Alissa: What’s the next entry in this sequence? 306, Hideaway Suite, 2, 222, 230, Fishman’s Cabin, 6, 17, D33, 50, 2, 2, 306, 540, 512, 7, 688, 23, 53, 1, 12, 303, 107, 349, 18102, 4207, 513, 6331E, 316, 4046,… Oh you thought this post was going to be about our next adventure? 😉 These …
Monthly Archives: March 2019
Day #27: La Jolla to US-Mexico Border (46 mi)
Alissa: After 1,000 miles, 14 counties, roughly 45,000 feet of elevation gained and lost, a min elevation of -7 feet, max elevation of 1930 feet, and one flat tire, we MADE IT! =) =) [Note: these numbers include our extra help from Day #5.] Our final day began with a giant wide road just for …
Continue reading “Day #27: La Jolla to US-Mexico Border (46 mi)”
Day #26: San Clemente to La Jolla (57 mi)
Alissa: Our day began with delightful signage in the breakfast room! Hmph. We were NOT planning to ride 57 miles today. But thanks to the few, the proud at Camp Pendleton who decided to close the bike path for their training exercises, we got to ride on “the 5” for thirteen miles instead of six …
Continue reading “Day #26: San Clemente to La Jolla (57 mi)”
Day #25: Newport Beach to San Clemente (27 mi)
Alissa: It was a strange feeling yesterday being in civilization the entire day and knowing that this would be the case for the remainder of the trip. Even the ride along PCH in Malibu had unpopulated spots, so yesterday was really the first time the whole trip. Our ride today took us through all the …
Continue reading “Day #25: Newport Beach to San Clemente (27 mi)”
Day #24: Venice to Newport Beach (51 mi)
Alissa: And we’re back! I finished up my civic service for the good folk of Los Angeles County at the Pomona Superior Courthouse, so we loaded up our packs and set off for the border. The day started like many bike rides Glen and I have taken: southbound along the beach path going through Marina …
Day #23: Oxnard to Venice (53 mi)
Alissa: My good friend Robert texted me a couple of days ago about the “millions” of butterflies in Los Angeles. Today we woke up to be greeted by all of them! It really was delightful to see so many of them at once, and fairly consistently down to Malibu. I’ve ridden this exact route a …
Day #22: Goleta to Oxnard (50 mi)
Alissa: It was only a matter of time… We’ve been lucky and this is our first flat. (And in a super convenient place–the hotel!) I have absolutely no clue how Glen’s tire and tube came to be in the state shown above, so perhaps he can explain what happened. Fortunately, he’s very good at fixing …
Day #21: Lompoc to Goleta (43 mi)
Alissa: Leaving Lompoc was awesome for a few reasons: it was a gorgeous day, we were heading back toward the coast, we left behind an incredible windy city, we rode through lush green hills, we had an enormous shoulder (basically as wide as an entire lane), and perhaps the awesome-est reason was the gleaming, shiny, …
Day #20: Santa Maria to Lompoc (26 mi)
Alissa: Getting to Goleta (the home of UCSB) from Santa Maria involves gaining well over 3,000 feet in elevation. So, we decided to polish off a third of that and stop in the city of art and flowers, Lompoc, CA. Our day started and ended with a long, continuous series of strip malls. CVS, Walgreens, …
Day #19: Morro Bay to Santa Maria (50 mi)
Alissa: We woke up to a great view of the Morro rock. We stopped in SLO for lunch and a quick visit to the local bike shop. It was a great day for a ride! We had to say goodbye to the coast today for a couple of days as Hwy 1 (now called Pacific …
Continue reading “Day #19: Morro Bay to Santa Maria (50 mi)”
Day #18: Ragged Point to Morro Bay (45 mi)
Alissa: Very quickly into our ride we turned inland away from the coast for a bit. After a few miles we stopped to see the elephant seals then made an early pit stop for lunch of burgers made from Hearst cattle and some wine tasting for Glen. Then we went on a tour of the …
Continue reading “Day #18: Ragged Point to Morro Bay (45 mi)”
Alissa’s unexpected gift!
Alissa: Glen surprised me with a fun gift: which I gleefully started unwinding wondering what on Earth could be wrapped up inside. I didn’t have to wait long until I found a plastic frog, a glamorous new ring, and a roll of Smarties. Fun times!
Day #17: Lucia to Ragged Point (25 mi)
Alissa: Today we rode through both of the road closure areas, which, thankfully, had opened! We had more lovely views along the coast, and the views to our left looked mostly like this: During our lunch stop at the Whale Watchers Cafe, I, suitably, saw the spout of a whale! And, we encountered fellow cyclists …
Day #16: Big Sur to Lucia (26 mi)
Alissa: Hooray! Not only did Caltrans open the second mudslide area, but we had a glorious, gorgeous, spectacular sunny day to experience the Big Sur that Google had teased me with. The water was a brilliant turquoise that I’ve only seen in, like, Hawaii . Due to all the recent rain, we passed many waterfalls. …
Stuck in Big Sur! (Day Four)
Alissa: Good news! Caltrans opened one of the two road closures and anticipates opening the other one tomorrow! The road looks like it took a beating. I’m going to have to ask my brother, who knows everything there is to know about concrete and asphalt, how this could happen. (Funny story, which I bet he …
Stuck in Big Sur! (Day Three)
Alissa: It POURED today. During the downpour, I decided to check out what my weather sites had to say about the situation. We both were fairly productive work-wise and Glen enjoyed the Medocino County themed wine and cheese hour.
Stuck in Big Sur! (Day Two)
Alissa: I joined the daily yoga class, which I described to Glen as a “guided nap,” and after which we learned the following: Caltrans *did* wind up closing the highway in two locations, which would have stranded us at the place with no availability for Wed and Thurs. So, score one for us for making …
Stuck in Big Sur! (Day One)
Alissa: The next few legs of our journey present a logistic challenge in that the options for lodging along this section of the coast are extremely limited. Consider the following scenario: It is Monday and the weather is perfect for cycling! You can get to your desired location, but (1) The weather forecast says 100% …
Day #15: Monterey to Big Sur (42 mi)
Alissa: Sigh… Mother Nature: 2; Glen and Alissa: 0 I really need to (1) find another weather website and/or (2) let Glen make the decision about whether we should cycle given the forecast. Weather.gov said that there was a “30% chance of rain prior to 10 am” and “new precipitation amounts of less than a …
Pinnacles National Park
Alissa:Â Â Neither of us had been to this park before, so we rented a car and drove about an hour east. We stopped at Flapjack’s Breakfast for brunch, which had the best gender neutral restroom sign I’ve ever seen! We kicked off our visit with spelunking in Bear Gulch Cave! It was incredible that this cave …
Day #14: Santa Cruz to Monterey (46 mi)
Alissa: Today was spent mostly off of “the one” since it was highway (hence, no bicycles) and not a state road. We saw very little of the coast, but instead passed miles and miles of crops, mainly strawberries and artichokes! And we saw the first sign indicating our distance from home! Toward the end of …
Day #13: Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz (48 mi)
Alissa: All the wind and rain yesterday was so totally worth it to have the gorgeous perfect day today. It was my favorite leg of our ride thus far, possibly because the entire distance was protected land. Long, flat stretches along the coast in warm sunshine, dotted with state parks and beaches (each with public restrooms, yay!). I’ll let …
Continue reading “Day #13: Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz (48 mi)”