Day 5 of my 8-day tour would be a long ride through a wide variety of California terrain, but it started with me fixing my kitchen. Quick backstory: I thought my fuel canister was empty after very little use, so I pitched it and bought a new one. I was pretty excited to cook bacon …
Tag: adventure
Cycle Tour Kirk Creek To Morro Strand, Shuttle Around Coast Highway Closure
I awoke Wednesday morning on day 5 of my 8 day bike tour of coastal central California, greeted by the sound of the waves crashing on the cliffs below my tent at Kirk Creek campground. The morning weather was very damp fog, classic Big Sur, so my gear was pretty wet but manageable. I was …
Cycle Tour Big Sur to Kirk Creek, a Concert on the Coast
My bicycle tour of the California coast continued into its 4th day on a Tuesday. That put me right in the heart of a work week, beyond the feeling of a mere three-day weekend, and firmly in a vacation-adventure frame of mind. My ride that day would take me from Pfeiffer Big Sur campground to …
What’s A Bike Shirt? Zoic District, Troy Lee Grind, Club Ride Vibe, Others
Bike Shirt (bīk SHərt) noun: A shirt suitable for cycling, styled like a casual shirt with a collar, made with technical fabrics and features helpful to cyclists. Why bother with a nerdy definition? It distinguishes bike shirts from bike jerseys, tech tees and wing suits. Many companies that make them call them jerseys but I …
Cycle Tour Monterey to Big Sur, a Day of Photos
Day three of my tour would be a relatively short ride from Monterey to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. I liked that it would be a short ride so it would give me time to take lots of pictures of this very scenic area. I got a late start because I spent time fraternizing with …
Cycle Tour Santa Cruz to Monterey, A Coastal Smorgasbord
Day two of my trip began with my resolve not to put my head down and hammer out a fast ride, but to take my time and stop to explore what I saw along the way. My first chance to exercise that was only a few miles in as I passed Seacliff State Beach. It …
Cycle Tour San Jose to Santa Cruz, Lost on the Freeway, and CPAP Crisis
Day one of my tour turned out to have many of the problems I was afraid it might have. But a defining trait of an adventurer is how you deal with the problems that will inevitably happen. If you react by wishing you had luxury accommodations, panicking, or giving up, you are probably not an …
Cycling Tour of Big Sur / Central Coast California
In May 2017, the Mud Creek Slide came crashing down on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in California, turning an 80-mile section of highway with no exits into two separate 10-mile and 50-mile dead-ends. As bad as that sounds, the details made it even worse. Additional slides and a bridge failure isolated the tiny and beautiful …
San Elijo Overnighter
I have been planning and preparing for a week-long tour of PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) here in California, and this overnighter ride is, among other things, a shakedown for the tour. I have spent time shrinking my load to a minimum size and weight. Most tourers err on the side of packing too much if …
Redlands Strada Rossa V 2018: What A Difference A Year Makes
I rode the Redlands Strada Rossa ride last year (RSR IV) and really enjoyed it, so naturally I was looking forward to the event this year (RSR V). I registered early and reached out to the event organizer and produced a virtual flyover of the 67 mile route, such as it was planned at the …
