78.92 miles
7:34:07 Moving time
4,682 ft of climbing
We started our ride by cheating. Deciding that we absolutely did not feel like battling the traffic between Martinez and San Jose, we took the very first Amtrak of the morning all the way to San Jose and met up with Nathan at the first donut shop we found. Our server must have been new, because she got every single donut order wrong, but we ate them anyways.
We took the Los Gatos trail to the Santa Cruz highway, which circumnavigated the Lexington reservoir before truly starting to climb. One particularly steep gravel hill defeated me and dad (who is rocking a road bike rather than a touring bike and therefore has much skinnier tires). Fortunately the gravel ended quickly and the (paved roads) climbed gradually out from around the Lexington Reservoir.
The Fourth Wheel: Road of the Day was Highland Way, it was a great climb with beautiful views.
As we looped the rolling hills, we saw a fire rescue helicopter practicing drops in the hills and found a bird by the side of the road whose wing had been broken, and dad reflected that it is a sad world where people can fly but a bird cannot. On a side note to my doctor friends, I was the one who lifted the bird to the vegetation at the side of the road, so if I get a fever and chills, I probably have avian flu, whereas if I get profuse diarrhea, I probably have Salmonella, so please treat accordingly.
After 80 miles of rolling hills against relentless headwinds, we were exhausted. Absolutely everything hurt, and a blow-up mattress has never felt so good.
Ear worms: You’re the One That I Want (You better shape up) and Just Around the River Bend
Dad’s ear worm: How Do you Do? From By Jeeves
Day 2: Monterrey to Limekiln
60.09 miles
5:24:57 moving time
4,787 ft of climbing
The morning started foggy, but we warmed up quickly as we climbed out of the park. We opted for the 17-mile scenic drive as opposed to the heavily trafficked Highway 1, and we dreamed about owning a house on the strip - we saw a particularly nice one that cost a cool 7.5 million. The Fourth Wheel: Road of the Day was a close race between Hwy 1 and Scenic Drive (which is in Carmel-By-The-Sea), but ultimately goes to Scenic Drive. Beautiful views, no cars and mostly downhill.
We continued to roll along the coast. The hills were impressive, and we consistently climbed to steep cliffs high above the waves, with only a foot-high guardrail standing between us and oblivion. The downhills were glorious, and frequently a little more exciting because of the gusty sidewinds.
We tucked slightly inland into the forests of Big Sur, and met our second monstrously large hill of the day, which of course arrived during the very hottest part of the day, with absolutely no shade to curtail the heat. As we were climbing the hill, I suddenly flashed back to an EMRAP podcast I had recently listened to about heat stroke. I could remember what the treatment was (cooling, duh), but I couldn’t remember what the prodrome symptoms were, if indeed there were any. Perioral numbness? Recalcitrant cramps? I looked it up later and the answer is "none of the above", instead, the prodrome consists of weakness, headache, chills, ataxia and nausea.
Just after this brutal climb, like an oasis in the desert, we stumbled upon Nepenthe, which had been highly recommended to us at graduation by the venerable and highly trustworthy Scott Karpowicz. It is a restaurant in the middle of Big Sur that has excellent food, even though it could easily get away with having terrible food, given how beautiful the view from the double patios was. Two baskets of fries, a bottle of wine, and four hours later, we were finally ready to carry on.
Just after this brutal climb, like an oasis in the desert, we stumbled upon Nepenthe, which had been highly recommended to us at graduation by the venerable and highly trustworthy Scott Karpowicz. It is a restaurant in the middle of Big Sur that has excellent food, even though it could easily get away with having terrible food, given how beautiful the view from the double patios was. Two baskets of fries, a bottle of wine, and four hours later, we were finally ready to carry on.
Dad's musings: Riding down the coast of California is like a 200 mile walk down the tide line on a beach. The small waves on the beach wash back and forth across your feet in a perpetual war with the dry dunes. It’s the most primal divide. The Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi river divide our continent, but the beach separates us from the source of life on our planet. A fascinating interface between the ocean where life began and a continent where life became intelligent.
Tourists from around the world flock to Highway 1 to travel the great divide by car or motorhome or, like us, bicycle. Rocks and redwoods, fog and waves are beautiful, but they are a backdrop to battle between ocean and land. One day the ocean will reclaim the cliffs and Highway one will be gone. A walk on the beach is a 5-minute preview of an eons long battle. Do the tourists sense this? they must.
After lunch, we continued to roll along the coast until our campsite at Limekiln. The camp manager, who was very confused by our lack of motor vehicle, explained that many years ago, the redwoods were cut down and burned to extract lime from the limestone from the nearby quarry until there were neither redwoods nor limestone left. Somewhere between then and now the same area was converted into a beautiful campground, but this is why all the local redwoods are young growth and "only" 150 years old. After dinner, we moseyed down to the beach, and by clambering over rocks (in bike shoes), we were just able to glimpse the sunset over the beach.
After lunch, we continued to roll along the coast until our campsite at Limekiln. The camp manager, who was very confused by our lack of motor vehicle, explained that many years ago, the redwoods were cut down and burned to extract lime from the limestone from the nearby quarry until there were neither redwoods nor limestone left. Somewhere between then and now the same area was converted into a beautiful campground, but this is why all the local redwoods are young growth and "only" 150 years old. After dinner, we moseyed down to the beach, and by clambering over rocks (in bike shoes), we were just able to glimpse the sunset over the beach.
Day 3: Limekiln to Morro Bay
70.05 miles
5:37:17 moving time
3,629 ft of climbing
It’s July 1st and firewood is now $15/bundle, up 50% from its pre-peak season price. Instead we ate oatmeal and coffee over our little parafin stove. As you can see from this photo, I have been suffering from some fairly severe periorbital edema. My leading hypotheses are that it is due to increased hydrostatic pressure (from drinking too much water?) or low oncotic pressure secondary to exercise-induced proteinuria.
The climb out of the campsite was brutally steep (although mercifully brief) and the morning was densely foggy. We continued to roll up and down hills along the coast with two enormous climbs. The descents were delicious and terrifying, as there was no retaining wall, no way to see around the curves, and no way to predict the gusts of westerly cross-winds, and we clocked 40mph at our fastest. Once we’d dropped out of the cliffs, we had an absolutely banging tailwind, the mythical tailwind, and we were cruising along at a comfortable 20mph.
The Fourth Wheel: Road of the Day is easy today, since we were only on Hwy 1 which was beautiful the whole way. The best part was in the morning because we had the road to ourselves.
We only stopped twice, once to laugh at a beach full of elephant seals, most of whom were lined up along the water’s edge like potatoes, but a couple of whom were mock fighting in a lagoon, and another time for fantastic burgers at the only food joint in San Simeon, where we also dried all our laundry. We thought about visiting Hearst Castle, which was right across the street, but ultimately contented ourselves with distant views from the highway rather than brave the 10 extra uphill miles we would have had to climb. No fairy-tale castle of a deranged man is worth that much effort.
With only a few miles to go to Morro Bay, we started taking the scenic route, which frequently deviated from Highway 1 in order to parallel the coast and wind through a wildlife reserve on a dedicated bike lane before dumping us back on to Main Street in Cayucos, where we picked up essentials such as Brown Butter Cookie Company cookies, beer and instant coffee on the way. The campsite was in a state park, as so many of them are, so the surroundings were beautiful, although there were ultimately a few too many boy scouts for my liking.
Earworms: All Around My Hat (the naughty version)
Day 4: Morro Bay to Lompoc
78.70 miles
6:37:36 moving time
3,639 ft of climbing
By the time I stumbled out of the tent, the boys had already started a fire, presumably for the campy enjoyment of it, since the morning was already heating up. We rolled out of Morro Bay into a fairly steady headwind, stopping for cinnamon rolls in Pismo. The cinnamon rolls, which are chopped off the longest roll of dough I've ever seen and topped with any sort of sweet thing you can imagine, were absolutely delicious, however, Pismo (doesn't that name sound like the marriage of Pepto and Bismol?) was touristy-feeling even on a weekday morning, and having now passed through a number of small towns, I would recommend Nipomo and Los Alamos for atmosphere and lack of traffic.
In the afternoon, our headwind became a tailwind, and we rode that high at a delicious 16mph clip until our hungry hippos pulled into an Albertson’s parking lot, and we had Mexican food at a restaurant that had been patronized, for no obvious reason, by Harrison Ford. Per our GPS, we only had two large hills to go, the first of which was on the highway, and the second of which was up a bumpy road through a lovely green canyon.
In the afternoon, our headwind became a tailwind, and we rode that high at a delicious 16mph clip until our hungry hippos pulled into an Albertson’s parking lot, and we had Mexican food at a restaurant that had been patronized, for no obvious reason, by Harrison Ford. Per our GPS, we only had two large hills to go, the first of which was on the highway, and the second of which was up a bumpy road through a lovely green canyon.
The Fourth Wheel: Road of the Day was Drum Canyon Road. Long climb with no cars and a road tailored (except the potholes) for cyclists. After the climb is a beautiful descent into Santa Barbara’s version of wine country and the tail end of the road went from bumpy to one of the smoothest roads so far.
The heavenly descent to the B&B was only surpassed by the B&B itself, which was set back from the highway in a vineyard and goat farm and offered very friendly pets and the opportunity to shower, eat and sleep in comfort and privacy.
The heavenly descent to the B&B was only surpassed by the B&B itself, which was set back from the highway in a vineyard and goat farm and offered very friendly pets and the opportunity to shower, eat and sleep in comfort and privacy.
Dad’s earworm: One More Angel in Heaven
Day 5: Lompoc to Santa Barbara
59.28 miles
4:10:50 moving time
2,211 ft of climbing
It was hard to end this ride, emotionally and logistically. We knew that we wanted to go as far down the coast as we could, but we also knew that we didn't want to slog our way through LA traffic for the last miles before getting home. We settled on Santa Barbara, because it is beautiful, and the roads to it are (generally) beautiful.
This was the only part of the ride that remained supported, because the heroic Don met us at our B&B and picked up our bags. We cycled unhampered and had breakfast in Buellton (where I learned that Danish pancakes are basically crepes, but don't tell any Danish people that I said that). We took the obligatory silly photos at Anderson's split pea soup and saw the local Ostrichland, which boasted "a lot" of ostriches.
Shortly after Buellton, we were dumped onto the freeway, which was slightly harrowing despite the generous shoulder. After an enormous mountain, we coasted back down at a cool 37mph. We continued on the freeway until Golitas, where we got onto a bike path that snuck through the beautiful but nauseatingly wealthy Hope Ranch and dumped us straight onto the Santa Barbara board walk.
We met Don for lunch, and just like that, our incredible ride was over. We loaded our bikes onto the top of Don's car and fought horrible weekend traffic back to Pasadena. Our only consolation was that we had another ride coming up in a couple of weeks.
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