West Coast Bicycle Tour - Part 2 (California, North to South)

The California leg of the trip was a bit different from Oregon. Here I linked up with Jim and Rudy. The daily mileage also increased from 40 to 50 in Oregon to an average of 70 miles with one 100 mile day.

I also realized the wisdom of following the advice of the book "Bicycling the West Coast" when it comes to riding the coast from north to south vs. south to north. Going from north to south you get a wider piece of shoulder to ride on and the wind is to your back most of the time - and this is big deal. One of the more demoralizing days was spent battling a head wind. I don't even want to think of what it would be like to do that day in and day out. Almost all the other riders that were doing the coast were riding north to south.

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This is the first Californian horse I saw after crossing the border. (I wonder if he knows he's a Californian horse...?)
Jim peaks out of his tent after a night's heavy rain.
Seeing Jim again was like finding a long lost brother! We traded stories about our separate rides - it was as if we had been in different states. I had perfect weather while he had battled 100 plus degree days!
The Mill Creek campground - what a dump! I arrived a few hours before Jim and couldn't believe how overgrown it was with weeds. I should add that this was only true of the hiker/biker camp. The regular camps were well kept. I guess this is what you get for a dollar.

After a rest day of hitchhiking into Crescent City to do e-mail, Jim and I rode off through the Redwoods to find Rudy.
After lunch, Rudy (on the right) and his friend that drove him up (far left) caught up to us. While we were unloading the bike we heard an impressive clap of thunder though very little came of it.

Looking straight up from our camp in the Redwoods. Though this was one of the few sites without showers it was a nice area.
Early morning in Northern California.

Here's my bike leaning against a gate somewhere in Northern California. This was a nicer portion of the ride with little traffic - though that would certainly change as we got closer to San Francisco.
This is the somewhat underwhelming Manchester hiker/biker camp north of San Francisco. Still, it was cool to hang with all the other (rather eclectic) bike tourists.

Point Arena Lighthouse.
Jim inside lighthouse.

One of the many great looking sea stacks we saw above San Francisco.
A great cafe we ate dinner at before attacking a very steep hill on our way to camp.

Looking up at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Jim contemplates the coast near Big Sur. Because of the traffic and the fact that we were trying to cover more miles, this was one of my least favorite parts of the ride in spite of the great scenery.

Some very very cool friends, Melissa & Joe, that Jim met while battling the mountains in central Oregon. They lived in Santa Cruz and let us crash there for a day and wash our clothes. Then they show us around town and took us a great restaurant.
To show that not all of the riding was picture perfect - this was a long section on the freeway near Monterey where the wind was against us all the way.

Some seals basking in the sun near San Simeon.
Jim and Rudy on the road.

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.

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	This is the first Californian horse I saw after crossing the border. (I wonder if he knows he's a Californian horse...?)		Jim peaks out of his tent after a night's heavy rain. Seeing Jim again was like finding a long lost brother! We traded stories about our separate rides - it was as if we had been in different states. I had perfect weather while he had battled 100 plus degree days! The Mill Creek campground - what a dump! I arrived a few hours before Jim and couldn't believe how overgrown it was with weeds. I should add that this was only true of the hiker/biker camp. The regular camps were well kept. I guess this is what you get for a dollar.
	After a rest day of hitchhiking into Crescent City to do e-mail, Jim and I rode off through the Redwoods to find Rudy.		After lunch, Rudy (on the right) and his friend that drove him up (far left) caught up to us. While we were unloading the bike we heard an impressive clap of thunder though very little came of it.
	Looking straight up from our camp in the Redwoods. Though this was one of the few sites without showers it was a nice area.		Early morning in Northern California.
	Here's my bike leaning against a gate somewhere in Northern California. This was a nicer portion of the ride with little traffic - though that would certainly change as we got closer to San Francisco.		This is the somewhat underwhelming Manchester hiker/biker camp north of San Francisco. Still, it was cool to hang with all the other (rather eclectic) bike tourists.
	Point Arena Lighthouse.		Jim inside lighthouse.
	One of the many great looking sea stacks we saw above San Francisco.		A great cafe we ate dinner at before attacking a very steep hill on our way to camp.
	Looking up at the Golden Gate Bridge.		Jim contemplates the coast near Big Sur. Because of the traffic and the fact that we were trying to cover more miles, this was one of my least favorite parts of the ride in spite of the great scenery.
	Some very very cool friends, Melissa & Joe, that Jim met while battling the mountains in central Oregon. They lived in Santa Cruz and let us crash there for a day and wash our clothes. Then they show us around town and took us a great restaurant.		To show that not all of the riding was picture perfect - this was a long section on the freeway near Monterey where the wind was against us all the way.
	Some seals basking in the sun near San Simeon.		Jim and Rudy on the road.