Touring - Pacific Coast: Sooner? Or Later?

The Pacific Coast Highway currently is at the top of my touring wishlist. I have just enough time off this summer to do the Astoria to San Francisco leg. However, I'm only one to three years away from retirement. Should I go for the instant gratification and get a few weeks in this summer--and put up with heavy summer tourist traffic--or should I wait till retirement when I'll be able to do the entire coast starting after Labor Day?

Now. No time like the present.

Do it now. You never know what will come up later that could prevent you from doing it.

I'm starting my tour on the pacific coast in mid-May, maybe ill see you somewhere.

I live in SF. I've always tried to ride in April to try and get some pretty wildflowers.

Be aware that summer on the California Coast means lots of fog.

Ray

Do it. We did it in the summer and the tourist traffic wasn't bad.

Just did it this past summer starting around the end of August(the whole thing)... I honestly didn't find the traffic bad at all. I will say though that I'm pretty comfortable riding on busier roads. After Labor day the traffic thinned out nice and never had any problem finding room at campgrounds along the way.

As for the waiting.... Why? You have the time and desire.... that should be enough to get you going.

That Astoria to San Francisco is really nice, do it now. You can do it again when you retire, there are many variations for inland routes for variety. Example, once I left the PCH at the Russian River and had a beautiful 3 days riding up to Healdsburg, Guerneville, Sabastipol. I enjoyed wine tasting, great cafes and food, beautiful riding in the redwood groves and friendly people. I got back on the PCH at Bodega Bay and on to Marin County.

I like Shifty's advice. Don't do this as part of a bucket list, instead leave the coast highway frequently and explore some of the coast range beauties. In addition to Sonoma and Napa County's treasures (and don't forget to return to the coast via Coleman Valley Rd from Occidental), I would recommend looping in towards Eugene from Florence or Waldport and returning to the coast through the O.&C. lands where you can literally go fifty to one hundred miles without seeing a car. Check out the Lost Coast in Humboldt County; it avoids a lot of the worst parts of Hwy 101 but does have a 25 mile dirt road finish (Usul Rd.) Doing it this way means you will climb many more and steeper hills, so your miles per day will go down, if that matters at all to you. You can post in the various geographic subforums for specific inland loop route advice.

That Astoria to San Francisco is really nice, do it now. You can do it again when you retire...

+1
Looks like your plan will be my plan also. I wanted to do the whole route this summer, but it looks like the time will not be available, so will do Astoria to San Luis Obispo, where I can hop the train back home. I will do the entire route later when I can take time to explore and enjoy.

up here, late July - August - September starts to let up on the wetness. ..

I agree. Do it this year, and take me with you.

Signed,

Dreaming Under a Cleveland Winter

Now. You can do it again later if you want to do the whole thing in one go, it's worth doing more than once!

I say do it. Maybe I'll see you out there, I'm leaving for my PC tour in June. Good luck with your decision!

Another in "now" camp. I always worry if I don't do something, I could get hit by a bus between now and when I think I "should" get around to it.

I would say do it now as well. You can still do the whole coast, the Trans America, the Sierra Cascades, a ride across europe, or whatever when you retire whether you do this now or not.

That or maybe even find a way to swing some extra time (leave without pay?) and do the whole thing now :) That is what I did when faced with the choice of doing the TA or waiting until I retired. I was surprised to find my employer supportive even though I presented it to them as kind of an ultimatum. I also found that it helped rather than hurt my career. It seems that I was missed while I was gone.

Do it now, or do it later, but definitely do it at some point. There are lots of places to tour, and personally I think it's more important that you just get out there and do it, with the choice of location being a secondary consideration. I've had a great time on all my tours, regardless of location.

I did the Pacific Coast in 2008 right after retiring. It was my "West Coast Freedom Tour." That one was special, because I was finally free. But I would have had that same feeling touring anywhere.

Thanks for the persuasive comments. I guess it's time to order the maps and plan transport for me and the bike from Denver to Portland. I hope to be on the PCH no later than June 20.

I did it in June as well, but as others have said, June can definitely be cool, so do have a fleece with you, and the rain gear for wind protection at the least, especially in mornings and evenings. Enjoy if you do go, its a pretty part of the world and interesting in how the landscape changes as you go down the coast.

Another thing to consider: We started our Pacific Coast ride in Lund, BC, Canada. Actually, Vancouver BC to Lund to Astoria. It was a great ride. It took us about 2 weeks to cover that part of the route. That would save the Astoria to San Diego for later. However, a lot of the ride is not actually on the coast. Our goal was to ride Highway 1 or 101 from its northern terminus to the southernmost point. As others pointed out, summer is foggy and more traffic. We've done several coastal tour; all started close to Labor day. More sun, Less rain and fog, and definately less traffic.

I'm also with the others about not waiting. There are no guarantees in life.

The catalyst for our ride across the US a couple of years ago was a comment my wife made to me when we first started talking about it; having the do it now or do it later discussion, "you aren't getting any younger".;)

I did the entire Pacific Coast in 1992, then went back and rode the Oregon part about 5 years ago. I went in the middle of summer - end of July, beginning of August. I did so because I grew up in the Seattle area and I know how much rain is possible along the coast. In mid-July, early August, your chances of avoiding it are good. I got three days of drizzle and one of hard rain on that first tour. The second one was warm and dry the whole time.

The tourist traffic didn't seem to affect me. There are hiker/biker campsites all down the coast. In Oregon they can't turn bikers away. It was nice to ride up on a line of cars at a campground kiosk, see the "campground full" sign, hear them asking the ranger where else they might camp, ride up to the window, and say, "Hiker/Biker please," knowing that there was always a spot. One time an organized tour with about 15 riders pulled into the campground. They opened up a regular campsite they'd been holding in reserve and made it a second hiker/biker site. No one on a bike was turned away.

The shoulder is pretty good most of the way. I think there's always traffic, so the difference between August and after Labor Day wouldn't be enough to trump the liklihood of good weather.

My nephew rode from Vancouver, B. C. to San Francisco, but he couldn't leave until the middle of September. He got rained on a ton. He didn't have a very good time. I had the time of my life!

I did the Oregon Coast in Sept 2009 and had 1 day of rain, the rest of the time was great and I would say "do it now". I'm going to do Astoria to San Francisco
this Sept, might go all the way to San Diego if I have the time. I couldn`t do much touring last summer because of work and I really missed it, it`s one of the few things i do in life where i completely forget about everything else. I am going to get my fill this year.

From Portland to Astoria avoid taking highway 30, it's no fun. Instead take the light rail from the airport to Hillsboro, then ride to Banks and pick up the Banks to Veronia trail. At the end of the trail ride highway 42 to Mist, then 202 to Jewell and Astoria. I find highway 30 dangerous and no fun, the Mist Jewell route is a delight.

Enjoy the trip!

I'm planning to do that ride in late June/July, and I can't wait! It's raining enough this winter, so it'll be dry this summer, right? Right?? :-)

ya right
you pays you money, you takes you chances.

Good weather on the Pacific Coast in summer = deck stacked in your favor. :)

There is great gratification in riding a route from start to finish. If you know absolutely for sure, that if you wait, you will be able to do the whole thing, then I say you go for that. Not to mention, if you ride in September, the weather is usually quite beautiful. Or as others have mentioned, maybe you can do it both times and explore different routes on the leg north of San Francisco. If you want any tips on that leg, check out our blog (http://dandgtour.blogspot.com/). We did that section last two falls ago. Have fun!

Do it in the summer. Earlier, wind often comes from the S or W, while in summer, you're very likely to have a tailwind chase you all the way.

Summers are almost miraculous in OR. You will deal with significant traffic no matter what, and heavy traffic can be even more fun than lighter traffic since you'll often be faster.

I can't take much time off so I'm planning on doing a quick San Francisco to San Luis Obispo starting around May 14th and planning on being back in SF by the 21st. I figure the weather will be good and it'll be before the memorial day traffic (and before school gets out and summer traffic picks up). Maybe I'll see some of you out there.

I left the Seattle area on last year on 29 July and went to San Diego (currently in Key West on the same tour). I say do it now, but no further south than San Francisco. The coast of Oregon is ideal

From Portland to Astoria avoid taking highway 30, it's no fun. Instead take the light rail from the airport to Hillsboro, then ride to Banks and pick up the Banks to Veronia trail. At the end of the trail ride highway 42 to Mist, then 202 to Jewell and Astoria. I find highway 30 dangerous and no fun, the Mist Jewell route is a delight.

Enjoy the trip!

Thanks again, everybody, for your comments and advice. Shifty, thanks especially for this route advice. Portland to Astoria was still a matter of concern for me. Your suggestion looks great on the map. Last summer I visited Portland and drove Highway 6 to the ocean. Three days later, I drove back on 26. If 202 is anywhere near as scenic as either of those, it will be a great ride. My visit to Oceanside, Cannon Beach, Seaside, and Astoria last summer is what made me really want to do the PCH.

I rode from Astoria to San Franciso this past September 25th to October 16th. Rained the first day, but then full sun the rest of the way. I think I was lucky for the weather to be so good. It was the best time of my life. Do it now and then again when you're retired. Traffic was light but the logging trucks will give you no room regardless. Hwy 101 through Oregon took me about 1 week, felt safe with a nice shoulder to ride on the majority of the way. Hwy 1 from Leggett to San Francisco had no shoulder and felt much more dangerous, especially on so many of the steep blind corners. Every state park campground that I stayed at in Oregon was "A+", California on the other hand had deteriorating campgrounds with no showers or often the showers were closed with no budget to repair them. Also, there were a couple bridges that required walking due to maintenance. Even though it was late in the year, there were many other tourists and everyone seamed to want to make friends and ride together. For me, the trip was absolutely amazing.

You can always do it in parts. I rode from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco three years ago, and because I had such a great time I told myself that I would go back to the Pacific coast to ride more. In June I'll be riding from Vancouver to San Francisco, going the "right" way this time (North to South). I wish I had the time and money to go all the way to Mexico, but I don't, so maybe I'll plan to go back to finish up the Pacific coast later.

not sure if this was said----

USE A MIRROR! for those situations with two trucks , one towards and one behind you, meeting at the same spot. Or just plain old S.O.B truckdriver who can give a rats ass to move over a bit even if noone is coming towrds him (or to be fair, Mr Retired in his giant RV not sure of its width....)

Spike57,
Riding the Oregon Coast is great anytime from May until October, but I am highly biased. Something you might consider is transportation from the end of you ride. We had to cut one trip down the coast short due to a family emegency just as we hit the Oregon/ California border . Eureka, CA was the best bet in that area. You might also be interested to know that there is an Amtrak bus from PDX train station to Astoria. Depending on your logistics, this could give you an extra day to make connections at the other end of your ride.

Shifty's advice about using MAX (light rail) to Hillsboro is also a good one and can save some time at the end of the ride. I rode Highway 30 from Astoria to PDX, and don't remember it being all that bad. However, that was the same trip that I did the Oregon Coast south to north. duh! Young(er) and dumber-- the same year Mt. St. Helens blew.

Do you have the book: Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall? It is a pretty good guide of the route. Heck, in Oregon all you have to remember is to keep the ocean on your right;) You'll have a great trip regardless of the time year or the lenght.

I did Seattle-San Fran this past summer starting July 31 and ending Aug 18. Not a single day of rain, traffic was modest, and plenty of room at all the hiker/biker sites.

Since you'll be flying into Portland from Denver, there is a bike assembly room in the Portland airport. The Visitor Information Booth near the room has tools you can check out free, there is a work stand and good lighting and maybe even other riders too. The Visitor Info Booth will also have any other answers to questions, maps or light rail info for you.

Since you'll be flying into Portland from Denver, there is a bike assembly room in the Portland airport. The Visitor Information Booth near the room has tools you can check out free, there is a work stand and good lighting and maybe even other riders too. The Visitor Info Booth will also have any other answers to questions, maps or light rail info for you.

wow , how civilized. That is quite amazing.

Since you'll be flying into Portland from Denver, there is a bike assembly room in the Portland airport. The Visitor Information Booth near the room has tools you can check out free, there is a work stand and good lighting and maybe even other riders too. The Visitor Info Booth will also have any other answers to questions, maps or light rail info for you.

Is that a recent development?

When we were there in 2007 we assembled everything right by the baggage claim. We were there in the middle of the night though and the airport was all but shut down. The visitor booth and pretty much everything else was unmanned. As I recall most services were not available after some early time (like 9 or 10 at night maybe). Something to consider especially if you need to rent a car or something. That was 2007 though so things may have changed.

Is that a recent development?

When we were there in 2007 we assembled everything right by the baggage claim. We were there in the middle of the night though and the airport was all but shut down. The visitor booth and pretty much everything else was unmanned. As I recall most services were not available after some early time (like 9 or 10 at night maybe). Something to consider especially if you need to rent a car or something. That was 2007 though so things may have changed.Yes, it's been set up for a year now. I'm not sure of the hours of operation, come prepared if late night arrival. This from the airport website http://www.portofportland.com/pdx_bcycl_trnsprtn.aspx