In October 2019 Adam and I flew out to Los Angeles with a lot of camping gear and zero bikes – an unconventional approach to bike touring! That’s because we were on a mission to attend Bike! Bike! In Tijuana, being held at Bicis Dicidentes, and we were planning to ride there on recycled bikes that we could donate at the other end.

And that’s exactly what we did! We spent an afternoon at The Bicycle Kitchen in LA, fixing up some matching ‘his and hers’ red bikes, and the next day we set off from Long Beach (after a very sketchy bus ride), heading south.

We followed the coast, camping at Doheny State Beach near San Clemente and San Elijo State Beach in Encinitas. The third night we hit San Diego and stayed in someone’s back yard, before crossing the border into Tijuana on day 4.

It was one of the most amazing experiences, from type 2 fun riding on the hard shoulder of the Interstate 5 (utterly terrifying) to the actual fun of having an abandoned airstrip to ourselves!

There was also a really great descent into Carmel Valley, with the expanse of the Pacific Ocean opening up on our right, before we climbed up and around Torrey Pines.

Within minutes of arriving at Bicis Dicidentes, we were approached by a guy asking us if we knew Big Al. BBP is a global phenomenon (or at least Al is!)

Written by Mildred Locke, BBP volunteer & Director.