Day 23 - Marina del Rey to Costa Mesa

Daily Statistics:
Rode 50.5 miles and burned 2580 calories.
Left the motel at 8:10 and arrived at 12:30.

Today was our final day on the road. Maybe it is because the last couple of days have been so familiar, I haven't taken many pictures. Or maybe it is like Sara said, you take a lot of pictures of the first kid, and when the second one comes along, you forget the camera. At any rate, there were a lot of nice things along the ride, but I didn't capture them.
The first 12 miles or so and the last 10 or so were both great. We rode along the beach initially thru El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa Beach (maybe another beach or two), and eventually cut across the corner of Palos Verdes. I would have liked to go around PV, but the route sheet took us through some awful spots to get to the south side of Long Beach. We didn't have a SAG until 34 miles, I think because Barbara would have been mugged in the earlier spots.
Probably because the ride was coming to an end, most of the group rode together most of the way. At the SAG, I had Barbara take a picture of the group. Here are Dan, Cy, Ron, Craig, Tom, Bill, me, Rachel, and Paul posing for the shot.
After the SAG, we finally got back on the beach in Seal Beach, and on a bike path that allowed us to finally get some speed, after going through street after street with a stop sign on every corner, and Ron warning us that the police hide behind bushes to ticket cyclists for running stop signs. We passed by Mark's old digs in Huntington Beach, on into Newport Beach, finally heading up the hill to the final stop in Costa Mesa.
I may post a final thoughts later, but for now, let me say this was a great route and a fabulous ride. The scenery is incomparable, and the riding very challenging. I would say our average day on this ride was significantly harder than on my cross country last year, even though the average mileage was down. I would recommend the trip to anyone.