Day 22: Oxnard to Marina del Rey

Today’s Highlights:

Most of today’s ride was along the Pacific Coast Highway and on bike paths along the beach.  It was the easiest day so far and we were averaging over 16 mph for the first 45 miles.  There were great views of the beaches through Santa Barbara since the road runs mostly along the edge of the beach or ocean.  We went through Malibu and had our first SAG stop at Zuma Beach.  We took an extra long stop there so that Chris could swim in the ocean for the first time since we entered California 1000 miles ago.  The waves were perfect and he body surfed for a while.

In Santa Monica we got on a bike path that was right on the beach, taking it for six miles and passing through Venice Beach and ending in Marina del Rey.  This required very slow riding since it was heavily used.  But that was great because it slowed us down into relaxation mode.  We stopped for lunch just before Venice Beach and enjoyed some beach-side patio dining and people watching.  After lunch there was still time to kill before our hotel rooms were ready, so we walked down the pier, watched some surfers and checked out the sites.

Tonight we had our banquet dinner, which was very nice, followed by a meeting where each of us received a certificate recognizing our accomplishment and had a chance to say a few words about our three week adventure.  It has been really great to meet such wonderful people on this trip and share the experience.

Perfect Ride
Today’s ride was perfect: Flat, fast, short, easy, great weather, lots of coast, and time to kill. I finally got to play in the ocean. I rode some waves at Zuma Beach! Luckily there was a shower station to get the sand out of my shorts or it would have long 26 miles to the hotel.

I now know why Barbie has a Malibu beach house.

I wasn’t the only one having fun on the beach. In Santa Monica we saw surfing, boogie boarding, sailing, parasailing, yachting, volleyballing, tanning, body building, paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing, biking, rollerblading, trumpet playing, soccering, gaffiti-ing, seagull chasing, tattooing, swimming, skateboarding, and a freak show… to name a few. What a place!

There was so much to see that we had to take a break and eat lunch on the beach (pic 38). We ate with Tim from Manchester. We have ridden with him quite a bit over the last week. Great guy.

Tomorrow’s ride looks like the same, and then home sweet home.

Chris

Pictures Of The Day:

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Statistics:
Zoom and pan the map to explore the route. Click the name or ‘View Detail’ to view more information at Garmin Connect.

Chris: