Santa Monica to Claremont

31 March 2018

The route today:  Santa Monica to Claremont

I left the house of my Warmshowers.org host at 7 and rode back to the Santa Monica pier for more pictures and "Start" of the great adventure.  Note:  a lot fewer people on the pier first thing in the morning as compared to yesterday afternoon.

I then headed out for full breakfast.  After breakfast I was "On The Road Again" The route was OK and the car traffic was courteous.  No issues except for all of the traffic lights.  Seamed like I was getting up  to a comfortable cruising speed RED LIGHT. again and again and again...  Several of the streets I traveled on have No Parking signs for morning and evening commuting times but parking was allowed on weekend days which helped because I had a good sized bike late to travel in

The route went through some sections of Beverly Hills lots of big houses and tree lined streets

The first Route 66 sign I saw was in West Hollywood

There were many more Route 66 signs once I was east of Arcadia 

Looking north.  The smog.

After a long day on the road I arrived at my destination.  I'm staying with another Warmshowers.org host Carole and Wen Aldrich in Claremont, CA.

Leaving Tucson

Friday 30 March 2018
The original plan was to get a ride to Santa Monica, CA but that didn't work out.  I went on line and got a great deal on a rental car through Costco.  A one way rental from Tucson Airport to LAX.
I picked up a rental car, 2018 Toyota Camry, and tried to get the bike into it.  Maria and I worked on it what seamed like an hour.  First fold down the seat and try to put the bike in from the back.  No Luck.  Then tried putting it in the back seat like Maria does with her bike.  Again No Luck.  Take the back wheel off and still no luck.  With the back wheel off and the rear seats folded down and Maria inside the car helping, the bike finally was inside the car.  Then all of the luggage.

I left Tucson at 5AM heading to LAX.  As I crossed the California boarder I started google maps for the best way to get to LAX.  At that point google maps said arrival at 1:02PM.  The closer I got to Los Angeles the arrival time kept changing... 1:10... 1:23... 1:26 ... 1:33 finally arrived 1:47.  No I didn't get lost there was lots of traffic.

Unloaded the bike from the car and got ready for the trip to Santa Monica.

I rode up to Santa Monica pier for a few pictures

Crazy Busy.  But this is where the sign is located for the End of Route 66

There is several hundred yards of soft sand beach to dip the rear tire in the Pacific Ocean.  I wasn't going to do that so ...

I stopped at Novel Cafe n Pizzeria on Main St Santa Monica.  Good pizza and very friendly service.

Getting Ready

28 March
With the bike fully loaded Maria and I headed out for a ride up Freeman and once around Saguaro National Park East.


Home to SNP

I was a great ride.  Strong wind out of the west so it was easy getting to the NP.  But thank goodness it was slightly downhill for the last 4 miles going home into the headwind.

The loaded bike.  Maria took a good Picture!

We stopped several times going around Saguaro NP to take pictures.

Fairy Duster

And a picture of the love of my life

More postings later.  Next will be loading everything up and heading to Santa Monica in the morning.

About the bike

As I get time I will be building this little story about building the bike.

My first long bicycling tour was down the west coast of the United States of America.  I started in Blaine, Washington and I rode along the Pacific Coast Highway to Tijuana, Mexico.  The bicycle I used was a Surly Disc Trucker.  The Surly is a very popular touring bicycle.  It has a steel frame and a long wheel base.  Very comfortable ride.  But a little on the heavy side.  While on the trip I asked most of the other touring cyclists what they really liked about their bike.  Everyone I met that had a Rohloff 14 speed rear hub said that they really liked it.

The thing I wanted to do was reduce the weight of the complete bicycle.  Bike and racks.  I worked with Steve Wetmore of Sabino Cycles in Tucson to build the bike. Steve was great to work with from measuring me for the frame to ordering lots of parts from many different distributors.  Steve fitted me for a Seven Cycles  frame. Seven Cycles is located in Watertown, Massachusetts. Shortly after being measured for the Seven Cycles frame I was in Massachusetts visiting family and I had the opportunity to visit the Seven Cycles facility.  I had the pleasure to meet with the frame design engineer Neil Doshi that was going to design the frame.  He asked me lots of questions on type of rider I am, the purpose of the the bike, stiffness I wanted and a few more.  I then got a tour of the facility.  A great experience.



Unfortunately I don't have lots of pictures of the builds process.  But to give you a little idea this is a picture of the front wheel... or the pieces necessary to build the front wheel.