Sorry this ride report is a bit late, but better late than never, right?! Introduction Well, it’s time of year again (Memorial weekend) where I get on my bike and my cousin drags me along his annual tour. This year we decided to take it “easy” and do the stretch of PCH between SF and SLO. It’s only about 280 miles, but since this is a trip with my cousin, he decided we needed to cover those miles over 4 days. In hindsight, it really wasn’t so bad; it’s just that I was in pretty piss poor riding shape. Good think touring gets your legs into biking shape quickly! The Gear Same old bike from our last tour: 2005 Cannondale F300. Gear was pretty similar too, but I did upgrade my sleeping kit to a REI T3 Quarter Dome, a Klymit Static V sleeping pad, and a Teton Sport TrailHead bag. I cut down on the amount of clothing I brought, and we also relied on restaurants for most of our meals, so we packed a lot less food. All in all, my pack was much lighter and tighter this time around. Day 1 – LA to Oakland to Santa Cruz (85+ miles) Our trip actually started the night before. We rented a car and my cousin, my HS buddy, and I drove up to Oakland to crash at my other HS buddy’s place. Of course we got out of LA late, so I think we only had about 2-3 hours of sleep each. We really are the champions of “great starts”. We got out of my buddy’s place around 930AM, but we had to split up since we rented the car one way and it wasn’t big enough to handle all 4 bikes. So my cousin packed his bike into the car and returned the car, while my two HS friends and I rode down to the BART station to catch a ride. The plan was to meet my cousin in Daly City to start the official ride. The official part of the ride sucked. I mean it was beautiful, and the weather cooperated, but man was I out of shape. By the end of the night, my ass was on fire, both side of both legs were cramping, and we had to set up camp in the dark. In fact, we didn’t hit New Brighton Beach till around 11PM. That was the longest day of biking in my life. Thank God for Advil.
Day 2 – Santa Cruz to Big Sur Lodge (80+ miles) My legs still felt pretty weak, especially through Monterey (hills, lots of hills), but I didn’t cramp today! I did break a spoke, though. Even with a broken spoke, my only gripe with the ride through Big Sur is the amount of coastal land that is privately held. It seemed as if every inch of the coast is private! It’s crazy to think that all this amazing coastline is owned by someone who doesn’t even live there most of the year, and is unwilling to share with the public. Just a shame really.
Day 3 – Big Sur Lodge to Kirk Creek (30ish miles) Recovery day and I needed it. Big Sur has some elevation change, and though it’s nothing too extreme, I felt really sluggish today. I’m so happy cut our milage this day so we could pitch our tents while we had SUNLIGHT! On top of that we got to stay at the Kirk Creek campground. Kirk Creek has the reputation as the best biker/hiker site along the California coast and it did not disappoint. Sure, there were no showers or flush toilets, but the view and campsite is second to none. Today was also a cheat day. It turned out that the closest store was about 12 miles one way, so we broke down and borrowed the car for some beers! Did I feel dirty about using the car? Yes, but the beer helped wash away the shame.
Day 4 – Kirk Creek to SLO (85+ miles) My body was finally in bike mode. I felt like I wash flying, even when I was going uphill! Even with my body in the groove, I knew we wouldn’t make the car rental reservation for 3PM. So I called Avis as soon as we got to a location with cell reception. The Avis rep told me the shop will be open till midnight, so I don’t have to sweat making it there by 3PM. Cool, right? RIGHT?! NOPE. With the false sense of hope that we had till midnight to get our car, we took our time. We end up getting to the airport at 430PM (still great time). I stroll into the rental area, only to find out that Avis had closed at 4PM due to Memorial Day. Long story short, national call center had no idea that the local chapter would close at 4PM, so we were stuck in SLO without a way back home. Fortunately, there was ONE shop still open, and they had ONE car left. Unfortunately, the only car they had was a Corrolla for $230. Needless to say, our bikes would not fit in that car, so we had to buy a bike rack. At least we made it back!
hmmz. im having trouble uploading images. Here is a link to my album. https://plus.google.com/photos/1154...s/6037531378672602177?authkey=CPa144C-9s6jyAE
Darn right. Thanks for sharing. Nice photos too. This one reminds me a little of a view from the Flume trail in Tahoe
