A quick mini bike tour vacation.
Sunday we left the house and headed to Melrose ave, to ride the ciclavia event there. Honestly, not my favorite CicLAvia , but still fun. It was a short course, and had some fun Stranger Things themed decorations, but it was just too crowded for my taste.
From there we drove to Ventura, had dinner, walked around town and then swam in the hotel pool.
Monday we got up, loaded bags onto my cargo bike, left the truck behind, and set off to ride to Santa Barbara. It was along the ocean for a chunk of it, and nice bike trail, though the road noise from the 101 was hard to ignore. We weren’t setting any speed records, had stops at the beach and a delicious burger lunch, and as we approached Santa Barbara I was getting concerned about making our hotel before the early sunset. The last stretch to our hotel was a long gradual climb, and there was definitely some grumbling and tired legs. But everyone pushed through and we got to our hotel about 20 minutes before dark. Checked in, showered, rested a bit. Then went for dinner at the Mexican restaurant that was thankfully in the parking lot.
Today we got up, had breakfast, then took an Uber to the mission in Santa Barbara. My plan had been to bike, but I got vetoed. We walked a few miles to the center of Santa Barbara, enjoyed some gluten free pastries, ice cream and walked around the shops. Met up with my old friend Kristin, and after a nice visit with her she drove us back to our hotel, we grabbed our bikes and rode to the Amtrak station, then enjoyed a nice sunset train ride to Ventura, rode a couple miles back to the truck, loaded up and drove home.
Ventura to SB Bike tour · Nov 23 – 25, 2025 📸
