A Dip in the LA River...

...actually, it turned out to be the Rio Hondo River. But let me start at the beginning...

Yesterday morning I ventured out on a ride along the LA River to Long Beach and back. What should have been a simple, flat, quick 30-ish mile ride turned into a four hour event full of drama. 

With the help from Shannon I found the start of the LA river in the City of Commerce just southwest of downtown. I started out and quickly discovered that Ryan was right...it was flat and mostly concrete.  However, I was really enjoying being outside and riding for a long stretch of open bikeway minus the cars and pedestrians.  There was very few people out, and I got into a rhythm as I enjoyed the graffitti and occassional wildlife (i.e. snails, lizzards, seagulls and random squirrels). 

It was 10:40am and the goal was to get to the Queen Mary before the noon horn sounded. Mission Accomplished!

After some leisure time enjoying the sailboats and fresh sea air, I started to head back to to my car. It wasn't until I hit a dead end (which wasn't there when I headed the opposite direction) that I understood that I had somehow gotten lost on a single path bike lane. So, the option was to turn around and try to figure out where I went wrong.....or cross the river and try to keep going. 

Now, I am a smart girl, but apparently I am lacking some basic common sense. I chose to cross the river. Not only cross, but I chose to RIDE across the river. DOUBLE WHAMMY!  But in all fairness...it doesn't look THAT bad, does it?

Once I hit the inch or so of water/slime my back tire started started coming up to meet the front trie and I was on a full fledged sideward slide down the river. I tried to unclip, but only ended up unsettling the balance and falling on my left side with the bike on top of me...yes, still sliding down the river. I finally found my footing and waded to the other side soaking wet, covered in slime, blood and bruises and worried only about my phone, camera and bike (all thankfully okay). I then walked up the other side of the slope and once at the top...I began to laugh. There was  no one around to witness my death defying feat, but I can tell you it was just like a slow motion scene on America's Funniest Videos. CLASSIC fall/slide! I laughed and laughed until my stomach hurt.

Once I stopped laughing I started looking around to figure out which way to ride. It was a strange feeling to realize that both directions looked exactly the same. Exactly the same!! Pretty creepy.

So, I finally called Ryan and he offered to give me directions. Apparently the river had forked and I was on the Rio Hondo side heading the Montobello. I had to backtrack about 5 miles, cross the river again (this time on a bridge) and then keep going the remaining distance to the car.  In all the 30-ish mile round trip turned into about 42-ish. I didn't mind being outside or in the saddle....but being wet and riding is no fun. I hope to never do that again.

Long Beach turned into a long day, but I had a good time and i am looking forward to the next ride! :)

Here are a couple random pics shot along the way. One is of the Goodyear Blimp and the other is a random crane sitting peacefully enjoying the day.