February 13, 2024
Day 7 - Ride the Barrio
Weather predicted in the high 60’s to low 70’s which really means shorts, short sleeve t-shirts, and sandals … its taken a week to start working on my sandal feet tan but we are getting there.
Today we started on the Julian Wash after loading up the trikes for the move to our 2nd AirBnB. There must be some muscle memory as the loading went quite fast and was made even easier as our friends allowed us to store our boxes and the 2 back seats from the van at their location. So now we don’t have to be as precise with the loading.
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We headed west on the Julian Wash to catch the Aviation Bikeway to start crossing some downtown streets for lunch at the Barrio Brewing Company. Not sure if we sent out an invitation to a lot of other folks but the restaurant was full and unfortunately the service was slow. As we were sitting right next to the railroad tracks, we periodically got jolted awake by the whistles of passing trains. It did serve a purpose, however, as we all had stories from the days of cycling past of trains, most funny now but maybe not so much back then.
After lunch we made our way to the west side of the Loop and the Santa Cruz Bikeway. We ended up riding out to the very end near Valencia Street before turning around to head back to the Julian Wash.
We then slowed down near the VA center as one of our riding partners had been in a quite tragic wreck 2 years ago where he lost his wife and was badly injured by a turning truck that proceeded to drag them down the street for a bit. I believe it was a quite reflective moment, a moment with some healing that time brings, and a chance to tell a story.
I believe we have all heard of these stories in our travels but it takes on a different perspective when you are with someone who has lived through it with great loss. It also serves as a quick reminder that vigilance is a requirement.
The last few miles went quickly and we found ourselves back on the Julian Wash aiming for our accommodations for the night.
I will take a note here that this corner of the Loop is not the best cycling. Lots of turns, bad paths, limited lines of site, and a rather prominent homeless population. While we didn’t have any “bad” encounters, I have found a re-route around this area which we will explore further over the next few days.
Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 1,282 miles (2,063 km)
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