles an hour. The Harris grade is 8 miles of uphill, but once you get there you're just about homefree. Little regrouping at the base, and lots of encouragement on the way helped, but really it was nothing compared to Santa Cruz mountains!

Superfun downhill, rolled through town, and we got into the RV park before night. We have not stayed in Lompoc for two years, and we were really looking forward to the bowling alley only to find out that it had recently been torn down. The locals at the restruant we stopped at were equally dissapointed. Next day we get to Santa Barbara for a couple days, yeehaw!!

Sunday November 23

Camp Ocean Pines to El Chorro State Park Campground

There are days on the bike tour where we rush and huff and puff and sweat rivers to reach a school and then continue in a hurry to make camp before dark. Today was not one of those days. Instead, hungry riders gathered around the Camp Ocean Pines breakfast hall at a leisurely 8 o-clock in our pajamas. After breakfast, Camp Ocean Pine’s Naturalist and Raptor caretaker, Scott, introduced riders to two rescued raptors, a noble great horned owl and a juvenile red-tailed hawk. Although the birds fulfill a similar ecological niche, the two birds might be each other’s prey, the owl vulnerable by day, and the hawk, at night.

With our photographer, Dan Sullivan, on board for just one more day, riders celebrated his birthday dressed in fabulous flare. With our hosts waving, a cowboy and cowgirl, Evel Kneivel, a Hawaiian hula girl, a stop sign, a gymnast, and batman’s Robyn tore out of the camp and headed south toward San Luis Obispo. Riders stopped twenty miles down the road at Morrow Bay Estuary to see what happens when fresh and salt water mix. One rider, Abigail went out looking for white pelicans and came back with stories of rare sea otter sightings. Seals and sea lion also attract harbor and great white sharks into the estuary. Taking the day to learn and recuperate, riders witnessed one way that dams and levees can impact animal habitat. With water diverted from the floodplains, sediment flowed through the levee and dumped into the estuary, threatening its very existence. Fortunately, farsighted conservationists advocated for the levee’s removal. With the floodplains largely restored, sediment is now dispersed throughout natural waterways, before reaching the Morrow Bay Estuary.

Saturday November 22

Group Interview (in “Van Gogh” cabin at Camp Ocean Pines about ride through Big Sur)
Interviewees: Abigail, Julie, Libby, Laurie, Alexis, and eventually Danny

How are you feeling?
Abigail: My body is talking to me… It’s saying ‘Stretch me, give me a break...’ But also feeling awesome and so accomplished
Julie: I feel like I want to ride
Libby: Flying down those his I felt like ‘this is what life is all about’
Laurie: (sigh) The California coast never ceases to amaze me.

What were your High/Low for these last few days?
Julie: (low) not being able to ride (Julie had hot water spilled on her foot, and got some blisters that are keeping her from riding)
Alexis: My high and low were the same day. Just before lunch after climbing that hill in Carmel was my low, and coming into Big Sur was my high.
Abigail: (high) Such amazing backdrops and hills that kick your butt
Libby: (high) The moments you forget you’re on a bike and take your breath away
Abigail: Looking back down and a mountain and thinking ‘Look at what I did… and look at the view!”
Danny: (high) Jumping in the ocean (low) When my bike broke (his derailleur actually broke off of his bike while riding)
Laurie: (low) My tummy hurts (high) Sunset last night at Plaskett Creek on the bluffs. There were the biggest most intense waves & you could feel the power of the wave shaking everything
Libby: I caught myself just grinning ear to ear…
Abigail: Yeah, forget your tush hurting, my face hurts from smiling

What will you come away with after riding Big Sur
Julie: A sore foot
Laurie: A sore butt
Libby: Sunburn
Danny: A better understanding of life
Abigail: No more intimidating hills
Danny: Bigger calf muscles
Abigail: The feeling that you can do anything
Libby: A deep appreciation of my granny gear.

Friday November 21

My, Everyone Thought He Rode Around Not Getting Enough Recycling.

Here she comes, Big Sur!

“Big Sur has been good to us every year, good weather, not too much traffic, and beautiful scenery” from Jacob, three time Sustainable Living Bike Tour rider. The Big Sur section of the tour is held in the hearts of SLBT cyclists with anticipation and anxiety. Riders spend three days riding up and down the hills of PCH1 as it hugs the jagged coastline of central California. We took a moment with Jacob to see how this trip compared to the others in 06 and 07. “I took an especially causal approach this year, as I’ve become increasingly familiar with the ride I knew how much time I could take. There was a general feeling of un-hurriedness, and attempting to really soak it in.”

One of the first of several stops was at the Spirit Garden “the cultural hub of Big Sur” according to Jacob. Essentially a gift shop and bakery next to the Shell gas station, it is a place of respite for travelers. Woven “birds nest” tree houses lined with pillows and blankets gave us a nice overlook of the garden when we first arrived. Jam packed with worldly artwork and crafts for sale, it was an explosion of color and sound in the serene redwood setting.

Jacob also made time to see the Julia Pfeiffer waterfalls, watch sea otters, and observe the California condor. “The burn damage [at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns Park] was especially hard hitting” said Jacob. Since the fires were squelched earlier in the year, the focus has been turned to mudslide prevention, important with the close proximity of Pacific Coast Highway 1. In addition to closed trail there was evidence of bridges removed, and chain link fences installed to catch debris to keep it off the road.

Later in the day the group ran into a research assistant for project from UCSC and got an update about the state of sea otters in California. Big Sur used to be the last strong hold of sea otters in California, and while the population there has held steady it has increased in other areas like Monterrey Bay. The concern now is that the overall population has not grown in awhile, and scientists are not sure why.

While this not her first time to this area, Lissa a first time SLBT rider told us her impressions of biking the mountains, “Oh my God, (laughs) what glorious beauty lies before me… And it pains me… every time we approach a mountain (all laugh).” Great job, we’re sure it will be easier next year, Lissa.

It was our third trip to Plaskett Creek, and for being such an intimate campsite it is usually a memorable stay. The campsite, is just off the PCH1, on the ocean side of the highway there is trail to the beach, and usually an amazing sunset by the time we arrive there. We were well attended to by the staff member at the campsite who was patrolling the site from his pick-up truck, and made friends with our neighbors there. Last year we feasted on an endless falafel dinner, and have basically been raving about it ever since. So we revisited our favorite meal once again, finishing off the night with cakes, pies, and singing (thanks for a beautiful birthday, friends).

Thursday November 20

One of the unique things about traveling is the people that you meet along the way. Today we had two inspiring encounters with like-minded folks. We left New Brighton State Beach and stopped for breakfast at the homestead of Freddy and Ellen in Aptos. The family lives on a highly productive mini farm and orchard. Our rider David was impressed by how they were “quietly and methodically” putting into practice the principals of permaculture that we teach on Catalina. We got to sample from a wide variety of heirloom fruit organically grown on the farm. David’s favorite was a pink fleshed apple that he described as the crispest and most delicious apple he’d ever had, “it sparkled in my mouth”. Another highlight was Ginger the most well cared for cow any of us had ever seen . “Her eye lashes were miles long” said Jenna. Riders still comment on what a pretty cow she is. It was equally impressive that her owners grew and gathered majority of the biomass or food that Ginger needs to eat. Here’s a list of what it takes to feed Ginger daily:

• 7-10 pumpkins
• 50 apples
• 6 mangle fodder beets
• 30 lbs organic hay
• 12 lbs of organic alfalfa – but she only eats the leafy bits, not the stems.

Daily Ginger produces 5 gallons of the purest most refreshing milk that we had ever tasted. Thanks to Freddy and Ellen for their hospitality.

The next bit of biking exposed another of farming. We rode past acres and acres of conventional strawberry farms. Growing strawberries in southern California isn’t a simple task. We got to see plasti-culture, a common form of agriculture to grow strawberries in several stages along the route. Fields are covered in a sheet of plastic and holes are burned into it for the plants to grow. The plastic helps with water retention, weed suppression, heat acceleration and fumigation - to kill any potential threat to the strawberry plants. As we cycled past some fields were just being covered in sheets of clear plastic, while others had piles of it on the side of the road where it had just been pulled off. As we passed by workers in various stage of protective clothing, it made a striking juxtaposition to the scene on the mini-farm earlier in the day.

The bike path through to Monterrey is long and scenic. Along the way we got the chance to meet Mike and Max who are biking self-contained (meaning no SAG vehicle to carry their gear like us) from Alaska to Argentina for the next two years. Our rider Jacob met Mike while we were riding through Golden Gate Park during Car Free Sundays. Alexis and I found him on the side of the road looking for Max. In lieu of using their maps that they left in San Francisco, they made a plan to just head south. Mike asked if he could follow us to highway 1. So we rode along with him (and Max once we found him) until we found the bus to grab a snack. We were inspired by their trip, and more than a few of us were temped to join along. They have already been riding for four months, with no complaints and a pretty easy going attitude, Like their countryman Courtney said, “I’d wish them good luck-but I don’t think the need it.”

Next stop, Big Sur

We’d like to take a moment to give a huge thanks to the folks from Grove Market Food for their generous food donation. We were able to walk away with:

• box of bananas
• bread, pasta, sauce – which we devoured tonight.
• So many greens
• and 10% discount on anything else we wanted to get

November 19th - Santa Cruzin'

The Bike Tour’s third annual trip to Almaden Country Day School was a blast. After the flat but long cycle, we arrived just as the middle school was wrapping up a play. We got to work with the 5th graders – who especially enjoyed the Organic Corn game, got the 6th graders pumped for Catalina with a slide show, and revisited our friends from the 7th & 8th grade. A few lucky riders got to read “Diary of a Worm” with the Kindergarten as well. The last two times we have come to Almaden, we have been invited to their Thanksgiving Feast that is prepared by students and parents. I’ve heard it’s the second largest Thanksgiving festival this side of the Mississippi, but maybe I made that up. Because our schedule changed a bit this year, we were a week early for the official fest – but the 7th grade parents wouldn’t let a little scheduling change get in the way of that!! We were treated to a delicious organic lunch; soup, salad, pasta, fruit from their trees at home, chips, cookies and much more! We dined with our gracious hosts the 7th graders, and left the school satiated.

Danny and Sean actually took a side detour and visited DeAnza Community College and the Kirsch Environmental Center ~ check it out on-line. They got the first LEED Platinum certification for any building in the USA at a community college.

After that we had a big climb ahead of us. It was only about 20ish miles until our campsite, Big Basin. It’s just that about 13 of those miles were in the Santa Cruz mountains. I took off with a lady peleton; Julie Meagan and Libby. After about a half an hour of climbing we stopped for a snack, stretching, and photo taking. Travis pulled up in the bus to check in with us. We asked just about how much farther we had to go. Spirits sunk when he told us that if the length of his arm was the full distance we were going, we were at about his fingernail. It was slow going, so slow in fact that Jenna had enough time to watch a banana slug crossing the road. But we made up ways to amuse ourselves. Libby made up songs about the mountains and biking really really slow. Lissa challenged Abigail to bike faster than she could walk… Lissa (the walker) won, but returned to the saddle when Abigail reminded her that this is not the Sustainable Living Walking Tour.

Turns out Travis might have been exaggerating about only being a miniscule way up the hill, but it got us in the right mindset for the day’s climb, and the future ones in Big Sur. Best of all we had the redwoods to keep us entertained with sweeping views of the mountains and a beautiful golden setting sun. Most of us reached the campsite by dark, and the rest of us were swooped up into the bus for a ride into the campsite.

We had been enjoying unseasonably warm weather in San Francisco and San Jose, just about until this point. When the sun went down in the redwoods that day it got cooold. Some waiting at the camp decided to head out to the sites we had reserved. And we waited, and waited. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so we piled into the tiny womens bathroom. Eight of us were huddled in there at it’s highest capacity playing team building initiatives… you can take the instructors out of camp, but you can’t take the camp out of the instructors. Matty P, our friend from seasons past came and joined us for a bit as we hunkered down for the night.



It was a chilly morning, but we had a nice downhill into Boulder Creek out of the mountains. Julie and I stopped into an antique shop and found an old booklet of Catalina postcards that we’ve never seen in Avalon.

We all met up at the home of Kristin and Mark Sullivan in Capitola, lovingly referred to as the Straw Bale house. The home features;

• walls constructed of renewable straw from a farmer they knew
• highly effective passive solar design
• extensive water catchment system
• use of salvaged wood
• native plant landscaping
• an organic garden and more!

Thanks to Barbara Graves, Kristin and Mark Sullivan, and members of the cycle group that showed up.

We wrappd the day up at New Brighton State Beach. I woke up in the morning with huge bags under my eyes. Not just “I climbed over a mountain and slept in a tent” eyes, bags so big they actually distort my eye shape. This is happened the last two times I’ve stayed here on the bike tour, unfortunately on days that were on or surrounding my birthday. This caused me to be convinced I’d gotten a bunch of wrinkles and aged overnight. In a conversation about this phenomenon with Heather she mentioned that I was probably having a reaction to something at the campsite. Oh… Guess that explains why years came off my face after moving around for 20 minutes. This year instead of having a panic attach, I just woke up half an hour before everyone else.

In the morning we will stop by a local homestead and get our first taste of Big Sur, ending up in Andrew Molera.

Nov 18th - If you're going to San Francisco... bring your bike!!

San Francisco treated us well. Not only did we benefit from the support of our friends and sponsors there, but we were able to benefit from the car-free culture in San Francisco. The bike lanes in San Francisco are plentiful and well mapped, we comfortably shared them with so many other cyclists.

We stayed at the YMCA in Point Bonita, so we were especially lucky to have a dedicated bike line across the Golden Gate Bridge. On our way there we realized that it was Car Free Sundays in Golden Gate Park, so we got to enjoy the full breadth of the road with so many other walkers, bikers, and roller skaters. A lot of us got to see Disco roller skating for the first time when we took a break to watch them. A big climb and a speedy downhill gave us a little taste of the Santa Cruz mountains that we will be climbing tomorrow. We pulled into the YMCA with enough time to watch the sunset from Point Bonita. We joked that we got to find out why it was called “bonita” this year, because last year we arrived in pitch black and fog!

The next morning we had to get up at 5am to visit our San Francisco school. I took a turn at “sagging” meaning that I was responsible for driving our SAG (Support And Gear) vehicle. Travis is still a bit laid up from his injury so he joined me. We got to enjoy the simple pleasure of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on a crystal clear day just after sunrise. As we reached the end of the bridge Travis and I scrambled to find money to pay the toll. As I rolled down the window with some cash crumpled in my hand, the attendant let me know that since we were technically a carpool the $6 toll charge was waived. Kind of funny to think of a 20 passenger bus with only 2 people in it as a carpool, but glad to take advantage of this carpool initiative (and hold onto the 6 bucks).

We got to the school early and were ready to talk to the 8^th grade. We were split up into three different activity areas around the campus thinking critically about our environmental footprint, exploring the depths of non-point source pollution, and thinking creatively about solutions when using alternative transportation.

Thirty-five miles of urban riding later, we pulled into the Foothills Congregation Church. We’ve been so luck to be able to stay at this community’s facilities for the last three years where they have given us shelter and a hot shower (kind of a hot commodity on the bike trip). We’d also like to send a shout out to the choir that was practicing there that night – you sounded amazing, and send our apologies if we were too loud to the meditation group that met in the morning.

Next we get to visit our friends of many different grade levels at Almaden Country Day School, but we’ve got 25 miles before we get there in the morning!