RR: Bill and Will Roadtrip - Day 2 - Central Coast

[MTBBill]

(Also see Bill and Will Roadtrip Day 1 - Santa Cruz)

We woke up fairly early this morning to some nice sunshine over the Laguna Seca Recreation/Raceway Area. Will reluctantly said his legs were sore and he did not think he would be up for riding today. I'm glad he told me as I would not have wanted to push him into riding and then not enjoying himself. We were orginally thinking of going to Montana Del Oro State Park and get in some riding.



The nice thing about working off of an idea vice a schedule is that you can change things pretty darn easily. After a bit of breakfast, we broke camp and hit the road. It was just earlier in the week that the Pacific Coast Highway was reopened after being shutdown for nearly a week due to wildfires burning in the Big Sur and other areas of the Los Padres National Forest. It has been quite a few years since I had been on the this highway and I had forgotten just how pretty this drive can be.



We stopped at many places along the way early on to take in the sights. This was a good thing as before long the coast became completely socked in with thick fog and we could not see much at all until we were near San Simeon about 90 miles south of Monterey.



One of the really cool stops we did was at vista lookout about five miles north of Hearst Castle right off of the Pacific Coast Highway. Here you can check out a large colony of Elephant Seals. These are some big critters and the males make some mighty deep and throaty noises when other males get around their babes.



This fellow reminded me of some of the commenters in the "Offical I Love/Hate Shuttling Thread"



We continued down the coast until we neared San Luis Obispo. Instead of going to Montana Del Oro State Park we turned inland and made our way to Mt Pinos near the town of Labec. We ended up at the Mt Pinos campground that sits at 8,200 feet and we had the pick of the place as we were the only ones there. Later that evening two more groups would come in, but for the most part we had the great views virtually all to ourselves.



We had several hours of daylight left after we got everything setup and the next thing you know Will was bucking to get on the bike and mess around near camp. I joined in on the action and played around on a log.



The South Ridge trail starts right from the campground and goes down to the McGill Campground a couple of miles down the mountain. I had to see the camp host down there so when I drove down, Will took the trail down. He was pretty darn excited when he came off the trail and proclaimed it was the coolest singletrack EVER! The trail is setup as a cross-country ski trail and has plenty of small rounded jumps that are just the perfect size to catch some XC sized air. Will really dug those and I was stoked to see him stoked.



Back at camp, we enjoyed the last night of being able to have a campfire as a ban on them would start the following morning, due to the dry conditions. We climbed into the tent an hour or so after sunset. When we are back at home, Will is always trying to fight off going to bed. It is like the world is moving too fast and he is going to miss out on something if he is sleeping. It was nice to have him so easily climb into his sleeping bag. I was reading a book and I had barely turned one page when I looked up to see him already down for the count. Tomorrow we would get in a good chunk of riding in.

[bighit8]

Sweet Bill, waiting for my two boys to get to the age I can take them on riding trips like yours.

[dudevf1]

Awesome RR and trip review. I read your day one, too. My wife is expecting a boy in October, your RRs are getting me stoked for some of the great times in the years to come. Thanks!

[EMrider]

Cool RR and pics.

We were the group that rolled into Mt. Pinos campground at about 830pm on Thursday evening. The element and the van. Thanks for coming over to say hi and introduce yourselves.

Unfortunately, my riding plans were blown apart by a case of the flu. The only shuttling I did on Friday was between the campsite and the bathroom while my friends rode. I did a short ride on Saturday but just couldn't handle any climbing. Of all the weekends to get sick!

What I did ride was amazing and I will get back up there for sure.
Rob

[MTBBill]

Originally Posted by bighit8

Sweet Bill, waiting for my two boys to get to the age I can take them on riding trips like yours.

Getting out on the trails with the boys is really good times that I'm sure I will talk about a bunch long after they are off on their own.

Originally Posted by dudevf1

Awesome RR and trip review. I read your day one, too. My wife is expecting a boy in October, your RRs are getting me stoked for some of the great times in the years to come. Thanks!

Make sure you keep a video camera close by all the time, those "firsts" like words and steps only happen once. Here is Will's first ride without the training wheels and here is a few moments after that.

Originally Posted by EMrider

Unfortunately, my riding plans were blown apart by a case of the flu. The only shuttling I did on Friday was between the campsite and the bathroom while my friends rode. I did a short ride on Saturday but just couldn't handle any climbing. Of all the weekends to get sick!

I was wondering why the whole group was not out when be passed by the rest of you folks out near the top of Pinos. Bummer indeed.

[mtbgurl26]

montana de oro has some amazing views! but looks like mt pinos was a blast too! great rr and pics!!