Monday, August 9, 2010

Bike Adventure 2 of 2

My plan yesterday was to climb to Idyllwild. I set out and within the first hour came across these wild burros crossing the road.

For those of you who wonder why I'm always commenting on awesome green grass or beautiful flowers, it's because half the year in Southern CA it looks like this:

About 1.5 hours into my ride I flatted. No problem, this happens all the time, fixed it. The real problem however was that for some reason (user error) I only had one tube and c02 cartridge in my bike bag. So my plan to venture up a pass into no-cell-service territory wasn't going to happen without a spare tube. Pulled out my trusty phone and located the nearest bike shop so I could carry on with my planned route.

Half an hour and multiple miles riding past a shop that teaches graffiti "art" (no joke), past six smoke shops, ten liquor stores and through the ghetto, I found the bike shop. Annnnnnnd it's closed on Sunday. REALLY?! What kind of a bike shop closes on Sunday? Apparently the one in the ghetto. Plan B - sporting goods store. Forty-five minutes later I arrive to find they only carry mtn bike tubes.

Quite disappointed I abandon my plan to climb to Idyllwild and re-climb back through the canyon to get to the bike shop I know will be open. Make it. Purchase spare tubes. Decide to climb to Oak Glen instead where there are apple orchards at the top (ie home-made apple pie). 

Take a wrong turn = a lot of extra climbing. May have muttered several bad words at this point. Run out of water. Get quite grumpy. Finally reach Riley's Farm. The last time I was here was in February and it looked like this:

Realize that by the time I make it to Oak Glen for my pie I'm going to be very late getting home. Legs are also getting quite tired by this point. Torn because I really want the apple pie. But also have a long run to do when I get home. Decisions, decisions.

Call super-husband Steven and convince him he also needs apple pie and today's ride will be a mountain-top finish.

The same orchard back in February. The apple pie was amazing, and I think it in turn resulted in my amazing run that evening. A huge thanks to Steven who turned a more-than-frustrating bike ride into a fun date in the mountains with apple pie.