newbie to ride short pacific route

[bern]

Hello everyone.  I am a recent graduate from CSULB in So. Cal getting gear together for my first, rather short, tour from Monterey down to Morro Bay. Looks like it will happen in oct. I guess Im just looking for general advise from you non-neophytes.  How much rain will I drown myself in? MUST HAVE gear?   great bike camping?  And what's your advise for a young woman who wants to do this trip by herself?  

Regards,
Bernadette  

[valygrl]

Kick ass!  Have a great time Bernadette.  Kirkendall and Spring's Bicycling the Pacific Coast is a great resource, if you don't already have the A/C maps (which I haven't used).  The book shows milages, hill profiles, food and camping locations.  There are many great state park camp opportunities, which usually have a hiker/biker site for less $ than a regular site, and which are often nicer.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns park in Big Sur has hiker/biker, small grocery and semi-pricy restaurant.  Kirk Creek is a great campground too - it might be too close to Big Sur, but maybe not.

You picked a really great piece of the coast.

Do be prepared for rain - but you might not get any.  Do have a bike that fits you well and has low (mountain bike) gearing.  Do a short fully loaded test ride at home with plenty of time to spare in case you need to change your equipment, to make sure your loaded bike handles OK.  

Required gear is flat tire changing stuff and a credit card.  The rest is up to you - how comfy do you want to be and how much do you want to carry.

You can simplify and lighten your load by deciding not to carry cooking gear - you can eat cold meals and buy your hot food in restaurants.  I'm addicted to coffee, myself, so I haven't managed to kick the cooking gear.

crazyguyonabike.com has a lot of tour journals, you can look at other folks' equipment lists and read people's journals from your route, if you want to.

And my advice as a solo female tourist is... go for it!  Most people are helpful and friendly.  Weirdos exist, of course... but it's really no different on your bike than it is at home - just keep the radar on and if someone seems creepy, he probably is, find a way to nicely escape the situation.  I usually tell the camp host I'm a solo traveller, and they can keep an eye out for me.

Have a great ride!

[bern]

Wow! Thank you for getting me even more excited than I already was.  Great advice. cant wait to check out Pacific coast resource you recommended.  Again, thank you so much i am very grateful.  Bernadette

[waterguy]

Last I heard from Bern....leaving bigsur late headed for limekiln. I cant wait to hear her stories of her cycling adventure from Monterey to San Luis Obisbo. She and another friend are two days out and the adventure is on.
justin

[valygrl]

Oh yay!  I just rode from SF to Santa Barbara last week, and lucked out with spectacular weather.  Hope for the same for B & friend.  B, tell us how it went, when you get done!


Anna

[litespeed]

If you are going in October leave as early in the month as possible. I left Petaluma on October 22, 2004 and went down the coast as far as Guadalupe before heading inland and east. In the six days two storms came through. LOTS of rain. The stormy/rainy season usually starts in the middle of October

This message was edited by litespeed on 11-11-06 @ 6:36 AM

[waterguy]

Hi all,
Bern and Shaun held up yesterday to avoid the foul nor- cal rain yesterday. Now at San Simeon State Park, still on task and more road miles to go. As the text msg said...having an amazing time... I as always cant wait for the arm chair stories and photos of cycling down some amazing Big Sur coastline.  j

[waterguy]

Well the adventure is officialy over, as bern said... at SLO,we are currently tourists with our bikes and gear in the car. Wow, now I hope she wont be to mad that the world knows of their adventure. gulp   j

[bern]

This message was edited by bern on 11-30-06 @ 7:24 PM

[bern]

Well, with just one rain day the trip was a total success! Great route, great weather, and great company. Used everything we brought, didn't miss anything we didn't bring! I was home just one day and already planning my next adventure. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement!  With too much time on his hands (and although he wont admit it) a worried heart, waterguy wrote this:

Bern,
Saturday afternoon................

I can just imagine the constant tempo of the derailer moving  the chain through the action of your legs. I can here the sounds of the traffic moving
up from behind. A casual glance over the shoulder. The wheels of your bike running smoothly across the pavement, always looking for a smoother section
of road. Clicking whirring, realing, someone yelling out the car window. Horns blow. My ass hurts, the burning of lactic in my legs. Pull over almost falling off. Break time, Wow the Ocean is beautiful, its hard to enjoy, miles to go.

The chain of this road machine, dry and clicking, wearing, gaining speed and changing gears. Always looking for that sweet spot for the heavy load of
equipment. Mad that you brought to much. I could have left that behind, should have brought that or this. The constant thought of how dad said that it would look tough. Weeks later it would be easier to enjoy the trip thats its over.

Cars whiz by with no effort. Continually pushing to find yet another hill. Wait maybe now it will be easy. Some down hill, but you know that then there
will be up hill. Oh just to get too miles of flat highway. That would be
nice.

I find myself thinking about you many times during the day. I have not heard from you now for 26 hours. I think of how difficult it is having all this
fun. I cant wait to here all the stories. I find it hard thinking that they are all right and safe. I am sure you are. I wish you had a small ham radio, we could tap out CW on a low power transmitter. I should have made her get
licensed.

I will work on that when she gets home...................more later.....I
wish my phone would go beep, beep, beep.

love dad