Day 10 was also shaping up to be a bit of a stretch day. This day I was due to ride just under 100km (65mi) from Santa Barbara to make my campsite at Leo Carrillo State Beach.
To make things more complicated, I also had to deal with my flat tire from the day before. Catharina was really helpful with packing camp and helping patch my flat tire. After all was said and done, I was on the road just before noon. Thanks Catharina!
With the relatively late start, I quickly got hungry and stopped for lunch at a little grocery for a delicious Italian sandwich and some fruit. Then, back to the road!
This day turned out to be one of the most scenic of the whole trip. I was only on the freeway for a very short stretch, just one exit even!
The route had me on boulevards with bike lanes through the rest of Santa Barbara and Carpentura nearly the entire way, until a few miles outside of Ventura, where there was a beautiful bike path on the ocean side of the freeway.
That continued for a while until CA-1 or the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) reappeared, and I rode along that passing a really long line of campers parked right up along the beach.
On entering Ventura, the route took to a dedicated bike path that put me right down on the beach for the first time.
Afterward, I took to the city streets through Ventura and then a horrendously-paved Harbor Blvd through Oxnard. I stopped for second lunch at boring old Subway. Going through Oxnard (no, there’s no nice-sounding pronunciation) I was nearly killed by a guy in an SUV who made a left turn without looking for oncoming traffic. My only near-miss with traffic on the whole trip!
After a quick stop at a fruit stand on the way out of Oxnard, it was around Point Mugu Naval Air Station and back into the PCH to travel along the coast and the Santa Monica mountains!
The sun was setting and I had just about 20km (15mi) to go, when I noticed my front tire was all of a sudden completely flat. Crap! And I had just passed the last of any city where I might be able to find a bike shop!
I pulled everything off the bike to get the wheel off, and checked it for any obvious puncture. Not finding one, I just filled it again, hoping it would hold for the rest of the ride to camp. I loaded the bike back up and tried to race the dying light to camp.
Just as I was about to pull into the camp, I crossed into Los Angeles County, the last of the trip!
I made my way into camp just in time to get to the store for a beer and some firewood, for my first and only campfire of the trip.