I'm new to the site, and I am planning on riding from Long Beach to San Luis Obispo on Highway 1
starting on May 11th.
Here's a link to the route map I have planned out so far.
(I know it looks like a ridiculous link but it works)
I have a Schwinn World Sport 10 speed right, with bent rims. I'm thinking about fixing it to a one speed
before the trip, although I know one speeds aren't advised for long distance. Either way, I would appreciate any help on how to fix to one speed, or just how to fix the rims and bike before May 11th.
The BikeForums Team
-adv-
This is an archived thread, you can find the full version of this thread, with images, links and more content here.
Dont do it! I drove last week from Paso Robles and there are some major hills.
seaofhorses
I went to high school in the area and its pretty hilly hahaha...but once I get to San Luis Obispo county I should be able to avoid the major ups and downs.
umd
I don't believe you could ride on the 101 from Buelton to Orcut like you have it. You can turn back onto the 1 to Lompoc after Gaviota, then cross over to the 135 (they may not let you ride through VAFB) and eventually get back on the 1 again.
seaofhorses
ok i changed the route to go left to the 1 instead of right to the 101. have you rode the 1 on any part of that route before? do you know how strenuous the roads are?
umd
I've ridden parts of the 1 there before but not the entire length from the 101. The whole region is very hilly, and the stretch from Orcutt to Guadalupe is often very windy. You can see the profile for that here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3556826). I did a double century that traveled on much of that route, but in the other direction, which you can see here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4265865). Note sure I've ever been on the stretch of the 1 between the 101 and Santa Rosa Road. I see you are thinking of doing this on a single speed... so let me just say that you will not be able to avoid significant climbing, no matter which route you take. The geology in this area is completely shattered and there are small mountain ranges all over the place.
OkComputer
ok i changed the route to go left to the 1 instead of right to the 101. have you rode the 1 on any part of that route before? do you know how strenuous the roads are?
It's about 20 miles from Gaviota (at the Hwy 1 exit) to Lompoc and the first 2 miles are a 7% grade uphill, then mostly downhill all the way to Lompoc.
seaofhorses
I have definitely decided not to convert my bike before the trip. I may not be able to keep the pace that you had on those links, but I will be committing each day to riding. I have it planned so far to do 80 miles a day. Day One will be PCH (aka highway 1) to Oxnard and camping in either McGrath or Mandalay. Day Two will be Oxnard to Gaviota, and Day Three will be Gaviota to San Luis Obispo. Minus time for eating, site seeing, breaks, etc, I should have 8-9 hours of ride time each day. Seem reasonable?
OkComputer
I've ridden parts of the 1 there before but not the entire length from the 101. The whole region is very hilly, and the stretch from Orcutt to Guadalupe is often very windy. You can see the profile for that here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3556826). I did a double century that traveled on much of that route, but in the other direction, which you can see here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4265865). Note sure I've ever been on the stretch of the 1 between the 101 and Santa Rosa Road. I see you are thinking of doing this on a single speed... so let me just say that you will not be able to avoid significant climbing, no matter which route you take. The geology in this area is completely shattered and there are small mountain ranges all over the place.
18.2mph with 12.7k of climbing? damn, that's fast!
umd
18.2mph with 12.7k of climbing? damn, that's fast!
:D
seaofhorses
yeah thats insane hahaha....i will hope to maintain half that speed!
umd
I have definitely decided not to convert my bike before the trip. I may not be able to keep the pace that you had on those links, but I will be committing each day to riding. I have it planned so far to do 80 miles a day. Day One will be PCH (aka highway 1) to Oxnard and camping in either McGrath or Mandalay. Day Two will be Oxnard to Gaviota, and Day Three will be Gaviota to San Luis Obispo. Minus time for eating, site seeing, breaks, etc, I should have 8-9 hours of ride time each day. Seem reasonable?
Sounds reasonable. I have some more detailed route suggestions for you, depending on when you are doing this, and whether you want flatter routes or are trying to avoid city streets. The route you have going through Santa Barbara is very hilly, much longer than a more direct route through town, and part of it is actually closed for another two months. Also, you have the route going around lake casitas, which again is very hilly. Instead you can go on PCH and the 101 from Ventura to Carpinteria which is flat as a pancake and about 15 miles shorter. You can see a route I did from SB around lake casitas and back via 101 here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5499752), and from Ojai to SB here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5383559).
Also, you can't ride on the 1 through Oxnard, when you come inland from Point Mugu park, you have to get out at Wood Road. You can take that to the 34 and then head west on the 34. There's probably more alterations but those are the big ones I've noticed so far.
seaofhorses
this is extremely helpful. i tried looking up road closures on the CHP website, and that didnt help too much. and knowing whether spots are flat or hilly is hard to find out. i am trying to avoid hills as much as possible, so i wont mind downtown routes. anything else you spot, feel free to point out.
seaofhorses
also, i will be doing this a week from sunday, may 11th.
check this out for tricks on ways to go a bit more conveniently by bike.....
Quinn8it
I have ridden from SLO to Los Angeles 3 times. Each time was during an annual trip from S.F. to L.A. We do the entire ride in 4 days. and the last 2 days are, Morro Bay (20 miles north of SLO) to Santa Barbara then a light 100 mile day to La. We travel super light and stay in hotels, so our pace might be a little faster than yours if you are camping. We always follow the Adventure Cycling Map http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm
Their route pretty closely follows the Coast Route that is marked with signs. But having the map comes in handy in a few places where the municipal route becomes nonexistent. One very tricky spot is getting out of Santa Barbara (going south) This map also has camping and facilities listed on it.
The downside of this map is it only list roads that are on the route. So if you get off-route it can be difficult to get back on... The other thing is you will need to by two maps, because one covers S.F. to S.B. and the other covers S.B. to the Boarder of U.S./ Mex.
As for the thought of doing this ride on a single speed.... I think it was smart to reconsider. When doing our route from S.F. to L.A. the most vertical feet climbed in a day is in the section south of Monterey, but the highest and steepest climbs are on either side of Lompoc, these climbs are both "no joke"
I hope this helps...
Quinn
seaofhorses
Thanks for the map links, the route I have planned out on Google Maps now reflects both somewhat. I'm going to be stopping at a bike shop for the bike route map, and luckily I work at a book store so I can get the street maps for a discount:D
And as far as pace goes, I think I could handle 100 mile days, but I really want to take in everything as much as I can.