San Clemente: A Very Bicycle Friendly City
Chuck Lowery
My friend Professor Paul Nevins and I did a 40-mile ride today from mid-Camp Pendleton to Dana Point and back with Lisa Hyden, a roadie in training like myself. We mostly pedaled through the State Park parallel to and west of I-5, on what used to be the original Highway 101 AKA Slaughter Alley or Blood Alley, depending on which name the local paper thought would sell the most copies.
Birds singing, obscure native plants, fresh air, breezes. It was generally smooth and fairly flat.
The most interesting thing happened while riding the Bike Route on the streets through a San Clemente neighborhood. We'd get to stop signs, stop and make eye contact with drivers at the intersection (who would have turned or crossed in front of us) and MOST EVERY ONE waved us through. (Still illegal to run a stop sign, so we were good about stopping while still standing on the bikes. Very considerate drivers. Amazing, in fact. Encouraging.)
I suggest San Clemente go for being a "Bicycle Friendly City" because they already are. We do not get that kind of thoughtful driver in Oceanside. Here they often prefer to honk and blast past you (within 24-inches, at 45 MPH). There, they wave you through the intersection and give you lots of space when passing at a reasonable speed.
We continued on north and stopped to visit Pete at his new bike rental shop in a vintage building right next to the train station in San Clemente. What a great new stop.
Upon arriving in Dana Point we settled down and ordered $7 to $10 lunches at a deli right on the harbor. I enjoyed a grilled vegetable panini sandwich. I'm a cook and a baker and I have opinions about food quality and preparation and this was a better-than-average sandwich. In fact, we all enjoyed our lunches. Good attitudes. We laughed a lot. Probably the water. We sure didn't have any alcohol.
Time to head south. Within a couple of miles we had a flat tire on Lisa's bike. Mechanic Paul has years of experience and walked us through a classroom-style repair. Once the new tube and was in place, he used a CO2 canister to top off the hand-pumped tire and blew out the very likely defective tube so we (he) did another one. A neighbor across the street heard the blowout and brought over a full-size bike tire pump, which made the whole thing a lot easier. (Yet another nice interaction with a human being. I again nominate San Clemente as a Bicycle Friendly City.)
Another 10 uneventful miles and we made it to our parked cars and drove back to Oceanside. In the crawling southbound Friday afternoon traffic. We laughed the whole way.
Thank you for the kind words Chuck. I am no 'professor' far from it. What I passed on to you was the info Pete Pensyres and Kelly DeBoer were good enough to share with me. Anyone interested in riding long distances, commuting, climbing hills and spending more time on your bike instead of your car and doing so safely, confidently without running out of energy should lsten to those two guys. Pete is holding free riding classes until further notice, be sure to sign up. Kelly has mastered the art of electrolyte balance, hydration, nutrition etc. that keeps the body energized and able to ride up walls and ultra distances.