San Francisco to Pigeon Point
6:30 am I was up and finishing the route guide and staffing list. Dad and I rushed to Kinkos and copied and printed everything, and got back to the B&B in time to have breakfast. Christopher and Walter showed up with Rachel and her stuff in their car.
Dad went to get the car, so we could have two cars to drive Mom, Dad, Rachel, Russ, and me to Tom’s house, which was our departure point to bike south.
Dad was gone a long time. Finally the cell phone rang — he couldn’t find the car. So Christopher jumped in his car and rove to get him, and they drove around some more. Finally, they figured out it had been towed. so they drove to the towing yard, bailed the car out of jail, and came back to the B&B. We loaded up and set off for Tom’s. By the time we loaded up the van and set off it was 11:30 am (only about an hour later than I had expected to be biking, actually).
Getting out of the city: Tom, Beth, Bruce, Rachel, Dad, and me
The first part of the route we followed Tom through the city and back roads and alleys. He knew the roads and there wasn’t very much traffic. Still, for me, city riding is never fun. And I never like riding in a group. (But that’s just me.)
Eventually, we met up with Wes, a friend of Tom’s. The normal bike route out of the city includes the Devil’s Slide section — a four-mile climb on a busy road with no shoulder. Tom had done it, and really didn’t want to do it again. His friend, Wes, had described an alternative route:
DEVILS SLIDE BYPASS To use this route, one would go to the East end of Higgins Way where there is a gate with path around the gate to the left. As you reach the saddle and enter McNee Ranch State Park signage is reasonably good. The elevation of the saddle is 315 meters. Total length of the bypass route is about five miles. As I said, the route is the old highway now abandoned. Lots of people with bikes use the route. Most use mountain bikes but some use road bikes. The grade is easy and the surface is mostly paved and some dirt. My bike map shows the grade with single gradient chevrons, the easiest. You will enter SR 1at Montara State Beach.
I think we would all agree that there was more dirt than described — someone said the “old highway” must have been an old stage coach route.
We did survive, and get to Route 1, and headed south. It was definitely an adventure, but I’m not sure if any of us would use that route again. However:
Getting out of the city: Russ, Benj, Candy
Russ, Benj, and Candy drove back to Sausalito, where the mechanic had received the hub for their wheel that morning, and had rebuilt it by the time they showed up (Hooray!). They took an accidental tour of San Francisco (thanks, Candy), but eventually drove over Devil’s Slide. They said that not only was there lots of traffic and no shoulder, but there were concrete barriers next to the road, and construction happening. Sounds terrible.
In fact, the only person who found the right route out of the city — and one I will use if I am ever biking south out of San Francisco — was mother:
Getting out of the city: Mom
Mom had Christopher and Walter drive her out of the city, over Devil’s Slide, and into the coastal town of Montara. They had a good lunch, and she had a very nice, flat (except for a few surprising climbs) 30-mile bike ride to Pigeon Point Lighthouse.
Eventually, we all ended up at the lighthouse. It was a beautiful place to stay.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse & Hostel to Manresa State Beach
The first half of the morning was more of the rolling coast, then we turned into Santa Cruz. There is a very good, well marked bike path, and we (Mom, Dad, Rachel, and I) enjoyed riding it. We saw the pelicans and surfers, and when I stopped at the surfer museum I bought a documentary on surfing big waves. We had a nice meal on the boardwalk near the arcade.
Then it was time to get out of Santa Cruz. That took forever! First, the route guide was wrong on distances, and I then had to stop at a bike shop because I was afraid my bike was breaking down (it wasn’t – I just needed to clean it.) But when a homecoming parade pulled out in front of us at an intersection, I knew we weren’t going to get anywhere soon.
But we made it, and it was a very nice campsite. However, a storm moved in (fortunately, after dinner), and we had rain that evening for the first time on the trip. (It stopped the next morning about 20 minutes before we had to get up.)
Russ left the trip today. Between a sinus infection/cough he had had since about the third day, and worries about his car transmission, and wanting to get ready for his 2 month trip to Hawaii, he decided to leave a little early. (I also think it’s hard to be with people doing something enjoyable day after day that you can’t do anymore. Even the few days I was staff, listening to people talk about the great ride was a bit sad.)
Manresa State Beach to Vets Memorial Park
I was staff today, and had to drive. Most of the route went inland through farms, so I bought some fresh Brussels sprouts and half a flat of some of the best tasting strawberries I’ve had in a long time.
We caught up with the Adventure Cycling group! It was fun to see them — and a lucky thing, too. They had heard (from some other cyclist) that the camp we were all headed to, Limekiln Park, was closed due to fires (fortunately, the roads weren’t closed, just the park). We consulted our maps and books to figure out what to do. One option was to ride about 5 miles past the original destination to Kirk Creek campground, making the day about 63 rather than 58 (and the next day 5 miles shorter.
However, Kirk Creek campground had no showers. A quick poll of the group made it clear this was unacceptable. Another alternative was to stop in Big Sur, and ride to Cambria (our layover destination) the next day. This, unfortunately, meant that we would have a short ride the next day (32 miles), followed by a 75 mile ride the following day, over some very challenging climbs.
For the sake of showers, we decided to do option 2. Adventure Cycling were hardier (or less sanitary), and chose the no-shower but no killer days option. Considering how much they were carrying, that made sense.
It was a short ride into Monterey. Benj & Candy go in early and went to the Monterey Aquarium.
