Summer 2k22 Dune Ape Heat Escape Tour
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 2:44 pm
At one point in the past month or whatever I just got real sick of how hot it is. I ride to and from work, and I ride at work, so I spend a grip of time hating the sun. I have tons of routes meticulously mapped out and plans made for all kindsa stuff but I just wanted to go somewhere where it wasn't so fucking hot all the goddamn time. I've gone up and down the coast a buncha times by now so planning for that place is easy as hell. I said fuck it, told my buddies about it, and roped John into going with me. We both went from San Jose to LA last summer, so he would do a lot of the same riding again but with a year's worth of experience behind him and some new eyes.
My original plan was to maybe take my old Cannondale touring bike, wear sandals, and go slow and not give a shit. This evolved as I don't have a dyno on that bike, so riding at night means using battery powered lights. I don't have good ones cause I have a dyno on my main bike! Imagine using shitty rechargeable lights on your car that only last about 3hrs. It's a pain in the ass. Plus, I had a couple dirt roads on the menu and I don't take my nice old touring bike on dirt roads. Thus, normal bike time. A bit more aggressive and performance based design, more riding each day, stuff like that. Changed it from big chill to less chill but still chill.
I reckon I'll probably put a dyno on the Cannondale so I can use it for more stuff in the future, if I keep it.
Anyway, John and I took the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from Union Station to San Luis Obispo. The PS allows you to push your bike directly onto the train. This is significantly easier than the regular train, where you must remove all bags from the bike (huge pain in the ass with frame and bikepacking bags) and load it into the cargo car, which will only be accessed at certain stations with longer wait times. Big pain in the ass. Didn't do that this time so we were golden. Roll on, wait 5hrs to get there, roll off. First time doing it and it eliminated 99% of the angry hatred I had for Amtrak. Downside is it only services certain stations. You're SOL if you wanna go to Seattle or whatever.
This in mind, I changed the route from the original idea of San Jose to LA again to instead be SLO to Santa Cruz, then down to LA. This would give us twice as much time in Big Sur, which is the only part of the Pacific Coast route I truly enjoy. Not shitting on the rest of the route, just that it's not as quiet and conducive to moving meditation and deep thinking for myself as Big Sur. Lost Coast might be but I haven't gone there yet. It's on my radar.
On August 19 we showed up in SLO off the train and camped in a lil hidey hole nearby. Obama will never extract that information out of me, but you can if you need a place to hide for free. We ate at big Hoagie or something like that in town for dinner. The people working there were real friendly and being in SLO contrasted greatly with Los Angeles. The next morning we head out to get breakfast at a Mexican spot on the main road, then ride to Turri Rd over the small pass towards Morro Bay. Morro Bay to Ragged Point, the beginning of Big Sur, is pretty boring. Nothing against it, just highway miles. We enjoyed the short climbs and smooth descents on the way to Plaskett Creek Campground, where we talked shit and met an interesting man named Stuart and some Germans on holiday. Stuart does bikerafting, where you pack a raft on your bike and go down rivers and stuff, alternating between raft and ride to get cool places. Had a great conversation with everyone before getting some sleep.
Our next day's goal is my sister's place up near Santa Cruz, so we had a few miles to knock out. We figured we'd skip some of the chill stuff to make time and enjoy it on the way south when we didn't have the same goals. We got food here and there, did the usual, and moved through the Monterey area to arrive in SC a lil after 10pm. Had to get pizza first, which we inhaled. John said he'd never eaten a pizza that aggressively before, or something to that order.
Got up later the next day and had a chill admin day running errands, aiming to camp at the Monterey Veteran's Park, only 45mi away. I'd like to come back and check out the aquarium again, which I've not visited since I was very young. Hard to enjoy this stuff on a bike, as theft is a big worry. We had a chill night with wind blowing fog over the trees. Nice lil campground. Glad we brought tents, as everything outside was wet by the morning on each day of the trip.
The next day we had planned on camping at Kirk Creek, a cool dry camp on a bluff over the ocean. I didn't know if we'd make it by nightfall but we managed to just barely get there in time. On the way we took Coast Road, which starts at Bixby Bridge and goes inland a lil, up over two hills, and down to Andrew Molera SP. It's a wonderful, quiet dirt road surrounded by redwoods and fog and awesome views. The road is in mostly decent shape, better than San Gabriel Mountain dirt roads. Just dandy on a 650x47 gravel bike. If you're riding through the area, you should hit that road.
We missed the New Camaldoli Hermitage by quite a few hours. They're open 1330-1630, 3 hours each weekday afternoon, dunno bout weekends. Another point to check out next trip when/if times line up. Got into camp and talked with the camp host, who was a cool dude to bullshit with. He's from the SGV too. Our camp hosts this week were super cool, a nice change as sometimes they're dicks for whatever reason. Anywho, we hydrated, chilled, looked at the stars and clouds and listened to the waves beat the shore below before we passed out. We didn't properly secure our food in the lockbox on the table, so raccoons came in and raided our bikes. They made off with a grip of Clif Shot Blocks, both of my bags of tortillas, and someone bit a hole in one of my cigars. Lil pricks. Shoulda locked it up. Haven't been raided like that in years.
One of my big goals for the trip was to descend Nacimiento Ferguson Road to the coast. This road is directly across the street from Kirk Creek. Very convenient. I've climbed up NF RD and dropped in to Fort Hunter Liggett before, but hadn't descended the dope road down to the coast. The time I climbed up it and went to HL, it was in the 50's on the coast and over 100* inland. That sucked.
The road was closed to cars, so we passed the gate and rode up a minute or so. We took most of the stuff we didn't need for this road off and hid it behind some Pampas Grass. I simply unclip my front bag and seat bag, very quick and easy and lightweight. I've got my setup nearly perfect for my purposes. John's is a little more complicated as he's using my old Salsa front roll rack thing that leaves a little to be desired for trips where you're not just carrying the bare minimum to survive. He may end up with a frontboy soon. If you bike tour, maybe look into a frontboy like the Roadrunner Jumbo Jammer, or the Tribulus Endover like I used this trip. Very light, no rack, carries a ton of stuff, easy to get into and out of. All plus points, only downside is price. They're handmade in the USA so you are paying a fellow countryman for their effort, which is positive.
The climb was quite steep for the first handful of miles, climbing through oak and redwood under the fog before getting back on south facing slopes, exposed to the sun. This felt quite warm after the past few days of fog and cool weather. We get spoiled quick! Alas, I kept my t shirt on most of the way up, braving sunburn and coming out largely unscathed. I fear for those who get scathed. Don't scathe me, bro. The angle eases up after a few miles of this 7 mile climb, and is mostly exposed to the sun, save for a few corners where Redwoods provide shade and a really nice spot to chill. Filtered some water here since we were out and Kirk Creek lacks water. Real tasty, probably didn't have to filter it. Got to the top, chilled out for a minute, and had John go first. I planned on going kinda fast, as fast as I reasonably could on my first time down it etc etc. The descent was outstanding. You start with a grand view of the ocean covered in a blanket of clouds in the distance, and the hills around you look like a mix of the San Gabes and Chino Hills. The surface is rough for road bikes but perfect for gravel bikes, with potholes here and there and plenty of small rocks and dirt. There are a buncha quick series of corners which you can connect into a straight with an excellent and fast line. Despite this being my first time down, I was able to get the line down pretty well and only came into one corner a lil hot, braking more and exiting slowly, not crashing or anything close to it. There's a section that seems either flat or slightly uphill so I smashed on that moderately, not as fast as I could cause I'm on a tour and the body is in that state. Still pushed, then I think the road steepens after that. The next corners are outstanding and of a different character to those above, with longer straights leading to predictable hairpins and corners. Feed in braking, touch the apex, feed in more throttle until exit and the foot becomes welded to the floor. Wide open throttle down the straight, repeat. You drop into trees where seeing the surface can be a challenge coming from a well lit background. The 1 is just below and you ride around the right side of the closed gate to the 1 to finish the timing for that run. I got 16:30 on my phone stopwatch from absolute summit to the 1, but Strava has different sector points and gave me 15:20, good for 7th place total of all timed descents. Not bad. I think I need to be 2 minutes faster to beat the fastest guy, which is doable but I'd wanna change a buncha things. I had a blast and I'm mega glad we did it, and I'm thankful John pushed through it so I could get my descent and knock it off the list. I'll probably come back and try to take some time off my descent. Dunno about 2 mins... unless I build a bike for assassinating mountain passes. Dreams...
We packed our stuff back on the bikes and set off down the coast, planning on camping at Morro Bay State Park. In order to make this work, we had to cut out Santa Rosa Creek Road, which goes inland from Cambria through rolling hills and drops you off in Cayucos. This will have to wait until next time. The day went by without much going on, just covering miles, and we rolled into Morro Bay by sunset. Got our campsite, then went to pick up pizza and beer. Partied at camp that night. Real fun time.
The next day we woke up and headed south. There ain't much to say about this part, cause it's kinda boring. We skipped Prefumo/See Canyon so we could make it to camp with some light left. Long miles on the side of a highway mean a lot of thinking alone time, so we listened to music and zoned out. Took Black/Casmalia Road into Vandenberg instead of Harris Grade into Lompoc, and I don't suggest it. Seems like more climbing and a longer route. Black and Casmalia are chill enough, but not as fun as Harris and you end up doing more highway shoulder miles with long gentle climbs with cars next to you. After Lompoc you have that quiet section of the 1 down to Gaviota Pass. This wasn't bad, though I'm never excited for this section. Hit the summit, bombed down to Gaviota Beach, set up camp, and went for a walk. Lotta stars out and a dry night without fog. Our last night of the trip. The fog rolled in extra heavy early in the morning and soaked our tents. They proved crucial on this trip. Constantly thinking up alternatives so I can carry less and stay warm and dry. Bivy sacks haven't worked for this, not the ones I've used. Anyway.
Next morning we woke up and began the 30mi ride into Santa Barbara to catch the train home. It went by without incident, kinda boring but on par for that section. Got breakfast, got to the station, bought our tickets for 1900 (it was just after 1300 or so at this point), then went cruising looking for trouble to cause for the remaining time. Talked with some friendly hobos, got yelled at by a local or two, ate chinese food, met a homie who is moving there, etc.
Took the train to LA, then began the wonderful gold line ride to Azusa. It's been a long time since I've taken the gold line.
Got a bigger trip planned soon, going through the Sierra Nevada and hopefully more. That'll make a decent trip report. Stay strong out there doing cool shit, guys.