Ride Days 151, 152 153

After a few days in Monterey enjoying the town and all the nature with Karen, I finally headed south again. I rode to Big Sur State Park and camped in the Hiker/Biker camp there. The ride was a lot of climbing but a very beautiful ride. I started at Veterans Memorial Park and rode down to the bay then around along the bay past the lighthouse and seventeen mile drive then through Carmel and finally rode down CA-1 the rest of the way. I saw sea lions, whales, raptors, deer, turkeys and more as well as the spectacular rugged coastline. There were huge breakers rolling in making thunderous noises as I rode along. The seals were barking but sometimes the surf drowned out even their raucous bark. Traffic was light and no other bikers in sight. I had expected phone and wifi in Big Sur but due to a recent fire there was neither available so I was out of touch. I ate a great cheese burger in Big Sur then set up my camp. Two other bikers joined me later in the day. One was from somewhere around LA and the other was from Belgium. The next morning, I ended up riding south with my Belgium friend, Emmanuel. We rode to a National Forest camp just north of Gorda called Plaskett Creek I think. The ride to there was over the top of Big Sur so it was again lots of climbing. Tons of turkeys around and a few deer checking us out as we rode past. I think the bird soaring overhead was a California Condor but I could not get a pic to verify but its size was a good clue. Along the coast there were whales almost every time I looked out on the horizon. Sometimes I could hear them blowing and a couple of times I could smell them when they were closer to shore. A few times they were breaching and rolling on the surface. It looked like they were playing to me. There were a lot of them and a few dolphins mixed in too. I still have not gotten a good pic of otters. When I have seen them they are always too far away to get a pic. The campground was very quiet but I made the mistake of making a cup of coffee around 5pm so I ended up not getting the sleep I needed. Such is life. The coffee was worth it. The ride the next day was over Gorda grade and Salmon Creek grade. Both were a workout but not that difficult. Again all day long I had to tolerate beautiful scenery and lots of whales and stuff. Made the ride a bit distracting. We stopped for a long look at the elephant seals near Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. The beaches were packed with the stinky beasts. It was fun watching the males fight all the time. It is a real up close slice of nature and smells like it too. Last time I was here the wind was blowing and it wasn’t so bad as it was today. Worth it though. Ended our ride today in Cambria with a super burrito from Medusas Mexican restaurant. It was very good and a filling way to end three days of camping food. We will check into the hostel here at 5pm and hopefully the wifi will be good enough to post this with pics. Where I am right now I can’t even post text the wifi is so slow. Tomorrow, off to SLO, aka San Luis Obispo.

Ride Day 150

Today I packed up camp in Brighton Beach State Beach and headed to Monterey. My trip to Santa Cruz yesterday went smoothly. I took BART and a bus for most of the way because that stretch of road going South from SF was the most dangerous part of all my riding so far so I just skipped it. No point in pushing my luck at getting through there safely twice. I had a fun bus ride. I sat next to a Canadian woman that chatted with me the entire ride. She peppered me with questions and I answered them and several other passengers joined in with the conversation. I enjoyed it and I think they did also. We were delayed for a few minutes due to a fire along the road on CA17 right at the top of the hill. I rode around Santa Cruz checking out the boardwalk and all the usual stuff then went over to Seabright Brewery for lunch of fish tacos and a beer. After enjoying lunch I slowly rode along the coast twisting and winding up and down the hills hugging the coast as much as I was able to. I stopped at Brighton State Beach for the hiker/biker $5 camping. It is a beautiful spot and in the off season with mid summer weather of 72 degrees with no fog it was even better. In the morning I tried to hug the coast on the ride to Monterey but it cost me a lot of double backing up steep coastal cliff side hills. It was a hard ride. I turned a short ride into one twice as long as it had to be just due to all my exploring. I talked to some surfers and they were excited that Mavericks Big Wave Event is going to be this Friday. I might watch it on TV but more likely will just look at the highlights after it is over. I watched thousands of acres of strawberries, artichokes, cabbage, broccoli and more roll by as I rode though all the coastal farms. When I got to Monterey, it was kind of busy for this part of the season due to the perfect weather and now Mavericks. I talked to some backpackers at Peets Coffee in downtown and they were going to stay in a cheap hotel. I ended up doing the same because it is a 900 foot climb up to the campground and I am beat after all the hills I did today. The California coast might be the most beautiful part of all the bike riding I have done but you need to pay the price of lots of big hills and mountains to see it. I am willing to pay the price.

Heading South From San Francisco Today

I am heading South today on my bike. I was going to write a nice long blog about my leaving but I spent the last hour just trying to sign into my google account. They changed their sign in page and no longer offer the sign in to a different account option. It took me an hour to figure out how to sign in using multiple accounts that are not hooked together. I hate updates, all updates. They are never an improvement for me just for the service that is updating. There are no instructions for the changes and no help available for problems. Oh sure they have help pages but they are usually worthless. The only way to get the scoop on all the changes is to search the net for geeks that figured it out and explain it clearly. But screw Google for their inconsiderate deletion of the multiple accounts option just so it makes their tracking of the info easier for them. My plans are to just head South slowly and to enjoy the ride. I have already done this ride, at least to the Mexican border that is, so I will be posting fewer pics this time. If you want to see those pics just use the archives to the right of this text and look up Ride Day 1 through Day 15 or so. When I get to the Mexico border I plan on continuing south down the Baha peninsula to Cabo then taking a ferry to the mainland and going south some more. Where I stop or turn around or whatever happens is up in the air. My goal is entertainment and adventure and if the trip turns sour then I will end it wherever that may be. No plans and no expectations just winging it. Sounds like fun right? There is very poor cell phone service along the coast and few places with internet so I will be out of touch for days at a time but just keep checking and I will catch up with my posting when I am able to. Now I am out of here to hit the road. Next update will be from Santa Cruz I hope.