Travel Day - Thursday May 10

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It is 4:30 AM pacific time on Friday so you can see that I am still on eastern time. 

I left my home yesterday at 4:30 AM to catch an 8 AM flight from Tampa. Combine that with staying up later than usual the night before to see the Sixers get eliminated from the NBA playoffs by Boston, and a three hour layover in Dallas and I was dragging by the time I got to the hotel in LA around 6 PM.  

We are staying at the Marriott Courtyard in El Segundo which to these anglo/eastern ears sounds exotic. Reality is a bit different as we are a mere 2 miles south of LAX, but by the time I got off the plane and connected with Donald and the hotel shuttle, I was more then okay with that.

 I mentioned in my first posting that a friend of mine had convinced me to do this. That friend would be Barry and I suspect that his name will come up more than occasionally over the course of this trip.  I was able to meet-up with Barry and his wife Jody and they were nice enough to let me tag-along over to Hermosa Beach for a burger and a beer (or two) at the appropriately named establishment, American Junkie. 

 On the way back to the hotel we went over to Manhattan Beach Pier, the start point on Sunday. Then we turned east on Manhattan Beach Blvd and I got to see first hand the 100 foot incline that marks the start of the route to Riverside. Oh well, that is a problem for Sunday.

 Today I get my bike back, make sure it has been re-assembled properly and sort out any tweaks that need to be made. 

 Tomorrow the tour officially begins but there is no riding. Bike inspections, meet and greet and learning the rules of the road are the order of business followed by dinner.
Location: El Segundo, CA 90245, USA

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