San Clemente to La Jolla, California - Grampies Go Coastal Winter 2012 - CycleBlaze

January 18, 2013

San Clemente to La Jolla, California

I remember a National Geographic type special in which chimpanzees are faced with a dead leopard. Leopards are a big threat to them, so even a dead one has an emotional effect on them. Outside our upscale room today is a fountain. It has the normally pleasing sound of rushing water. But every time we hear it we think we are back getting drenched and frozen in Oregon. The leopard may be dead, but we are not over it yet.

The scary fountain
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This is strange, because now we are starting our day with maybe a bit of extra clothes, but quickly are down to exactly what we would wear in summer. The high today was 22. So now, rather than wondering if we can hold out out on the road, we are dragging our feet to avoid going back to the frozen north too soon. Still, keep that fountain away from me!

Sometimes (often) it's hard to know what the publishers of bike routes are getting at when they devise elaborate detours or zig zag routings. They never tell you if they are avoiding traffic, or an impassable area, or just want to run you around something they think is scenic.

So this morning in San Clemente we set off with the ACA route, but soon said "Hey, why can't we follow the beach trail?" So we hung a right and headed for the beach. The first thing we came to was steps, descending to where we saw a path by the train tracks. I carried the bikes down, and off we went. The hard packed sand was fun and we pretended we were at Joni's place in Belize. This lasted only a short time, though. Clearly, someone had thought about it, since we came to a memorial bench for a former mayor who had founded the de Rail the Trail movement. But for now, we found ourselves climbing back out of the beach, back to the darn ACA route.

We gave ourselves an inadvertent tour of ordinary neighbourhoods of San Clemente
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The San Clemente beachfront with rail and sand path
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From the memorial bench for a former mayor.
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An interesting cliff formation
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Look, the little man against all odds has made it up with his friends. What do they do now that they are here?
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The ACA then took us beside I-5. It was interesting to watch the effects of an accident there, which backed up vehicles for many kilometers. With the trasffic stopped, it was eassy to see the high proportion of semi-trailers. America has really gone for these in a big way as the mode of transport. They will need the Canadian oil sands to keep these behemoths rolling.

Camp Pendleton is a Marines base. It lies on about 20 km of the route, but cyclists are normally allowed to pass through. The sentry at the entrance was very friendly, but I still didn't ask if he wanted to be in the blog. Within the camp there was a mixture of nice bike lane and shared road, but overall it was a really nice ride. We passed some firing ranges too, with sounds of live fire, and got some distant views of tanks.

One of those white bike memorials. The cyclist did not die here, but rather in Laguna Beach. He crashed going fast down a hill.
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Look at all the semis stuck on the Interstate
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By our bike trail, this sign about surfing sites. It all seems very complicated to us.
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San Onofre Nuclear Plant. Power plants dot the coast, no doubt taking advantage of the water. We hope this one does not run into a Japanese style tsunami.
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Dodie is not really tresspassing. Cyclists are allowed on base.
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Gefahr of the day.
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Good cycling near and on the base
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A tank in the distance
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This guy has found something, but not our bagel!
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At the far end of the base is the seaside resort town of Oceanside. We found it very pleasant, especially so sitting in the sun by the docks, eating fish and chips.

The shared fish and chips were a good supplement for the stuff we had carried with us from the continental breakfast. We needed the extra power, because there was still a lot of territory to cover to reach our target, La Jolla.

Oceanside. Good fish and chips.
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This guy was strolling up and down the docks. Then he went for a nap on the deck of one boat.
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Oceanside beachside houses. Renting one would be great with the twins.
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Look Avi and Violet - fun to play here!
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More and more we have been running in to either cyclists who offer us guidance or directions, people who have done distance cycling and want to talk about our trip and theirs, or even people currently on a tour. So for example, beyond Oceanside we ran in to Richard, who was cycling south on a day ride. Richard was interested in talking cycling, and rode along with us. He was willing to go at our snail like speed just to talk, since he flatteringly said he found the conversation interesting. Richard took us on an alternate route that he likes. One side benefit was that we ran into a really nice, and very extensive cactus garden by somebody's house.

The cactus garden
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Dodie and Richard
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In the category of people currently on tour were Nat and Mick. Nat is Canadian and Mick from Netherlands. Here for the first time was someone with a Canadian flag out back, just like ours. Moreover, Nat had a spiffy maple leaf jersey. We were interested to look at other equipment choices, that included a Roloff hub, belt drive, disc brakes, Bob Ibex trailer, and iPad mini. Nat and Mick started from San Francisco, will turn left at San Diego and head for Florida. From there they will hop to Morocco, I think they said! Check out their blog at the address in the photo.

Nat and Mik, on their way to Florida, for starters
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Check out this blog.
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Nat annd Mick on the move!
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There is a long hill up to La Jolla, but we ground up it gamely. On the other side of the road, lycra clad warriors zoomerd down at insane speeds. Actually, some zoomed past us going up as well. Many of these paused to ask some UQs, or to tell about tours they had done. One who had passed us we found waitingt at the top. He kindly guided us into town, and took us to the best/most economical motel. We didn't even get his name, but we really appreciated the kindness of this and all the other cyclists we have met today.

Oh, oh, looks like night riding into La Jolla
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An unknown road angel guides us in La Jolla at night.
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The motel was the La Jolla Village Lodge.On the door was a number to call, to summon the manager. We called, and soon Maureen appeared. She was riding a unique bike - Revive by Giant. Soon, Egon arrived too, also on a unique variable length bike. Instead of folding, this thing compresses. Egon rides with it very compressed anyway, making it insanely manoeuverable.
Both Maureen and Egon were exceptionally personable and welcoming. It feels great for us to be at a place run by cycle fans. " If you need anything, let us know", they said "We will be your Mom and Dad".

Maureen and Egon, cycling motel managers!
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Today's ride: 93 km (58 miles)
Total: 2,389 km (1,484 miles)

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