I plan on riding LA - San Fransisco in December. I thought that this would be a nice way to get some aerobic base work in. It will be my first ride of this kind and I am really excited!
I already bought the bicycling touring map from adventure cycling. Part of me is somewhat worried, but most of my ego tells me that everything will be fine and sooner or later (~5days) I’ll end up at the destination. I mean if Columbus could discover the world by navigating his ships through the mysterious ocean; then I should be able to master the task of biking the paved roads along the Coast of California, where plenty of gas stations and hotels can be found along the way…right!!!
I’ll have 4 drinking bottles on my bike, a small box (food) that will attach to the horizontal bar of the bike, a bag underneath the saddle (with a pump, bike tool set incl. chain opener, a fixing kit, 3tubes, Credit Card and some $). I’ll wear cycling gear and also bring arm warmers, leg warmers, gloves, and maybe some earwarmers. I’ll figure that those will easily be stored in my jersey’s back pockets in case I don’t need them. I’ll also wear a small bag (food, raingear) that will go around my waist. Of course I’ll also bring some music and a throw-away camera with me.
Did I forget anything? Please write me in case you are familiar with this route, know about cheap hotels along the way, or you can give me any other advise. (I guess that was the worried-half of my writing…)
thanks for your help,
Daniel
THANK YOU FOR THE HELP. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR THOUGHTS!
couple of tips:
go SF to LA unless you want to fight headwinds the whole way.
Big Sur is a blast but plan the trip so you hit it mid week
I used a camelback to carry my gear, stuffed the water bottles with gel packs.
pick a hotel between San Simeon and Pismo for your 2nd or 3rd night make a reservation and ship a ups box of gels and or bars and sports drink powder there with an arrival date. easy resupply
December good rain gear, and regardless you will want full booties
Did the same ride only from SF to San Diego. I have to agree thta it will be nicer to go norht to south as we had tailwinds or no winds the whole way. I even remember thinking what a pain it would be to go the other way.
My brother and I used the same maps you are planning to use and they worked great. We had a BOB trailer that we switched off pulling but we hoteled it the whole way. If I were to do it again I would get a camelbak, a handlebar bag and one of those Topeak seatpost racks with the big slide-on bags.
Be sure to bring a windbreaker that you can put on for downhills and take off when going up. Get the Camelbak with the tension strings on the rear so you can just cram the wind shell in there.
You should be able to find plenty of water and food alond the way. We both only carried two tall bottles each.
I second (third? fourth?) the recommendation to ride North to South if possible. There is a good book called “Bicycling the Pacific Coast” or somesuch. It is by a guy named Kirkendall. It has maps and good turn-by-turn directions (you wouldn’t think you need them but you would get lost almost for sure in the city and probably in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Clemente etc. without them) and a lot of other helpful stuff. You can get it on Amazon.
I travel a lot for work and have found cycling clubs and shops to be a bounty for making good contacts while in an unfamiliar city. Perhaps you could find some folks who would put you up and show you their favorite carbo loading spot in their town.
When in San Luis Obispo, be sure to stop in Avila Beach, just about 5 miles south, for a soak in the hot tubs at sycamore mineral springs (also a hotel). There is a really cheap campground up the street at the less fancy Avila hot springs. Both places also have massage therapy you may want to indulge in by that point in your ride. I lifeguarded there in College.
I did a solo trip from Vancouver to Calgary after college. Things I really appreciated were a reflective vest because I often ended up riding at dusk and little flashers don’t get picked up well by the eyes immediatly around sharp turns, I would have killed for different music after 12 days of the same 3 tapes. Mail yourself a few tapes/CD’s to a friendly bike shop on your route. I also made a list of all the bike shops and phone numbers on my route so I cold reach them quickly in the event I needed something and could not find a phone book at the pay phone (seldom did). Finally, I strapped a 6" folding blade to my down tube. Had to pull it on some guy who felt my bike would look better in his pick-up truck and pulled over to discuss it with me.
Enjoyu your trip and be sure to check in with your wife/girlfriend every night or you will be in deep shit!
I have been intrigued with making a similar trip as well. My plan is to take the Amtrak from Oceanside up to Santa Barbara one morning, it leaves at 7am and arrives just after noon, spend the day tooling around SB, then the next day riding home, about 200 miles. On the trip up, I would wear clothes and shoes that I could just throw away when I leave, old pair of shorts and a t-shirt, old running shoes and making it a light trip.
I rode from SF to San Diego a couple years ago and the section you mention, Santa Barbara back to Oceanside, was probably my least favorite. Lots of traffic and industrial sections. Take the train up further then ride to Santa Barbara and take the train home.
I rode a 260 mile stretch from the north side of LA to Wildflower in two days this past March. Had 205 miles of strong headwinds. I usually average around 19 and had long stretches under 10 MPH. Big Sur is awesome, but to echo the others, I’d ride south, not north.
Thanks Marc, I know. In December 03 I rode from LA to SF and then again back to LA. Very evil headwind on the way up and as soon as I was up there a Storm from San Diego area brought an even more evil headwind for the way back…instead of 7.5hrs on the bike it was always 2-3.5hrs more per day…
This time around I’ll just get up there and ride south.
I did the SF - SD ride last year (at least most of it, before the fires cut us short) for the QMDC (http://challengedathletes.org/compete/MDC_2006.htm) and will be doing it again at the end of October.
I have the routes in Garmin format down the coast (including the bike paths for the first few days). Feel free to PM me if you’d like them.
thanks but I don’t have a Garmin. I did the ride before and had a map but didn’t use it that much. On the way up, the Ocean is to the left, on the way south, the ocean is to the right. As long as you keep pedaling you’ll get to your destination
