The last day of the bicycle trip had me starting at the edge of Los Angeles County. I woke up freezing cold again at camp. I had figured it might be warmer camping near the ocean, but Leo Carrillo’s campground is in a canyon that seemed to collect all the cold air at the bottom.
The day started with breakfast and then camp breakdown, and some more tire maintenance. After that, I got myself on the road and found my legs were almost completely rubber from the 220km (140mi) I’d gone over the previous two days.
I had planned to stop in Malibu for some lunch, not really realizing that Malibu doesn’t really have any shops or restaurants, just incredibly fancy homes. With that, I stopped for a roadside lunch served from my pannier.
Moving along through the Malibu hills, my legs and butt were really feeling the pain. The road was also pretty bad for bicycling. All the fancy beachfront homes crowded the highway, and most had service vehicles parked in front on the shoulder, forcing me to have to ride in or very near the very busy traffic lane.
Relief came when I left the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and entered the city of Malibu proper when the road opened up and added a bike lane. The road also flattened out quite a bit. Shortly I found myself in Santa Monica and on the beach bike path.
Passing the Santa Monica pier, I realized I wouldn’t really be able to stop, since I didn’t have a way to secure my gear or my bike in the crowd of tourists. I decided to pass up on the pier, and later stopped off at a beach side cafe for a bite to eat and to enjoy the sights of the famous Santa Monica beach. My delicious, and super-pricey fish tacos arrived, and life was great.
While relaxing on the beach, I decided to book my trip back on the train and a hotel nearby to Los Angeles Union Station downtown.
With that I was off to downtown LA, a trip I was surprised to find from Google Maps was over 20km (14mi).
On the way off the beach, guess who’s unique bike I spotted locked up, but Nate’s! I’m not sure where the man was, but his bike was a distinctive sight!
The route to downtown LA was a straight shot down Venice Blvd, with a great bike lane the whole way. I also had the pleasant company of several bike commuters on my way, who asked about my trip, and offered helpful advice for getting downtown.
The roads were very busy, and I noticed a really worrying tendency for drivers on the massive LA boulevards to run red lights. I kept an eye out the whole way, as the road got quite a bit worse as I got further into the city.
My route took me right past the LA Convention Center and Staples Center, with my hotel a few miles further on, just a block from the train station.
I had a great, late dinner from one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in LA, Cielito Lindo. Their taquitos were delicious and covered in a unique Avocado salsa. Yummy. I went to bed a happy and full cyclist, looking forward to a nice, relaxing train ride home in the morning.