mousey

Im from Ireland and I want to do this in 2006. I have 'the book'. There are lots of things I need to find out and would appreciate your help. Best time of year to go Vancouver to San Diego. Camp or Credit Card. At the moment im going alone but would like company. Im 57 and been cycling for 25years.

Shifty

The best time to start would be mid-July, you can start sooner, however, it can be rainy up until then. I'm sure that you are not use to riding in the rain in Ireland, but that is when many people start coast trips.
I've done this trip solo, and was never alone! Camp in the Hiker-biker camp sites in the State Parks, and you will meet many riding partners from the world over, quite fun!
Watch your equipment, locks and precaution can make your trip a happy one.

cyclintom

That looks like sound advice. There are hostels along the way as well as camp ground (for instance there's a very nice one at Pigeon Point south of Pacifica, in California) and you'd probably like them.

It isn't like Ireland and things are pretty expensive here. Bit more people than Connemara and the traffic is simply ugly over large sections of road. Wear VERY bright colors and you'll learn to hate old fools driving motorhomes.

Washington's route is OK. Oregon is beautiful and the drivers are typically polite though often hurried. Northern California section can be absolutely terrifying. Often the road has little or no shoulder and old fools in motorhomes give you 1 cm of clearance. Often their side view mirrors will pass directly over your head. South of San Francisco and all the way to Los Angeles things are a great deal better though road work can screw things up.

The ride is very nice. Usually a tail wind. There's a great deal of climbing since the coast is rather high. Nothing very difficult though. he scenery varies from interesting to spectacular. You get to ride across many bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge which is something you'll remember. 10' wide sidepath and a view all the way out to the Faralone Islands on a clear day. (Though I've never seen them.)

Woolbury

I started loosely thinking about this tour(have never toured more than 2 nites), got 'the book' this week and found this forum and thread today. The idea of it is taking hold and I can't stop thinking about it. I'm 54, also riding 25 yrs, hope to interest my wife in the idea. Maybe we'll see you out there mousey.

mousey

when are you planning to do it. maybe we could share information?

paul2

Shifty is right, you won't be alone on the west coast. I've done three tours of the coast, and always met many other touring cyclists, as you can see in my journal from my solo, Northern California tour (https://www.roundtheworld.ca/other/norcal.htm). Although, as we found out in Oregon, if you get out of sync with the daily itinerary of "the book", you'll see many fewer cyclists.

genec

Actually the area from LA south can be a bit of a drag as it becomes the southern California car culture region. It is do-able, but the pleasure is less frequent. On the other hand, the isolation of the road just south of Monterrey is fantastic.

jakemoffatt

Link to "the Book" for me please?

Shifty

The bible, all you need for this trip.
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

Buy it at REI in stores or online.

Woolbury

Mousey, to say that I'm planning to do it is one step farther than I'm at, but if I could pull it off, I'd look at Aug-Sept 06. A few messy details like kids in school, a landscape biz to run and others would have to be worked out. But I'm not getting any younger, it's time for an epic or two. I've done pretty well with some high adventure here in Colo-want to expand beyond my backyard. I'll keep an eye on this thread and add questions or info as things develop.

mousey

Im not a hiker/biker. ive never camped out. I dont mind doing it but i wonder are the sites safe? are the facilities generally good? What are state parks and how do they differ from hiker/biker sites

Shifty

In the US there are several types of facilities for camping. The Federal Government has National Parks, National Forest and Bureau of Land Management. The States offer State Parks for camping.
National Parks have very nice camping, comfortable and generally safe and secure. The down side of these is that they are expensive and not well distributed. National Forest camping is much more primitive, cheap and not as secure. BLM is a mix, usually nice.
State Parks are the best, at least in Oregon and California. They offer camping with showers, nice facilities and well located. They often offer a special section of the campground for hikers and bicyclists (hiker-biker). The hiker-biker is nice for community, meet others, compare things like bakeries or resturants, or hazzards. In Oregon these hiker-biker sites are $2 per night, which includes showers. Maps and guide books will note the parks which have hiker-biker sites, plan your trip around these parks to enhance the experience. West coast is fairly safe, wise to take care to lock things and use common sense.

ovenchips

Hi, sounds like some pretty solid info there so far. I'm planning my own trip on the pacific coast for next year (3 weeks from May 12th) and so far seem to be favouring San Francisco - Los Angeles, taking in the Big Sur and maybe try to get to the pinnacles as well. Allowing for rest days & seeing the sights etc i'm reckoning on maybe 12 - 15 days actually cycling, and bringing my own bike which Virgin Airlines seem quite happy to accept. Still deciding on camping v b&b.

I haven't been able to get hold of 'the book' linked to above as it's now out of print, but have got the Lonely Planet 'cycling USA west coast' and i've found some of the crazyguy travelogues good ...
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ...doc_id=549&v=0
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ...doc_id=88&v=2g
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ...doc_id=661&v=0
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ...&doc_id=92&v=0

Just a couple of questions which i'd be real grateful for any replies;


Bears & mountain lions... how big a problem are they ? coming from England my experience with them is a little limited !
Santa Cruz ... i've read some pretty horrific stories about street crime here; is it just somewhere best avoided ?
Los Angeles .. again i'm only going on some of the media stories, but is it really as unsafe (shootings, muggings etc) as it's made out to be ?

Is it possible to take my bike on the train back from LA to San Francisco ?

Anything else specific to this part of the route i ought to know ?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

Karl

valygrl

Karl, I'm from Calif. and have ridden the coast. Here's some quick answers to your questions.

Bears and Mtn Lions - don't worry about it. No bear issues on the SF-LA portion of the ride, bears mostly hang out in the mountains. Lions - don't worry about it, lions are rare, attacks are rare. You might encounter a problem with raccoons and squirrels trying to get into your food, but I just brought my food into the tent with me and that was fine. On the coast there are no personal safety issues with animals.

Santa Cruz is a charming college/hippie/surf town. There is a small area of higher crime - "beach flats" by the boardwalk - you will ride through (less than 1/2 mile), but it is no big deal - I would do it by myself at night. There is a lot of bike theft there, as in any college town, but just lock the bike up and don't leave it alone for a long time - true for any city. I think race/moutain bikes are a much worse theft risk - no one wants to steal a loaded bike. I lived in SC for 13 years, it is one of my favorite places in CA. Don't avoid it. Go to Taqueria Vallarta, get a burrito, sit on the beach and listen to the sea lions barking and watch the surfers.

LA - there is a very bad neighborhood that you will be near in LA - Compton, just north of Long Beach. Do not ride there at night, and don't plan to stop for lunch. It only takes a half day to get through LA proper, only about an hour is truly icky (although you are in mega-city for a lot longer). South of LA to San Diego has some nice riding, you could extend to there if you want.

You can ride the train SD or LA to SF, but you will have to box your bike. Same for Greyhound (bus). Consider renting a car one-way, it will be a bit more expensive but considerably more convenient, unless you don't care about the bike-boxing issue.

Here is a link to where you can buy "the book" online.

Big sur and pinnacles are both completely fabulous... and the flowers in May are unbelievable.

Have a great ride!
Anna

Shifty

Ovenchips,
You might also consider the section of the Pacific coast from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco. It is out of this world!! Takes about 3 weeks, to really enjoy it.

cyclintom

I can't underscore vallygirl enough. I wouldn't even bother to ride through LA proper but would stick to Highway 1 along the coast.

You could camp at Pt Mugu State Park and then ride starting early in the morning to somewhere around Palos Verdes which is about 100 km. You might think about staying in a motel in that area since beach camping isn't exactly legal.

roadfix

Yes, Pt Mugu is the perfect campground in which to start out in the morning heading down towards L.A. and a bit further south.

mtnroads

I second Shifty's suggestion to do the stretch from Portland to SF - much more scenic overall, less crowded and more places to camp than SF to San Diego, imho.

valygrl

Well if we are going to make suggestions... I would say do Washington/Oregon, not Northern Calif. I hear the NorCal roads are some of the worst. Actually, though, the piece from the OR border w/CA to Legget is the stretch of coast I haven't done, so I shouldn't really talk.

However, SF to Big Sur to Santa Barbara is superb, as is the inland area around Pinnacles that the OP mentions. Especially Big Sur. Also, May is early enough in the season that one might benefit from being farther south in terms of more stable and warmer weather.

ok, that was more than my $0.02... ;>

cyclintom

I have to tell you that I would avoid the California border to San Francisco altogether if possible. While it's certainly beautiful the drivers are absolutely murderous.

While riding VERY early in the morning on the northern Highway 1 I've had completely straight road with good visability and totally empty road both directions and had logging truck pass LITERALLY within inches of me.

Now every year hundreds if not thousands of cyclists ride this route without incident so perhaps I'm being overly sensitive but I've never felt like that south of San Francisco.

But if I were doing the ride at the Oregon-California border I'd cut inland and head for Highway 3 which is REALLY scenic. It ends at Whiskeytown and there are a lot of roads you can take there to move south ending up in Clear Lake and then traveling from there to Vallejo and into Richmond where I'd take the BART to San Francisco and then go south on Highway 1 again.

The advantage of these roads is that they are pretty empty of heavy traffic, they have a lot more open land - certainly there are areas in which you can ride for hours without seeing a car or a speeding motorcyle. And you would be doing your OWN tour and not someone else's.

If you join the American Automobile Association (AAA) you can get free road maps at any office or have them sent to you for a reasonable fee.

There are a ton of roads in California, unlike many other states this side of the Mississippi which have few roads other than the main routes. Even on the worst routes there are spectacular scenary and memorable sections. Oregon and Washington are the same actually.

The Pacific Highway is a tried and true trip but it also runs along some of the most heavily traveled tourist routes in the three states. Well, not so heavy in Washington and Oregon but up there it may rain the entire time you're there.

ovenchips

Hi again, this is great stuff folks.

Valygrl, that first post of yours is just what i was hoping someone would say !

I had thought of Portland -SF but from a bit of web research seems it's still a little cold up there in May, and my holiday dates are pretty much non-negotiable / fixed by my employer. Also seems one-way car hire (...and i'd not thought of this before) is much more expensive if it crosses out of state.

So i still reckon on SF - LA, ... maybe cut short a bit and motel up in Santa Barbara then visit LA by bus if i've time, but that's a minor detail at the minute and also much less important to me than getting to some of the scenic / wilderness areas

Cheers for the info so far, any more is always welcome ...

mousey, if you're looking for a bit of company for the 3 weeks from 12th May in that area let me know, avg 10- 12 mph (& nothing too heroic )

mousey

This is great stuff!!! Just what I needed. Regarding locking up the bike when you go on side trips and walks. What do you use to secure it ? 100 pounds of chain and locks? Seems to me you would need that to secure bike, wheels and panniers. What do you think

ovenchips

Wotcha mousey, dunno what others use but i use a 'dutch' lock (sometimes called a horseshoe lock) thats permanently fitted on my frame and locks through the back wheel, & also a U (or D) lock, with a cable. seems to work ok in europe anyway, well lets just say i haven't had my bike nicked !

Re. your earlier post on state parks .. this is the best link i've found so far https://www.parks.ca.gov/

mousey

Hi ovenchips, thanks for the invite. i seem to be thinking about start in mid august (maybe). im mindful of the weather. maybe it gets warmer as you go south and with the change in the weeks it gets cooler!!! if you get my drift. will i get even weather as i go south????

cyclintom

This is actually the safest and nicest route for riding. Although the northern California stuff is more scenic.