Trip Photos Online!

I’ve posted all the photos from the trip at the following website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/david.tannenwald

Home Sweet Home (for the most part)

Last night, I got home, and it felt great to sleep in my own bed, have JP Licks ice cream, and see my folks.  With that said, waking-up to 40 degree, rainy weather was a rough transition from the 75 degree and sunny LA scene.  It was also tough to part ways with two of my best friends from school (Mike and Andrew), who I might not see for awhile. 

Overall, however, I feel really spectacular.  The trip gave me just what I wanted: a physical challenge, a beautiful natural environment, and an adventure.  Having had this experience, I feel ready to join the working world.  I’ll start my job search in earnest tomorrow with a visit to Harvard’s Office of Career Services.

Within the next two days, I am going to post all of the pictures from the trip.

Back to Boston

After nearly six weeks on the road, I’ve decided to head home.  Though it would have been nice to make it all the way to the Mexican border (and I am only about 150 miles away), I have had enough biking at this point.   I’m flying home to Boston early Tuesday morning.  I’ll post pictures from the entire trip on the blog within the next few days.

Photos

I’m not too familiar with creating internet photo albums, so I’ll start by loading a few pictures to the blog. Later, I’ll create facebook albums as well.

cleat replacement

on the Golden Gate Bridge

relaxing at camp

Los Angeles!

Andrew and I have arrived in Los Angeles! Because of the brush fires north of LA (and the consequent smoke extending to the coast), we drove the last 150 miles to LA. This was a bit disappointing but, given the specter of biking through smoke and the mild case of dehydration I was experiencing, I wasn’t too upset.

We’re staying in LA with our good friend from college, Mike Badgley. We slept late today, which felt EXTRAORDINARY. Then, we played some pick-up basketball at South Pasadena High School, and we watched the Red Sox game tonight. I was blown-away by the Red Sox’s comeback. To have Drew, Ortiz, etc. start hitting in the last third of an elimination game is tremendous.

The last few days of biking before LA were fairly uneventful with the exception of one, exceptionally frustrating sequence of events. On Tuesday, I crashed just prior to a stoplight. The crash by itself was not a big deal. Hoping the light would turn green, I stayed clipped into my pedals, but I lost my balance when the light stayed red. What I did not realize is that I displaced my brake pad during the crash so that it was rubbing against my tire. As a result, for the next forty minutes,I was pedaling exceptionally hard but could not figure out why. Eventually, I realized the problem, but, on an 80 degree day, this was an intensely annoying and tiring experience.

At any rate, the gameplan is to spend a few days here with Mike in LA and do some biking in the area to compensate for having bypassed the fire-ridden areas farther north. Past that, there are about two days of biking to reach San Diego and the Mexican border.

I will post photos momentarily.

Capture the tent!

     First of all, I’m sorry that I haven’t updated the blog in a few days.  In fact, when someone working non-stop on the presidential campaign has time to post a comment (thanks Rebecca), it’s a pretty good sign I am not being diligent enough.  We had internet access two days ago at the Santa Cruz public library.  Tragically, the internet (and the library) closed before I could complete the post. 

     Since my last post, much has happened, including an unexpected game of capture the tent.  As I explain below, Andrew and I got a late start on his first day, and we had to set-up camp in the dark at Half Moon Bay.  To complicate matters further, it was incredibly windy.  Andrew set-up the tent, but, as we tried to attach the fly (the fly goes over the tent), the tent blew away!  Andrew had the fly in hand, so I was left to sprint after the tent.  Unfortunately, sporting cycling cleats and feeling the lingering effects of a sprained ankle while traversing uneven turf in the dark, I did not sprint after the tent.  Andrew says I waddled after it!  Bottom line: I recovered the tent.*

      Amidst games of capture the tent, we have had an exciting 4.5 days of riding since leaving San Francisco.  In total, we’ve biked 226.5 miles during this stretch with four 1,000 ft. climbs in the last two days of riding alone.  Though the climbs have been a bit tough, the views and weather have been oustanding.  From Monterey to San Simeon (where we are staying tonight), there is barely any development, and the road literally hugs cliffs that plummet down to the ocean.  To go along with that, we have enjoyed clear skies, warm weather, and, for the most part, minimal wind.

        Along with challenging but beautiful riding, we have had a few interesting and somewhat comical experiences:

1. Leaving San Francisco — easier said than done

     The plan was to leave San Francisco fairly early on the morning of the 9th.  Things did not go entirely according to plan.  Andrew was staying with a good friend from high school in Michigan, and he was making his way into the city to meet me.  He called me around 9 to let me know he would arrive at 11.  Being the industrious cyclist that I am, I went back to bed for an hour and woke-up to eat breakfast and watch entourage around 10.  Lo and behold, at 10:30, Andrew calls to tell me he is almost at the apartment, and I say, “Well, I guess I should start packing.”  Oops. 🙂

       A couple hours after Andrew arrived, we finally got on the road.  The problem was we had to bike out of San Francisco, which, between the hills and traffic, is not an easy task.  We took a not so brief bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge (absolutely spectacular) and then returned to the route for our 30 mile ride to camp.  Unfortunately, the route consisted of extensive climbing and a few key turns, one of which I missed.  Long story short, we made it to camp with just a hint of light left on the horizon.  Not the safest biking conditions and not a scenario we intend to repeat.

       Though I undoubtedly was largely at fault for our late arrival, I just think that San Francisco is a tough place to leave.

2. More animals!

        Two nights ago in Monterey, we packed our food (cheerios, cliff bars, and granola bars) into one of the panniers on Andrew’s bike.  Shockingly, animals undid the panniers (this entails undoing buckles and loosening draw strings) and ate our food.  We were angry because the cliff bars had about 2,000 calories! 

3. Wild Bill

         While on a spring break trip to CA last April, we met a guy named “Wild Bill.”  An acquaintance of ours remarked, “doesn’t every place have a wild Bill?”  Well, we met our wild Bill for this cycling trip.  While biking down Big Sur (the first of our four 1,000 foot cimbs), we met a man named Bill who has been biking 35 miles a day around the country for six years.  What makes him wild is that he has seizures occasionally but continues to bike.  More power to him!

          Now, as we make the transition from central to northern California, so too does the terrain change from steep ascents and descents to primarily flat land.  With friendly terrain, we should cover a lot of ground and expect to reach the outskirts of Los Angeles on Thursday night where we will stay with our good friend from college, Mike Badgley. 

          Between now and then, I promise more frequent updates and hope to retain our food and tent.

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*The tent got stuck on a sign, which allowed me to recover it.

Drew has arrived!

I’m sitting next to the man, the legend, the one and only Andrew Moore.  Enough said.

Back to the road!

a Red Sox fan in a foreign land

    Thousands of miles away from Boston, I’m more impressed than ever with the strength of Red Sox nation.  I watched the Red Sox win the ALDS the other night at The Buccaneer, a relatively anonymous bar in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco.  My host, Matt, suggested we might find other Sox fans there.  The Buccaneer did not disappoint.  The guy sitting next to me had a Lester jersey, a Sox hat, and Red Sox socks.  During the game, there were “Let’s Go Red Sox” chants, and, after Lowrie’s game-winning hit, the bartender cued up “Dirty Water.”  It felt like home.

      Andrew arrives from Chicago tonight, and, tomorrow morning, we are going to get back on the bikes and continue our trip.  It’s been nice to have a break from biking, but I’m excited to get back on the road. 

      I hope that everyone observing Yom Kippur has an easy fast.  I’ll be going to temple tonight, but I won’t be fasting because of the cycling.

     Go Red Sox!

fun in the city

For the past few days, I’ve had a nice opportunity to explore San Francisco.  A few thoughts on the city so far:

1. The cable car is a rip-off!  I paid $5 to take the thing about 15 blocks, which was the entire length of the line .  Admittedly, walking those blocks (a lot of steep uphill) would be challenging, but, on principle, I’d rather walk than pay that in the future.

2. Excellent, excellent food.  San Francisco has tons of food of all varieties (pizza, seafood, pastries, fruit, etc.), and I haven’t been disappointed yet. 

3. Disgruntled sports fans.  It was very funny and entertaining to read the local paper’s coverage of the 49ers loss to the Pats.  There was an entire column dedicated to how the 49ers could not have stopped the Pats on the 4th and goal direct snap to Faluk because “the Pats — unlike the 49ers — have a winning culture.”

     Along with exploring the city, I’m enjoying a lot of down time.  I watched the Red Sox game yesterday (definitely hoping they win today because I think game five would conflict with Yom Kippur), have watched old Entourage episodes at my friend’s apartment, and slept quite a bit.

    Andrew arrives Wednesday evening.  Between now and then, I plan to continue being a tourist and a Red Sox fan.  No complaints from me!

San Francisco!

Yesterday afternoon, Amelia and I reached San Francisco!  Unfortunately, we ended up renting a car to cover the last 200 miles.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I got a bad stomach bug, so we could not bike for several days.  To complicate matters further, Amelia had some time-sensitive family obligations to attend to in Utah (where her sister lives) and at her home in New Hampshire.  In other words, without renting a car, our options were a) me biking on highway one (a very windy road) without being able to keep my food down or b) Amelia missing her deadlines.  Needless to say, renting the car was the way to go.

Amelia left for Utah this morning, and I am staying with a friend from high school here in San Francisco until Andrew arrives on Wednesday evening.  Then, Andrew and I will get back on the road (on bikes!) to complete the trek to the Mexican border.

Though it was disappointing to shave several days of biking off of the trip, I am very excited to be in San Francisco for a few days.  To begin with, it is nice to have a break from the day-to-day grind of cycling.  Though the views are beautiful and the exercise is outsanding, camping in state parks and eating pasta nearly every night was starting to take a toll on me.  For the next few days, I have a futon to stay-in and plan to sample some of the best food that San Francisco has to offer: clam chowder in a bread bowl, Ghirardelli chocolate, and pastries at North Street’s bakeries.  As an aside, as you can probably tell from these dining plans, my stomach is feeling a whole lot better.

Beyond creature comforts, San Francisco offers a nice opportunity for me to catch-up with some old friends.  Earlier today, I had lunch with a childhood friend who moved to CA after eighth grade.  I hadn’t seen him in nearly a decade!  Likewise, my host, Matt, is another friend from growing-up whose dad was my youth soccer coach.  Always nice to reconnect with folks like them!

I’ve also arrived in San Francisco at a convenient time as a Boston sports fan.  The Patriots are playing the 49ers in San Francisco tomorrow, and I’m going to look into purchasing tickets as soon as I complete this blog post.  More importantly, spending time in an apartment with a television means I get to watch the Red Sox playoff games, a huge upgrade over a weak radio connection at a campsite.

Despite my excitement about spending a few days in San Francisco, I’m also looking forward to getting back on the bike and continuing my trek down the coast.  Though I am certainly getting closer to the point where I’ll be ready to end my adventure and get a job, I’m not quite there yet.  Having two weeks to bike with my good friend Andrew in central and southern California is just what the doctor ordered.

In the next couple of days, I will hopefully have a chance to post pictures from the first half of the trip and will provide updates on my visit to San Francisco.