2023: Santa Clarita

Total Distance Biked: 40 Miles

Day 1: The bike ride started off great, and I was happy to be finally out of the house and on the road again. When I started my descent into a neighboring town, I was initially just going to stop nearby and camp the night out. After feeling good, I decided to make my way up a windy road that had almost no shoulder. The path was quite nice, and it had some cool rock faces right next to me.



I made my descent into the next town, and I was not sure of how far I would go. I stopped to get some food and made new plans as to where I would end up. After refilling my water at the country club, I continued my trek up into the mountains. The roads were starting to get packed, as the 5PM crowd was starting to build up. The road I had to take was extremely small, with no shoulder and cars going 40+mph. To get by some of the blind corners, I had to hold my bike, make sure there were no cars coming, and run as fast as I could with my bike and get back on the small dirt pile of a shoulder and wait for another opportunity.



On the way through the mountains, the road was not safe, and I opted to ride on the small dirt shoulder. All was going well, when I looked down and saw that my tires were losing air fast. I went over a small patch that had gained me about 20-30 new punctures, more than I could ever fix. I weighed my options, and decided to go further into the town but walk my bike as to not damage the rims.



As I was walking down the mountain, a van put on its hazards about 100ft in front of me and a man got out and started walking towards me (mind you there is nothing but dirt and mountain behind me). He was wearing all black with a hoodie and was seemingly there for me. A little freaked out, I made sure my hand was on my pocketknife and was ready to throw hands. As he got closer he stared straight at me and I stopped and stared at him as he walked by. The van continued then made its way about 50ft behind me to pick him up.



A little spooked, I finally made it into town and went to the burger king and got some food while mapping out where I would camp for the night. It was dark by this point, and unfortunately I was stuck in the bad part of town. I opted to make my way to a small hiking area nearby and get there through a dirt road. After making sure no one was following me, I booked it up the road and eventually found a truck with its headlights on sitting there. I opted to throw my bike over the ~5ft rockface next to me and climb up as to not be seen.



Literally inside of a bush, I hung out for about an hour until the truck made its way down the road. After checking the maps and seeing a small clearing nearby, I made my way to the next little clearing in the brush. I laid my stuff down and spent time contemplating what just happened. Aside from a few more trucks letting people in an out of this dirt road (weirdly sketchy), the night was calm.



Day 2: After being woken up by a man walking right next to my campsite, I quietly packed my belongings and made my way back to the Burger King. I couldn’t fix my bike and needed to be picked up. After hanging out in the restaurant for a while, I was picked up and it concluded my ride.