Don't tell anyone

Lisa is drinking a Carmel frapachino from Starbucks. I tried it but I didn't inhale. I promise.

No smoking

Far less smoking evident in USA. No smoking in central park. Wonderful. You should be allowed to smoke a doobie though.

Add a bumper

Nice accessory for city parking.

Memorial day in central park

Central park is huge. A wonderful asset for the city. Great to see so many people outdoors having fun.

New York provides answers

Now I know why Valium was invented.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

New York first report

New York first report. It sucks so far. What a shithole. Mikey

Times square

Amazing sand sculpture in times square last night. Gone this morning?

Times square 1am - packed to the rafters!

Sorry it's blurry. I was in the middle of a mild panic attack from all the people

Off to the big apple

Lisa and I are sitting around waiting for our flight to New York. I am neither excited or apprehensive about our visit to the city. I have never been to the east coast before. I am hoping it is like our Paris experience in 2009. I went there with no expectations and was blown away. Not really looking forward to a 5-1/2 hour plane flight. I guess the Valium will help.

Regards Mike from iPhone

Pimped to the extreme!!!

Venice Beach law enforcement.

Venice beach

Been here many times but it really is a must visit place that has to be one of the craziest places on earth. We had hoped to ride in from the north side to end our trip. Unfortunately we had to settle on riding up from LAX on Connie and Wayne for the day. Beautiful weather and lots of crazy people. Even a few boys working out at muscle beach. Lisa had the best churos ever. A great way to finish our visit to LA.

Santa Monica bike path

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Venice the movie

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Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Wow this place is gorgeous and warm!!
I love it here.

Beach crusin

Well the rest of our riding on this trip is going to be flat beach cruising so I bought a bike more suited to the purpose. What a sweet ride

Santa Barbara

We are now down in Santa Barbara which is well known as the American riviera because of it's wonderful climate. This is one of the places that is on our short list for a possible site of an extended USA visit. We are spending a couple of days here looking around. We love it. It's a good sized town(100k) and the climate I'd heavenly. It is so beautiful and well looked after. It is also full of homeless people which is so saddening. Knowone seems to care about them.

Hearst Castle

Last time I ride the coast one of the highlights was a visit to the Hearst Castle. So even though the road was blocked we made sure that after the detour we headed back up the coast a ways to visit it. I thought it would blow Lisa away and I was right. We did the 2 hour experience tour which takes you to all the big highlights like the Neptune swimming pool in the picture. She loved it so much that we stayed overnight and did another tour the next day of the bedrooms, library and kitchen. The castle was built by William R Hearst who was the Rupert Murdoch of the 1920's. He plundered treasures from all over the world to build a living museum to entertain his friends in. While it's often cringe material it really is a must see. I'm sure something like it could never be built again. WRH was a complex man and I think most people can't work out if they liked or disliked him. I know I'm confused. I am going to read a biography on him so I can understand him a bit more. Going to the castle again was well worth the trouble.

Mike

Day 20- the final fling

Today we rode the famous 17 mile drive from Monterey to Carmel. Arguably the most prime real estate on the west coast. It was absolutely beautiful. Huge houses, manicured golf courses and great coastline. We did the ride without luggage on the bikes which was pretty strange. Sadly our riding tour is at an end. The road is closed indefinitely below Carmel because of a huge landslide. So we have hired a car to drive around the long way. A new phase if the adventure begins.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

San Simeon

Oh what a beautiful morning

Don't try this at home

Riding with a diving mask is risky. Also looks a bit silly

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Special request from my friend Robert

He is pioneering a new art form involving photography and diving apparatus.

Rim Failure

Only just managed to get Wayne into Monterey today as his rear wheel has had the Richard. 3 spokes have pulled through the rim. It was so wobbly I had to disconnect the rear brake so it would spin( made for a few interesting braking challenges). Need to get a new wheel tomorrow. He has had far too much weight on him this trip including my lard arse.

Good for everyone really

Sea Lion parking lot

Day 19- round the bay to Monterey

46 miles(74kms),4-1/4 hours, Death by headwind

An easy day turned out to be a hard day with tricky navigation and a headwind that would stop a kenworth. There were a couple of highlights. Stopping for a coffee at a cute little bakery turned out to be very social. We met a group of boys cycling south from Oakland. A lovely lady bike commuter who wanted to know about our whole trip, and a nice couple from up near Yosemite Park that offered to put us up and gave us there phone number. The second highlight was stopping at a fruit market in the middle of the farming country where there was a Mexican lady in a caravan cooking fantastic Taco's ($1.10 each), and the local delicacy " deep fried artichoke hearts". We had a great pigout finished off with lovely local fruit. Thanks to John Emery for taking me to the local spot on our last trip in 2008. The final run into Monterey was on bike paths and the volume of homeless people was frightening and very uncomfortable. When we got to the main warf in Monterey I did a bit of Cycleorkelling for my friend Robert. Lisa shot video of me riding through the square. I got some looks. Tomorrow we ride around the very famous pebble beach 17 mile drive.

Regards

Mike from iPad

Surf entry at Steamer lane Santa Cruz

These guys wait for a wave to come through and the jump off the cliff. Not for the faint hearted.

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Extreme surfing at Santa Cruz

Steamer Lane
By far the most famous surf spot in all of Santa Cruz, but if you want to paddle out at "the Lane," you better be a damn good surfer. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being friendly, the localism factor at the Lane is an 11. When the swell is up, the lane offers world-class waves, at times reaching triple overhead. It's the most dangerous place to surf in Santa Cruz and people actually die out there on a semi- annual basis. Once again however, it's the best place to watch great surfing pretty much year round. The lane is the stretch of coast off West Cliff between Cowell's and the Lighthouse. The wave wraps around a cliff headland and into the bay. If you fall you get washed onto the cliff.

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Riding and Filming is Dangerous

Kids don't try this at home

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Sea otter having a float around the pier

In case it's not obvious he is laying on his back with his front feet under his chin and his back legs on his stomach. He is swimming with his tail.

Sea Lions hangin out

Cool houses in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz sunset

Day 18- Cruise to Santa Cruz

48 miles(77kms), 3-3/4 hours, huge tail wind.
We had a tail wind for the second time for the whole trip. The coastal scenery was absolutely spectacular and the traffic was light. We enjoyed it so much that we realised as we pulled up in Santa Cruz that we hadn't even stopped for a break the whole way. Wow we saw some great stuff and got some great pics along the way. It's Friday night and as it's sunny and warm so we have decided to take a break here for the weekend. Much more fun than doing battle with weekend traffic. This is a very hip surfing and university town. The joint is going off.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Sunset?

First almost sunset of the trip. Sun peeped through the sea fog for about a minute.

Camping in style

Didn't feel like putting the tent up so we found this joint. It'll do I guess.

Day 17- across the bridge and through San Fran

37 miles(59kms), 3-3/4 hours, foggy but warmish

We didn't leave till midday with no expectation of getting too far as we were both a bit doughy. We climbed up to the bridge only to find that the right hand bike lane had been closed. We had to carry the bikes up and down 2 flights of stairs to get to the other side. We then had to mix it with the pedestrians to get across. It was a real experience. After the bridge we had to navigate across San Francisco. I only got us lost once. It was pretty hectic and a bit stressful. The last part of the day was climbing up and over the infamous Devils slide roadway below Daly city. I have been worrying about getting Lisa over it safely for months. It's the most dangerous bit of road on the whole trip. Anyway we made it over without mishap and emerged into half moon bay. We decided to gat a hotel as the camping down here is a bit dodgy with all the homeless travelers. Tomorrow we are off to Santa Cruz.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Riding the Golden Gate

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Lisa makes it over the Golden Gate bridge

Planking at the golden gate bridge

Day 16- We made it to San Francisco

33 miles, 3-1/4 hours, SUNNY

Taken a hard earned afternoon off in a swanky hotel. Very nice, I like.

Sunny Lisa is back!

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Planking in San Francisco

Getting it started over here

Hello San Francisco

Thanks legs for bringing me here
Lisa from iPhone

Look we made it to SF

And it's not raining

Floating Houses

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Connie & Wayne

Patiently waiting outside the B&B for us to saddle up.

Made it to San Francisco

Yippee!!!

1450kms in 16 days

Regards Mike from iPhone

Friends on the road

A few days ago we bumped into Rory and Niki on the side of the road. Rory is a mad Scotsman who's claim to fame( at least one of them) is riding the Aussie great ocean road in a kilt. Niki is a lovely San Francisco Gal who Rory somehow talked into riding a bike from Vancouver to Mexico. Since our first meeting we have crossed paths quite a few times and by chance we ended up in the same hotel overnight. They are a lovely pair and we just love bumping into them. We are keeping in contact via SMS to exchange info on road conditions, accommodation and other stuff. Rory is a real unit. I hope I can go touring with him sometime in the future. I'm sure it would be a great laugh.

B&B Bathroom cooking

This post sponsored by Trangia camp stoves, the versatile cooking appliance as used in some North American bathrooms

Bathroom Masterchef Masterclass

Extreme bathroom cooking. Kids don't try this at home.

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When the sun comes out it's all worth it