Day 58 - Yucaipa to Beaumont - 10/5/15, Sunday

12 miles, 1140 feet up

Rain storm rolling through...

Yet, we decided to ride on, braving cold, wet and gusty winds!

The place we stayed last night was so charming!

And inviting!

Kinda warm and fuzzy, huh?

Not that we minded the woman yelling in the middle of the night, the loud conversations outside our window, the headboard on the bed shaking when someone went up and down the stairs to the room above ours, or the pickup with the bad muffler that took forever to park!

No, we'd just been too lucky with weather so far and being cold would be a new dimension to explore!

We had breakfast at a restaurant nearby and were talking with another customer about our trip. He offered us a ride if we needed one. The rain had stopped when we headed out, but we found that he'd left a message that he would come get us because the rain had gotten heavier.

I called to thank him - we were already in a warm, friendly, comfortable hotel.

Day 57 - Big Bear Lake to Yucaipa - 10/3/15, Saturday

53 miles, 2919 up and 6942 down!

No photos today!?  Actually, yes. See at the bottom for Rose's input.

We had great breakfast burritos at the Off Broadway Cafe in Big Bear City, then started the climb to Onyx summit. It was a steady climb and pretty, but nothing inspired me to stop for pictures.

The summit was over 8000 feet, so we added layers of clothes for the descent, which went on and on! We did stop to pull off layers as we reached lower elevations, then kept rolling downhill to Yucaipa.

We hadn't found camping because it's the weekend and many of the campgrounds are closed. So, we stopped at a pizza place and ate our weight worth of salad at the all you can eat salad bar. While we ate we looked up local hotels - one was full, the other was way out of the way and the last one didn't answer the phone... So, we decided to ride over to the last one. The next possible place to stop is 15 or so more miles and it's late in the day.

The Sunset Motel has a prominent sign by the security window that says no prostitution is allowed. The fee is $60 per night, plus a $5 deposit that is returned when the key is turned in. Security cameras abound. The TV doesn't work so they gave us $5 back. Well, the shower works, there's WiFi and the overhead light works...

I guess you could say that when we have a choice of one, the decision is easy!

Rose's note: Onyx summit is the highest road summit in so cal, wow!

Non bike notes

Frank is letting me write in his blog (whoo hoo!) so I thought I'd take advantage of it. :-)  I have a few notes on my non bike list of things to consider for the next trip. If you backpack, our lists should sound very familiar. Here we go:

With only one set of maps, we'll copy them for the other person to have and follow. Frank has the originals but I miss having a set of my own

Bring state maps along, maybe with appropriate sections cut out. Sometimes we don't know where we are in the grand scheme of things.

Bring my foldable backpacking bucket for washing clothes

Ova Easy egg crystals, instant eggs! Thanks Evelyn!

Binoculars!

We've had trouble finding dehydrated vegetables in the stores, so for the next trip I will dehydrate more vegetables (hopefully from our garden) along with cooked tuna, chicken, and will try dehydrating cooked hamburger.

Lastly, we're considering bringing a back up stove. Does that sound familiar, Leilani? ;-) Each would have different fuel--one solid fuel, one canister or an International Whisper lite which uses white, car or kerosene gas

Next bikes - wish list

Both of us are riding bikes that have been modified for touring. We're ready to make the jump to dedicated touring bikes. So, here's stuff we'd change.

Correct bike fit: 

Trudy's bike is a men's frame, so she may be a little more stretched out and lower than optimum for touring. Maybe flat bars? She doesn't ride in the drops much at all.

My bike is a 'cross bike, so the frame angles are for quicker handling. I want more neutral handling and a more upright riding position.

Front rack and panniers for me. As much for organizing stuff as for weight distribution. There's stuff like cold weather clothing that I've only used two or three times that takes up room.

A bigger gear range for Trudy. Mine's a pretty standard mountain bike set up with a triple up front and works well for me. I don't know the numbers, though.

Disc brakes. 

Pedal choice?

Internal cables to solve problems with handlebar bags?

Maybe couplers to make shipping bikes easier.

Bike stuff- repairs

Here's the stuff we've fixed, so far:

Me:

3 flats, two from road wire & one defective valve (it happened at a bike shop, so one new tube!)

Right cleat got loose, so I stuck it back on with some Locktite and it hasn't moved. It did get me thinking about pedal / cleat choices. If I'd lost the cleat, I'd be pedaling with one leg for oh, 2000 miles.

I bought another water bottle and cage, so I could redistribute weight and have water easier to reach.

Trudy:

Replaced both tires in Fresno - she had some miles on them already when we started.

Moved her handlebar bag to rear rack. We thought it might be affecting her shifting because it pushed down on the cable housings.

Both:

We've both had our derailleurs adjusted.

We've lubbed the chains, but don't have a way to clean them.

Day 56 - relaxing layover day at Big Bear Lake! 10/2/15, Friday

No hills to climb!

Trudy's note:  we had a very leisurely morning, breakfast, organized stuff, then walked down to the much lower and smaller lake and sat, relaxed, read for a couple of hours. Frank did his blog and I napped. A well deserved day off! Frank then volunteered ro ride 2 miles (4 r/t) to buy chips, bean dip, a beer and wine. What a guy!

Day 55 - Crestline to Big Bear Lake, 10/1/15

34 miles, 3857 up

By now, you may be thinking: "that Frank, every day he writes about the same distance, the same elevation gain, has a photo of some distant mountains and a picture of Trudy riding up some steep hill - the bum is probably sitting at home, making this stuff up!"

Not so!

We're sitting at a picnic table at Big Bear Lake right now, pecking away at our phones - 6000 ft elevation here, so 38 degrees tonight (long johns on already!), having a glass of wine...

We seem to be gaining 1000 ft or so every 10 miles, so we must be going downhill sometimes... The trouble is the downhills go by so quickly and the uphill so slowly! Sigh!

You may have also noticed that I started adding the date and day of the week. That's for me, thanks! It's all becoming sort of a blur... Get up, make breakfast, pack up, ride bike about 50 miles through beautiful countryside, meet interesting people, find place to stay, drink beer & eat bag of chips, set up camp & eat dinner, go to bed when it gets dark (read and/or blog), sleep, repeat. What a lifestyle!

Anyway, here's today!

We stayed last night in a hotel near Gregory Lake in Crestline. It was a really nice place with more pillows on the bed than there was bed. 

The climb from the lake to the highway was a... No polite words...

Anyway, we got to our route and were scratching our heads because the highway signs seemed to point 3 directions... A local bike rider came to the rescue!

We rode along the "Rim of the World" highway and it was... Beautiful!

We spent a bit of time debating where in the great state of CA we were... Our maps give us a small window on the world - that's San Bernadino below and Ontario airport way to the right- you see that, don't you?

Here's the mountain range from above for the day... I have to say that now, when I see a road off in the distance to the south, I think I may be riding on it soon.

See that tiny white line? That's our road?

So, here's the road ahead - level or slightly downhill... Optimism prevails!

No shots of Trudy tackling yet another hill - every time I looked, she had big ****** grin!