Anaheim and the Desert

The past few days have been filled from top to bottom with stories, friendly encounters, and baseball. You bet. This stretch has been nice, I’ve been able to see 3 baseball games in 4 days, all in different stadiums and with different teams. There’s not many times that works out logistically.

I got up early in the morning to take off from Emily’s place a little north of Dodger Stadium. Thanks again Emily for being a great host and introducing me to all of your awesome roommates! I was weary of biking across Los Angeles to Anaheim. After all, I had been routinely warned of the crazy traffic and drivers of Los Angeles. However, I quickly learned that it was not all bad. In fact, traffic was rather cooperative along my ride.

The ride itself felt a lot like Deja Vu, in the sense that I had just ridden much of the same stretch a day earlier en route to Dodger Stadium. This time, I was heading south, and with the flow of the aqueduct which the bike path followed. I had a bit better speed, and finished the 43 mile ride to Angel Stadium by 12:30 after a later than normal departure. I snapped a number of photos, and did not have security chase me away like the day prior. This time, I met a fan outside the stadium who graciously bought me a ticket for the game upon hearing about B4B. Thanks so much!

I rode around the stadium, and stumbled upon the players parking lot. I noticed a few fans hanging out with different memorabilia and knew the players must be arriving soon. I talked with the fans for a few minutes, and before I knew it, in pulls Albert Pujols with his Bentley shortly followed by Mike Trout in his black Mercedes. A cool player sighting.

I rode off to my hosts place, which was only a few miles from the ballpark. However, along the ride, I needed some help with directions as my google maps wasn’t loading all that properly. However, the person I asked, turned out to be Dave Hester from Storage Wars. I’m not a huge fan of the show, however, the guy was incredibly nice and helpful in getting me directions to where I needed to go. Thanks Dave!

My host Matt, was generous enough to put me up for the night, despite he himself was leaving the next day to Ireland for a three month bicycle tour around Europe! How cool! He was busy packing, and prioritizing different gear, but let me set up camp on his back patio. I didn’t stick around long, as I had a ballgame to catch.

Before the game, I met up with my longtime childhood friend Jack Koppa, who goes to USC. Jack and I go way back to the kickball games on the blacktop at Holy Family Parish School in Whitefish Bay. I moved in third grade, but we’ve stayed in touch over the years. I hadn’t seen him in years, and it was great to reminisce about the old days. Jack had a friend who worked with Y Athletics, which makes these incredibly awesome shirts infused with silver and made not to smell or tear or snag. They’re pretty great. He got me a few of them to rep during the trip, so seriously go check them out. They’re a cool product, and if you’re like me and your clothes start smelling after wearing them once, they’re worth checking out.

Jack dropped me off at Angel Stadium where I headed into the game for BP. This is the first game since Opening Day that I haven’t been on the field for BP, and I actually enjoyed it. I talked with fans, saw some kids catch their first ever baseball, and entirely enjoyed the stadium. I wandered and met up with Matt, a big Angels fan, who insisted he buy me a beer. He knew his beers and bought me a great one. I wish I could remember the name. Matt knew all the history of Angel Stadium and was a great tour guide for me. Thanks again Matt! Hi5!

I headed to my seats, just in time to catch the opening pitch. I was ready to watch Felix take the mound again against Shoemaker for the Angels. Once again, it was an absolute pitchers duel for the first half of the game. Then the fireworks began. Between the two teams 5 solo home runs were hit. Including one for Nelson Cruz who leads all of baseball. Here’s some B4B trivia for you. Felix Hernandez gave up his first home run of the season on Opening Day to Mike Trout. He hadn’t given up another home run until May 4th, when I was again in attendance. However, the Mariners did win both games, so I think Felix will take it.

I also spent a great deal of time talking with Grayson from MLB about different experiences of the trip, and about youth mentoring. He was working on a piece for MLB about Biking for Baseball and what it’s all about. He was incredibly friendly and welcoming to Angel Stadium. With his Angel knowledge second to none, he was a great guy to watch the game with. He’s also a big Clippers fan, so he was still enjoying their dramatic Game 7 win over the Spurs. Thanks again for being so great Grayson!

I also was able to watch fireworks besides the home runs flying off the bats of the two teams. I learned that you can actually watch the Disneyland fireworks from the right field bleachers. I thought that was so cool! I also learned that the Angels to flash waves. Which is like your typical wave, however, it involves everyone turning on their strobe camera flashes on their smartphones. So during the game you could see a number of cameras flashing throughout the stadium. I thought that was a unique and cool idea.

I headed home, fell asleep, woke up, packed up, and hit the road again. Oh, and over night our website got 14,000 hits. You heard it. B4B went viral. In fact, it crashed our website for a bit. Sorry if you tried accessing it during that time. However, we did get it all back up and running! Plus, we’ve gotten tons of media requests. In facts, two National news outlets in ABC News and Fox Sports both ran stories about Biking for Baseball! How cool is that! The word keeps spreading, and more and more people are hearing about how great mentoring is in the lives of kids. That’s what this trip is all about!

The ride today was a gradual climb to about 2,600 feet. That has to be the highest elevation I’ve been at over the course of this trip. The ride went smoothly, as I did numerous interviews throughout the day.

The desert is empty. It baffles me how anything can survive out here. It’s dry, barren, and rough. My ride the first day took me through some tough roads. Gravel, sand, and rocks. The combination of those three things, caused me to get two flats. I had only had one in nearly 2000 miles or riding. These dirt roads are a pain in the butt. They’re next to impossible to navigate as I’m constantly fearing losing my balance. Rightfully so, at least a hundred times my back tire would fishtail throgh the loose sand and barely hold me upright.

I was all stocked up to spend a night in the desert. I had water, bread, peanut butter, honey, and loads of granola bars. After a long day of biking it was hot as heck. I mean blistering hot. It became clear I was going to need to ration water. I had brought nearly 10 liters and I knew with another day of riding, I was going to need to save up. However, just as a mirage seems to appear in the cartoons, so did this gas staion. It was a miracle. I pedaled faster and fought through the hoards of truckers. As I filled up my water I noticed the glory of the gods. They had soft serve ice cream! Count me in. I gobbled down that ice cream sundae, and was back on the road once again.

I biked a few more miles before I set up camp before dark. It was a long day, my first one of biking sunrise to sunset. I was exhausted. I fell asleep almost immediately after I crawled into my tent.

Today, I wanted to beat the heat. Thus, I was on the road by 6AM. I made really good time and arrived in Blythe by noon. I stopped into a local Pizza Hut for ther infamous lunch buffet, that filled my stomach wih happiness and calories. I then biked to my hosts place where I got a much needed shower.

I just met Felipe, who is currently walking from San Diego to Portland, Maine. Wow! Thats impressive. You should check out his website www.givelifeawink.com. I really like the name of his trip. Give life a wink. Try it. It’s easy to get caught up with life, so why not give it a wink for a day or two. Go have fun. Forget about the troubles of life for a bit, and go have fun.

I’ll leave you with that. Go get ’em. I know I will.

Matt