An update - stories are still coming!

Greetings all,

I did actually finish the journey, and I have stories and pictures coming.

Attempting to return to "the real world" after two months on the road has been a bit more difficult than I expected, and thus, I haven't written much lately.

Thank you for reading, and know that more stories are coming.

Day 48 - Big Sur to Plaskett Creek campground

Day 48 - (June 28) Big Sur to Plaskett Creek campground

I woke up fairly late today and made a slow breakfast.  Being completely by myself in such a beautiful place is really great.  I found that many of the blackberries there were just about perfectly ripe, so I had a bowl of half cereal and half blackberries.

Then, since I was looking at a fairly lazy day (less than 30 miles), I decided to do some basic bike maintenance and enjoy the setting.  Unfortunately, in at least one way, I enjoyed it a bit too much, as I managed to sunburn most of my back while I was doing this maintenance.  This was my first bad sunburn of the trip.

While I was getting my stuff together to ride out, who should I see speed by ... first Dick goes by, then about ten minutes later John goes by.  I don't think that either of them saw me, as I was on a road essentially coming from behind them, but it was fun to see them go by.

The ride was great - the hills are challenging, but the scenery is great:

More great coastal scenery

Eventually, we all ended up at the same campground, Plaskett Creek, where we also met these two (whose names I have managed to lose track of)

Another pair of cycle tourists

These guys were planning to head out really early the next day to get some uncrowded time on the road.

We also got a very warm welcome from a big group of people who were also camping there.  They invited up over for food and drinks, and then handed John a cup of Jameson's to pass around - definitely a nice welcome.

I didn't have to cook at all tonight.  Between Dick's pasta and food from the other campers, I was very well appointed.  By the end of the night, I was also pretty sloshed, and wobbled over to my tent for the night.

Distance: 26.45 miles (24.8 according to the other cyclocomputer)
10.2 mph average (9.7)
38.3 mph max

Day 47 - Monterey to Big Sur

This morning I got a chance to talk with the guys some more while getting everything together.  First is Pete and Bachi:

Pete and Bachi

Bachi is 16, and Pete is taking him on tour down the coast for probably the last time.  Pete's set up quite a rig for them to travel in:

Pete's rig for travelling with Bachi

After making breakfast (again with John making comments about how extensive my preparations were), I started to replace the spokes in my rear wheel and just about the time that I took the first one out again because I put it in from the wrong side, Rick came over and asked how I was doing.  I told him, and he asked if he could put them in for me.  I was astounded.  Rick installed the two spokes and said that he just loves working on bikes.  I am definitely going to take some of his advice about how to improve my bike.

I managed to get John, Dick and Rick together for a picture before they headed off to Big Sur:

From left to right: Dick, John and Rick

Definitely an interesting bunch of guys.  Dick is a philosophy professor, John is a journalist who writes for a bicycle touring magazine and Rick is a Civil engineer who builds bridges in order to support his bike building habit.

Once I headed out from the campground, I went to Seaside to get some more spokes made for the rear wheel, since I was just about out, and the spoke problem probably wasn't going to be done.

While I was riding back from Seaside to monterey to get back on route, I was cruising by a cafe, and saw a trike parked out front.  It turns out that it was not one, but three trikes!

Three trikes in the wild

These guys apparently get together fairly frequently to talk shop and ride around.  They were tickled by my set up and my trek, and I was tickled to just see more trike riders out there.

As I rode out of the area, I saw this sign, which definitely proved to be true for me:

That's what I had to look forward to

Riding down the coast, I had one heck of a tailwind.  It must have been at least 15mph.  I took this picture to try to get a visual reference:

That flag usually goes straight up or leans back, not forward

The ride into Big Sur was challenging.  I was riding to Lawrence Dubois' place to crash for the night (thanks to both Irene for putting me in contact with Lawrence, and Lawrence for letting me use his place).  My directions were to go so far past the such-and-so gallery, and it kept seeming like I should have gotten there already, but still hadn't.  Then I finally saw the gallery, and found my stopping place quite easily (great directions guys!).

After I got there, I followed Lawrence's directions on how to go about 1/4 mile away to the top of a hill to get cell phone coverage and let everyone know that I had arrived safely.  On the way down, I got to observe this glorious sunset:

A great sunset at Big Sur

This was a good day.  Neat people met, a strange but neat place to stay, and some challenging bicycling along the way.

Distance: 48.9 miles
10.2 mph average
43.7 mph max

Day 46 - Scotts Valley to Monterey

I woke up luxuriously late (9ish) having thoroughly enjoyed sleeping indoors again.

Irene cooked breakfast - which was quite tasty and another great luxury for me.

After dragging my heels for a while, I rolled out.

I liked the ride down into Santa Cruz.  I passed the "Mystery Spot," Santa Cruz's classic tourist manipulation.

One of the classic tourist joints

I never actually knew where it was before.

I stopped at Home Depot to buy a new crescent wrench so that I can remove the cassette from my rear wheel if necessary.

The greater Monterey area has a bunch of really good bicycle paths:

This was a great trail

As I went down the bicycle path, I went into Fort Ord Dunes state park:

Fort Ord Dunes state park

I took the bicycle path through the park for several miles.  It's quite nice.  Very wide and smooth with rolling hills and great views:

The Fort Ord dunes state park

I exited the trails and Rode into Sand City to go to a sporting goods store where I bought some UA heatgear - great stuff!  

Finally, I got to Monterey and started to head towards veterans memorial park.  I was warned about the hill into the park, but wow - that was a seriously steep hill.

When I got there, I found that the hiker/biker area was pretty full, and full of characters.  The first people that I met were John, Dick and Rick - three old hands at bicycle touring who all oohed and aahed over my bike as I arrived.  I unloaded the bike and when these guys asked how I was doing, I admitted that I wasn't doing as well as I might, as I heard the tink tink of a broken spoke on the back wheel.  Rick asked if he could take a look at my back wheel, and I said absolutely, I'd be glad to get any help that I could.  John then told me that Rick was a frame builder.  Rick found that I had broken not one, but two spokes, and also made comments about how the wheel could be better engineered.  

Then, when I was making dinner (in the dark, as I arrived at dusk), John observed my machinations and said that I'd give his brother Dick a run for his money as a camp cook.  

That night, I also met Pete, who was doing a tour with his dog Bachi.

After eating and cleaning up a bit, I was completely exhausted and just crawled into my tent and went to sleep.

Distance: 54.5 miles
average: 10.4 MPH
Max: 44.1 (error) mph

Just a quick update

More involved posts for each day are coming, but I just wanted to tell everyone that I made it through LA alive, and will be skipping most of Orange County by going to Catalina instead, and catching the ferry back to south of Laguna Beach.

Day 45 - Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz

Day 45 (June 25) - Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz

When I wake up, I decide again that Half Moon Bay State Beach is an excellent place to camp

I started out and made breakfast fairly quickly and was all ready to cruise out of the campground relatively early, but then I allowed my better nature to get the best of me and helped out a few people instead of just getting ready and taking off.

First, there were a pair of Austrian bike tourists - they rolled up and asked the procedures for getting a campsite, so I explained to them about Hiker/Biker sites and asked where they were going and what maps they were using.  When they told me that they were headed down to San Diego and then across to Florida, and that they were operating off of normal roadmaps, I decided that I had to give them one of the photocopies of the maps that I was carrying (now I know why I was carrying two photocopies) - as they would certainly be severely stuck at some point otherwise.  They then asked me about my trip and the bike.  It was a fun forty five minutes.

Then, just as I was about to head out, a mom and her two daughters roll down the bike path next to my campsite, and one of the girls says: "mom, my tires are flat ..." so when mom asks if I can help, I say sure - switch my pump from presta to schrader and pump up her tires.

So I finally roll out later than expected and head out towards Santa Cruz.  I passed by "historic" Pescadero (why does every town need to claim to be historic?)

"Historic" Pescadero: that way

Then I came upon this rather surreal scene: after all, how often do you see a lighthouse in the middle of a field?

Pigeon Point lighthouse - from an interesting perspective

It looked like they were watering the lighthouse.

Coming over a rise, I saw what I first thought were parasailers, but turned out to be kite surfers:

Sails in the sky

Eventually, I make it down to Daveport, where I stopped for a bit to get a cookie, a glass of ice water and then a Red Bull for the final push to Santa Cruz.

When I finally get to Santa Cruz, I really don't recognize the place anymore.  I head over to Saturn cafe to get some grub and see if anyone will come and hang out.  Irene and her sons show up, and we have some time to hang out.  Irene also offered a place to stay, but she didn't think that my bike would fit in her Fit.  After I assured her that it would, she took the boys to one of the neighbors' houses while she came back and picked up me and the bike for a ride back to her place in Scotts Valley.

Irene pointed me in the direction of a shower and made up a bed for me.  Ahhh, real pillows.  That is what I need to figure out better.

A bit later, Liz and Craig show up to gawk at the bike and say hi.  Eventually Craig and I end up going to the web to get a picture of a Morgan Aero.  When Liz and Irene realized that we were both trying to get a picture of a car from the web, they sort of looked at each other, shook their heads and made some dismissive comment about our actions.  Deservedly.

Then they went home and I went off to write blog posts.  Then I crawled into bed and luxuriated on a mattress with pillows and slept deeply for eight or nice hours.


Thank you, Irene, that was very nice and much appreciated.

Back on the Road - Day 44 Berkeley to Half Moon Bay

Day 44 (June 24) Back on the Road - Going From Berkeley to Half Moon Bay
Well, it took me FOREVER to get out of the house, but the bike is re-spoked, tuned up and quiet again.

I managed to get everything done at home, including cleaning the place up a bunch.  I'm sure that Robert won't recognize the place when he checks to make sure that I didn't leave any taps running, etc.

I found that taking Bart from Berkeley to Daly City was the first adventure.  It turns out that the bike is longer than BART elevators are deep, so I got to unpack the bike into the elevator and pick the bike up, rolling it in on its back wheel to get into the elevator.

It is also too big to fit on the train without blocking some of the aisle/door space.  I was very glad that the train was pretty empty.  When I got off in Daly City, I repeated the bike manipulations to get it into the elevator, and then when I got off the elevator, I headed for the bathroom.  I'm really trying to not pass up any opportunity to stop at a bathroom.

Coming out of the bathroom, I had a long conversation with an asian woman who was just fascinated by the bike.  She was thinking in terms of a roof for it and other things that might be added.   She came out of the station to watch me ride off.

I rode out of the station and down to 35, until I got to skyline and followed the roads right next to the water.  Wow!  What a view.

Who knew that there was such a great view in Daly City

And then there were no more houses...

And what a ride.  I think that my map's altitude estimations for the ride from Pacifica south were a bit generous, perhaps to make up for the second hill coming out of Leggett.  The ride was easier than I expected.  I got to Half Moon Bay as the sun was setting, and I got to see an utterly glorious sunset, and then some neat effects after the sun set.

A gorgeous sunset

I love the streak of light coming out from the point

The campground at the beach is very nice.  The area is just gorgeous, and I think that I might make this a fine little weekend trip on the bike.  It's short enough to get here with lots of daylight left (if you don't leave in the fairly late afternoon), it's a good ride and a glorious place to stay (for $7, with the waves crashing and the foghorn blowing (I dunno why though, its as clear as a bell tonight).

Just as I was about to set up to make dinner, a couple of the other campers in the hiker/biker space offered me the remainder of their clam chowder, which I gladly accepted and sopped up with some sourdough bread that I brought.

After we all showered, they came by and we chatted for about an hour.  Very pleasant.
Well, off to bed with me.

Distance 21.38 miles
8.7 mph average
42.8 mph max

An update - back on the road tomorrow

I intended to be back on the road on Friday, then again today, but then I tried the gears and need to adjust stuff. 

It's also proving harder than expected to trim the kit and my dithering is being inordinately frustrating.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's my appreciation for a real pillow that's actually causing me to drag my heels.

Well, tomorrow for sure.  I have all of the clothing and equipment cleaned, food ready, first aid kit replenished, etc.  So I'll get everything ready to go tonight, and leave first thing tomorrow.

Really. I mean it this time.

Getting ready for the southern run

I have spent the last couple of days getting stuff together and dealing with the paperwork that piled up while I was gone.

Monday showed that I didn't even need to be on the road for surreal occurrences to happen.  I went into San Francisco to have lunch with the crew that I'd been working with for most of the last year, and while I was there for lunch, the client contacted the team leader to inform the group that the project would be wrapping up.  Not a bad run for a "two week project" - just under a year, but to have the call come in while I am there (for an hour or two) is just bizarre.  Ah well.  At least I can get my unemployment claim started.

Today I learned how to disassemble and reassemble my rear wheel (I need a slightly bigger crescent wrench), and how to true a wheel (well, nearly true - I've got the wobble under 1mm).

I have also removed the fenders and fairing and swapped out the tires - I'll be running on marathon pluses for the southern portion of the ride.

I will give everything a bit of a shakedown tomorrow to make sure everything works.  I did get silly and installed another cycle computer on the bike - this one is more programmable, and wireless.  It also allows me to program in a starting odometer reading, so I am running the numbers now to program them in and it will be easier to see what my total mileage for the trip is.

Friday I am off on the road again.  Saturday I'll get to Santa Cruz and Sunday I hope to stop just before Big Sur.

I am presently searching for places to land between Malibu and Laguna Beach - any contacts for people in: Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice, Manhattan beach, Hermosa BeachRedondo Beach, Torrence, Carson, Long Beach Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport beach and Laguna Beach would be greatly appreciated.

June 18 6:30PM to ? hanging at Jupiter in DT Berkeley

While I am in Berkeley for a couple of days, I figured that I would Make it a Point to be at a particular place at a particular time, so:

Monday June 18th, I will be at Jupiter on Shattuck in downtown Berkeley from 6:30 or so onward.  I'd love to see people.  So, if you've been reading my blog, you are invited.  Please join me.