I had thought of riding my modified coastal route down, but realized I didn’t have enough time to make it with all the additional climbing and mileage that entails, so I stuck to the race route. My plan was to do at least 250 miles on day 1, just play it by ear and ride until I can’t, camping somewhere per usual hobo style. I am, however, riding my ‘new’ road bike I built up last year, which just so happens to be damn near perfect for this stuff, so I just kept goin.
I was really excited to ride the stunning and flawless Moss Landing to Monterrey section that Matt won’t stop promoting, telling of its endless grandeur and amazing opportunities for introspective metacognitive real estate development and all that stuff (you know the deal), but maybe I wasn’t as impressed as he is. I don’t know. It was just farmland and a bike path.
I bought a new Spyderco Endura Wharncliffe pocket knife at the surplus store off the 1 in Moss Landing. They carry good knives and some unusual and rare ones, so I always stop in and often come away with something cool. Been needing a good folder for life so this will be a small project where I replace the scales and make it fancy. The next section is whatever, just taking the road to a bike path into Monterrey, not bad, not amazing, very nice honestly compared to what I ride in LA everyday. Stopped at the McDonalds as always and got 4 McFish sangwiches. I allowed myself to spend a lot of money on food on this trip so I was guilt free in buying McFish sangwiches the whole way down the coast. In total, I believe I ate ten of them. Of all the crap McDonald’s makes, the McFish has been my favorite since I was a wee lad, and I usually get one of their frappe beverages so I can get ripped off sugary caffeine blast and be a fastboi for a lil bit.
Anyway, left McNaldo’s and rode through town to the super steep climb up the hill. At the top, I took a new to me detour to the southern tail end of 17 mile drive, which is a fun easy descent into fancy town down there, which lead me to another steep climb in the town (will remove this from the final route), then I hit the 1 and got some supplies at the gas station as my last resupply before San Simeon. Well, I still stopped for more stuff at the little gas station in Carmel just to make sure I had a shitload of snacks in every crevice of the bike.
From here you start the Big Sur section, my overall favorite part of the coastal route. This being a Monday, I was expecting minimal traffic. I like being as alone as possible out there. Alas, the traffic was quite high. I just kept chugging along, passing instagram white girl bridge (Bixby), through the plains section by Andrew Molera, up the hill after, and down the fun descent that to me marks the start of real Big Sur where there’s a lot less structures and stuff. Stopped at Rigdon Fountain as usual, but the fountain itself was not running. The stream beside it was going fine, but I did not bring a filter, so I kept on goin. Didn’t need more water anyway. Drank less than usual this time because it was nice and cool out and I didn’t sweat much. Made it to Ragged Point a little after dark and they were closed, otherwise I woulda bought a funny pin for my bike bags and a coffee. Kept on trucking through San Simeon and Cambria, where I got some stuff at the gas station which had a market open late. Continued south to Cayucos where I think I used the bathroom? Can’t remember. I stopped and stretched there before continuing to Morro Bay. Took Turri Road up and over Hinds Summit, down into SLO, and so on to Grover Beach and all that. Sun came back up a while later and the stretch towards Lompoc had no shoulder, a crappy surface, and a lot of traffic. That was stresssful as everyone was driving to work. Hadn’t been there at that time before to experience that. I drop into Lompoc by taking Harris Grade, which is like a tiny version of GMR, avoiding the Highway route which is loud and busy and depressing. Harris is a fun twisty road that turns into a long descent into town. Got food in Lompoc, kept on truckin outta there. After you leave Lompoc, you go through a peaceful section with some hills. I was a little tired here so I was lookin for a spot to take a nap, but nothing looked inviting. Wanted a flat spot not covered in dry grasses, under some shade, not far from the road. Kept on truckin. Hit Gaviota pass and took the highway/normal route into SB where I got more fish sandwiches and a coffee. SB takes a while to navigate through. My fancy route avoids most of the city by taking Camino Cielo, but I didn’t have time for my fancy route. Anyway, got outta there, took the normal route down the coast, blah blah blah, got to Malibu as it was getting dark and saw the fire damage. Less traffic now with fewer houses. Once in Santa Monica, I figured I’d ride through the city and hook up with my commute route. Went to DK Donuts in Santa Monica but there were too many friggin weirdos out and I don’t have the energy for weirdos or much of anything anymore so I just left before buying breakfast. My route through the city mostly sucked a lot. The road surfaces were rough, and LA was LA, ugly, smelly, loud, crowded, too many people and cars, potholes. It’s a real shame LA exists, used to be a nice place before everything was slathered in concrete and piss and everyone gets charged an arm and a leg for the honor of smelling it. The road surface was especially bad in Hollywood. Should have a full suspension bike to ride there, or better yet just live a life where you don’t have to be in the insult to nature and the universe that this disgusting festering wound on our planet that LA is, an insult to all the beauty found in nature. The smell of the bum piss is really sharp and ever present. LA gets this smell after a rain of piss and wet cigarettes…
Anywho, I could go on for eternity expressing my love for this megalopolis, this open air prison for the soul that bleeds people dry, but I must finish the story so I can be happier not thinking about LA and how I hope the next ice age scrapes every last trace of it into the sea and leaves it looking like the finger lakes region of NY, so that even aliens cant tell there was a giant open cesspool here. I eventually hit my commute route and got home at 0335 on the 1st, about 42 hours total with 37hrs moving time covering 428 miles. This was the longest distance I’ve done without sleeping so far, beating my previous by about 20 whole miles. The road bike I’ve built is comfortable, light, and fast, and the 35mm tubeless tires are big and comfy enough that most rough roads are no big deal, and smooth ones are a dream. I was much more rested after long distances than on the bike I used on the previous longest day, my surly midnight special, which is considerably heavier.
I am in the process of building a set of carbon wheels for this bike, which will be lighter and technically more aerodynamic than the old worn out ones I have on there now. It’ll make a minor difference which will be noticeable but not life changing or anything. At the end of this ride, I was feeling like I could keep going, so maybe I’ll do that in the race. 500 miles doesn’t sound bad. I will be putting together a lighter sleep kit, more of a nap kit, with a thin foam pad and a tiny sleeping bag I just bought in April. Should smash down super small and save a lil weight and so on. I would write more but me hands are hurting!
Cheers
