Flea The Race

Day	40	Date	17th June 2015
Distance Total Distance	126.7km 2,398km	Weather	Sunny
Rolling Time Total Rolling	06:27:02 145:35:14	Terrain	Hilly
Climbing Total Climbing	1813m 26, 794m	Spend	Coffee & Muffin $6.10 Food $8.09
Average Speed	19.9km/h	Sleeping	Free Camping
Max Speed	56.9km/h	Difficulty	Easy

No more hills, no more hills, no more hills…..No more hills, no more hills, no more hills…..ahhhhhhhh, today is my last day of hills, and it’s done, from here to Mexico it’s flat flat all the way and since my perception of hills is to see them slightly less inclined then they really are by a few degrees to help me overcome them, then it stands to reason that level is perceived as slightly downhill sooo….. the rest of my trip to Mexico is in fact downhill all the way, this makes me very happy 🙂  Free wheeling all the way to Mexico, yeeehaa!!!

Leaving the beach this morning at 9:30am I spent the next thirty minutes doing some kind of sand dance to shake it out of me, my bike and the shady grey skin that was all over my bags.  I think I did a pretty good job of keeping it out of my bags but it took a tremendous amount of additional effort and I probably looked like an eccentric weirdo to any casual onlooker as I packed up and left the beach.

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The weather and cycle today was really nice, lots of mountains with the road weaving mostly through valleys with the exception of one climb spread out over 20km so it wasn’t so noticeable.  I passed by one guy on the other side of the road repairing a puncture with all his bags off the bike, I didn’t stop to see if he was alright as I was dying for a pee and stopping would have been dangerous, I think I have developed a weak bladder on this trip, probably all the time spent on the bike!  I kept on going today until Lompoc to grab a coffee and some food, there wasn’t anywhere else along the way worth stopping and Lompoc while it had everything wasn’t really a place worth stopping either.  After food I rode out of town headed for one of the state parks on the coast about 40km away.  I passed by the same guy repairing a puncture that I passed earlier in the day and stopped this time.  He went over a nail and was struggling to repair it, he was headed for El Refugio State Beach Campground, same as me.  I headed on as it was getting late and there was still a fair distance to go.

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I got to the state park and it was closed and the guy on the booth said the next one was closed also and the next one in Carpentera 30 miles away was open but no way was I cycling another 30 miles so I decided to reopen the closed El Capitan State Park and camp out there for the night before I got stuck in the dark on the road.  There was a train bridge through the park that I walked along under and found loads of shaded places to camp where I wouldn’t be seen if there was anybody patrolling the park, it worked well and I wasn’t disturbed by anyone.  I wonder where the guy with the puncture ended up as there was no state park within miles that was open.  I might see him again over the next few days to find out as he’s on his way to San Diego.