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by Norm Moyer
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| The original
plan was to bike to Escondido on Friday, to Joshua Tree on Saturday,
and back home on Sunday. Biking to Escondido was no problem.
The start was about 8:15 and the route was down the coast to
Oceanside, then inland on 78. I rode the freeway twice, first
bypassing Camp Pendleton and then on 78 because there were no
signs telling bikes to get off and I didn't know any other way
to get inland. (Was I map impaired?) Nevertheless, I exited
in Vista after about 7 miles. The traffic was fast, the merging
at exits and entrances required waiting for an opening, and
the water drains had slats parallel to the direction of travel.
I arrived about 3:45 after 2 lunches and 82 miles including
some non-optimum travel within Escondido. I didn't seem to be
moving well without extra effort, and discovered my back wheel
had resistance to turning. The problem was in the hub because
completely releasing the brakes made no difference. My wife,
Mary, arrived by car about 5:30 and carried our camping gear.
She offered me the car, as she could ride home with friends.
I eventually decided that failing to get to Joshua Tree was
better than driving. A friend gave us four brownies and four
small Snickers bars, but since "you" is singular as
well as plural, I thought they were all for me. It was a fortunate
error.
Things weren't as smooth on Saturday. It was not possible
to get away tactfully until 9:30. I was off my map until I
got to Temecula. Non-freeway directions to get there from
Escondido never materialized, but I knew roughly which way
to go and the sun was out to help. The roads to Temecula were
quite hilly, and I was now carrying gear to camp at Joshua
Tree. The rear hub made occasional scraping sounds. I had
lunch in Temecula at McDonalds -- not first choice but I was
on the far edge of town. By the time I |
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| finished lunch it was 2:15 and I
had covered only 40 miles. It was around 80 more miles to Joshua
Tree, so it was time to move to Plan B. I didn't want to ride
unfamiliar turf in the dark (though I did have my lights installed).
By now, the scraping sound was getting more frequent. Originally
I thought of biking to the KOA in Beaumont for the night, but
lost interest in biking Sunday because of the rear hub. Also,
if I went NW paralleling the 15, Mary wouldn't have to go as
far out of her way to pick me up. As I proceeded that way, it
occurred to me that if I could get to Corona, I was practically
home, and could save some face for failing to make Joshua Tree.
By now the scraping sound had stopped, but a creaking and clicking
sound had replaced it. I got to Corona as the sun set and hurried
on to ride the easternmost part of the Santa River bike trail
before dark. I moved to street riding in Yorba Linda and noticed
the hub noise was decreasing. At Featherly Park, I called home
to let people know what was going on. Friends from the previous
evening had recklessly offered to let me stay with them in Orange
if I couldn't make it home. I passed within a few blocks of
their home, but hadn't eaten supper yet and was now a man on
a mission -- to make it all the way. A supper stop was made
at a Subway in Tustin with some gift brownies for dessert. (The
Snickers bars were wiped out over the course of the day.) I
could no longer keep warm in shorts and a T-shirt, so put on
my fleece jacket. That solved the problem except for my hands,
but several miles of pedaling warmed them up too. Some of the
final miles were done on Red Hill, where I could turn off my
headlight (to save the battery) due to light traffic and few
side streets. I got home at 10:45 p.m.. The elapsed time including
two meal stops and a drink stop was 13:15. Miles ridden was
123, and the average speed only 11.1 mph. You need to see what
you're made of every so often. |
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