Santa Monica Beach, CA --> Luguna Beach, CA (71 miles)

Well, today was a frustrating one to be honest.

It started out just great and dandy.  Lauren was the best host ever and I am very grateful for how let me use her apartment as a starting base.  

This morning she drove me and my gear to Santa Monica Beach.  The sun was out, blue sky all around, sand on the ground, waves crashing down.  The bike path was there waiting for me, along with an endless amount of homosapiens promenading all the while.  Cyclists were out in full forse too on this Saturday morning.  A wind was blowing steady and fast from the southwest creating a headwind that would torture me throughout the first day of this trip.

After somehow securing all belongings to the BOB trailer I was off.  A little shaky at first, but eventually getting the hang of things.  At first I thought the world of the bike paths, but this soon left my mind once I noticed that there were quarter mile markers.  I found this to be a little excessive, but if the state of California had extra paint many years ago then by all means, use it to paint quarter mile markers from Los Angeles to San Diego.  

I pity the painter.

Palm trees lined the roads.  Million buck houses lined the palm trees.  Busy roads lined the houses.  Occasionally the mountains would sneak a peak at the ocean, but most of the day smog hung steady and fast preventing a clear climpse.

With the headwind time crawls by.  

Today was no exception.  

Despite getting a somewhat early start (0845) I only managed to go 36 miles by 1pm.  Many factors can explain this type of pace.  Perhaps the foremost:  I'm out of shape.  Secondly, the bike paths were so packed that I'd have to go the pace of the folks walking their dogs until there was room for me to squeeze around them and then repeat the same actions with the next group of weekend warrior promenaders.  Thirdly, headwinds all day.  Fourthly, getting lost several times while trying to make it through Los Angeles.  Fiftly, stoplights, stoplights, stoplights.

Ok.  Enough excuses.  But it's all true I swear.

I had one of those "I'm here and home is there" moments about 1pm when I stopped at a Whole Foods Market to get something to eat.  My legs were fried by this point.  Psychologically I was fried (and it was only 4 hours into the trip!).  I was dehydrated.  And tired of headwinds.

The second half of the day had it's ups and downs too, not to mention not making the right turn and ending up going 5 miles down the entire length of a peninsula, only to realize at the end that the road I should have been on was across the bay.  Not to mention the headwinds.  

As I cursed at all the infants and toddlers I could see I made my way back to where I should have originally made the turn and continued on cursing anything else that crossed my path.  

Following the ocean throughout the day was great though.  Traffic was little of an issue seeing I was either on a bike path surrounded by sand or the bike path was on the shoulder of traffic.  It was great to see the constant streams of folks of all shapes and sizes pushing the pedal to the ground.  

I stopped at Crystal Cove State Park (not that I expect anyone to know what or where that is) and headed onto the town of Laguna Beach.  The name really means nothing to me, even after Loretta informed me that it's one of the most ritzy and overpriced places in our solar system.  I was informed of this while watching a great sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  I was exhausted beyond repair at this point.  My body was not use to cycling much, muchless hauling over 50lbs of cargo behind me (total weight includes that of the BOB trailer).

Of course there would be no campgrounds in such an expensive place.  So, my choices were to bike another 8 miles (my legs refused, plus it was dark by this point) or check into a hotel.

So here I am.  

In a hotel.

Only left to wonder how wind is produced and if it will be as windy as it was today, except tomorrow.

(song stuck in my head allllll day:  Robert Earl Keen "Shades of Grey")

(item I wish I had at end of day:  Mandolin)