B. Carfree

I ride from Eugene to Davis every year, often twice, leaving the coast at the Russian River. I agree that the traffic has become almost intolerable. My wife rarely rides this with me, but she did last month. She agreed that if the Pacific Coast was someone's first tour, it would very likely be the last tour that person ever did.

There's just far too many places where the situation on the road overwhelms any scenery. I think I'll ride a bit more on the unpaved coast range roads this fall. It may take a bit longer and I may get a bit less ice cream, but I'm sure it will be more enjoyable for me.

staehpj1

You may be fine with it, but I found that getting away from the coast even a pretty short ways often means big differences in temperature. An hours ride sometimes has meant the difference between a cool coastal breeze and scorching heat. I hate the heat. Just something to factor in.

staehpj1

That surprises me. When I did the coast I saw very few northbound riders. 100:1 might have actually been a reasonable estimate on that trip. I am sure it varies with season and what portion of the coast you ride (my schedule straddled labor day and was Seattle to San Luis Obispo).

There were places with a lot of day riders going the other way like near the Golden Gate Bridge, but I am only considering folk on multiday tours.

BobG

I think that B.Carfree may be referring to the "Lost Coast" network of back roads that bypass the 101 highway
between Ferndale and Leggett. They actually wind around closer to the coast than the highway does. The route
begins paved out of Ferndale on Mattole Rd...............

https://goo.gl/hBY7zI

hits the coast just north of Petrolia...........

https://goo.gl/C57xGu

turns to dirt somewhere past Honeydew and rejoins Rt 1 here at Usal Rd (rugged, steep, rutted 4WD but gorgeous)...........

https://goo.gl/HUlDg1

But yes, indeed there are alternate dirt roads on the east side of 101 further from the coast and further north in Oregon that may be hotter.

edit: after watching video not sure I'd want to ride a loaded touring bike on Usal Rd after a rainy spell. Gorgeous, but may be better on a MTB.

https://youtu.be/pnrY5ih4CfU

GP

I live north of San Diego and yes, the winds are generally favorable if you're going south. We don't ride much on the coast on summer weekends unless it's hot inland because of the traffic.

The worst headwind I've ever encountered was going SB on the point between Oxnard and Malibu. The wind blew me into the traffic lane so I got off and pushed. Two cars stopped and offered rides. After about 100 yards, the road turned and I got back on.

B. Carfree

You don't really hit the heat until you get two valleys over from the coast. Since I spent two decades living in Davis, from which a weekend ride to Bodega Bay was a normal thing to do, I do have experience with the temperature changes and I rather enjoy riding in warmer temperatures.

I much prefer to ride clear of annoying aggressive traffic. I've been spoiled by living and working where this has been possible, although sometimes at the cost of working odd hours so I could ride to work when no one else was about. My most enjoyable days on tour have all been when I headed off into the hills, often on unpaved roads. My least enjoyable days have all been on the well-worn roads that happen to include the route most folks take along the Pacific Coast.

It's not that I can't deal with motorists rolling by me, often within inches, it's more a question of why I would want to ride where that's the norm when better alternatives exist. Granted, for many people the notion of dealing with ten to twenty percent grades and temperatures over 100F isn't a better alternative, but for those of us who prefer challenging terrain without the stress of some drunk passing us around a blind corner in his RV or some chip truck driver who's too busy telling a joke on the CB to pay attention, it's time to make the alternatives more widely known.


I normally ride the Lost Coast when I travel between Eugene and Davis (one to three times per year). Road/touring bikes are fine on all the roads of the Lost Coast. Over the years, several of the steepest roads, like Wilder Ridge, have been paved. One can now ride pavement on all but the final 24 miles of Usul Rd, and it's only steep going down into the campground six miles from its southern end and climbing back out. While the Lost Coast allows one to avoid the nastiness of the Richardson Grove area, I may go further inland earlier and skip it as well.

fietsbob

amtrak coast starlight goes to Seattle , but stops in LA, on the southern end , nothing to SD on that line .. then the Bus fills in the rest.

https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/574/978/...oute-Guide.pdf

Ive taken the SF/ Emeryville to Eugene portion .. it's 24 hours ... from one afternoon to the next..

stevepusser

The Pacific Surfliner is the route that continues on to San Diego.

https://www.amtrak.com/pacific-surfliner-train

fietsbob

You change trains in LA/SLO? to continue north ? different track in the station?

so need to move your boxed Bike from one to another ?

Plexus

Another question: how concerned should I be about steep hills while biking the pacific? I'm a pretty scrawny guy with little leg mass, so I'm a little concerned. I weigh 130 lbs, but am trying to train and put on a little muscle mass before I leave.

I couple years ago I was able to bike, untrained, within 4 miles of the summit of Mount Lemmon, Tucson where that was about 24 miles at around 5,000 feet of increased elevation. That took me like 6 hours, but I was able to almost reach the top. It was exhausting and probably the biggest physical accomplishment I have ever made.

Yesterday I rode around 5 miles (I don't have a cycling computer, so this is all very inexact) uphill with maybe a 700 ft. climb. The total ride distance was around 30 miles. I felt pretty exhausted after the climbing part. Of course, the flat and downhill parts were a breeze. I had maybe 10 lbs of gear on my bike. I was riding my Trek 520 which gears lower than the bike I used on Mt. Lemmon. I'm a little confused why I was so exhausted because I think I'm in better shape than I was a couple years ago. Perhaps it was just psychological, because I remember wanting to throw myself in front of a car while riding Mt. Lemmon, but I kept at it for hours and hours.

I'm just a little psyched out right now that I'm going to start this trip and not be able to push all my gear up any steep climbs. I don't have all of my gear yet (including front rack) so I can't really test out my set up at this time.

How bad is the pacific coast highway in terms of climbs? Am I going to have to hitch a ride to the nearest airport and fly home because I can't make it up hills?

Should I put some lower gears on my bike to be safe?

Here's my Trek's stats:
Crank

Shimano Trekking M543, 48/36/26 w/chainguard


Cassette

Shimano HG50 11-32, 9 speed

raybo

There are many hills on the California Coast but but very few sustained climbs.

I found that every day (I did about 50 miles a day) there was a long climb and lots of other ups and downs. If necessary, stop and rest on the way up.

I wrote a detailed article about riding from SF to LA that you might find helpful.

sstorkel

Probably. I spent 6 or 8 weeks training for my ride from the SF Bay Area to Los Angeles. I gradually added weight to the bike and increased both ride distance and the amount of climbing. My toughest day on the Pacific Coast was from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to San Simeon: 68.2 miles, 5200 feet of elevation gain, and 5 hours of pedaling. The two prior days had similar amounts of elevation gain. Here are links to the ride data from my Garmin Edge 705:

Day 1 - Home to Santa Cruz
Day 2 - Santa Cruz to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
Day 3 - Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park - San Simeon

Be aware that the Strava elevation data makes the climbs on these days look much easier than they actually are! Despite the average gradients being in the 5-7% range, there are noticeable sections of each climb which are significantly steeper (~10+%). You'll want to make sure that you have fitness and gearing that's appropriate. I was fit, had a 26-28 lowest gear combo, and still found the riding challenging. Fun, but challenging. FWIW, the total weight of my bike (22lbs), gear (21lbs), and water bottles (24+24+20 ounces = 9lbs) was 52 pounds.

Keep in mind that if you do the ride from south to north, you'll have to deal with both the hills and the inevitable headwinds...

Northwestrider

+1, that alone would be the deciding factor for me.

fietsbob

That's, As shipped, stock.. You can substitute the 26. with something smaller ..
consider a 12 to 34, or 36. ?

staehpj1

Your comment didn't ring true to me so I did some checking. I went to weatherspark and looked at average highs for the coast and just over the coastal range. The differences were fairly dramatic.

I guess that the difference is that you draw the line on what is unpleasant heat a lot higher than I do. For me over 80 F is definitely not as nice as 60 F. I have ridden and survived temperatures in the neighborhood of 115 F, but given the choice I'd ride in 50-60 F any day.

It can get hotter than I prefer by just going over the coastal range much of the summer. Fifty miles makes a very big difference. For example the average high in mid August in Newport Oregon is 65F; go inland 50 miles or so to Corvallis and the average high is 85 F. That is 20 degrees difference, a very significant difference. I see similar differences in California, sometimes with shorter distances. In places 20 miles makes a 20 F difference in the average high temperatures.

fietsbob

Up river from the Coast, 50 miles inland, is often = +10 degrees F.

stevepusser

If you want to continue on to SD from the Coast Starlight, you can change trains at LA's Union Station. If boxed, the baggage handlers will move it to the right train, though the surfliner also has roll-on bike racks on most trains. (requires notification to Amtrack that you will be bring a roll-on bike when making a reservation)

I suppose you could change trains up the line in SLO, but I doubt many people do.

Plexus

Thanks for all the replies. I am not too worried about the trip. I will have been riding for around a month by the time I get to the notorious climbs between SF and LA. I'm going to change some of my gears and am going to try and pack as light as possible. I only weigh 135 lbs, but what I lack in fat I also lack in leg muscle, so not sure if being so thin is really an advantage here.

Worst case I hitch a ride past the scary climbs. That's not something I at all want to do, but it's an option. I don't see what could be so bad that I'd have to fly home early (besides injuries or a financial crisis).

I'm going to continue training for the next three weeks. I'm doing two big rides and two small rides a week. The week before the trip I will try a 2-3 day tour with my bike loaded.

I have faith. I often underestimate myself. We'll see.

valygrl

You'll be fine on the climbs, just accept the fact that climbing on a loaded touring bike is really slow. You can rest in the middle of a climb, and you can also walk your bike if you have to - most of the climbing on the coast is not terribly steep, but the very steep parts are also very short.

Don't get psyched out - a bunch of free-floating fear before a trip is normal, and it can attach itself to the route, the gear, the bike, your training, the travel planning, money.... try to just accept that worry for what it is - worry - and let it roll off you. Tons and tons of people do that route every year, it is known as one of the best touring bike routes in the world. You will enjoy it a lot. If you have to walk for a couple hundred feet here and there, or take a few more hours than planned, it doesn't matter. And if you have to hitch a ride - hitch to the top of the hill, not the airport!

P.S. I'm quite a bit smaller than you and have ridden thousands of miles on a 85 pound gross weight Trek 520. You'll be fine.

staehpj1

Just walk if you need to. There are a lot of steep-ish climbs and just a few very steep climbs on the coast, but none are long enough that you should need to hitch a ride.

stevepusser

Temperatures seem to go up even faster inland down in California. Average high along the San Luis Obispo beaches in late July in about 63 F, twenty miles inland over a range of hills along the Salinas River and US 101, the high at Paso Robles averages 94 F.

Doug64

My wife is lighter than you, and she did the Pacific Coast Route without any problems. She actually passed several bigger riders on some of the hills. You should be OK.

Train as much as is reasonable, pack as light as you can, and have a good time!

Nick94804

I finished Astoria to SF yesterday afternoon. Here is my 2 cents: the northwesterlies are beginning to blow. Upwind thats at least two gears. The grades northbound are steeper than they are southbound, or they felt like that when I compared the climbs to the descents. The scenery is on the other side of the road, and the traffic north of Bodega Bay is heavy enough that you want to pay attention..ALL THE TIME. There is NO SHOULDER from Muir Beach to Ft Bragg...and the tourists dragging campers are FAR MORE DANGEROUS than the logging trucks...of which you will see hundreds. From the south, the Leggett climb is about 13 miles long. From the north, only 5. Think about that. I did see a lot of people going north, I question their sanity.

B. Carfree

When I lived in the Central Valley, which is six valleys over from the coast, our rule of thumb was that any temperature under 70F required tights, so yes one does get acclimated to warmer temperatures and we all draw the line of comfort in different places depending on what we have acclimated to. When my wife was suffering from celiac-caused neuropathy, she was uncomfortable if the temperature was below 75F, which was a problem since we lived in the first valley over from the Oregon coastline (two away from the Willamette Valley).

If you're acclimated to 50-60F, then normal summer temperatures in most places would be uncomfortable for you. If you're acclimated to 100F, then 50-60F is going to be uncomfortable. Fortunately, we have clothing options for temperatures that feel cold and most humans can cool by sweating when it's feeling warm. Also, it only takes a few days to acclimate.

Given the choice of adjusting to warmer temperatures or dealing with incessant traffic, I know what I prefer.

staehpj1

That may be true for most folks, but I always find 50-60F comfortable for riding even after weeks of 100 F. If it is raining I prefer it a little warmer, but still am OK with 50-60F.

Maybe I am just weird that way, but I love riding or trail running in the winter. Cold and snow are my friend I do trail run more than ride though.

I do recall that when we were on the road with highs of around 100F for a long period my daughter said she felt a little chilly on a day when it was 85. She said she almost put on a jacket until she realized what the temperature was. So your point is probably a good one and applies to most folks.

Not sure I buy that one. I rode with a guy on the ST. He was born, raised, and lived his whole life where it is hot. He said he happily worked a landscaping job when it was well over 100F. He complained about the cold the whole trip and it really wasn't very cold. He actually wore a face mask when it was 50F. I guess he did acclimate enough to skip the face mask, but he was always cold unless he was bundled up in clothing I'd reserve for 20 F or lower.

We hit some heat the very last day of the trip. I commented, "This is oppressive". At first he couldn't even figure out what I was talking about. Then when he did he said, "This is the first nice day of the whole trip". He added, "I do have to say that this is the first time I heard you (me) complain about the weather though".

I do acclimate to some extent and as I said I tolerate very hot temperatures when I have to, but I never find them pleasant.