may 31st...day 7

today was a short ride and WIND FREE!!! oh what a feeling to go 16 to 20mph on flat ground after days on end of wind. we rode about 47 miles today from Monterey to Santa Cruz. what a fun show last night at Monterey Live.



a great bunch of people came out to here us and Vermillion Lies. we really appreciate the support. Justin drew some amazing drawings of the show.







this was the first night playing with the back drop on this tour. eric and dennis came all the way from LA and were a big help in the set up and loading this afternoon.

Jimmy Perry made a beautiful poem dedicated to John Lambdin called "The Ditty Bops have ascended upon your town"



ride details: most of the ride took us along a bike path and through agricultural fields of strawberrys and artichokes. abby's USDA certified organic status is no longer applicable as she rode through a cloud of pesticides sprayed by some guy dressed like the scientist who messed with E.T. Amanda had her first spill on the sidewalk in front of a Bagel internet cafe. she fell gracefully. ian's photoblog might have a photo. amanda's smell of the day was "Crazy Flower" abby renamed it "chemical Flower". songs stuck in the head today were Nickle Creek's "Anthony" and Jesca Hoop's "Seed of Wonder". Ian rode fastest today. abby's mom has been sewing and washing laundry for us while we ride. we all met for lunch at the infamous "Walnut Cafe" in Santa Cruz : Abby ate: tofu broccoli scramble, potatoes, berry muffin, sips of amanda's blueberry smoothie, a bite of peach turnover from the Santa Cruz Farmer's market (amazing!), half of a pancake with maple syrup, my mom's garlic bread, hot fudge sundae from maryanne's, that's all for now until my late night post show snack. amanda ate: stack of pancakes, some of my mom's ahi tuna, peach turnover, some of abby's potatoes, spinach and leek turnover, hot fudge sundae, blueberry smoothie, cliff nectar bar, cucumber watermelon lemonade, that's all till dinner.

tomorrow we ride with our friend john who will be busting his butt with us to make it to San Francisco before friday morning. if the wind is at our backs we can surely make it.

years ago, abby and john wanted to go on a cross-country bike trip. here is the original list they made of things to pack for their hypothetical trip.

may 30th ride and show

the wind just couldn't let us get away with a 30 mile ride with out making it a pain in the ass for the first 1 and1/2 hours. after that it was fairly nice all the way into monterey except for a long long hill with a lot of noisy dump trucks. we left around 7:50am after a fun set at Fernwood last night in Big Sur. thanks to all the great dancing girls, dancing Ira, and Jimmy and John for coming up on a whim to see us play. we loved our little cabin in the woods even though it took us about 45 minutes to make a fire, and especially love our rooms tonight at the Monterey Plaza Hotel overlooking the water.



here is abby with jimmy at the hotel


here is amanda with her bicycle valets at the monterey plaza hotel

today's songs stuck in our head while riding were: that dan hicks song that goes "caught in the rain, i took the lane, that said 'bout four more miles", and abby was singing an annoying song she accidentally made up called 16mph. we're feeling a bit sore today but took restful naps to prepare us for our show at Monterey Live tonight. food log: abby ate rice cereal, cranberries, sunflower seeds, figs, 3 apple roll ups, 1 pb Go Macro bar, brown rice, black beans, avocado, grilled onions, half a greek salad, some orange cake, that's all till dinner. amanda ate: rice cereal, cranberries, figs, huge veggie burger with the works, orange cake, half a greek salad, that's all till dinner.

here's greg with his famous nachos.

don't forget, if you can't make it to tonights show we'll be in Santa Cruz at the Attic tomorrow night.

May 29th

Day 5 in our bike tour and what a great day of riding. 70 miles, a lot of big hills and great weather for us. we're in Big Sur and playing a show at 9ish tonight at Fernwood on Hwy. 1 a mile north of Pffefer state park. thanks to diane (or diana not sure) for letting us jump in and play last minute like this. hope to see you there for our acoustic set. they even have a piano for greg!

Boo and Greg seen here


Jimmy and John and Abby at gig


details of ride: saw very little road kill which is always good because it is not pleasant for the animals. saw lots of amazing colored water and the white caps were the color i wish my teeth were. amanda made up a song to the tune of Jolene: 2 mile, 2 miles, 2 miles, 2 miiiiiles...why'd you have to lie and say two miles...you said to miles till i get there, now it's been 3 i'm splitting hairs, the sign did lie to me it said 2 miles."
meanwhile i made up a song called "gotta get to gorda" which i hope to finish and play sometime on this tour. ian and amanda saw a guy sleeping in a ditch, amanda's knee was giving her greif, a bird almost shit on ians head, and abby passed on the $15.95 fish and chips even if they were the rated top 5 of the United States. met a very helpful and friendly cyclist/musician traveling from Vancouver to Mexico. gave me the inside scoop on the slide detour north of Half MOon bay. WE Loved today's ride and are staying in a choice location.



This was lunch!



Dinner was great!
2 Jicama Butter lettuce salads, nachos, 2 baskets of chips and salsa and guacamole, salmon with coconut milk and cabbage and mango, bites of incredible boo's incredible chocolate cake, ice cream and ian's sopapillas...So full! want more ice cream.

This awesome man is Chris. he let us use the wireless from his hotel to update this weblog entry!

Day 4

Today's ride was very much a repeat of yesterday but not quite as long or hard. there were a lot of nice smells in the morning like strawberry fields, eucalyptus trees, and other plants that i'm not sure what they were. we rode 71 miles today and here are the highlights: the area just north of San luis Obispo, the rock at morro bay, the vultures straight out of jungle book, a large deranged wild cat running across my path causing me to cross the Hwy. 1 in fear that it might have rabies and attack me, stopping in at Art's Cyclery in San Luis Obispo.

Entertaining moments were: the horrible excuse for a song i made in my head while riding up a long hill, the moment when amanda asked "is it Super Bowl Sunday?", watching a lizard do push ups and thinking i could climb up a hill if he could do that, then shortly thereafter realizing how slow i was going when a lizard was moving faster than i was.

post ride song i sang in the shower was Dan Hick's : I feel like singin'

Amanda Saw lots of cute cows grazing today. Saw an old man carry sweet pea flowers near the beach. There was a very Goonie's like Rock coming out of the ocean in Morro Bay. Watched many flight battles between vultures and smaller birds.

Amanda's Mind-Tunes (songs stuck in her head during the ride) were "If I were a rich man" from Fiddler and "If I were a rich girl" by Gwen. Yesterday's song on repeat was "Summer Lovin'" from Grease.

Amanda counted 28 dead animals on the road today. 3 times she started to count lizards and they ran away alive and well.
Abby saw 2 dead rattlesnakes and one unusually large snake that her sister thinks could have been a bull rattlesnake.
There's a lot of life and death out there everyone, so be safe when you're driving home from your three day weekend adventures.

Amanda's Food Log: Breakfast was granola and rice milk. Snacks throughout the day were multiple Haas Apple Fruit Rolls, 1 and a half bags of Clif Shot Blocks, 2 Nectar Bars, a luna bar, a clif bar, Clif electrolite powder in water bottle. Lunch was delish at Natural Cafe in San Luis Obisbo. Love that place! and the town, so cool. It houses the Madonna Inn - a must-stay for any traveler who likes theme rooms. Lunch was the best smoothie I've had in a long time called Michelle My Belle, Half a salad and half a veggie stir fry with yummy tofu. So many things to order that we didn't have time to get. Dinner: tamale and beans, rice and chips.

Abby's Food log: only one cliff nectar bar, 2 and 1/2 HAs roll ups, lots of figs, rice cereal, toasted sunflower seeds, the same lunch as amanda only not as much smoothie, cheese quesadilla, way too many chips and salsa, beans rice and guacamole, electrolyte water.

Tomorrow we ride earlier and hope to avoid late afternoon winds. two days till Monterey!

A bad relationship

Lana and our guest rider Brandan with Abby. This is before Abby knew what was in store from the day.

Today we were in a bad relationship with the wind. a hellish relationship that lasted for approximately 7 hours and 15 minutes of actual peddaling time. we left at 8:37 am and did not stop until 7:30pm. we rode approx. 71.6 miles until amanda got a flat and i virtually collapsed (ian rode 78 milesall the way into Guadalupe). for the last 15 miles we were going approx. 6 miles an hour on completely flat ground and 8 miles an hour downhill. at times we were completely stopped mid-pedal stroke. our eyes are wind burned even though we were wearing glasses the entire ride. it was extremely hard to enjoy the surrondings because of the extreme conditions. we later found out there was a high wind warning for that area. things we did to distract ourselves from the pain: counted 6 dead rattlesnakes on the shoulder
1 other snake of unknown variety (possibly large lizard)
4 lizard (some dead)
2 cauliflower heads
1 rabbit and 1 dried up dog/coyote carcass

At one point ian and amanda were both staring at a beautiful grassy hill with cows on it. Ian said, "That looks like some tasty grass" to which Amanda replied, "Yeah. It looks really comfortable...like a nice bed." They then realized they must be hungry and tired.

there was one great hill climb and a fun downhill which was exciting and beautiful but it set us up for dissapointment when we were faced with constant wind between 25-33 mph for the last 1/4 of our journey. today the only thing we heard was wind and it was not music to our ears by any means. amanda ate: snack - 2 and a half peanut butter go macro bars, 3 bags of clif gummy squares, 1 pecan nectar bar, 3 haas farms apple fruit leathers, 3/4 of an orange from michael, lunch - 1 cheese avo sandwich, 1 dense choc cookie, 3/4 salad, 1 blueberry smoothie, dinner - some avo cucumber sushi, grilled salmon, salad with thousand island dressing, half spinach gomaae, edamame, miso, and 2 luna bars, 2 clif bars for dessert. abby ate: rice cereal, lots of dried figs, 4 Ha's apple roll ups, 1 and 1/2 pb macro bar, one pack of Cliff electrolyte chews (save me from collapse at last mile of trip), one grilled cheese sandwich with avocado and veggies, half a small salad, health food stlye choc. chip cookie, part of amanda's blueberry smoothie, spinach with sesame sauce, veggie avocado/cuke roll, edamame, miso soup, some of amanda's salmon, rice, bite of Boo's plum ice cream, part of amanda's Cliff carrot cake bar.

Day 2

santa barbara critical mass






today we left our wonderful hosts in the malibu hills for Santa Barbara at 8:35am. we were delayed because we had to repair amanda's flat tire. the weather was cool in the morning and breezy. we were pestered by a rabid squirrel at point mugu, we saw glorious fields of vegetables and fruit, and of course the ocean to our left the whole way. we rode as a group of four with our friend Lana joining us for the day. then we were joined by Ian's friend who took us to a great lunch spot in ventura. highlights of the day were: strawberry signs, the train that passed and the hissing of the tracks afterward, riding with the santa barbara critical mass, becoming honarary members of the santa barbara chapter of Los Furios@s. We had a great dinner at Sojourner then rushed off to our last minute show at Mercury Lounge in Goleta where we were greeted by Critical Mass and some fans who had patiently waited for us to arrive. We played outside on the back porch to a very supportive group of people who were quietly listening as we tried to muster up our loudest voices. It was a peaceful way to end the day. Today we rode 81.46 miles. it took us about 8 hours to get to Goleta but that includes two flat tires and a leisurely lunch stop. We were actually pedalling for just over 6 hours of that time. Amanda rode two miles more because she got lost. Post ride music is currently playing in the i-tunes: the Moonlighters, a great group out of New York City. Today's food log, Amanda: Jill Greenbergs homemade granola, 3 peanut butter Go Macro Bars, Corn Burritos, 1/2 a tamale, beans and rice, 1/2 box of strawberries, underripe peach, eggplant parmesan, side salad, polenta squares with marinara sauce, sip of abby's juice, almond crunch, granola(again) with rice milk. Abby's food log: Jill's Granola with soy milk, 1 granola bar except for the piece i dropped on the sidewalk which Lana picked up and ate, 1 peanut butter Go Macro bar, 2 Ha's Apple Fruit rolls, 3 strawberries, 1/4 tamale, beans and rice, 1 taco burrito thing, piece of dried Mango, Salad with ginger tofu and brown rice, small beet celery carrot juice, bite of Lana's tempeh rueben sandwich, stir fry veggies with spicy tempeh and cashews, a lot of almond crunch, a good amount of dark chocolate to keep me awake while i type this. See you tomorrow at the Ramada inn parking lot for an 8:00am meet/departure time as we ride north toward monterey.

WE'RE OFF!

At the start of our departure, we were serenaded by Lou Wow and the Poi Boys in Venice. photo Jeff Thrasher.


We dip our tires in the Pacific for take-off. photo Jeff Thrasher.


Today we rode from our apartment in Hollywood to Venice where we met up with a wonderful group of people to wish us well on our journey. The Poi Boys, dressed in disguise as Pirates on Stilts, played us farewell tunes as we dipped our back tires into the Pacific at Will Rogers State Beach. Then we rode up the coast to Malibu and had a lovely afternoon picnic with a great group of riders who made the trip out with us. we flew Lana's butterfly kites, watched a boy doing backflips, ate grandma's Chewies (a secret recipe), and saw a group of dolphins swimming close to shore. We rode a total of 36.53 miles to our final destination across from Zuma Beach. Ian (our bass player) joined us at the beach and will be riding with us through Colorado. Today's food log is incomplete because we have yet to eat dinner. Tomorrow we ride to Santa Barbara via the PCH and will be leaving at approximately 8:00am. So far no shows have been confirmed for Santa Barbara but there could be an impromtu performance. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at our record release show last night and today's farewell ride.


bops and robot at Zuma Beach. photo Lana Fukushima


amanda, abby and ian plan the next day's route

Eric Meacham takes pics.

We eat Jill's yummy home-cooked food.

Amanda and Michael Kelly ride on the path. Photo Jeff Thrasher.

may 22, our last training day

what am i doing awake at 1:00 am when i've got so much to do in the morning? writing my training log of course. oh yes, and now that it is after midnight it is officially the day of release for our new album "Moon Over the Freeway". The RIDE: Today's training ride was beautiful. we waited out the storm and rode an afternoon ride in the hollywood hills and up through griffith park. a nice little 40 mile loop. a lot of technical difficulties with amanda's bike made the trip just over 4 hours long. today's song stuck in abby's head while riding was the chorus from that new Madonna song, "time goes by...so slowly". the song stuck in amanda's head while riding was Dan Powter's "Bad Day". Today's ride insults consisted of none directed at us aside from an occasional blaring horn. One angry driver crashed into a curb while having a fight with his cell phone. another angry driver yelled get a job at a homeless man asking for help. Lots of loud ugly noises today. Favorite overall insult thus far was the young woman who took the time to roll down her window as she nearly ran me over telling me to "Get a Car!" i secretly fantasized that she would crash into a brick wall (without getting hurt of course), and be extremely embarrased. The view from the top of Ferndell was quite clear and lovely. Today's top speed was recorded by abby at 32 mph. Today's post ride wind down music was Charlie Byrd. Abby's food log: half grapefruit, quinoa, pickled cabbage, avocado, nama shoyu, shredded daikon, brown rice nori maki, salad with tahini dressing, half a cucumber and apple juice with ginger, apple with almond butter on every slice, cherries, piece of watermelon, peanut butter macro bar, toasted sunflower seeds and cranberries, almonds, some really dark chocolate. Amanda's food log: Kombucha tea, orange, quinoa, avocado, saurkraut, flax oil, 2 and 1/2 nectar bars, one veggie burger with the works, half a cucumber and apple juice with ginger, small salad, some of abby's salad, two pieces of abby's nori maki, cherries, watermelon, late night PB and J sandwich on Alvarado bread. This is probably the last training day until thursday's departure. We hope for beautiful Los Angeles sunshine on the 25th.

LA river training ride

Yesterday's ride was not worth mentioning. but i mentioned it anyway. today's ride was tiring for no reason at all. it was 45 miles of hills and flats. everything was hard and i was riding by myself (no amanda). i saw a lot of cool graffiti on the los angeles river bike path. by the way, if you live in the los angeles area don't forget this sunday is the LA river ride and proceeds go to help the Los Angeles bike coalition. they need members to help make LA a bike friendly city. today's pre ride story was Truman Capote's "children on their birthdays". highly recommended by me. today's post ride music was birds and wind chimes. today's ride details: lots of wind seemed to be against me at every turn. uphill downhill, north south, east west, WIND. today's food: oatmeal with rice milk, cliff bar apple cran. cherry flavor, quinoa with pickled cabbage, avocado, large lima beans, daikon radish and nama shoyu. also kale, hijiki, tofu salad, kabocha pumpkin soup, buckwheat noodles, miso soup, Laloos goat ice cream, and i'm thinking about getting a cookie for a midnight snack.

training is almost coming to a close as the big departure day of May 25th draws near. hope to see you all on the Venice Beach bike path at 10:00am at Rose ave. for our Ride out of town. there will be music, bikes, and fun. see you there if you don't have to work.

Mother's Day Training Ride

The highlight of today's ride was not the shit filled plastic bag strewn across mullholland drive, nor was it getting pulled over by the cops for running a red light in encino. For Amanda it was sleeping on the sidewalk in front of a Canoga park eatery after consuming two spanikopita, a large salad, and a carob mint shake. Details follow: a 58 mile ride with lots of hills, some long and gradual, some short and very steep. it was cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon with a bit of a head wind. all the mustard on mullholland drive is in bloom and it looks beautiful despite all the smog down below. abby was dissapointed that she did not meet her 60 mile goal for the day, but she added in extra hills instead of the flats so what does she expect. the total miles for last week was 293. high speed was recorded by abby at 36.5 mph followed closely behind by amanda at 36.2. today's food log; abby ate: one bowl of oatmeal with apples, raisins, and rice milk, half of a mushroom and grain burger, a choclate mint shake, a large salad, two bites of amanda's spanikopita, bowl of brown rice, cup of miso soup, two cups of fish soup, kale, hijiki, tofu salad, lotus root, three to four bites of rick's soy ice cream, cherry flavored, one glass of herbal tonic, a lot more cherry soy ice cream later. amanda ate: one bowl of oatmeal (same as abby's), the aforementioned spanikopita lunch, half a bowl of fish soup, one cup bean soup, one glass herbal tonic, pickled cabbage, hijiki, kale, tofu salad, five spoonfuls of abby's brown rice, half (at least) of rick's four scoops of cherry soy cream, and a lot more ice cream later. abby agrees the highlight was lying in the sun on the sidewalk. today's ride completed a good training week for us. tomorrow is a rest day and we're glad because our legs are a bit sore already.

For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, we're in training for our cross country bike tour. we will soon have a new page for our day to day blog but for now it'll be on the news page. for more training ride info. see other entries below.

May 13 Training Ride

there are only a matter of days before we leave for our "Moon Over the Freeway" bicycle across america tour. we've been training hard and here is our account:

todays ride, May 13th: 80 miles. mostly flat with 15 miles of hills at the tail end. relatively cool with clouds then sun. amanda got a sunburn. abby got a flat tire at the end near her house. today ABBY ate: half a grapefruit, one organic cliff nectar bar, one bowl of rice cereal, eggplant and navy bean salad, two small pieces of bread drenched in olive oil, entire head of butter lettuce and tomato salad, half of a raspberry tart, half of another rich dessert, deep fried mochi, brown rice, huge miso soup with lots of vegetables, arame with raw saurkraut. one large chocolate chip cookie. today AMANDA ate: one piece of yeast free toast with blackberry jam, one peanut butter cliff bar, bannana smoothie with rice milk, two HA's apple dried fruit rolls, eggplant and three bean salad, oven roasted veggies, kale, tofu salad, sesame bean sprouts, pickled cabbage, cup of bean soup, deep fried mochi, coconut macaroon, one large chocolate chip cookie.


today was the first day riding 80 miles!!!

May 10 Training Ride

Today's ride was 40 miles of long hill climbing. Abby got hit by a car in the firts five minutes of the ride but she was not hurt. We continued to ride up into the Hollywood hills and across to Topanga State Park where we were chased by a swarm of angry bees. Then we were stalled on the trail for 5 minutes debating which way we should go to get around the rattlesnake that was taking a nap in the middle of the trail. all this and we still made it to Tap Dancing class with 10 minutes to spare.