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.