Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
Day 8 - March 20 - Woodland Hills to Long Beach - 54.2miLiterally could not have asked for a better morning of biking. We woke up to breakfast made by Greg, and slowly got ready for the day. After saying goodbye to everyone, we headed out for what we thought was going to be a tough climb. Turns out, Topanga State Park was a slow and steady 700ft climb, followed by an incredible 1500ft descent. I kept thinking that we would have to climb up the other side of the canyon, but we just kept going downhill! After Topanga, we went right into Santa Monica. We stopped at the pier to look around, got some pictures, and then Carissa found a balance beam on Muscle Beach and did some really cool tricks. We were on the beach bike path for a while, and ended up going through a movie set. Eventually, it was time for lunch, but we had passed all of the beach restaurants in the tourist area. We kept on going, stomachs growling, and eventually came across a beach cafe that said "Food" in bright red letters on the side of the building. We stopped here, took off our cleats, and ate delicious chicken tacos with our feet in the sand. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, but was mostly city riding and riding on a bike path along the LA river, which had really bad headwinds. Towards the end we switched to google maps, which had us take an elevator to get to a pedestrian overpass, and then led us to the Hertz car rental place so that we could drive out to Joshua Tree for the night. We stopped at In-n-Out for dinner, and then Carissa and I took turns driving, and we got to the park at around 10pm. We took the bikes out of the back, set up our sleeping bags in the trunk, and admired the stars before going to sleep. Rest day tomorrow, and a chance to explore the park! Day 9 - March 21 - Joshua Tree - Rest DayWhat a cool place. We woke up in the car to scenery that had been too dark to see the night before. The trees looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. We organized the car, headed to the visitor's center to buy some stickers, and then drove from our camp site to the official park entrance. We did a few small hikes - Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Skull Rock, and Keys View - and climbed a bunch of the rocks while we were there. It is really impossible to describe how cool this place is. It's just so different from anywhere I've ever been before. After the park, we grabbed a quick lunch at Jack in the Box, and started the 3 hour drive back to Long Beach. The last hour of the drive was pretty stressful because traffic was awful and we weren't sure if we were going to get back before Hertz closed. Thankfully we made it in time, and then headed over to the hotel to meet up with Eddie. After taking half an hour to get unpacked and ready for dinner, Eddie took us to a place called Islands. We got delicious burgers, chatted about our current trip, and reminisced about the Northern Tier. It was so great to see him and catch up! Thanks so much for everything Eddie! Day 10 - March 22 - Long Beach to Oceanside - 69miWe discovered last night that today was actually a 70mi day, when we had thought that it would be less than 60. We woke up early, and had a goal of being on the road by 8:30. We would have made it out on time, but we ended up talking to someone outside of the Long Beach Cafe for close to 30 min. We ate our food on a bus stop bench, having to improvise due to the lack of utensils, and then hit the road. Today was one of the days I was most looking forward to, as we would be biking past a lot of places that I knew. We got to go along the Huntington Beach bike path for a while, which was nice and flat with a good view. Our first stop was at Sprinkles Cupcakes in Newport, where I got my favourite chocolate marshmallow cupcake, and Carissa tried their new cookie flavoured cupcake. A few miles down the road, we stopped to pick up lunch at Javier's, which we put in our backpacks and biked with for a while before stopping to eat at the beach in Dana Point. The route today had some beautiful views, but the roads were pretty busy. We were really cruising for a while, and then Carissa got her 4th flat of the trip just outside of the nuclear plant off the highway. Shortly after that we entered Camp Pendleton, a Marine base north of Oceanside. Once we got to Oceanside, we met up with Conrad and walked around a little bit before stopping at a pizza place for a drink. My parents and Ben met up with us here, and we all got to hang out for a bit before attempting to put our bikes in the rental SUV to head up to the hotel in Newport. Turns out there was no way they were going to fit, so my dad asked the Wyndham hotel in Oceanside if then could store them overnight, and they agreed. Such a huge help! We got to the hotel in Newport, and then the five of us went out for a great dinner, complete with my favourite pretzel bread rolls. Day 11 - March 23 - Oceanside to San Diego - 38.4miLast biking day! We got up at 7, and we're out of the hotel by around 8am. My dad drove us to the hotel where we left the bikes, so we were able to set them up fairly quickly, and then head out. Less than 40mi today, so we were in no rush, and wanted to enjoy the last day. We had eaten a quick bowl of cereal at the hotel, but were still hungry so we got a second breakfast at the Buccaneer Cafe in Oceanside. Shortly after the cafe, two cyclists started riding alongside us. They were really great guys who were also into touring, and we ended up talking and riding with them for 5mi. At 11:30, Carissa and I stopped for ice cream at a place called Handel's. They had more flavours than I had ever seen in once place, and all of them were really good. I settled on a Heath Hurricane (like a DQ blizzard) and Carissa got a single scoop that turned out to be 3.5 scoops. Further down the coast we stopped for a bathroom break, only to discover a bunch of baby seals lounging on the beach. Absolutely adorable! The ride down the bike path in Pacific Beach was a bit crowded, and resulted in us going about 2mph. Shortly after that we crossed an intersection and heard someone yell "Carissa!" from one of the cars. Turns out Carissa's friend Michael was on his way home from work and saw our jerseys. What are the odds? At this point we were about 5mi from our end point of Ocean Beach - the same place the Pac Coast officially ends on the supported trip. When we got there, my family was waiting with the camera, champagne, and sprinkles cupcakes. We ditched our bikes, and ran to the ocean for a quick dip. It feels so weird to be finally done! My parents drove us to Michael's house, where we will be crashing for the next two nights. He had a bottle of champagne waiting, and a sign that said "Welcome to San Diego" - so sweet! My parents headed back for the night, and the three of us went out to a celebratory dinner at Cannonball, the restaurant where Michael works. Everyone there was super friendly, and the food was delicious. They even brought us a complimentary cheesecake for dessert! Today was an amazing day, and I am looking forward to exploring San Diego some more tomorrow. Can't believe we head back in two days. Day 12 - March 24 - San Diego - Last Day
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Day 4 - March 16 - Paso Robles to Arroyo Grande - 48.4miChris left early for work, so we woke up to say goodbye, and then got ready for the day. Both mornings we’ve been here Chris has left us a note and snack for the day - she is so sweet. We ate some bagels that we had picked up yesterday, packed our bags, and then biked to the Enterprise car rental place so that we could drive to Paso Robles. We managed to take apart the bikes enough that we could fit them into the back of a sedan, but it was not easy. About half way through the drive, Carissa realized that we had left our bike shorts in the dryer at Chris’s place, which was not a good realization, but there was nothing we could do at this point. After about 2 hours of driving, we got to Paso Robles, returned the car, and took over the sidewalk of the strip mall while we put our bikes back together. The first 20mi or so were fantastic - I was feeling good, the roads were good, and I was listening to some great music. We stopped for a bathroom break in Santa Margarita, and happened upon an adorable bakery called Just Baked, that had some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. There was a bit of a climb out of town, but is was followed by an absolutely incredible descent into San Louis Ospio. It had smooth pavement and a wide shoulder, and I could not stop smiling the entire way down. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. We stopped in the town of Arroyo Grande to grab dinner, and then there was a bit of a climb into camp. On 4K they call it “host hill”, because there always seems to be a climb right before the end of the day. Tonight we are staying with Laura, who’s contact info we got off of the Adventure Cycling Association maps. Her and her husband Ben run an adorable AirBnb, and also let cyclists camp on their property. Because there was nowhere for us to hang our hammocks, Laura said we could use her tent, which was incredibly kind of her. What we didn’t expect, was that this tent had a queen sized bed in it! The whole property is amazing, and Laura and Ben built it all themselves. They have two bunkhouses that they rent out, two outdoor bathrooms (complete with showers), a fire pit, and a swing-set in the back with an amazing view of the sunset. They also have dogs, cats, chickens, and horses. This place is incredible. We ended up eating dinner in the backyard, then played on the swing-set, showered in the bathroom that is wallpapered with maps, and then hung out by the fire pit. There is another couple staying in one of the AirBnb houses, and they joined us by the fire pit for a while before we called it a night. My shoulder is still hurting, so I’m going to try sleeping with the Icy Hot patch on. This bed is so ridiculously comfy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get out of it in the morning. Day 5 - March 17 - Arroyo GrandE to Goleta - 81.7miWoke up this morning after the best sleep we have had so far, and were ready to tackle our longest day of the trip. We got packed up and ready to go a bit faster than usual, and were soon biking through foggy farmland. We stopped for water at a gas station, and chatted with a few local ladies who were really friendly. The fog eventually burned off, and it got really hot. Today was the dreaded Lompoc climb day, and it was really hot by the time we got to the first climb. We had to stop halfway up to change out of our layers that we had put on in the morning. The first climb was steep, but not as long as we had thought it would be, and there was an epic windy descent into Lompoc. There weren’t many cars, so I could take the whole lane and really enjoy it. In Lompoc, we stopped at a bike shop to pump up our tires. The guys at the shop were great, and recommended a sandwich shop for lunch. We left our bikes and the shopped and walked there. It was a cute place, and Carissa and I split a delicious roast beef sandwich. After eating, we walked back to the bike shop, and headed out for the second big climb. This one was way less steep, and was a gradual 1000ft climb. Just over halfway up, I got my first flat tire. Not of the trip, my first flat tire ever. 6,000+ miles of biking experience, and I had managed to avoid getting a flat tire, but there I was on the side of the highway fixing a flat. I ended up accidentally putting the busted tube back in the tire, which made the whole thing take longer than it should have. Eventually I caught up with Carissa, and we made it to the top of the climb. I was running out of water, so I was pretty thirsty by this point, but Carissa gave me some from her extra bottle. The descent wasn't as spectacular as the first one, but still pretty great. We stopped at a rest stop at the bottom for water, and then headed out to do the last segment of the day. The fog had rolled in again, and was so bad that I didn't even notice we were riding right next to the ocean. About 5mi away from camp, Carissa and I got separated, and ended up taking different routes there. When I got to the Christ Lutheran Church, Laurel showed us around and left us to get settled in. She even bought us an amazing chicken dinner and left oatmeal for us to have in the morning! We ate dinner, got cleaned up (somewhat) and then headed down the street to check out the local brewery before heading to bed at 10pm. Long, but good day. Happy to have the longest day of the trip out of the way. Day 6 - March 18 - Goleta to Port Hueneme - 55.1mi We slept in a little bit this morning, and then puttered around for a bit before heading out. We biked through Goleta and got to check out the UCSB campus, which is beautiful. We were on bike paths for most of the morning, and stopped on the Santa Barbara pier to try and find a second breakfast. We didn't find any food that we were in the mood for, but a lovely lady at a tourist shop recommended a grocery store with pastries along our route. We got cinnamon buns, and then biked over to the beach to eat them. We switched maps at this point, and slowly made our way towards Port Hueneme, passing through lots of beautiful towns, and riding on a bike path sandwiched between the 101 and the ocean. At one point, we stopped to take a picture and met Stephen Swift, a cyclist who has been biking for cancer for 5 years and is on his way home. We started pushing our pace a little bit after this break, and were averaging 15mph along the highway. We got to Ventura, and got hot dogs from a cart on the beach as a late lunch. We also met some people from the Toronto area - small world! After the hot dogs we had 13mi left to camp, and stopped for the first DQ of the trip with about 2 miles to go. Camp tonight is Living Hope Church in Port Hueneme. We ordered pizza, and played card games until bed time at 9:30. Day 7 - March 19 - Port Hueneme to Woodland Hills - 49.1miNeither of us wanted to wake up this morning, which resulted in hitting snooze on the alarm several times. When we did get up, we finished eating the pizza, packed up, and headed out. We stopped at a little cafe a couple miles in to fill up our water bottles, and then we were off for the day. We were along the coast for the first half of the day, and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw dolphins swimming in the ocean, and the terrain was mostly rolling hills. We got to Malibu in time for lunch, and ended up getting fried chicken from a grocery store and sitting outside. We were anxious for the second part of the day, which would take us over the Santa Monica mountains. Carissa talked to a local gentleman about routes over the mountains, and he suggested that we take the road from Pepperdine University rather than going through Topanga, because it was much less hilly. Shortly after heading out and starting the climb, the same gentleman passed us in his car, rolled down the window, and shouted out "I told you this was the better route!". The climb was difficult, but the view was so rewarding. Shortly after going through a tunnel, Carissa got her 3rd flat of the trip, so we had to stop and fix it. By 3pm we were at Carissa's cousin's house. Greg and Marie were absolutely fantastic, and so great to hang out with. We threw all our stuff in the laundry, and then spent most of the afternoon chatting, playing with their dogs Reilly and Rosco, and their 7 month old daughter, Larson, who is the sweetest baby. They invited the neighbours over for a BBQ dinner, and we had an awesome time hanging out with everyone in the backyard. We ended the night with a dip in the hot tub, and then headed to bed close to midnight. |
katie macdonald
Summer 2016, I biked 4,295 miles, coast to coast across the USA to raise money and awareness for MS. March 2017, I biked self-contained from San Francisco to San Diego with my friend Carissa. August 2017 I connected the dots and biked from Seattle to San Francisco. Summer 2018 I am heading to the UK! Follow my journey here! Miles biked for MS:
6,800.13
Updated August 27, 2018 Archives
January 2019
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