it was a typical morning with high hopes, low clouds and a whole lot of french-pressed espresso stashed in a stainless steel canteen. i hit the streets not hard but, swift and methodical, basically mechanical. steady pushes of my legs, left then right followed by steady raises of the same legs, left then right propelled the bicycle between my straddle. i had a destination in mind and a vague route mapped out on my brain, mimicking a google map with an aerial view with pin drops and colored lines that twisted and snaked through dead streets or ideally just through typical streets with beaconing bike lanes. after ten plus miles the espresso ran out and i parked next to a public drinking fountain, engulfing the flow with my parched mouth and filling my belly. next, the canteen was topped and a return to the warm streets lead me to a straight and narrow path for the beach. i headed north, hugging the foaming shore as close as possible, riding on the strand or on the adjacent streets running parallel to beach. after an eternity pocked with bucket loads worth of water and a slight sunburn i was en route for malibu. forced onto highway 1, sharing car lanes with speeding freaks, dazed surfers, and debris, habitual glances over my shoulders secured my safety. shortly, i arrived at the diner i met on yelp the day before and ordered a beer and a clam chowder. i sat outside in the patio and shoveled hot spoonfuls of soup spiked with tabasco and drank noisily. after my clothes and i dried in the sun i pumped more air into my bicycle tires and headed now south for santa monica where a confusing, monkey’s fist knot of turns lead me to a street i was plotting and away i took to distant los angeles. the real testament to my calfs settled in on this long stretch and i easily developed a bad cramp in one leg and a mild one in the remainder. a pit stop at a doughnut shop for an egg sandwich and milk settled my ailments and i sought out a banana. now, really full of fuel i cranked past beverly hills, hollywood, silver lake and into echo park hitting over 80 miles trekked, all the while fighting the beast known as car and occasionally racing fellow cyclists whom sometimes beat me to the red light or sometimes not. more trips to water fountains and occasional stops for legs stretches kept me going at a chipper rate. i finally found myself rounding echo park lake with odd waterfowl taking flight. i customarily nodded at a happy paleta vendor on the lakeside path as my crazy pedaling subsided. when i found a soft spot on the knoll under a leaf-dropping tree i plopped down in exhaustion, stretched my limp legs again and laid out on the grass where i locked my pants belt loop to the frame of my bicycle and fought soft dizzy spells and entered the sacred place between awake and asleep