Day 6! And like the rest of the days of biking, it was beautifully (and brutally) sunny!

The day started at Kirk creek campground. There’s nothing that close to Kirk creek, so everyone had breakfast at the campground. Breakfast for Mike, Brittany, and I consisted of a large and delicious slice of coffee cake! It was just enough to get us into town for food, and was delicious.

We road to Gorda from camp, the closest town. Apparently it has the highest gas prices of anywhere in the U.S. It was $6.59 a gallon when we stopped by yesterday. It’s the last gas station for 40 miles if you’re traveling north, and they exploit that fact!

Along the way, Fred broke a spoke on his bike. This was the second spoke he broke, and worried about permanent damage to the rim, we stopped at a sight seeing parking area, and waited while Fred found a ride down south to a bike shop. We were all sad to see Fred go! We probably won’t see him again this trip, and he was fun to have as part of the group. A surfer named Jake gave Fred a ride down to Morro Bay, from which he’ll catch a bus to SLO and hopefully get his wheel repaired there. Miss you Fred!

When se arrived in Gorda, after saying hi to the local dog (Mieke) and hearing stories of the large landslide from the locals, we sat down at the restaurant for breakfast/lunch. The food was good, we all enjoyed the meal.

Coming out of Gorda we had a massive climb up. Probably our biggest climb of the trip. It was hot and sunny out, probably around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and being so high up meant no breeze from the ocean! It was brutal, and still absolutely beautiful.

Our day of climbing came to an end with a fun and fast decent into Ragged Point. There they had a restaurant, convenience store, gas station ($5.69/gallon) and ice cream! Unfortunately that ice cream was closed, but the convenience store had pints of Tillamook. Let’s just say I had 204% of my daily value of sugar. It was delicious.

The final part of the day ended with a nice tail wind pushing us along a flat and open coastline. We stopped to see some seals basking in the sunlight, and again when we got service so everyone could text/call whoever they needed.

Dinner was at El Chorlito, a fantastic Mexican restaurant with a nice backyard patio where we could leave our bikes. We had some margaritas, enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, and quesadillas. It was a fantastic (and fairly cheap!) meal.

Tonight we’re staying in Hearst San Simeon State Park. The hiker/biker site here costs $10/person, so the four of us just got a normal campsite, as that was actually cheaper. Aria is a veteran, so we got a half off discount! Not bad. We got fire wood, built a fire and showered. Mike went over to the hiker biker site and invited two French guys over who we had seen two days ago. These guys were coming to the end of a five month bike trip. They’d started in NYC, and biked across the country. They took their own route, trying to visit as many National Parks along the way! It sounded like an awesome trip. They had great stories of places they had stayed (once in a School because the campground was closed, but the nice people in Nebraska opened up the school for them). Another time with a warm showers host that had a funicular in their backyard! It sounded like quite the trip. They said they want to keep going! But their five month sabbatical is coming to a close (they’re 25 and 26, how they already got a five month sabbatical is incredible to me) and they’re flying back to France on the 24th!

This is likely the last night for camping for us. Tomorrow we will try to get an Airbnb or hotel, just to get showered and clean for the train. It’s been a really fun week though. We’re sorry that’s it’s coming to an end so soon!

Today was even more beautiful than the last! With a lot more hills to climb, but the scenery was beautiful, and we had Fred and Aria join us!

Tuesday night I told Mike, let’s get out of bed early and get rolling! Well, we were on our way there, but needed to do our morning yoga routine. Right next to the campsite was a stream with a beautiful bridge across it, perfect for yoga class. Brittany started the session with the entire camp. Fred, Aria, Brettt (apparently his name has 3 ts) and David all joined! We had a lovely 20 minute session, but got a lot of laughs from people crossing the bridge.

Yoga was quickly followed by breakfast. Breakfast was in the same lodge where we had dinner. David, Brettt, Fred, and Aria all joined us! Fred told us about his plans to move to Hawaii after this trip, which was super interesting.

By the time breakfast was done and we were actually on the road it was 11:30. So much for an early morning rollout. But there were lots of laughs and yoga which made it all worth it.

The biking along the road in big Sur is absolutely stunning. I don’t have much to say about except the uphills are pretty gradual and the downhills are a blast. Fred and Aria biked with us for the day, while David and Brettt did their own thing but kept running into us along the way.

We all ended up at the same campground! Kirk Creek, a US Forest Service campground right on a cliff above the ocean. It’s absolutely beautiful. Mike, Brittany, and I walked down to the ocean to cook dinner and enjoy the sunset. Our dinner was less than spectacular, consisting of a somewhat old salad and Annie’s Mac and Cheese, but the sunset more than made up for it. The sky turned a dark orange all along the horizon. And the waves were exploding on the rocks 20 feet below where we were cooking. All of a sudden Mike yells, “Look! A whale!”. All day we had been seeing spurts of water shoot up in the air, there must have been a pod of whales out there, or maybe a few pods. This time however, we could see either the tail of the whale, or the whole whale jump out of the water. It was pretty fair away, but was as big as a boat. Very cool to see! We saw that a few more times, framed by tall rocks on either side, the glowing red sky behind, and the crashing waves in front. We all feel very fortunate to be here.

After dinner we went back up to hangout with our friends. They had met someone else in the campground, who turns out is an actress for NCIS New Orleans, so that was pretty cool. If you watch the show, she’s the lead detectives daughter. She was just out here for two days, and then headed back to LA.

Tonight was a pretty earlier night. Everyone turned in around 9. I’m writing this, enjoying the crash of the waves, watching the embers of the fire burn down, and chasing off the occasional raccoon (there’s a lot of them here.) Hopefully we get service and I’ll post this tomorrow!

Today we entered Big Sur. And what a beautiful beautiful day. With a 20 mph tail wind, and always very gentle ups and downs, we felt like we were flying towards our destination.

We forgot to do our morning yoga session this morning!! We packed up from camp pretty quickly, and as such left with out doing our yoga. We said bye to everyone we had met the night before, and rolled down the hill into town.

We had a recommendation from someone at the campsite to go to a certain cafe, but Mike spotted another one along the way, and we went there instead. Brittany asked about the history of the building, and it turned out it used to be a bakery, but then was turned into a general store. It just re-opened into a bakery! The food was absolutely delicious, and the people were super nice. They had a park/event space in the backyard, and we ended up there for our food.

After a lovely meal, Mike and Brittany went to the aquarium and Mark went to go get more fuel for the stove (I had little interest in the aquarium.) After time to explore the aquarium, and time for Mark to relax in the shade of a tree, we were ready to go!

The climb out of Monterey was uneventful, and nothing special. We passed many monetary’s along the way which all looked beautiful. Climbing out of Carmel we made it to point lobos. We did a brief circle there before continuing into Big Sur.

And that was beautiful!! It’s been super sunny all day, and with a 20mph tailwind, we made excellent time on the road. To our right was a continuous spectacle from MN. (Mother Nature). I wish the photo posting feature was working, because today the pictures are worth a lot more than the words today.

One of the highlights of today was Bixby Bridge. Bixby Bridge is this iconic old arch that supports highway 1 over a very deep ravine. (I believe Bixby creek). It’s amazing what civil engineers can build!

The biggest highlight of the day for me was the downhills. The hills were perfect, with very little need for brakes, and a fully loaded bike screaming down the hill. It was a blast. And the tailwind made the next uphill a breeze! (Pun intended). I would’ve bikes today over and over and over again.

When we made it to camp we saw David and Brett’s tent pitched!! So we were excited to see them there. We also knew that Fred and Aria were coming along behind us, so it should be a party in the camp tonight. Mike, Brittany, and I all wondered into the stream, and relaxed in the freezing cold water before showering and heading to dinner. Before we could, Brett and David showed up and said hi, and then Aria and Fred! So we got to say hi to all of them before going to shower.

For dinner, we went to the restaurant near the campground. Aria joined us for a drink, and we chatted about different experiences along the way. We picked up one more six pack for David and Brett, and headed back to camp to hang around the fire with them.

After a night of a lot of Ukulele and chatting (mostly about bikes) it was time to call it a night!

Tomorrow most people are going to Plaskett Ridge to camp. However, I want to go to Kirk Creek. A slightly more primitive site (no running water) but I hear it’s absolutely beautiful. Depending on the water situation we may or may not stay there.

Editors note: You’ll have to forgive the lack of photos on this blog. I’ve updated the blog since my last trip, but that broke my photo integration. Once I get back to San Francisco, I’ll fix the blog and re-add photo integration. You’ll just have to deal with my writing until then.

Monday! It’s now a real trip and not just a weekend :). We’ve named the trip “SLO ride”, which I think is appropriate on so many levels.

Monday was likely the least scenic day of the trip, bring mostly inland and flat, but we had a great time, and met quite a bit of a headwind along the way. It was mostly a heads down biking day, but the campsite we stayed in at the end was, well, interesting.

Monday started at a “hole in the wall” place (it was literally called hole in the wall), where we all, inspired by Darragh’s breakfast choice yesterday, got French toast and eggs!

We started our ride to Monterey after that! The ride from Santa Cruz to Monterey is mostly along a busy and loud section of highway 1. We stopped at a really cool art motorcycle that was made almost entirely from horseshoes and is about 10 feet tall and 15 feet in length. That was a pretty fun stop!

After the motorcycles, highway 1 turns into a freeway, and we took backroads along a farm! All the people working on the farm were very friendly, and waved and said hi as we went along. We were able to chat and play word games along the way, which was great!

After the farm, we made it to the trail along the coast in Monterey! That was likely the most beautiful part of the ride, although by then we were pretty tired! We bikes into town, stopped at the Joe’s at which the locals Trade, and picked up dinner (penne pasta, bell peppers, onion, seasoning, hot Italian sausage, and a side salad), some beers, and of course the triple ginger snap cookies and peanut butter cups!

Turns out the campsite in Monterey is at the top of the hill! So we had to climb 500 feet to get up there. However, we more than made it, and found a lot of people already up there!

The first person we ran into was Chris. He was the park ranger, and a great guy. He had just revamped the signs, and was very friendly helping us check in.

We then made it up to the hiker biker site. A guy, who we later learned to be named “Jimmy” yelled as we passed the site “you looking for the hiker biker”? Thank you Jimmy, we would’ve missed it otherwise! Jimmy is from SLO, and has been biking up the coast from Seattle! He’s had a great trip, but is missing home a bit. We chatted about his trip, the people he’s met, and the places he went. Like many people along the trip, he’s biked with a lot of people along the way!

Next was Ruth. I was surprised when we made it to the site to see so many tents, but so few bikes. But, like Ruth, it looks like there’s a good amount of people that live in town that are living in the campground. Ruth used to live in San Francisco, but now lives here, likely only in the campground. She was very chatty, and brought out a candle so we could all see each other! We had a nice chat with her for a good while.

After Ruth, we meet Fred and Aria. They were both biking from Seattle to San Diego or Mexico, and had met each other along the way. Fred was almost comical in how downtrodden he was. “My entire body is broken” and “how expensive is the bus?” He’ll make it just fine, but he was funny. Aria on the other hand was positive and convicted. They both rolled up to the campsite after dark, and I think we’re happy to be there!

Lastly, there was Brandon and his friend who’s name I don’t know. Brandon was in the army “101st Airborne” and proud of it. Since leaving the army he’s been back packing around the country. His pack weighs 80 pounds, and he had some great stories.

I’m not sure the background on Brandon’s friend, but he was in his early 50s and also backpacking around the country. They’re both southern boys, and were hilarious. Brandon’s friend was witty, very intelligent, and kind. Brandon was also smart, but strong and convicted. A conversation between the two of them might went:

Brandon: “So then the RV I was hitching in broke down, and we were in the middle of the desert you see, and it was hot as balls out. Well I didn’t think they’d be able to fix it, so I got out, and started walking. I was booking, probably making 10 mph.”

Brandon’s friend: “10 mph, you were not, no way”

Brandon: Yes I was, you ever heard of the airborne shuffle”

Brandon’s friend: “10 mph, that’s basically running. No way”

Brandon: “(inappropriate sentence) I was! I had two camelbacks on. Had both tubes in my mouth at the same time. Had all 80 lbs on my back too (Brandon’s friend: bullshit) I had sucked them dry when the RV gave me a call, and said they’d fixed it and could pick me up. Good thing too, I could’ve died out there.”

We had a great time listening to stories from the two of them. They both have just been traveling around the country for years. They were surprised by how many people were living in the hiker/biker campsite. I assured them that most in California were just hikers/bikers, not people living there, and they were relieved by that. But I gave them a heads up that the one in Santa Cruz is biker only. Brandon’s friend pointed out: “See, I told you, all these people living here is not good! They’re gonna start making more and more of these biker only of people start living here like this!” I hope not, for their sake, but think he’s write.

We were planning on staying two nights in Monterey, but because we didn’t feel comfortable leaving our gear in camp, we’re likely gonna go 20 miles to the next campground and stay there. Aria and Fred will be there too, which should be great! And it should be an easy day for us.

Tonight and tomorrow we may be out of cell service! So no promises on posting blog posts!

Mike, Brittany, and Mark!

Sunday started on a sad note. One of our intrepid bike tour members had to go back to SF to her students. Despite multiple options provided to Darragh from Brittany for substitute teachers (found on Craigslist of course), Darragh decided it best that she teach rather than “Joe from Tennessee.”

Lindsey gracefully drove down to Half Moon Bay with her mom who is visiting to pick Darragh up! They met up with us at a bakery in Halfmoon Bay, and we enjoyed a lovely (and very filling) meal of French toast, breakfast burritos, ham/cheese, and (of course) many baked goods.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes, helped pack Darragh in the car, and started on our way to Santa Cruz.

“So Mark, how far are we going today?” asked Brittany. Good question, I did not know the answer, and Brittany pointed out that neither did she. It turned out, we’d do around 63 miles, which makes this one of our longest days, which we started at noon! Oops.

(At this point I fell asleep writing this blog post, and apparently have about a days memory, so details get sparse)

Our first stop of the day was at a farm stand! You could say it was a fruitful stop, as we got strawberries and peaches and plums! We’ll stopped there, we saw Joey riding by on his motorcycle!! Highlight of the day!

We got lunch in Pescadero along the way, and picked up some excellent artichoke bread. In Pescadero we ran into some of the art that Joey used for his painting to Lindsey! We bikes out to the beach, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of bread and sandwiches on the beach.

By this point I finally realized that we actually had a long day ahead of us, so we finished up lunch and started our bike to Santa Cruz.

The bike from Pescadero to Santa Cruz was, of course, gorgeous. Along the way we say about 100 kiteboarders and wind surfers at one beach! We stopped mesmerized by the sails and kites in the air. The wind was howling (we had a 20 mph tail wind almost all day) and the kiteboarders and windsurfers were excellent. We learned later that had we been two hours earlier, there was also a plane doing flips, twists, and other stunts above them!!

We stopped quickly in Davenport for ice cream (rule #3 of the safety is sexy guidelines: always stop for ice cream.) There we were able to get a few more percentages of charge on our phone (remember your ABCs, always be charging), and get a nice rest before coasting into Santa Cruz.

In Santa Cruz we went to natural bridges state park! Which is more aptly names natural bridge state park, as we only saw one, but it was a beautiful beach! We saw some young surfers surfing “the side wave.” The beach there is angled like a bathtub. Two rock walls narrowing to a beach. On the far wall. A wave would form that comes in at a 45 degree angle to the main wave hitting the beach. The surfers would ride the “side wave” and then usually got dumped and put through the washing machine when they collided with the main wave. But it was great to watch.

We went to dinner at a restaurant which name escapes me. It was a Mexican place (so far this trip has been a tour of Mexican restaurants), and the food was alright. The margaritas were good though!! And they were nice to allow us to wheel our bikes inside!

We made it to New Brighton Beach State Park just passed sundown. As we rolled into the biker site, we heard the strum of the Ukulele. It was Brett and David! Who we met from half moon bay! They were excited to see us! And chatted about there day with us. Brett taught Brittany some cords on the Ukulele! And we all sat around the fire and sang songs. All in all a fantastic day!