Day 23 - Saturday 10/3/2015 Pacific Palisades to Newport Beach - Vieau home

Early start this morning.  Up and car packed and a drive to Denny's.  Two waffle slams, coffee for the boys and a muffin for me.  If we thought we had been to the slowest Denny's, we missed the boat, this one may have the previous one beat.  Our lodging for the evening was in Calabasas.  We attempted to find affordable lodging in the Malibu/Pacific Palisades area!  Um, does not exist - so up and over the hill to the 101.  Back to our starting point in Pacific Palisades and headed down the road.

The morning route to the guys on bike paths along the coast.  With an empty snack/lunch cooler, I headed off on a different route - with an arranged meeting point down the coast.  I had directions and a GPS and started out on PCH - to the 10 - to the 405 - passing exit signs for Santa Monica, Playa Del Rey, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach -  I felt like I should be looking for the Slausen cut off.            Found a great grocery store, stocked up on items for the cooler and headed to the Redondo Beach Pier our morning meeting spot.

We had arranged to meet Kathi and Tracy in Long Beach, so after a quick bite, they were off.  Jerry said "Let's go the scenic route around the Palos Verdes Peninsula - great ocean views, beautiful homes, etc."  So, off we go.

There was one section in Palos Verdes where there is so much movement in the road surface that the road was like a roller coaster.  With the extra miles around the peninsula, we missed our rendevous with Tracy and Kathi in Long Beach.  So each man on his own for the rest of the route.

Tracy was speedy Tracy today (well, he did have a 90 minutes head start) and made it to Newport an hour before Jerry and Tom.  With all that time on his hands, he and Kathi found a great spot to have a drink and hang out.  Meanwhile, Jerry and Tom are pedaling towards home.  A great finish for Tracy - and a well deserved day off tomorrow for Jerry and Tom.  Off to Disneyland for us.

A great photo of the three riders.  Today was the last day for Tracy - he is back to work starting tomorrow morning.  We will miss having him along - GREAT ride Tracy.

Do you ever wonder what I do when I get to a meeting spot?  Set up my chair, get out the maps and enjoy the scenery.  An interesting view today at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway 1 and East 2nd Street in Long Beach - 

Notes from Tom:
My vision of this whole ride was of riding along the coast with great views of sand, water, and sun.  The first 20 miles today were close to perfect--starting at Pacific Palisades we rode next to the sand on a flat smooth bike path.  The scenery was terrific, and sometimes we even noticed the ocean.  However, after the first 20, things turned ugly in my mind.  We climbed up and around the Palos Verdes peninsula, rode down some rough and crowded roads in San Pedro to get to Long Beach.  I was cooked by that time and still had 20 miles of headwinds to battle. After a refill of water bottles and a quick sandwich, I made it the rest of the way to Jerry's house.  No impressive stats compared to what we've done so far--76.1 miles, 5 hours and 28 minutes, 13.9 mph.  Our climbing was 1900 feet, but it could have been 1000 if we had avoided PV.  We are left with an awkward mileage to the Mexican border--if we have a tail wind we could make it in one day, but if we have a head wind like we had today, it would take us at least a day and a half.  We'll have to see how the weather treats us.

Notes from Jerry:
As Tom said, the views today were once again fantastic and literally from the beach.  This was a different perspective, being on the sand, although the serpentine layout of the  back path in Venice could almost get a person seasick.  I was trying my best to remember how I negotiated PV going the other direction a few months ago and except for some difficulties getting off one bike trail on the LA river and getting over to the next beach trail in Long Beach, we managed to get around the port of LA.  Tom was not real thrilled with the extra distance and climbs we had to endure to go around PV, but I enjoyed the great visuals and not getting mugged on my alternative route to the Adventure Cycling route.