Balboa Pier

Balboa Pier is a wooden tongue into the Pacific, salt-soaked and crowded with bikes, families and fishermen nursing their quiet lines. The boards creak under cruiser tires. Heft of the ocean is constant. You can smell sunscreen, grilled snack bar corn and the diesel tang of a distant yacht. By midmorning bicycle traffic flows east toward Newport Pier; by late afternoon people gather at the rail for a stubbornly beautiful sunset. There is an old-school bike rental at the pier, bright cruisers in cherry red and aqua, its proprietor adjusting saddles with the patience of someone who grew up here. Conversation is neighborly and blunt. Take a slow ride toward the Pike, then stop for a fried shrimp taco and a view of the harbor. Ask for Debbie when you rent a bike; she will set the seat so it feels like cheating.