Marvin Braude Bike Trail

On Wednesday Les took a floating holiday and we took off to the beach! We rode the Marvin Braude Bike Trail from Santa Monica to Torrance. We wanted to do this last year on my birthday, but were unable to due to crazy wind. Conditions were perfect this week. Temps were in the mid 60s, the sun was shining bright, winds were light...


Here's Myka, ready for a new adventure!


With her partner in crime, the Cannondale...


This is much different than riding Las Llayas Canyon! It's miles and miles of flat pavement. It goes through one little beach town after another. Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Dockweiler Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and finally terminates at Torrance.


We stopped for lunch at Ruby's Diner in Redondo.


This was at the 16 mile mark and I was feeling really good!


We had burgers and onion rings that pretty much negated any calories we burned!


Here is the "official" start point at Torrance.


After lunch, we took a little break on the Redondo pier before heading back. We saw a pod of dolphins while we were there, listened to the seal lions bark, and enjoyed the sunshine.


At just about the 30 mile mark, my mind wandered or something and I clipped Les' back tire with my front tire. I went down HARD! Landed on my left shoulder, scraped my left knee and elbow, scraped my right hand and bruised my right knee! Ouch! We were near a restroom, so I cleaned up and pedaled on. You know me, "I fall down, I get up!" I promise, I am fine. Bruised and scraped, but I will live to ride another day! And thankful that no bones were broken.


We made it back to Santa Monica without further incident.

Stats for the ride: 38.24 miles in 3 hours, 18 minutes. Average speed 11.6 mph. Average heart rate 127. Burned 1,742 calories. Number of smiles and laughs for the day - innumerable!!