Day 58 – Glendora to Santa Monica Pier

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The alarm went off at 6 am on the final day of our Route 66 adventure, although it was closer to 6:30 am before we entered the kitchen to be welcomed by Ken and Neil, who were clearly a little more awake than we were. Susan joined us shortly after and we all set down for a lovely breakfast, continuing the conversation from last night. Too soon it was time to load the panniers onto our bikes and head off into the city for our last 50 miles of Route 66. After a quick photoshoot, we were off cycling down the road, sincerely hoping to see Ken and Susan again one day.

Through amazing planning, we had narrowed the probability of our final day, which would involve 50 miles of city cycling, down to a one in seven chance of being on a Sunday, which we hoped would be the quietest day on the roads. While the Adventure Cycling Association suggests a route for cyclists that parallels the official Route 66, we had decided that as we had come this far on Route 66 wherever possible, we were going to see it through to the end and not allow the thought of cycling through Los Angeles put us off.

When we first navigated our way back on to Route 66, Peter and Janice gave us a wave as they were setting up for the second day of their yard sale, we found the roads relatively quiet. The area around Ken and Susan’s home was clearly a popular route for lycra-clad road cyclists on a Sunday morning, with everything from large groups in the same colours through to a single cyclist putting in the miles. The most noticeable thing about these numerous encounters was that without exception, we didn’t receive a single response from any of them to a ‘good morning’ or to an outstretched hand that we had used to acknowledge a fellow cyclist over the previous 2,600 miles. Not one!

As our initial plan was to follow the advice of the Adventure Cycle Association we didn’t have a route for the day programmed into our Garmins so the plan was to follow the road signs, which we regretted when the sign’s dried up, the roads slowly got busier, and we got a little lost. Thankfully with the help of Google Maps, we managed to find Sunset Boulevard which then lead us through traffic that was getting more insane by the minute to Santa Monica Boulevard, which would then lead us all the way to Pacific Avenue and Santa Monica Pier. From the junction between Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, way off in the distance, we could see the Hollywood sign for the first time. We were getting close.

As we cycled down Santa Monica Boulevard, the traffic lights became more numerous, with us getting stopped at every other one without fail, so the miles were not counting down as quickly as they had earlier in the day and our legs starting to pull with the effort of having to get a 50kg bike moving again every couple of blocks. We passed through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, taking whatever opportunities we could for the odd photoshoot that the traffic would allow.

Eventually, as the sun was starting its descent to the horizon we could feel the sea breeze on our faces, although the smell of sea air was likely blocked from the car fumes of the city. We spilt out onto Pacific Avenue shortly after 3 pm and cycled along to the turn off onto the pier. Being a Sunday the area was crowded, more people than we had experienced in one place since leaving the streets of Chicago.

Passing through the Santa Monica Pier gateway we looked down on the pier itself below us as we cycled down the steep bank to the end of the ride. We literally couldn’t see the pier for the people on it.

Pushing through the crowds we first made it to the ‘End of Route 66’ booth, selling tat souvenirs.

While taking our first photos of us on the pier another cyclist pulled up on a lightweight road bike. Jane had spent that previous four days cycling down from San Francisco, the route that we would be cycling up later in the week. We chatted for a while, but it soon became clear that we weren’t’ going to get much useful information about what lay ahead of us when she said that the route was relatively flat, with less than 5,000 ft of climbing over the 300 miles of the route. Knowing that the route is in fact almost 500 miles and has approximately 30,000 ft of climbing we could only assume she either hadn’t just cycled down from San Francisco or doesn’t pay too much attention when it comes to the detail of the routes that she cycles. That said, I can’t imaging how you could cycle between these two cities and not have a clue how far you have cycled, so am going with the former explanation.

The next task, and possibly the most difficult of the entire journey, was to attempt to get a photo next to the ‘End of the Trail’ sign, with a long queue of people waiting to have their photographs taken next to it. Not able to join the queue due to our two-wheeled companions, we ended up waiting until a group of Chinese tourists were at the front of the line, having noted that they definitely joined the queue while we were standing there, and pushed our bikes over to the post. One of the Chinese girls give us a big smile and without being asked, offered to take our photos.

With photoshoots over and a message posted on Facebook that it was ‘DONE’, we headed to our accommodation, just 1.5 miles away. Our accommodation for the next few days was one of those one in a million chances. During the summer a chap from the US had been in touch with me in my capacity as Britsail admin and general dogsbody. John was travelling the globe and wanted to learn to sail in Scotland. Unfortunately, all of our sailing courses were full, but at the time he was planning to be in Scotland I had arranged to go sailing with a friend, Dave Allen, on his yacht, and another pal that never turns down a sail, Mike Taylor.

I checked with Dave and John was more than welcome to join us. We had a great nine days of sailing across to Northern Ireland and the Isle of Gigha, even rescuing a cyclist with an enlarged left testicle along the way (a story for another day!). When we returned on dry land John spent a few days with Mike before coming down to our home in Biggar. Just before John headed off on the next leg of his journey, he gave me a set of keys. He had cleared it with his folks and knowing that we were planning to cycle Route 66, the keys were to the door of his parents condominium in Santa Monica, just 1.5 miles from the end of the route.

With our panniers unloaded and the bikes chilling out in the patio area, we headed out to find somewhere to enjoy a celebration meal… 2 minutes later we decided that we really couldn’t be bothered with a restaurant, so headed to Vons supermarket just 10 minutes down the road instead. Old habits die hard!! 🙂

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