Day 8 and Epilogue

85 miles
Carpinteria to Venice Beach
Total miles of trip: 435 miles
UPDATE: Check out the link to my second tour- Portland to SF http://elysebikes.wordpress.com/

Today was a breeze. I did 85 miles in under 7 hours. I was pretty emotional today. I did it. I'm not sure how but I did it. I'm glad to be able to rest but also sad that it's over. I feel like with a rest day I could keep going. I wish I had more time...to keep riding

bikes not bombs

This tour ended up being more difficult than I ever could have imagined it would be. It was physically and mentally exhausting  It all felt like an overwhelming adventure. Every mile, every pedal stroke, every breath -it all seemed like so much more than me.  I am in disbelief at what I was able to accomplish. I know a bike tour may seem crazy or even trivial but it ended up meaning so much more to me. It's hard to articulate.Would I do it again? Absolutely  I'd love to do a cross country trip if I could get the time off work. Hmm, time to plan the next adventure?

Day 7

65 miles

Lompoc-Carpinteria

Last big climb of the trip! Kicked its ass. Well, not really but I think I was less pathetic than the previous climbing. Today went by pretty fast. I wandered around Santa Barbara for a bit. The days of small towns are gone. I'm riding thru pretty sizable towns now. Food and water are not a worry anymore. It's nice. I stopped at Refugio State Beach. Gorgeous beach. Lots of pretty beaches. I wish I had more time to just lazy around on the beach. Rode into Carpinteria campground and met Laura. She started in Vancouver and has been on the road for 6 weeks. 

Somewhere near Goleta

Day 6

40 miles
Grover Beach to Lompoc

I got a ride in the morning to Grover Beach where my friend's mom worked. Ya I know I skipped the 20 or so miles from Morro Bay to Grover Beach. I'm okay with that.

I decided to make this a 40 mile day to cut up the last two big climbs of the route. Actually the biggest climbs   I would encounter. Today was really good mentally. I felt rested and strong. 3 more days to go. I met a couple that was "credit card" touring. They were staying in hostels and motels. He had two small panniers and she carried none. They were on slick road bikes. That's one way to tour. The climb wasn't bad. Steep. Fun descent.

mural in Lompoc

Day 5

65 miles
Kirk Creek to Morro Bay

Raccoons ate my food. I awoke to 8 or so of those God-forsaken creatures rummaging thru my food that they had somehow fished out of the raccoon box. The next grocery store wouldn't be until Cambria- another 40 or so miles away...sure there was Gorda but there was no guaranteeing it would be open so early in the morning on a weekday. I wanted to cry.

But I composed myself, and decided if the raccoons had indeed eaten all my food, I would apologetically wake up the three U.K boys I had met last night and ask them for food. They would understand. I hope.

Luckily, the raccoons left me 3 cliff bars. I ate two for breakfast and took one for the road. It would have to last me the next 40 miles.

Today had some of the steepest climbing of the trip. Definitely the steepest climbing of Big Sur. Gorda, as expected was shut down. But as I was getting ready to ride out from there, Dave, the cyclist I had met on my first day, rode up....with a tire held together with duct tape. Apparently, it had started to come apart the previous day. Geez.

One of the last Big Sur views. Nice, cool overcast day.

Together, we rode up and down the steep grades. He talked most of the time. After we had made the final descent we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate and continued on our way. We split up in Cambria. He had to go look for a new tire...I had to get to Morro Bay, further if I could but I at least had to get to Morro Bay

At the suggestion of a friend, I stopped at a smoked fish place in Cayucos and gorged on smoked fish tacos, potato chips and lemonade. Best decision of my life.

I made it to Morro Bay and my friend's mom agreed to pick me up and let me stay at her house for the night.  I took a much needed shower, washed my disgusting, sweat filled clothes and slept like a rock.

Day 4

30 miles

Pfeffier Big Sur-Kirk Creek campground

I woke up at 5:30am this morning. After yesterday, I wanted to avoid the heat as much as possible. I had some pretty significant climbing today and was feeling pretty miserable about it. Why did I want to do this again? My excitement and confidence is waning. Quickly.

Today was easier than expected, I must admit. I started off early enough in the day that I did the big climbs out of the heat. I rode with someone else for part of the day. Surprisingly, it was nice to have my ass kicked by the Big Sur mountains in the company of someone else. I've started listening to music as well. Frank Ocean, Florence and the Machine, The Lumineers, and my own Gyasi Ross have kept me company on the road. It definitely helps. 

Ben-my riding buddy for part of the day

I stopped in Lucia for a rest and because it was pretty much the only place to stop , every other cyclists on the road was there as well. We ate lunch together and shared stories. 

From Lucia, I was only going to go 5 more miles to Kirk Creek. Others were going to make the trek to Cambria-another 50 miles. Wow. I salute you. I figure this will be the last time I see these people- our paths crossing for just a moment. But on such a momentous adventure....

Views like this reminded me why I wanted to do this.

                                         

Day 3

30 miles
Vet's Memorial to Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground

I walked over to the elusive hiker/biker site in the morning. I met a couple groups of cyclists and 3 women traveling solo. All of them had started in Vancouver and had been on the road for a month or so. We all had the same plan of getting to Kirk Creek or Plaskett Creek that day. I was relieved that I would have other cyclists on the road thru Big Sur.

I set off, later than I wanted to since it took me forever to pack everything up. I finally left camp at 9:45am-it was already 85 degrees. I was already tired. I didn't sleep very well the night before. My legs kept cramping-most likely from the 80 mile day with 40 pounds of gear.

In any case, I climbed out of Monterey and on to Carmel where I stopped to fuel up on food and water for the next 50 miles or so. Right. Well, after the first couple of climbs I was wiped out. My bike computer told me it was 108 degrees at one point. It was still before noon.

Carmel Highlands

I pulled into Andrew Molera campground to find some shade and water that I had already ran out of. I sat there for 20 minutes and one by one, other cyclists I had met this morning trickled in. We sat together and lamented over the bizarre coastal heat and ultimately resigned ourselves to the fact that today would not be a 60 mile day.

The next closest campground was Pfeiffer Big Sur-only about 5 miles or so down the road. Off we headed.

I can't believe how hot is it. I knew my itinerary could be changed due to inclement weather- I just didn't expect it to be a heat wave.

Day 2

80 miles
Pescadero to Monterey Vet's Memorial Campground


For someone reason I thought today's ride was 60 miles. Not so...it was 80.there were only a few small climbs but they were steep and at mile 60 I was exhausted. Going thru Santa Cruz was particularly frustrating. Much too many stop lights/signs.  Further on from Santa Cruz, it was fields of artichokes and strawberries....although monotonous, the fragrant aroma of strawberries filled the air. I took in deep breaths.

Santa Cruz bike path

one of the many strawberry fields

By the time I hit Monterey, it was dark. I couldn't find the hiker/biker site so I asked a German guy who was sleeping in his car if I could set up my stuff on his site. He not only obliged but gave me his leftover pizza. Score!

Of course the next morning I would find the hiker/biker site was directly across from where I had slept...

Day One

 42 miles
SF to Pescadero

Today was great. I was incredibly worried and anxious upon leaving Gyasi's but as soon as I got on the road I felt happy and calm. I was still a bit worried about traversing Devils Slide- the steep, winding, shoulder-less section between Pacifica and Montara. As I approached this section, I came upon my first fellow bike tourist: Dave, in his 60s, retired, doing the coast from Vancouver for the second time. He'd been on the road for 16 days already. We rode up together and chatted which took my mind off the blind corners and speeding cars. Soon enough we were cresting the hill and beginning the fast descent down. We continued to ride and chat until Half Moon Bay where I was stopping to meet Gyasi for lunch.

 The rest of the day was a breeze. I rode into the hostel and immediately met Susie- a 20 something woman from the UK in California on business. She was taking the opportunity to drive down the coast and check out the surf spots in between her work commitments. We got groceries together and shared the hot tub at sunset time.

Pre Trip (Training, Gear, Route, ect...)

Training
Link to my second tour Portland to SF-http://elysebikes.wordpress.com/

 In the last 6 months I did a 15 mile ride that included a decent climb probably a dozen times, I did a 40 mile ride that included one moderate climb about 10 times. I did an 80 mile ride with 2 moderate climbs once, and I did Mt. Tam- a 50 mile ride that includes a climb to just under 3,000ft two times. I didn't do any rides with my gear, besides short 5 mile rides to get the load right and check the handling. I do recommend doing a longer bike ride with gear if you don't ride a lot normally, but since I do ride a lot and am pretty comfortable with tall climbs and crazy descents I didn't see the need for it.

Gear
 I opted for two back and two front panniers. All of the following fits into the panniers. Nothing is one top of the racks with the exception of the tent poles. Here is the breakdown: (after trip thoughts are noted in red)

•  Clothing (includes what I'll ride in): one rain jacket, one down jacket, one pair thermal long underwear, one thermal long sleeve, one cotton long sleeve, one pair underwear, one swimsuit, one dress (the dress was the only thing I wore on the bike), 2 bike shorts (with different padding so it helped with chafing issues when I alternated between them), one pair hiking pants, one t-shirt, 2 pairs of socks, one pair of flip flops, one pair hiking sandals,  beanie, 2 bandannas, 2 pair gloves (bike and off bike fleece gloves) , reflective vest

• Toiletries: baby wipes, face wash (never used, I just used baby wipes to wipe my face), toothbrush.toothpaste,floss, lip balm, menstrual cup, hand sanitizer, sunblock, 4 small packets of chamois cream, packable towel

•  Camping gear: 2 person tent with fly and footprint, sleeping bag, and liner thermarest sleeping pad (self inflating), thermarest compressible pillow, soloist pot with mug and spork, one 8oz fuel canister, pocket rocket stove, lighter, camp soap, headlamp, first aid kit

•    Misc: nylon rope, duct tape (wrapped around sharpie), multi tool, bungee, bike lock (ended up forgetting it but never locked my bike up anyways). zipties, front and rear bike light, patch kit 2 extra tubes, chain lube, journal/pen, Kindle, small solar charger (this thing was great. I was able to charge my phone in Big Sur. it was a cheapie one too)

• Food: energy bars, mac and cheese, lentils, rice, dried fruit 

Total weight (bags and all gear):38 pounds

 Route

I will be using ACA maps that generally follow the 1 and 101 and various bike paths thru big cities. I also have Bicycling the Pacific Coast on my Kindle

2 years later....

 Well, over two years ago I decided I wanted to ride from San Francisco down the coast. I lived in San Diego at the time and had planned to get back home. I ended up calling the trip short after day three due to a slight knee injury which was precipitated by my failure to actually train. I don't think I rode over 20 miles at one time before I attempted that bike tour. Whoops. the trip was fun anyway. I took the train down the coast and stopped a few places and rode around on my bicycle but it wasn't quite the adventure I had in mind.

 So here I am, living in San Francisco now getting ready to attempt this tour for the second time. Now, I have over 2,000 miles under my belt(legs?)including one 80 mile day, I've camped solo many times, and I've done a backcountry wilderness course which taught me how to travel light and LNT (leave no trace.) and I'm just all around more prepared for this trip. Soooo here we go. Starting again!