Tour Day 106 The End Oct 10 2010

Last night I was down in the dumps because in all honesty I did not feel like I had accomplished all that much. Now I usually pack my life up at night and get on the road early in the morning but for some reason I decided to sleep in this morning and unpack a few of my things and check my emails. When I checked my blog I was quickly brought down to earth by the amazing people who are in my life. It really meant a lot to wake up t have people assuring me that I was doing the right thing.

Now as much as having other people say it was the right thing I still was not convinced myself. So I left with thoughts of the future in my head. Right after passing angles stadium I got onto the Santa Anna bike path. This bike path was crazy full with cyclists. Now me being hyper competitive I would not let people pass me without a fight. This would be all fine and dandy if I did not get into a pissing match with a hyper distance racer. George of georgesepicadventures.com is a pretty amazing guy. He has completed the R.A.A.M. and multiple 500-mile races. When I asked jokingly if he wanted to trade bike he confronted me with a very serious “yes”. We were at two different stages of our cycling careers. He wants to tour long and slow. I want to race long and fast. I do not think it is a coincidence that I met this man on the last day of my ride.

It is also is not a coincidence that 5 kilometres down the road I ran into a man with bags strapped to his bike. After catching up to this guy I asked him where we has going, and he said just around the block for a day to shake out his gear. This man is thinking of doing a long distance tour of America so I offered him what little advice I had. I almost felt as if this was a symbolic passing of the torch.

After talking for a while I promptly missed all of my turns that I had planned out, but fortunately my new route took me right along the water for my symbolic wheel dunking. When I got to Laguna Beach I decided that this was going to be the finishing point. So after struggling to get my bike down the white sandy beach and answering multiple questions I found the most beautiful woman on the beach and approached he asking if I could get my picture taken of the wheel dipping. Even better Stephanie just so happened to be a very good photographer and managed to take a few very good photos that made me look like the stud that I am.

After that I was back on the road and I had the task of trying to find a house that I had not been to since I was 9 years old. I had directions but me being stubborn I was dead set on finding it by gut. This actually got me pretty close but I did need the directions for the last stretch.

Well 66km later I am here. With family enjoying having company for a change. It is nice having someone around for more then a couple hours. After getting a good nap in today I am ready to go jet skiing tomorrow.

Well thanks to everyone for reading I will still be posting my daily journal but I will no longer have stories of running into strangers in the desert, or endless flats. The blog will be more about the day-to-day life of a normal 18-year-old boy.
Trip Distance: 66km
Ride Time: 2:53hr
Avg. Speed: 22.76km/h
Total Distance: 15777km
Total Ride Time: 731hr
Destination: Laguna Hills, California