A short blog for what seems now to have been a whirlwind few weeks!

As I said in the last blog, I was off to Los Angeles to meet a friend and then my parents.

Arriving on the Wednesday I saw my good friend Claire Bloxham first.

We used to work together at a pub in Banbury and I am forever indebted to her as she kept me sane through my year of work to save up for this trip.

We did all the usual stuff, Hollywood Boulevard, a Star Tour, etc but the most pleasing thing is always to find how little has changed in the 18 months since I've left home.

It was a great 3 days and then on the weekend my Mum and Dad flew into Los Angeles.

Much to all our relief, not a lot had changed here either - Mum still worries about me, Dad still can't drive and I'm still as cheeky to my parents as I always have been.

Me with a couple of clowns and also The Simpsons

The following two weeks were great - although different to what I've become accustomed too.

First of all, I was eating well - as in proper food!

Second, in just 14 days we took in Los Angeles, Ventura, Cambria, San Francisco, Yosemite and San Diego.

My mind boggled as I tried to work out how long it would have taken to ride all this, and I realised the cycling monster I've become as I analysed every little road in terms of how good the riding there would have been.

The two weeks came and went all too quickly, but with a full belly and the knowledge that life at home isn't missing me too much I waved goodbye to Mum and Dad and hopped back on the train to Cambria, as for the next 3 and a half weeks I had arranged work on the farm in the day and as a busboy in a restaurant in the evenings.

Work is work and I was grateful for the extra cash and also a rest! 

On the left, George and Beth, who owned the farm I worked on, on the right, Tom and Michelle, the next door neighbours

Aside from that I only really have one story to tell from the last few weeks - how I won $20 off of the first ever World Frisbee Golf Champion!

The above picture is Tom, aka TK (bottom right), who lived next door to the farm I was working on. He's a big cycling fan and I watched Le Tour with him and his wife Michelle in the summer and I also happened to know that they met through their involvement in what was a new sport at the time: Ultimate Frisbee.

I was working on Toms driveway for a couple of days and as we were at the top of his drive I began talking to him about Ultimate Frisbee and also Frisbee Golf (for those who don't know and can't put 2 & 2 together, Frisbee Golf is golf but instead of a ball, you use a frisbee and you're aiming for a pole with a basket, not a hole).

Now Tom's house is on a hill, he lives half way up it, so on one side of his driveway is a large hill going up and on the other side is an even bigger drop down. The driveway in question goes further up the hill to other properties, and the part I was working on was up here so we were stood about 150 yards past his driveway looking down, and in front of his house I notice a 20 foot bird pole.

'Ok Tom, if I was to play Frisbee Golf, how many shots would I need to hit that pole?'
'Oh, hmmm, it's not easy because you've got the slant so if you miss your first shot you've lost your disc, but I would say 5'
'No way could you do that in 5'
'It's not easy but yeah, I could'
'I bet you $10 you can't'

TK also has a very, very competitive side and 10 minutes later we were stood in the same spot, disc in hand. TK's wife Michelle stood at the bottom to watch where the disc would go.

A moments pause for tension, a big run up and............. the disc missed the road and sailed down the hill into the brush, never to be seen again!

So that was $10 in the bank - but as I'm a nice guy and I felt bad that I'd just lost him a good frisbee I offered 'double or quits'.

I'd ridden a couple of times with TK and in Cambria I was working on Santa Rosa Creek Road, which is home to a fairly famous 'loop' ride. The ride goes up Santa Rosa Creek road to an elevation of around 500 metres, where it joins Highway 46 and you descend down to Cambria, before turning back onto Santa Rosa Creek road to end where you began.

Above: The route map. Below: The Elevation Profile (god I love mapmyride!)

TK had told me they had done it in 1 hour 53 a few weeks previously and that this was the fastest they'd ever been (they also stopped for a rest so add some more time for that!) so me and my big mouth waded in.

'Ok TK, double or quits - I bet I can do it in an hour and 40'.

'You're on'

New Years morning (the first news years I can remember in a long time where I woke up without a hangover!) came and it was time for the ride. I borrowed TK's road bike and was off - pushing it as hard as I could and remembering quickly that I hadn't ridden properly in 6 weeks!

I soon found out I'd pushed it too hard, as when I took the Gu (energy boost gel) I had bought in preparation half way up the major climb, I threw it straight back up all over myself!

Feeling like I was back in Japan I flew up the hill and as I hit the descent down from 2,000 feet I knew it was close.

I had put my odometer on Toms bike and knew the average speed I needed to attain to get the right time.

I was getting closer, closer, closer and the last few km's I was pushing harder and harder. The last downhill came and the flat sprint back to his front gate kicked in.

I could see his gate, went for it, and then as I crossed the line I checked the time - the target was 1:40:00.

1:39:54!

At the finish line - the wet patch on my arm is from where I threw up on myself!

Get in - $20 (which has gone straight to SOS - please keep giving!) in the bank and I am now beginning to realise I am actually very fast on a bicycle (and am fairly certain I will at least try racing when I get back - maybe)!

So that was that, work finished up and I had to move on again as the clock was ticking on my US visa.

Happy New Year and keep on riding!