San Diego Bike Swap

Sunday Nov. 5th was the biannual San Diego Bike Swap Meet. I decided to avoid last year's routine of waking up before dawn and driving 2+ hours south to San Diego, instead this year choosing to take Amtrak down a day early, hang with friends and take it easy. We would ride our bikes from the hotel in the Gas Lamp district the next morning approx. 2-3 miles to the velodrome for the swap. Sleep in, have a little coffee, ride the bikes...sounded much better than 2 hours of freeway!

Return tickets would get us back home on the train Sunday after the swap ended.

I'm finding myself back at L.A.'s Union Station often these days.


Bike storage on Amtrak was free and easy to use.


All aboard...


A shot of the coast taken from my window seat


Santa Fe Station in downtown San Diego. The trip took 2:45 and was road-rage free.


We got settled in the hotel and went out to meet friends for dinner & drinks. Dinner was Mexican food at The Alamo in Old Town followed by drinks at The Liars Club, which, after margaritas and Makers Mark whiskey looked like this:


The alarm went off too early the next morning and I had to add in some Extra Strength Tylenol to breakfast. Ouch. Nothing a bike ride can't fix though, so off we were. I managed to find a few goodies at the swap, nothing super rare or much of a "find" but I snatched up what few things did catch my eye, such as:

leopard print SDG saddle for $1. New Thomson mtb stem for $50 and cool Salsa socks for $3


A subtle, tasteful jersey for the nice-price of $5


and last and maybe least - my new outfit consisting of an old purple "Save the World" jersey and a new pink jump helmet. Jersey $5, helmet $5. That's what - like $11 worth of stuff. Sweet.


We wrapped up the swap and headed to Ocean Beach for fish tacos before railing home.

see ya on the trails, I won't be hard to spot...