It is painful to write these on my iPad, which is my primary thing for lookin and doin, so bear with me. Also this
results in no pics, so it didn’t need happen. Oh, and the iPad inserted the word ‘need’ in that last sentence. A truly glorious future awaits us biologicals.
I work and have family in the Bay Area. I love riding bikes. I ride the coast route once or more per year. Thus, I have wanted to see how little time it would take me to ride between there and here. I started on Monday July 22at 0535 in San Jose and finished in Santa Monica at the metro station/pier on Wednesday July 24 at 0540. Elapsed time 48hrs 5min, with Strava giving me the figures of 35hrs 44min riding time over 417mi (let’s say 420 for fun) with 20,600ft gain.
On Monday, I rode from southern central San Jose through the coastal range on some roads including old Santa Cruz hwy or something named like that to Santa Cruz. The navigation was easy from 5ere, as you just go down the 1 nearly the whole way to LA. Santa Cruz was one of the only spots I haven’t ridden on the west coast, so I could turn off navigation once I got there. Bought an energy drink and so,e choggobars, and went south. Rode past my special hidden bivy in northern Big Sur, and stopped in the Spencer’s Market parking lot in Morro Bay sometime in the dark, 199miles. Very tired, I got a black trash bag (left tyvek ground sheet at home) and cut it roughly down the sides to make it a long ground sheet. I got in my Chinese amazon dot com $80 40* down bag, covered myself inadequately with my six moons design tarp poncho thing I can never remember the name of, and slept poorly for several hours, waiting for Spencer’s to open so I could buy my 99c fried chicken I always get here. It’s a tradition. They don’t always do that, I just get lucky. Got up in the morning and got 3 of em. Last day of the sale! Lucky indeed. I then rode down the coast to Santa Monica, where I finished my strava upload.
Got on the blue or expo whatever line to LA. In typical metro fashion, the train stopped prematurely, and I had to ride through downtown, a supremely depressing place. Got on the gold line in Little Tokyo and took it to Azusa, where I rode another 8mi south to home. It was hot and humid around 9am at that point. Welcome home, bitch. This place is hot and full of tweekers and bums. I cannot fathom how anyone who has lived here for 30 some odd years like I have can honestly say they love LA. There are many things I love about the people, culture, food, car culture, mtns, and so forth, but LA as a package delivered to your doorstep is terrible. The homeless problem has grown to insane proportions. I have been in fights with bums lately, washed their piss off my front door at work, and had some crazy person stab an old Chinese man to death on the gold line train I was riding to work not long ago. Good thing I can’t legally carry a handgun for self defense. In LA, it is more right to be stabbed to death with the bad guy walking away than it is to defend yourself and remove a bad person from the oxygen cue. I will never understand this.
Anyway, I digress. Next time I will pack as lightly as possible, and ride my (borrowed long term from Sam) road bike. I took my work/fun daily driver all steel 650b tubeless yadda yadda bike this time. Also brought my tiny inflatable mattress which I didn’t use, and some other stuff, such as spare socks and underpants. Good training.
Hope you’re all getting out there. Keep on not geotagging places so that we can keep our collective mean racist white supremacist/privilege/whatever nonsense the idiots stealing oxygen say going as long as possible. I realize we aren’t all ‘white’ here, but uhhhh if you don’t geotag then you’re automatically part of the big bad club with me so hail satan. Also go ride bikes. Also go eat a lot. Eating is awesome.
Love, Taco
PS: hi guys
PPS: the cursor doesn’t blink for some reason. I apologize for autocorrect errors and other such weirdness. This barely runs on my iPad so I haven’t the patience to make things perfect.
Bay Area to LA bike speed run whatever
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Tom Kenney
- Posts: 362
- Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:51 pm
Crikey! Go, man, go!
RE: LA as a flawed package...yeah, not what it used to be (born UCLA 1967, 818 lifer). But seeing Ma and Jr Bear on the Rim Trail a couple days ago was a pretty big boost to the Positives column.
RE: LA as a flawed package...yeah, not what it used to be (born UCLA 1967, 818 lifer). But seeing Ma and Jr Bear on the Rim Trail a couple days ago was a pretty big boost to the Positives column.
Holy crap. Taco, why would you do such a thing?? Interestingly, you were nowhere near the record: https://www.lightningbikes.com/media/19 ... to-la.html
Maybe next time you should ride a recumbent, and take the freeway
Also, I love LA. Fight me!
Maybe next time you should ride a recumbent, and take the freeway
Also, I love LA. Fight me!
It gets painful for me cause it so warped. For example, theres a Jordan Yamamoto...and so in regards to the development activity of the telescopes on Hawaii, he says "I am not native Hawaiian"...and then comments that he supports no additional development. So I immediately was like wtf when I read that part cause who the heck is Hawaiian if he isnt? He was born there and lived all but the last few years there(cause hes in MLB) and if he doesnt qualify for having Aloha then who does?. And what is going on in the nanny state that has reached this level of propaganda absurdity that you must first acknowledge some kind of inferiorness? And its all that there are these 20 or so people who are the only ones who can claim to speak for Hawaii. They are the gurus or something and their revisionist history must be accepted as fact and that it always has been accepted as fact. For a second there I was thinking maybe he isnt Hawaiian then, because no Hawaiian would apologize for their identity under any circumstances.
And if is anyone out there who claims that saying an expression of a sentiment about a city is cultural appropriation or whatever, Id refer you to the 'selfie' lawsuit...where PETA reasonably pointed out that the animals have a superior claim and that it was these so-called gurus who should apologize for colonization and the rest of it on the animals.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201 ... -cant-sue/
And if is anyone out there who claims that saying an expression of a sentiment about a city is cultural appropriation or whatever, Id refer you to the 'selfie' lawsuit...where PETA reasonably pointed out that the animals have a superior claim and that it was these so-called gurus who should apologize for colonization and the rest of it on the animals.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201 ... -cant-sue/
Ah, well, there is only one thing lamer than being "woke," and that's listening to someone who claims to be "woke." The day I defend my right to express an opinion about Los Angeles is the day I jump off Suicide Bridge and scream "I have zero self-esteem" all the way down.AW~ wrote: I was referring to hikeup's post about being woke.
'They' would say you have no claim or opinion to a land....and your post Sean promoting a white perspective 'I Love LA' would likely get you to be labeled a racist.
Just sayin.
By the way, Taco, I just got back from a trip to the Bay Area. Went up with my brother and nephew to see the Rams lose to the Raiders. We snuck in a couple short hikes too. Here's a picture of Redwood Regional Park.
