After the incendiary map incident last night, and down to half a water bottle, I soon found myself in the middle of this dry mountainous scenery.
127 hours this was not however, and I soon bumped into a local forest ranger at a crucial junction. I don't think he'd ever been asked 'which way to LA?' before, but he pointed me down another quiet mountain road, and in another half hour I had popped into the LA metropolis, and the safety of liquid refreshment and WiFi!
All I needed to do now was get across to the south of LA from the north and I'd be done. Chevy Chase Drive was the best and funniest starting point, as memories of Caddy Shack came rolling back. The manicured driveways, security fences, gardeners and lack of random rusting old farm equipment was a stark contrast to the last few weeks.
Soon enough I had rolled into Hollywood and soon after that I wished I was elsewhere. Riding through Hollywood had seemed like a funny thing to do, but the reality was heaving with tourists, bad drivers, commercial tat and potholes. I hit Santa Monica Boulevard and headed for the safety of the bike path down the west coast.
LA is not a cycle friendly city by any stretch of the imagination, but every once in a while they have enough width in the road to fit in a psychopath, I mean cycle path...
And so I reached the Pacific coast again. With only 20 miles or so left to travel down the coast a celebratory burger, beer and people watch at Venice Beach was in order. Venice Beach is home to almost all of the LA eccentrics that aren't comfortable in in Hollywood. An hour spent here makes you feel incredibly normal, even if you've spent 3 weeks on a bicycle riding up and down mountains.
Fueled on ale, burger fat and excitement I whizzed along the beach side bike path until it came to an end. I paused for reflection, looking back across LA bay. Lake Tahoe was many hundreds of miles, and perhaps millions of pedal revolutions up the road now. It's amazing how a simple bicycle, the basic design of which is unchanged for over 100 years, can enable such endeavours by normal people like myself. Surely the bicycle is the best and most enduring invention of modern times?
20 minutes later, and half a mile from Pete and Suzi's house I was cursing the unchanged design of the bloody pneumatic tyre however - I'd picked up a puncture! Not to be defeated, or delayed, I continued up the steep road, approaching my destination on the rim (luckily it was a front puncture). I cycled up to the house, which didn't have a welcome banner on it strangely, and much to Suzi, Zara and Charlie's surprise I cycled through the French doors (open) and into the dining room! Suzi fetched a beer from then fridge, I jumped into the pool and my adventure through the High Sierra mountains was over.
