The O.C.

It's been a few days since my last update, so I figure I ought to fill people in on what I've been up to the last few days. I suppose the biggest thing to happen since Saturday was relocating down to Orange County and staying at Brad and Eryka's place in Ladera Ranch. I had earlier planned to stay in LA until Monday and try to catch the final stage of the Tour of California, but with the finale starting and ending in the San Fernando Valley, I pyked and headed down to the OC instead to watch Brad play in the SCAFL Grand Final. In case you're wondering (and most of you probably are), that's the Southern California Australian Football League, which consists of 4 teams that play what could best be described as a condensed version of Aussie Rules, played on a smaller field (which is just whatever is available I guess) and only 9 players a side to keep the game flowing. The league also fields a full 18 man squad in the national tournament, but on Sunday it was the OC Jets taking on the Beachside Sharks for Southern California bragging rights. In blustery conditions, it was the Sharks who won the day with the last kick of the game, leaving Brad's Jets to rue their poor return in front of goal having kicked 13 behinds and only 4 goals.

My mission for Monday was to get back on the bike since I hadn't ridden since Wednesday's climb up Sierra Grade. This gave me an opportunity to explore my new surroundings, and ride some more of the Pacific Coast Highway that I didn't ride on my trip in 2007. The destination I set for myself was Newport Beach, and in particular Balboa Island, which is famous for frozen bananas and The Wedge.



I never did find a chocolate covered frozen banana, leaving me to believe that maybe the banana stand got cancelled along side Arrested Development, which didn't make much sense to me since there's always money in the banana stand. Eryka has assured me though with or without an actual banana stand, frozen bananas are available on Balboa Island, I just wasn't looking in the right spot, so I'll have another crack later in the week. I did manage to find The Wedge, which was working enough to give me an idea of how gnarly that wave can get with a decent swell.