Echo Park & Looking Forward to a Break

Echo Park-where cycling really began for me.

Just made it to San Diego! But want to back up a few days. After 4 days of more than 100 miles I got to north of LA on Tuesday night. We met with Alyssa (our great PR lady) for dinner which was really nice since she’s been working with us for months and I’d never met her. After dinner, I took the van to Echo Park.

Echo Park is a great place which has special meaning for me—it’s the site of my first long bike ride three years ago during a visit to the West Coast. That ride inspired me when I came back to Annapolis and started me riding my bike to work every day. Wow, how far I've come--literally! On my next visit to LA, the park was closed for renovations. This was my third visit and again I got there by bike! My brother Noah and his finance Kat were there to greet me.

Later, we went back to Noah’s apartment. He was glad to see me and I was glad to see him so it was a good time—we stayed up until almost 2 am! This lead to a late start yesterday and then we ran into traffic. But I still made the 24 miles to Dodger Stadium, plus 66 more miles towards Petco Park. I finished the ride to Petco today. Kind of hilly, but good riding. All along the Pacific Coast Highway, beautiful girls abound.

Now we are at a host home for the night and I just had an amazing pasta dinner and a beer. Tomorrow we get a head start towards Anaheim, then drive back to San Diego for a picnic at Advanced Bionics and the ball game. After I make it to Anaheim on Saturday, I’ll be off the bike for 6 days! This is my last big break off before the ride ends in Miami.

So I will be spending the weekend with my brother Noah. We’re planning on a night ride with Kyle Stevens on Tuesday. Kyle stayed at our house in Annapolis for three days in December after biking from LA to Maine! I had a lot of questions for him back then.