wishing all these old things were new

[wishingalltheseoldthingswerenew]

Day 55. Pico Riviera ➡️ Venice. 28 miles. We made it! It was nice to take it real easy heading through Los Angeles, we knew we had a lot of miles to cover through the city and its always slow going riding through city streets. It also just felt right to take it real slow up to the end. That being said, as soon as we turned onto Venice Blvd. I was pushing myself really hard. I just knew the beach was a few minutes away. We had an older guy following us on a road bike wanting to buy us lunch. I just wanted to jump in the ocean. We road up to the beach and I shoved my bike with all my gear all the way to the water and shed my jersey, shoes and socks and ran into the water. People have been asking me how it felt to see and jump in the pacific. I'm not sure I can describe it. Needles to say, it felt really good. Time in Los Angeles has been very chill, lots of time on the beach, riding around Santa Monica, drinking beer and eating good food. The other night Tom and I visited my brother Sky at the restaurant he works at, Sotto in Beverly Hills. We ate like kings after so many days of eating garbage food. Thanks Sky for the great meal! Now time to chill. Tom and I are hear for a couple weeks before we fly home. Mike is shoving off tomorrow to continue riding up the coast for another 15 days. Pretty said to think about us all splitting up. Looking forward to the next big trip!

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Day 54. Rubidoux ➡️ Pico Riviera. 49 miles. Plowing through greater Los Angeles. Lots of smog, possibly smoke from the distant forest fires? Not much in the way of beautiful roads hahah. We basically went through a lot of industrial neighborhoods on our way to the hotel which we were shooting to stay at. We ended up having to hustle for a room but we made it to some trashy motel. We also found out how to add photos to places on google maps that come up when you search. For example if you search "superior grocers" near Pico Riviera you should see a photo of me! Got a bottle of champagne to celebrate our last day of riding tomorrow! Pacific Ocean tomorrow!

[wishingalltheseoldthingswerenew]

Tomorrow, we see the pacific! Little early celebration happening in our hotel room :) (at Pico Rivera, California)

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Day 53. Victorville ➡️ Rubidoux. 53 miles. Pretty epic day today. Managed to ride through a mountain pass on some crazy dirt trail. Some of the day was spent pushing our bikes up steep rocky trails in the mid day sun. A little scary because we thought today was going to be an easy day passing lots of as stations with water and coke and ice creams. So we weren't carrying as much water as we were during the desert. The mountain pass wasn't too bad in the end but it got our hearts going. Just took it super easy, lots of breaks and a little water ration. We made it to the city (not technically) but we aren't in the desert anymore! Time to celebrate with a motel 6! Sleeping with the ac on!

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Day 52. Yermo ➡️ Victorville. 40 miles. What a chill day. We got up with the sun and took off from camp. We didn't have many miles to go but we have been leaving early to beat the heat. We have been climbing and descending pretty much constantly out here. I thought the desert would be flat but it's pretty mountainous. Almost like boulders surfacing from the sands. Made it to town bust before 11am. Got to camp, jumped in the pool and took it easy. Managed to get to a post office before closing to mail home some cool weather cloths. My brother says I look like I'm thinner in the face? I'm not sure...

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Day 51 (UFO day). Baker➡️ Yermo. 55 miles. Another relentless desert. Ended our ride at a camp site (first one in almost a week). So it was hot... But we had shade and a couple of hammocks to lay in. The highlight of the day happened late at night when we saw something burning through the atmosphere. We thought it might have been a plane crashing but it was way to big and was going too slow. I thought for sure it was a ufo. Before it passed over some distant mountains it looked like a huge glowing metallic object. Was it blinking? What was that thing.... Am I going crazy out here? Here is what we saw: https://www.google.com/amp/fox13now.com/2016/07/28/space-debris-lights-up-utah-sky/amp/?client=safari P.s I also included a photo of my new tent (after my first tent melted in Arizona).

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Day 50. Primm NV ➡️ Baker, CA. 50 miles. Well... Here we are California! Pretty crazy to be here. I keep looking every so often at google maps and zooming out out out and seeing my glowing blue dot that is moving through America. I made it to California! Not much to say as of today. The desert is relentless. Never have I been so consistently worried about myself and my survival. Riding can only happen between dark and 11:30am, after that we are hot with 115degree heat and killer head winds. We are drinking gallons of hot water because there is literally nothing on the road for miles. My head is usually faced down for most of the day. The landscape is beautiful but I fear my brain will cool if I stop for a few pictures. Stayed at a motel and eat some Burger King... Been living off fast food for the past week!

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Day 49. Las Vegas ➡️ Primm. 42 miles. We left the hostel pretty early this morning to try and beat the heat. Not a huge day mileage-wise but it's a hell of a lot easier riding while the sun is coming up. We managed to escape some heat but not the head winds. Riding through the strip at 5:30am was pretty weird. Vegas has been a weird place. Not sure I would ever want to come back. Very over stimulating. If you do go to Vegas, go to an all you can eat buffet in a casino and you will get the full experience. Cut throat, glutton, lack of respect, in human. Happy to be out of Vegas although Primm is not much different. Our hotel (which is also a casino) has a roller coaster that runs around and inside of it. Pretty funny. Changing up our route, eager for Los Angeles. Sleeping in a big bed tonight!

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Day 48. Mesquite ➡️ Las Vegas. 94 miles. Pretty rough day into Vegas. We had originally broken this leg up into two days but we made good time in the morning and saw signs for Vegas so we decided to go for it. After heading away from what was supposed to be our end point for the day (Moapa Valley) we were hit with strong head winds and of course lots of heat. We easily doubled the mileage for the day and after getting battered by the winds we knew it was a dumb idea to try and power through. With not many places to stop at we were sort of stranded on the highway, forced to just keep moving. We ended up splitting up the day by stopping at rest stops to cool down, fuel up and keep cold water. A full water bottle of ice water might last 7 miles before the ice melts and the water starts to get as hot as the air. At times drinking water is more like drinking hot tea water. Not much you can do out here to avoid this situation. We hung out at a few gas stations along our route, one or two hours spent sitting and doing nothing. It made for a super long day of riding but there wast much else we could do. Taking it slow and being safe about being cool was all our efforts were focused on. The hard day payed off in the end as we descended into Las Vegas valley as the sun was setting. Should be a nice couple of days hanging out in Vegas, resting up and getting my broken tent situation figures out.

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Day 48. Mesquite ➡️ Las Vegas. 94 miles. Pretty rough day into Vegas. We had originally broken this leg up into two days but we made good time in the morning and saw signs for Vegas so we decided to go for it. After heading away from what was supposed to be our end point for the day (Moapa Valley) we were hit with strong head winds and of course lots of heat. We easily doubled the mileage for the day and after getting battered by the winds we knew it was a dumb idea to try and power through. With not many places to stop at we were sort of stranded on the highway, forced to just keep moving. We ended up splitting up the day by stopping at rest stops to cool down, fuel up and keep cold water. A full water bottle of ice water might last 7 miles before the ice melts and the water starts to get as hot as the air. At times drinking water is more like drinking hot tea water. Not much you can do out here to avoid this situation. We hung out at a few gas stations along our route, one or two hours spent sitting and doing nothing. It made for a super long day of riding but there wast much else we could do. Taking it slow and being safe about being cool was all our efforts were focused on. The hard day payed off in the end as we descended into Las Vegas valley as the sun was setting. Should be a nice couple of days hanging out in Vegas, resting up and getting my broken tent situation figures out.

[wishingalltheseoldthingswerenew]

Day 47. Hurricane, UT ➡️ Mesquite, NV. 60 miles. As we make our way to Vegas we have been trying to sort out this big interstate (15) that we will be riding on/alongside. It is the most direct route into Vegas and we aren't 100% sure we can be on it. To get to Mesquite we took a frontage road that followed it through St. George until it dumped us onto a gravel road at the Arizona state line. We continued on and found ourselves pushing our bikes over huge rocks and trough sand traps. What started as a gravel road ended up turning into a small atv road through the desert. It was slow going which meant the heat really got to us. After a few hours we came out from the trail onto a road that lead to the interstate which we ended up taking. We got on right before a canyon pass so the road was a little sketchy with a small shoulder. After the pass I saw a small sign that said "bicycles use shoulder only". I guess that answers our question. The interstate, although big with lots of cars provides us with a safe ground. If anything were to happen we would be better off on a huge interstate then to be stranded on a small atv road. We made our way to Beaver Dam, AZ with hopes to find an rv park to stay at. Unfortunately the park wasn't really into helping us out so we had to keep going into the next town to find a motel. Along the way I met another cyclist who I saw in Zion on my way for a hike. His name is Josh and he is riding to raise money for his friend with breast cancer. He started on May 26th in jersey and is scheduled to arrive in LA around August 4th, pretty much the same time frame as our crew! It's good meeting people along the way who are headed in a similar direction because it gives the opportunity to share information about the road and what routes are best. Josh was avoiding the interstate so we could let each other know how our routes compared. Turns out the following day Josh got stuck on a similar dirt road that we got slowed down on, only difference is the road we had to take was only a couple miles and the one he took was 16. He told me he didn't make it to camp until 9:30pm. Scary stuff out here in the desert. Here is a link if you want to support: www.gofundme.com/RobinReedFund

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Day 46. Zion/Springdale ➡️ Hurricane. 34 miles. Realizing how close we are to Los Angeles we decided to slow things down. After some intense days we need to chill and take it slow going through the desert. It is tough to only ride a few miles out here because towns are so spread out. So when we say another camp site only a few miles outside of Zion we decided to take it. It worked out great actually because there are no showers in Zion? We grabbed a safe KOA just outside St. George to do some laundry and take a shower. We are honing in on a plan to LA which feels pretty good. Los Angeles is sort of a hard topic for me to think about. This trip has been so amazing and I have really enjoyed all the places I've seen and stayed at, it's hard to think of that flight back to brooklyn. To end on a better note I'll just list everything I have consumed today (so far...): breakfast burrito, chocolate glazed doughnut, coffee, apple juice, apple, iced tea, chips and cheese, humans and bread, a 32oz bottle of naked juice, salad kit, some gold fish, another salad kit, more bread, end of the goldfish, and I'm headed to make "dinner" now. Happy camping

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We stayed in Zion Canyon for two and a half days, when can we go back? Here are some photos of this crazy amazing place. We mostly kicked backed and took it easy. We ate a lot of good food, drank a lot of good locally brewed beer. I went on a pretty long hike the last day to see what the canyons looked like from the top instead of inside. It's a pretty magical place though, I want to go back.

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Day 45. Kanab ➡️ Springdale/Zion. 65 miles. After a water scare the previous day I have focused a lot more on my hydration. Drinking lots of water, juice and what not after riding and during the early morning hours. The past two hot hot days we started our day around 4am to beat the heat. The early start is pretty rough, hard to get out of your sleeping bag and get rolling. Today we started an hour later and I also got some things for a good breakfast so I could just munch and run after I pack up camp. We shoved off and watched our long shadows in a line of three dance across the ground as we left Kanab. Today we had the pleasure of rolling through a town along the way so we stopped and took a quick break to drink and shovel some trail mix and jerky into my system. Twenty or so miles from Zion we had to turn off of the highway onto "Main Street" which ended up being the craziest dirt road with steep down hills and large rocks and deep and pits. We soldiered on. Got a flat. Descended sitting on the top tube with one foot unclipped. Made it out in one piece with a little less break pad material. The crazy dirt road plopped us out onto the main road that goes through Zion park which was a crazy experience. It was almost like riding through Mars, no people, insane landscape, nothing but the sound of the rushing wind and the kicked up dirt that hit your face. We crossed a narrow steel bridge and boom, there we were crossing along Winnebagos and other campers. Zion is an amazing place. Such crazy rock formations and colors. There are tons of people from all over the world coming here for a nice camping experience. We found our camp site pretty early in the day. Set up our tents, walked down to the river for a beer and some r&r. Mike heard of an imax theater in town so we walked over and saw xmen (terrible terrible movie). I think I went just to get a taste of New York life even for just a couple hours, soaking up some ac and sipping on a coke. Rest day tomorrow in this beautiful place!

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Day 44. Page, AZ ➡️ Kanab, UT. 75 miles. Page to Kanab was a very rough day for me. The last half of the day we were hit with some really nasty head winds. The kind that will just blow you off the shoulder or mess with your balance as a big truck woooshes by and sucks you into the road. The wind was a distraction for the heat but it intensified the dry air. We ended up getting separated, long straight roads with short hills made it hard to gauge where Mike and tom were as I got to the top of each hill. I was out back though, straggling along. I rounded out the day by running out of water 17 miles from town. The air and wind felt like it was going to evaporate me. I was rationing my water little by little with each mile but it didn't last. I kept riding, a screaming wind in my face, making me shout, making me curse, making me cry. It was scary. I kept pedaling at an agonizing 5 mph and every time. Car would pass I would hold up my empty water bottle. Eventually a guy and his wife stopped and gave me a half empty water bottle they had sitting in their truck. I continued on and another family had stopped down the road after seeing me and handed me two cool bottles of water. I felt much better, still pretty shaken up but I took it slow the last few miles.

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Here are some photos I took during a hike in the Antelope Canyon while we were hanging out in Page, AZ

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Day 43. Tsegi ➡️ Page. 85 miles. Another desert day down. Today wasn't so bad. The ride through monument valley was really hard for me. Didn't have the strength and did t have the confidence with being in the dry and the heat. Today was different, I was feeling really good. Nice high rolling speed and wanting to power on, knowing that it's only going to get hotter, so you gotta knock out as many miles in the cooler hours. It was a long day and 85 miles feels like a lot when it's I. The dry and in the heat. We are carrying lots of water. Usually 4-5 liters at a time. I think the hardest part is trying to cool down and hydrate with water that has been sitting in the 105 degree heat all day. What can you do? This is the hard part of the trip. Just need to power through. Page is a cool place. Right next to the Glen Canyon Dam and bridge. They have a big lake so lots of people come here for the water sports, camping, and canyoning. It's been interesting too as we have been entering Native American reservations so the dynamic is different. Cool change in culture and people. Pretty crazy to just roll up and get a feel for how things are right off the bat. Page is a cool place though, if it wasn't blistering hot I think it would be a fun place to live. Rest day tomorrow, try and check out some canyon tours and maybe swim?