Tony's Bicycle Adventures: 2013 Bike Trip Part 5

Southern California

Leaving San Rafael was equally challenging, as finding any of the bike routes was still a mystery. Since it was a weekend, a lot of local riders were out and rather helpful. Some even went out of their way to serve as personal guides to get me to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The fog was still about and rather chilly with the wind blowing across the Bay. There the quote from Mark Twain came to mind again, as he said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Once across the Great Bridge, navigating became easier as the city is laid out in a grid system and before long the Highway 1 pavement was carrying me south along the coast. The fog started to dissipate after Pacifica, then a 2-mile curvy uphill white knuckle ride to the new “Devil’s Slide Tunnel” followed, with cars zipping past too close for comfort, without the safety zone of a shoulder. Reaching the entrance was a great relief and riding on the 10-foot wide shoulder through the well-lit tunnel was a welcomed treat. Thereafter, the coastal road continued with gorgeous views to Half Moon Bay for another social stop.

With evening approaching, it started to cool off again and I was glad to meet Werner (another long time Mueller-Martini employee) for dinner, in the hopes of burning some calories, which in return would fire up my internal furnace and give me some needed heat. We had a lot to catch up from the years past since we’d seen each other. Then it was back for another night in the sleeping bag.

As the journey got closer to Monterey, gone were the redwoods and the landscape changed to immense agriculture fields of salads, artichokes, celery, carrots, strawberries…. At the same time the new landscape was a recipe for flatter terrain, which is never questioned. A lovely afternoon in Monterey and replacing a sheared off bolt on the front luggage rack concluded another day.

Just south of Monterey the terrain got steeper again toward Big Sur, but hills are hills and are always conquered by pedal strokes and perhaps some sweat. Only on this stretch, from Monterey to Morro Bay, the scenery got better and better and as it turned out, it was probably the most stunning portion of all, and not even the fog could dampen my enthusiasm.

The word of warmer temperatures and the lack of fog on the coast of Santa Barbara from a cyclist whom I had met earlier was enough motivation to do a monster ride of over 100 miles from Morro Bay to Refugio State Beach. I traded a foggy eucalyptus tree covered campsite for a sunny palm-lined beachfront site. The ride itself was great as well, riding away from the coast to a warmer inland, passing miles of some more agriculture fields at first, which was all flat terrain and a never frowned upon tailwind. The second part was a bit more challenging, over hills covered with dry brown grass, the occasional paddock with cows and a few trees, all soothing for the eye; and most of the roads had a wide generous shoulder to ride on, to give that feeling of safety again.

After reaching the coast, the journey continued toward Los Angeles on the fast moving highway 101, getting sucked along by the speeding traffic, as in some sections there are no other alternatives than riding on the freeway. Passing and stopping on the beaches of Santa Barbara, Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, I enjoyed the natural beauty of nature and the beauties of the beaches. The lack of fog was a myth as it was still widespread and heavy in places, but it sure warmed up a few degrees during the day.

After Redondo Beach, the comfort of the beach bike path had to be traded with the crazy L.A. city streets and made the next 20 miles more mentally demanding than physically. As for traffic volume it was busy enough for a Sunday and I was sure glad to not get the experience of what rush hour would be like!

More excitement came a bit further south in Huntington Beach, where large crowds of mainly young people lined up both sides of the street. It felt like the sidewalks were about to burst, spilling the folks onto the streets. As I heard later in the news, shortly after passing through, the road was closed because of rioting.

Now the trip was coming to an end, as I was only a day’s ride from San Diego. It felt a bit strange pitching the tent for the last time at Solana Beach after two and a half months and almost 3000 miles on the road. Like turning a page in a book, another chapter in life was about to begin.

Cycling the West Coast is a pretty popular route. There may not be another cyclist in sight during the day, but they all congregate at nightfall at the selected state parks listed in the “Bicycling the Pacific Coast” bible (book). Meeting Cal from Chicago, Matt & Mike from Winnipeg, Jamal & Martin from London, Hamza from San Francisco, Kay from Germany, Ron & Chip from Arizona, Gordon also from Arizona, Steve from Australia, a couple from France and many more, which made every night a special experience.

All in all, it was a great trip, with only a few rude drivers, some that don’t know the size of their vehicles, or that just have poor driving skills. As a whole, the people I met were very kind and helpful, which will leave some more lasting memories, and I can only wonder now what the next adventure will be.

Until next time from a bit farther down the road,

Tony Bike