So. Cal. Mini Tour
 

Can anyone from around or familiar with So. Cal. make a suggestion?

I live right along the San Gabriel River about 7 miles from the ocean and PCH. I want to do a three or four day tour but have no idea on where to go. It seems that my choices are to head inland, head south on PCH from Seal Beach, or head north on PCH from Seal Beach. I don't really want to do hotel stay (trying to keep this cheap so I can get my Surly LHT), but hostles are not out of the question. Any suggestions would help.

How many miles a day do you wish to travel? If I were leaving anytime soon, I would do the coast because of the weather. I would go south for a short tour so you don't spend 2 of the days going through Los Angeles. I would reckon a 4 day tour would be something like

Home to A
A to B
B to A
A to Home

Based on how many miles you wish to do a day will determine A and B.

I don't know the area around you or south of you very well so am unable to suggest campgrounds.

Another possibility is to drive to Ventura and do something like


Ventura to Solvang (Buellton, Flying Flags campground)
Solvang to Pismo (Oceano campground)
Pismo to Refugio (Refugio campground)
Refugio to Ventura

How about taking the Amtrak to San Luis Obispo and riding home from there?

Let us know what you decide. I will be interested in following your route if it works out or avoiding it if it doesn't!!! If I wasn't laid up recovering from surgery I would ask to join you.

There are some good books out there (don't have the names off hand, but check out REI) and I have thought about taking Amtrak up to Santa Barbera and making it the starting point. There are tons of bicycle tours in that area. Also, heading south from Irvine there are any number of of state parks and camping areas along the beach. Check out the book on touring the Pacific Coast from VAncouver to San Diego. It has a lot of good information for a PCH route from LA south.

I'm not sure, but if you ride the Metro you can just wheel your bike on and I believe that on Amtrak up to Santa Barbera it is the same, but I would verify that. Side note: The folks on the phone at Amtrak are not to swift. I asked what the closest they get to Mammoth and the lady told me that they went to Yoo Sa Moo. I figured out she ment Yosimite!! Yikes! Are our trains safe from terror attacks, let alone from the folks who work them********** Also, you have to be careful because Amtrac will say they go somewhere and they do: By Bus!!!

That's almost exactly what I did last Sept.

Inland
 

Does anyone have any experience biking inland california between los angeles and san francisco? I'm planning some sort of tour in the next couple months and I was hoping to make it a door-to-door from Los Angeles. After reading the introduction of the PCH book, it seems that biking up the coast might be unpleasant because of the winds. Have other people had this experience? And are the winds less of a problem inland? What about the heat in late August or late September (inland)?

Of course, if going north is unappealing either way, I might abandon the door-to-door idea and just bike down the coast.

I have round it down to two options:

1. Take Amtrak to Santa Barbara and ride home (about 140) miles.
2. Ride down to San Diego and then take the Amtrak home.

I think I am going to take a week off of work and so that if I take a day or two longer there wont be any issues.

I once rode from: LA > 5 Fwy > Grapevine > Central Valley > Yosemite > Mono Lake > Lake Tahoe.
From there, you could cut across through Sacramento to SF > LA.

Should take about 3-4 weeks. Lots of varied scenery (although BORING ride through the Central Valley), 10,000 ft climb through Tioga Pass, and you get to ride a bike on the 5 Fwy!

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A shorter route would be roughly: LA > Ojai > New Cuyama (or alternate Solvang) > Santa Maria > San Louis Obispo > Paso Robles > King City > Hollister > San Jose > SF > LA.

Maybe 2-3 weeks. I've never done this but would like to. (Anyone interested?)

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Either inland route in the summertime will be unbearably hot (and humid in the Central Valley). Head winds are less of a problem. But you'll probably pray for any wind just to keep you cool.:eek: I would just take the Amtrak up and bike down the coast, with the nice ocean breeze:)