Gearing Up for Biking the Pacific Coast
The days are speeding closer and closer to my bike trip! As a final pre-trip, to make sure all my gear is in working order and I’m in good enough shape to do this, I biked out to “Coast Camp” in Point Reyes. I had a gigantic burrito along the way, got my butt kicked by the final climb, and ended up cooking in the rain, but as I write this in the warmth of my tent, listening to the call of birds and the roar of the ocean, I think I’m ready for the trip, and happy with the day.
The day started the previous night, getting all my gear packed. I was easily able to fit all my gear into two panniers and one dry bag, so I took the front rack off my bike. (#ultralight #itsalifestyle) Thanks to Mike (DSR) Cristian, I opted for a rear rack instead of a front rack, after reading lots of reviews of people online about what they prefer.
The morning of the trip to Point Reyes I did what everyone does before a bike trip, get a haircut. (A lesson learned from last trip.) I think my hair is the shortest it’s ever been (the hairdresser used a two on the side, but he’s pretty opinionated about my hair, so I trust him just to make it look good.) Post haircut I loaded up the bike, and headed off!
(Me post haircut, and as always no idea what to do with my hands.)
You’ll notice from the picture above that the panniers are definitely not full. I have a two man tent in there, sleeping bag + pad, biking clothes, warm layers, evening attire (aka clean clothes to sleep in, or go into town in) stove + cook gear, food, head lamp, water, and some miscellaneous gear. I’m not sure why I needed all 4 panniers when we went to Europe, but maybe I just have better gear now?
I took the Golden Gate Bridge out of the city, and got my picture taken in front of my bike by a nice French guy. He asked “Where did you come from?” and I had to sheepishly point at the city and say “there.” He followed up with “Where are you going too?” and I couldn’t bring myself to say that I’d be back tomorrow, so I just said “Portland.” That’s mostly true, right? We chatted a bit more, and then I rode off again.
I quickly entered Mill Valley, and then started slowly climbing towards the panoramic highway. It would be my first of three major climbs of the day. The road had a pretty small shoulder, but only one car didn’t give me plenty of room. He got a yelling at. Everyone else was plenty nice. Even got a shocka (did I spell that right?) from one car and a “hang in there” from another. (I don’t think I was looking that gassed, but apparently I was.) I took the panoramic highway up a little farther, and then flew down to Highway 1. (The 1, if your s Californian) The downhill was a blast! Cornering a loaded touring bike is a bit of a chore, but definitely do able. Being that no cars ever caught up to me on the way down, I must of been doing pretty well.
After getting on the 1, I quickly entered Stinson Beach, and stopped for lunch. A picture of the restaurant is below.
The restaurant serves the biggest (and probably most expensive) burritos I have ever seen. The burrito was about 14 inches long, and had an oval diameter of 4 inches by 2 inches. It was huge. I finished it all though, guess I was pretty hungry, but my body was not too happy with me for the rest of the day.
From Stinson Beach I followed highway 1 too Point Reyes. I stopped at the visitor center to request a last minute campsite, and was given a site at “coast campground” which, as you might guess, is on the coast. Thinking I was almost there, I filled my water, used the restrooms (thanks to that burrito), bought a beer (oops!), and took off in high spirits. Unfortunately, I did not realize I had one more hill to do.
Being Point Reyes, you have to go up and over a ridge to get to the ocean. I did not remember that, but will in the future. I likely was just tired, but it was about a 4 mike climb that seemed to take forever. I thought a few times about just going back to the visitor center and asking for a closer campground. But, alas, making me very happy, the road started to level, and then go down, and I was able to fly downhill.
I pulled off at the Point Reyes Hostel (probably should’ve just stayed there, they had room, but oh well), filled up my water once again, and rode the last 3 miles on a gravel road into camp. Luckily, the rain held off just long enough for me to setup my tent, so all my sleeping area is dry. However, I ended up cooking in a down pour. It seems like a storm system just moved in off coast. After dinner the rain lightened, and I got some nice sunset pictures before headed to bed!
Tomorrow will be back to SF, drinks with some friends, and then getting thoughts of sleep to start my trip on Friday! I’m looking forward to it!
(Addendum) The ride back was much better! I’m having a hard time figuring out how to deal with the temperature, sweating bullets on the uphills and freezing on the downs, but I had a fantastic ride back to SF. On the way back I stopped at a place called “Sol Food.” They served Puerto Rican food, and it was absolutely amazing! I’ll definitely be going back! Here’s a few bonus pictures from the past two days:
Waves breaking from the campsite
View from the panoramic highway
San Francisco looking good!
Hey, you see that cow?...
Fort Bragg! I’ll be coming through there later
