San Diego
Today I picked up my bike from the San Diego REI store where it underwent a tune-up while I was on the mountain. They re-built the back wheel (all new spokes and nipples), put on a new tire, re-adjusted the shifter cables and flushed the back disc brake. So the bike is in pretty good shape for Mexico now.
I needed to transport the bike with my small (compact class) rental car to the rental place; I wedged it in the trunk with the backseats flipped down and the front tire and pedals of the recumbent were sticking out the back, but it did fit after all. I imagine other drivers on the freeway wondering what kind of bike part was sticking out the back of this little car 😉
Then I rode a short 30 miles from the rental car place at the Carlsbad / Palomar airport South along the Coast. Beautiful scenery and beaches again.
There is only one noteworthy hill (100m) up to Torrey Pines. I remember this place from previous trips many years (actually decades) ago; there is the Glider Port with lots of hanggliding going on above the cliffs (not today, though, no wind). There is the UCSD university campus and the Scripps Institute’s headquarter. It would be nice to live and work and play here… (I remember 20 years ago after my round-the-world-trip saying that the two nicest cities I knew were San Diego and Sydney – no wonder I like it here…)
From up there, on my last evening in the US, I witnessed one of the nicest sunsets on this trip.
I am now in San Diego staying at another rider’s house who I met up in Northern California – he was also doing the Pacific Coast ride and invited me to stay at his place. It is a small beach house right on the Boardwalk and beach. (My last stay at friends in Fallbrook was 20 miles off the Coastal bike path; this one is only 20 feet off the path 🙂 Here is the view out the front porch with my bike.
This is only 25 miles from the border; tomorrow I will enter into Mexico for the next stage of this adventure. Wish me luck!
Add comment September 24th, 2009