First California Coast Ride SF2LAN4-2014

For the amount of cycling I do, I have been slow to upgrade to a carbon frame having paid my dues the last three years on aluminum alloy bikes. I only just upgraded to full carbon at the end of this season, and there is a part of me that wonders why I waited so long. To be sure an aluminum bike will do the job. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t have fun on anything less than carbon, but when you are logging 3000 miles in a year, the jarring and vibration adds up.

Apart from a few sporadic winter weekend rides on sunnier days, regular riding began this year in March when a friend from work approached me about training for the Triple Bypass in July. I had done cycling-centuries before, but the elevation profile on the Triple really intimidated me. I had been sticking to the bike paths and bike lanes of the Denver area which while widely available and developed for the cycling community, aren╒t the same challenge as 15-20 miles of climb into the mountains. We began seeking out elevation rather than avoiding it, and man what a difference that made very quickly. There is no substitute for a ride with a couple of thousand feet in elevation gain. You can thank the emergence of digital social media for my bicycle ride down the California coast. As the back-story goes, -a year or two ago I reconnected with my college room-mate, Andrew White, from my undergraduate days at UC Davis. But for a couple of phone-calls, it was almost entirely in text exchanges. Andrew and I were both judo competitors when we met T.A.-ing Ju-Jitsu for the university╒s P.E. department. Interestingly we had both taken up cycling as married family men in the years since though at the time of our reconnection Andrew was a little more deeply involved than I was. With one pedal still in the ╥weekend warrior╙ camp, I╒d decided to stretch my comfort zone this summer when I registered for the Triple. Andrew saw my Facebook posts preparing for that event, and when he found himself 2 weeks out from his annual ride down the California coast without a riding partner, I got the call.

This was to be a San Francisco to Los Angeles bicycle ride over four days. As the crow flies, it is just a little over 420 miles, but re-routes to keep the trek safe and legal meant we were in for 528 miles. I did not entirely appreciate the distance until I landed in Oakland with my bike case. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss. More specifically we were to ride from the southern edge of Golden Gate Park to the gates of Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, primarily along the scenic Highway 1. My estimate is entirely unscientific, but I would say for as much two-thirds of the ride, we were within five miles of the shore. For a large portion of it, the ocean was within sight (and smell). It made for a beautiful trip I am sure I will carry the memory with me into senility.

For Andrew this was to be his 8th such ride. This was his badge of honor. To know the middle-aged Andrew is to know this bike ride is his annual migration inasmuch as it is to know Canadian Geese fly south for the winter. You can╒t stop Andrew anymore than you can stop the geese. Having picked up on this vibe I was apprehensive about accepting the invitation. I read with a certain amount of idealized envy his Facebook posts for his 6th and 7th runs down the coast in earlier years, so when he extended the invitation, I knew I might not ever get another chance, but I also knew the difference between being in love with the ╥idea of the thing╙ and ╥doing the thing itself╙.   I jumped in not wanting him to move on to someone else, and a little worried that Andrew might grow to regret his choice. It is probably a good thing that I did not stew too much on the details before pulling the trigger. I probably would have psyched myself out.

For those who care more about the details of the ride than my friendship and reconnection with Andrew, this is the breakdown of the trip.

Day 1: San Francisco to Monterey.

-Rolling seaside hills coming out of San Francisco, repeated gain and loss of elevation 100-200 feet at high grade. This can be a little demoralizing if you are coming in blind as I was. You start to entertain thoughts like ╥Can I sustain this for 500 miles?╙. For all the effort it is a pretty ride, and there are easier stretches ahead.

-Urban feel the first 20 miles until a breakout to more open country. -Not a bad idea to put the road lights coming out of the bay area to be seen on this stretch.

-A patchwork of semi-rural communities until Santa Cruz. Spokeworks in Santa Cruz is a good place to stop if you need bike repairs as I did.

Day 2: Monterey to San Luis Obispo (The Killer Day)

-I estimate 60% of our elevation gain for the trip was on this day. There were a couple of sustained climbs just shy of 1000 feet

-Beautiful old growth redwoods climbing out of Monterey Bay. -Big seaside homes and high end sports cars everywhere you look.

-South of Carmel you get the serpentine coastline road. ╨About 60 miles of pretty isolated coastline cliffs. Yes the guardrails here are a little low and the cliffs are steep. Wear bright colors, and hold your line, and it is no worse than mountain biking in Colorado. There are only a few opportunities for water and breaks here. Use ╘em! And once you enter this stretch of road you are more or less committed until you emerge near San Simeon. There are no connecting roads in or out.

-Winds and fog dominate the morning hours, but that is part of the charm. One of my best cycling experiences ever was being launched around one of the coastline curves by the kind of cliff-side winds that sustain hang gliders and hovering birds of prey.

-About 10 miles outside San Simeon, if you still have gas in the tank, the road opens up and we were sustaining 25-30 mph on the flats with a nice tailwind. But for an abnormal headwind on day 1, the prevailing winds are either tailwinds or oblique tailwinds.

Day 3: San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara

-The scenery opens up here through rural and semi-rural areas.

-I particularly enjoyed the farmland here. We passed lots of strawberry fields, which on the back of a bicycle means you get a particularly nice aroma. Beware of pollinating bee swarms. We did not encounter them this year, but Andrew had stories of them in past years which were easy to imagine.

-The look and feel of the ride begins seem more like Southern California with those brown rolling hills, and I think I began to be a little bit of a whiner at this point.

-The ocean comes back into view about 25 miles outside Santa Barbara. I don╒t know about Andrew, but I was really fighting the mental thing here.

Day 4: Santa Barbara to Anaheim

-Apart from our turn inland, almost the entire day is spent riding right up against the beachfront.

-It gets busy in Malibu especially with all that roadside parking and garages backing up to the highway. Keep an eye on parked cars so you don╒t sneak up on an opening door (not sure what all the fuss is about over Malibu ╨ I wouldn╒t live there).

-Lots of public beaches if you want to take a quick shower and tank up on water.

-Things slow down a bit on the beach bike path. There are lots of pedestrians there, but then there are more of them than there are you.

-Cutting inland to Anaheim, I have to admit I spent the bulk of this part of the ride lost. Andrew hit a second wind in anticipation of seeing his family (I didn╒t want to slash his tires╔.much).

-This part of L.A. is pretty flat, and but for some navigation around north-south freeways that cut through your path, much of this city is one big grid.

It was a really great experience in large part because I got the chance to re-connect with Andrew. With some people you can pick up right where you left off, and in the case of Andrew, that was a good thing. I can╒t think of any better way to catch up than on the back of a bike. You can╒t help but talk, and I was amazed at how many things my old friend could remember from our college days that I had since forgotten. There is value in hearing those things echoed back to you. Just as he was in the old days, Andrew was very tolerant of my character flaws. By that I mean, I think when you are on a bike ride like this either you have to go with someone who can cope with the real you, or you╒d better leave with a game plan for conflict resolution when things get stressed. When your legs are rubber, your water is running low, there is yet another hill in front of you, and you still have 50 miles to go there are probably going to be little bits of an uglier you bubbling to the surface. I say that when, for us, things went pretty smoothly. Andrew dealt with it better than I could have hoped.

Another great part of this kind of cycling trip is all the little conversations you have with people along the way. ╨A disheveled college student in San Luis Obispo gave me his spare AA batteries for my bike light. Then there were the Day 2 ╥Speedo Boys╙. ╨Two guys with the same ambition we had of riding SF to LA whom we saw throughout Day 2 riding bikes I doubt would command $30 at your local pawn shop. These guys rode literally wearing speedos and flip flops with sleeping bags bungied to the backs of their bikes. They spoke in that toke-r drawn out ╥Dooooode╙ beach-bum way, and Andrew and I wondered if maybe they had undertaken the ride with little more consideration than Forrest Gump╒s impulsive run across the US. It╒s as if they were out there because they had nothing better to do and they didn╒t want the bikes to go to waste before donating them to Goodwill. South of Santa Barbara there was the cop directing traffic for a weekend concert. In our conversation to pick his brain for a re-route around the crowd he asked where we parked. Very pleased with himself, Andrew responded, ╥San Francisco╙. We had several opportunities throughout our trip to brag in this sort of left-handed way. A stop along the public beaches to fill our water bottles had us chatting with a very alluring bikini-clad Asian woman at the public showers. Spinning, giggling, and turning under the showerhead to get the last remnants of beach sand off her back she asked smiling through oversized sunglasses in a backward glance over the back of her wet shoulders where we were headed and once again, Andrew was able to wow our small audience with the tale of our 4-day ride. The conversation had an innocently flirty feel to it, and it was a lot of fun casting ourselves as the heroes in our own story. I liked being her hero even if it was only for five minutes!

Arriving in Anaheim, I went almost directly to my hotel where I slept like the dead before dragging myself to the airport. I spent the better part of the next week recovering, and just three weeks later I did the Triple Bypass. I made it through that, but had some equipment problems that really frustrated the ride. I was not pleased with my performance on the Triple, and I think I will be doing that one again.