What's a day like? With a sample size of three days, here it is: It all starts the afternoon/night before. Whenever I get to my destination, I wash my bike clothes by hand (taking a nice cold shower at the same time), put on some human clothes, and check/plan my route and take a look see at the weather for the next end point. This will change slightly once I'm in San Diego and I can rely on the ACA map set for the Southern Tier, for now I'm wending my way through Southern CA towards (cue scary music)...the mountains. Today, the route guidance gave me the choice of taking the coast road towards Irvine (at a cost of 66 miles) or an inland ride (price = 63 miles) or what I thought was the best bargain of 57 miles. But it did take me through South Central LA. Those who know me well know where I pedaled today. South Central, yeah, that was interesting. I don't think they see a lot of loaded touring cyclists pass through there. I missed a turn along the way, paying the extra 9 mile penalty.
And ever since I bonked in Kuwait on a bike ride, I'm really serious about hydration. I do drink a cup or two of dehydrating coffee in the am, but then always try to have a Gatorade to start the day and there will be little to no alcohol along this trip. You can't drink when you're cycling, you're tired at the end of the day, it's dehydrating and in the places I'm stopping, it would be hard to get just a single decent bottle of beer. After the Gatorade guzzling, I carry a Camelback Mule that I drink water from the rest of the day. And this leads to a slight problem. My wife informs me that public urination is frowned upon in the U.S. and is in fact illegal in certain municipalities. What do I look like, some kind of dromedary? When a man's gotta go, a man's gotta go. In the more rural areas, it's not really an issue, it's pretty easy to pull off the side of the road and take care of business stealthily. Today, I went through an industrial area and had to relieve myself a few times between when I pushed off and when I finished the ride for the day. And for that, it's so much easier to be a man.
And ever since I bonked in Kuwait on a bike ride, I'm really serious about hydration. I do drink a cup or two of dehydrating coffee in the am, but then always try to have a Gatorade to start the day and there will be little to no alcohol along this trip. You can't drink when you're cycling, you're tired at the end of the day, it's dehydrating and in the places I'm stopping, it would be hard to get just a single decent bottle of beer. After the Gatorade guzzling, I carry a Camelback Mule that I drink water from the rest of the day. And this leads to a slight problem. My wife informs me that public urination is frowned upon in the U.S. and is in fact illegal in certain municipalities. What do I look like, some kind of dromedary? When a man's gotta go, a man's gotta go. In the more rural areas, it's not really an issue, it's pretty easy to pull off the side of the road and take care of business stealthily. Today, I went through an industrial area and had to relieve myself a few times between when I pushed off and when I finished the ride for the day. And for that, it's so much easier to be a man.
it's easy being a girl too...if you have a "Go Girl"!
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