Season 3 Episode 19 (10/28-10/29) Oh, Mexico, I guess I'll have to go

Season 3 Episode 19 (10/28-10/29) Oh, Mexico, I guess I'll have to go – 

10/28 Irvine to Solana Beach, CA. 71 miles, 2315’ climb.

We said our goodbyes to Lori and Henry, and the difficulty of departing was made easier by the support of another guest rider.

At dinner last night, we discovered Martin is a cyclist, and we were thrilled he accepted our invitation to ride with us.

It was great support while Martin led us through Irvine’s terrific bike trails for the first hour before he turned back towards home.

We learned about Irvine’s pioneering history as a planned city from the 1960s. Its success of planned villages within a city, walking and biking trails, preserved wetlands and open space has become a model that others study.

As we rode west to the coast and then south, we loved the beach town of Dana Point where we discovered the Elephant Parade.

This is a herd of 38 Asian elephant statues, in front of the Gallery Dana Bay, that aims to raise awareness of elephant conservation. The elephants are painted by artists and celebrities.

In Dana Point, we also made another discovery - how darn good Lori’s oat squares and cookies are!

We moaned on each bite and had a detailed discussion of her excellent chocolate chip ratio!

We rode a segment of the famed and historical El Camino Real (The Royal Road or King’s Highway). This is a 600-mile road that connected all of Spain’s Catholic Missions in California (then Mexico) from Sonoma to San Diego, and was an important trade route. We first pedaled on it in San Francisco when our guest rider Sam told us about it.

We passed our second Ghost Bike of this journey. These are art installations of white painted bikes at the site where a cyclist has been killed by a motorist. It is a haunting reminder of the ultimate risk of road biking. I always ride a step slower or more cautiously upon seeing these monuments.

We soon came to the military base of Camp Pendleton. Until 2019, cyclists could ride through the trail on the base for about 6 miles. Since that is no longer permitted, the only way through is to ride on Interstate 5 – which cyclists are allowed to do.

It sounds ridiculous and dangerous but the truth is this felt like one of the safest stretches of our trip.

The shoulder was a full car-width compared to places we’d been with no shoulder or a paltry 10 inches. It was also surprisingly free of the debris we normally find roadside. As traffic congested, there were times we actually passed cars. Note Heather is moving as she took photos of me.

And Heather bravely took selfies on the interstate while riding - something that I would not even try.

With that challenge completed, we rode through additional memorable beach towns with great vibes that we’d like to visit again - Oceanside, Carlsbad and Encinitas.

In Oceanside we met up with Steven Peace of the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), an organization that receives a “Quality of Life” grant from the Reeve Foundation. The CAF provides opportunities and support to people with physical challenges so they can be active through physical fitness and competitive sports. He added to our ongoing education of paralysis, especially from other than spinal cord injury.

Steve is paralyzed on his right side as a result of a stroke 17 years ago. He cycles an upright trike with his right arm tucked inside a sling device, and only one hand on the handlebars and thus brakes and gears. His right leg generates no power but is clipped in and just goes around with the momentum of the pedaling effort of his left leg.

Through CAF he became a national para-cycling champion and competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. His humility along with his story are inspiring to us.

He shared how the grant they receive from Reeve enables them to provide coaching, attend competitions, and purchase adapted bikes and handcycles.

Our arrival in Solana Beach was very special for us and was a “coming full circle” moment. It was a little over two years ago that we shipped our bikes to the Trek Solana store here and began our Pacific to Atlantic 2021 ride. As we headed to the beach for a walk, we contemplated this return and that epic ride cross country and all that we’ve learned and experienced on 2 wheels in 2 years. It was a wonderful way to tee up our final day of riding to the Mexican border.

Solana Beach.

The stairs down to the beach – not wheelchair accessible.

Another beautiful sunset into the Pacific and the start of our sadness that this adventure was coming to an end.

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10/28 Solana Beach, CA to the Mexican border, 44 miles. The border back to South Park, San Diego 16 miles.

It could not be possible to have two more opposite feelings of happiness at what we were completing and sadness at what we were completing. We recognized we were completing something substantial, but determined to savor each moment and each mile.

As we left Solana Beach, we rode south for about 18 miles, down to San Diego’s Mission Bay following most of the path we used 2 years ago before then heading east, but today continuing south. It was eerie - we passed Torrey Pines State Beach where 2 years ago we dipped our tires in the Pacific Ocean to launch that adventure. We then climbed up the challenging and twisting ascent into Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (in 2021 our first killer climb, now one of our last). But 2 years wiser, we are slowing down to see more along the way. We added some distance and looped around more of La Jolla than we did last time.

We stopped to study the cormorants perched on a cliff overlooking La Jolla Cove

We admired a group of about 80 people in a yoga class overlooking the ocean. We heard the leader saying to the class, there is no better place you can be. He could have been speaking directly to us.

We left this idyllic spot and pedaled down around Mission Bay, before passing through a more gritty and industrial area and through Chula Vista towards the border. We were about 1 mile away, mere minutes from completion, and riding with more speed as our excitement grew. But then we came upon a sight that we just had to stop.

We saw bikes loaded with paniers and so much more, and cyclists eating on the edge of the park. We stopped to ask if this was some meeting spot before crossing to Mexico? We discovered 2 families from Europe that were biking separately but had met up. One with 2 young kids, the other with 3 young kids – the oldest being 8 who pedaled 20 miles a day, the youngest being a baby! The family we spoke more with had started in Alaska and was riding for one year. They knew of us because they had just stayed the prior night with the Warm Showers host to whom we were heading later tonight. What a chance meeting – but it was more than that for me. I explained how in 2018 we went to a bike film festival where we watched many short films of bike packers including families just like theirs that inspired us to make a change in our lives. We told them they inspire us!

Note Bike on the left has solar panels on top of the “caboose” or trailer that a child sits in; and the bike on the right has a child seat in front to sit in and watch the world go by.

We had kept our word and spontaneously savored and observed that around us right to the end! And now it was time! We rode the last mile and were thrilled to be greeted by a Reeve Foundation arranged reception.

 We enjoyed a champagne toast to celebrate our ride and felt immense satisfaction- we did it! We rode from Canada to Mexico!

So now what? After a great reception we were also a bit sad, and we still had 16 miles to ride back north to our host family.

We took the trolley to Palm City.

We then cycled north along Coronado, the thin stretch of land including Silver Strand State Beach that lies between the Pacific and San Diego Bay. The stiff headwind was our final difficulty. Heather observed I’d lost my drive and had slowed down – more than just because of the wind – there was a natural letup.

We took the short ferry back to the Broadway Pier.

And finally, a 4-mile ride to our hosts Chris and Alisa in the charming South Park neighborhood. Chris and Heather had been in contact for about a month, so they were almost like old friends now – and in meeting Chris I could see why Heather felt that way. They had just hosted a family of 4, and were eagerly hosting us for about 24 hours from our arrival until our red-eye flight the next day. 

We were so lucky to meet them and Alisa’s parents Sharon and Mike who joined us for a wonderful dinner. Had we ended this journey just the 2 of us in a hotel and restaurant, it would be too sad. We were with a loving family – now part of our relatively new and growing bike family! 

On Monday we rode 1 mile to a local bike shop to have them pack up our bikes for the flight. Chris went above and beyond and picked up our bikes at the shop, and after another wonderful dinner with him and Alisa, he drove us and our bikes to the airport. Just like family does for each other!

*     *     *

For now, I’ll close with the following:

At this moment, after a red eye flight, I am sitting at home in Larchmont.

I will take a few days with no biking and no blogging to process this odyssey, and then post a final blog with a wrap up and final thoughts. 

Thank you for following this blog. As in past years, on some days it was harder to write than to pedal. But with Heather as my witness, it does fuel me. I appreciate every one of your comments – even if I have not yet acknowledged them.

Thank you for allowing me this pleasure of writing for you. If in any way you were entertained, educated, provoked to think in a new way, inspired or otherwise enjoyed this blog- I ask that if you haven’t yet donated to the Reeve Foundation, that you please consider a gift in appreciation. You can contribute here.

Copyright Mark Segal 2023.