Southt to North Pacific Coast Highway Concerns
06-29-14, 06:40 AM
#51
aka Timi
Southt to North Pacific Coast Highway Concerns
When I'm really knackered on a long climb, I take mini breaks just standing over my bike: a handfull of trail-mix, a gulp of water, a deep breath or two... and forth I pedal another little stretch! 
07-12-14, 01:33 PM
#52
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I'm looking at buying the Adventure Cycling Pacific Coast map set or the Biking the Pacific Coast book or both. Does any one recommend one over the other or any thing else? I will not have a computer or smart phone with me, so paper it is!
07-12-14, 02:04 PM
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The book should be enough. The only time it gets complicated is going through the larger cities, which you don't reach until southern CA. Other than that just keep the water on your right, or if you are still thinking of S-N keep it on the left
Pick up ODOT's free Oregon Coast Route brochure. https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP..._route_map.pdf
Have a great ride.
Pick up ODOT's free Oregon Coast Route brochure. https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP..._route_map.pdf
Have a great ride.
Last edited by Doug64; 07-12-14 at 02:12 PM.
07-12-14, 02:19 PM
#54
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On the other hand, while I don't recommend it, you could probably get by with no maps at all if you had to.
Bottom line I vote for the ODOT map for Oregon and AC for the rest.
07-12-14, 02:41 PM
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Don't count on the book to be up to date on specifics, since the last release is now 9 years old. I liked the AC maps better any way and found the book kind of confusing and hard to use. For Oregon the free ODOT map of the coast route was better than either for use while riding, but had a bit less info about services than the AC maps.
On the other hand, while I don't recommend it, you could probably get by with no maps at all if you had to.
Bottom line I vote for the ODOT map for Oregon and AC for the rest.
On the other hand, while I don't recommend it, you could probably get by with no maps at all if you had to.
Bottom line I vote for the ODOT map for Oregon and AC for the rest.
Last edited by Doug64; 07-12-14 at 02:45 PM.
07-12-14, 05:27 PM
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07-12-14, 06:34 PM
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My son and I just did Vancouver to SF with both the maps and the books. I liked both, but wouldn't do it without the maps. There is just so much more in the maps.
07-12-14, 09:39 PM
#59
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I found that Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall was more useful than the ACA maps. The book had much more detail about the route, side trips and alternate routes, local attractions, etc. Their maps aren't as detailed as the ACA maps, but were good enough that I could easily create a route and load it into my Garmin Edge 705. I took the ACA maps in case the GPS went belly up, but I never looked at them. Had the Kindle version of the book available and looked at it almost every night so I'd have an idea of what was coming up for the next day.
07-13-14, 03:56 AM
#60
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I found that Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall was more useful than the ACA maps. The book had much more detail about the route, side trips and alternate routes, local attractions, etc. Their maps aren't as detailed as the ACA maps, but were good enough that I could easily create a route and load it into my Garmin Edge 705. I took the ACA maps in case the GPS went belly up, but I never looked at them. Had the Kindle version of the book available and looked at it almost every night so I'd have an idea of what was coming up for the next day.
I still question how useful 9 year old info about local services is.
As far as the book having more details, I found the opposite. I guess it depends on what kind of details you are looking for.
The book was great for getting a feel for the trip in the weeks leading up to the trip. I guess it would be excellent for planning your route in advance. For me a lot of route planning in advance is not the way to go, especially for a route the the PCH, so the book's utility for that is dubious in my case. I'd rather plan as I go and glancing at a map along the way works better for that.
Truth be told, my planning on this trip mostly amounted to asking the other guys in camp each day where they planned to stop and camp the next day. The as long as the mileage was suitable to me I started riding to that location and as the day went on glanced at the map, usually while riding, and either stopped where they mentioned or changed plans on the fly. I hooked up with a fun group so I camped with them for a good portion of the trip.
Probably a matter of personal style, but as far as the GPS goes... I sometimes use preset routes with a gps for complex routes where I might get lost, but for the coast creating one and using it seems like overkill to me. A thoroughly pre-planned route tends to feel limiting to me. If in doubt, I do sometimes ask my phone to direct me to a location along the way. The voice command works fine for that while riding, I push the button, say "navigate to _____", and listen to the voice directions. I don't use that very often, but it is pretty handy sometimes.
07-13-14, 06:40 AM
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I rode Astoria to San Fransisco late May thru end of June this year, did not comment on this thread earlier because I was riding the route at that time.
Many climbs in the 6 to 8 percent range. I usually got off the bike and started pushing when it hit 9 percent. I had a 24t granny and 32t largest rear cog. The guy I rode the trip with had an identical lowest gear but he usually stayed in the saddle until it got to steeper than 12 percent grade. My knees can't take the stress of hills that are too steep - and walking used different muscle groups, thus I chose to walk when he rode. I think most people however would have stayed in the saddle at times when I walked, so do not let this scare you.
Some of the alternate segments in Oregon were as steep as 12 percent.
The inclinometer in the photo indicates 20 percent. That segment was less than 100 feet long, but I had to get a photo of it.
We brought the book. We also downloaded the GPS electronic files from Adventure Cycling but did not bring their maps. I would do that again. Since we did not buy their maps, I can't comment on them. But having the GPS to tell us where we were and where to turn was great, the book was most useful for studying up on where to buy groceries and knowing where the hiker biker campsites were. About 1 or 2 percent of the time they differ on route. Where they did, we would pick one based on what it looked like in the area.
Send them an e-mail first and ask them to mail you the map.
I sent my request to: MC-RECP.odot@odot.state.or.us
and asked for both the bicycle map for the Pacific Coast and also a state highway map. Did not need the state highway map but the cycle map was invaluable to have in paper format.
I could not find an equivalent California map, but we did pick up a map at an info both with California state parks on it. But since we had the guidebook, this was not much additional help.
I would definitely get the book. Yeah, some of it is dated, but was worth having and worth carrying. I did not weigh it, but it is not exactly light.
One general comment, if you are camping at hiker biker sites, take every chance you can to use available chargers and bring spare batteries for all your electrics. I use rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. I found this power outlet in a campsite about 200 feet from our hiker biker site and used it to charge up all my batteries (GPS AA, headlamp and taillight AAA, camera Lithium Ion, tablet that uses USB charger, etc.) that evening. I needed several sparea camera batteries on the trip. Note that I carried a three in one type adapter that allowed me to put a AA charger, Lithium Ion battery charger and a USB adapter all into one outlet. At another site the three into one type adapter meant that two of us in the hiker biker site could share one outlet.
A few general observations:
- Almost every day we talked about how great the tail winds were going south. On most days we saw other cyclists going the other way, they had our sympathy.
- Lots of traffic in some segments. Wear high visibility jersey or vest or jacket or whatever. I was most nervous about the many bridges that had a slow curve to the right, no shoulder so you are in traffic lane, the RV drivers have to slow down for you, the drivers behind them that are tailgating the RVs might not see you until they are almost upon you.
- I used a taillight (or sometimes two taillights) all the time. In some areas where you pass from from sun to shade, you can be hard to see by passing motorists that have eyes accustomed to the sun and are still wearing their sunglasses.
- Oregon roads had more shoulder as a rule and were often flatter than northern California. We really did not like some of the California roads.
- Manchester Beach State Park hiker biker site was unimpressive, we went to the KOA nearby instead and were quite happy that we did that.
- You may need to ask where the Winco grocery store is in Eureka, it is a few blocks off the route. We bought several days of food there. Outstanding selection and good prices, do not take credit cards but take debit cards. Otherwise I think we stopped at every Safeway. If you are not from the west and have not seen Safeway before, you may need to sign up for the Safeway club to get sale prices.
- We generally liked the hiker biker sites in Oregon better than California. One California site, we would not have gone to (Mill Creek) if we knew in advance that we would go down a 600 foot (elevation) hill to get to it, then had to climb out the next morning (8 percent grade), that site was where the park dumped their excess ash and one of the food lockers had an insect colony living in it, plus we were warned that this site was frequented by a bear cub looking for food.
- We carried two days of freeze dried meals with us and were happy that we did. They were our backup supply if we found ourselves in an area that did not have good grocery stores or restaurants. We never needed to eat the freeze dried (I brought it home) but it certainly reduced our stress level and allowed us to be less obsessive about food planning logistics than we otherwise would have been.
- Be careful with your valuables. Twice there were some homeless people staying in the hiker biker sites and once we filed a complaint with the park staff about someone that appeared to we wandering into our campsites while he was walking his vicious looking dog.
- Only once did we run low on water, but overall we pretty much carried enough each day. (If I have to open my last bottle, I consider that to be running low.) That said, we traveled in May and June. If we were traveling in July or August, some of the areas (especially south of Eureka) could be areas where you could get pretty thirsty. We were warned it can get pretty warm around Garberville but was in the 70s when we went thru it.
- If you camp at Elk Prairie, plan to hike for several hours on some of the trails thru the redwood forest. If you have not seen redwood trees before, you will never forget how amazing they are.
- I had a tablet without a phone plan that I used when I had wifi. We also had a portable hot spot device that we could use for weather updates and weather radar - but we had such great weather that we only used it once. But our weather was unusually good for the time of year, so we would definitely bring similar equipment if we did it again. In northern California we went for many days without wifi, even some of the chain restaurants that always have wifi elsewhere in the country did not have it in some parts of northern California. If you are relying on finding wifi every day, you may be out of luck. We also found that finding cell coverage was spotty at best.
Some of the alternate segments in Oregon were as steep as 12 percent.
The inclinometer in the photo indicates 20 percent. That segment was less than 100 feet long, but I had to get a photo of it.
...
Pick up ODOT's free Oregon Coast Route brochure. https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP..._route_map.pdf
Have a great ride.
Pick up ODOT's free Oregon Coast Route brochure. https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP..._route_map.pdf
Have a great ride.
I sent my request to: MC-RECP.odot@odot.state.or.us
and asked for both the bicycle map for the Pacific Coast and also a state highway map. Did not need the state highway map but the cycle map was invaluable to have in paper format.
I could not find an equivalent California map, but we did pick up a map at an info both with California state parks on it. But since we had the guidebook, this was not much additional help.
I found that Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall was more useful than the ACA maps. The book had much more detail about the route, side trips and alternate routes, local attractions, etc. Their maps aren't as detailed as the ACA maps, but were good enough that I could easily create a route and load it into my Garmin Edge 705. I took the ACA maps in case the GPS went belly up, but I never looked at them. Had the Kindle version of the book available and looked at it almost every night so I'd have an idea of what was coming up for the next day.
One general comment, if you are camping at hiker biker sites, take every chance you can to use available chargers and bring spare batteries for all your electrics. I use rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. I found this power outlet in a campsite about 200 feet from our hiker biker site and used it to charge up all my batteries (GPS AA, headlamp and taillight AAA, camera Lithium Ion, tablet that uses USB charger, etc.) that evening. I needed several sparea camera batteries on the trip. Note that I carried a three in one type adapter that allowed me to put a AA charger, Lithium Ion battery charger and a USB adapter all into one outlet. At another site the three into one type adapter meant that two of us in the hiker biker site could share one outlet.
A few general observations:
- Almost every day we talked about how great the tail winds were going south. On most days we saw other cyclists going the other way, they had our sympathy.
- Lots of traffic in some segments. Wear high visibility jersey or vest or jacket or whatever. I was most nervous about the many bridges that had a slow curve to the right, no shoulder so you are in traffic lane, the RV drivers have to slow down for you, the drivers behind them that are tailgating the RVs might not see you until they are almost upon you.
- I used a taillight (or sometimes two taillights) all the time. In some areas where you pass from from sun to shade, you can be hard to see by passing motorists that have eyes accustomed to the sun and are still wearing their sunglasses.
- Oregon roads had more shoulder as a rule and were often flatter than northern California. We really did not like some of the California roads.
- Manchester Beach State Park hiker biker site was unimpressive, we went to the KOA nearby instead and were quite happy that we did that.
- You may need to ask where the Winco grocery store is in Eureka, it is a few blocks off the route. We bought several days of food there. Outstanding selection and good prices, do not take credit cards but take debit cards. Otherwise I think we stopped at every Safeway. If you are not from the west and have not seen Safeway before, you may need to sign up for the Safeway club to get sale prices.
- We generally liked the hiker biker sites in Oregon better than California. One California site, we would not have gone to (Mill Creek) if we knew in advance that we would go down a 600 foot (elevation) hill to get to it, then had to climb out the next morning (8 percent grade), that site was where the park dumped their excess ash and one of the food lockers had an insect colony living in it, plus we were warned that this site was frequented by a bear cub looking for food.
- We carried two days of freeze dried meals with us and were happy that we did. They were our backup supply if we found ourselves in an area that did not have good grocery stores or restaurants. We never needed to eat the freeze dried (I brought it home) but it certainly reduced our stress level and allowed us to be less obsessive about food planning logistics than we otherwise would have been.
- Be careful with your valuables. Twice there were some homeless people staying in the hiker biker sites and once we filed a complaint with the park staff about someone that appeared to we wandering into our campsites while he was walking his vicious looking dog.
- Only once did we run low on water, but overall we pretty much carried enough each day. (If I have to open my last bottle, I consider that to be running low.) That said, we traveled in May and June. If we were traveling in July or August, some of the areas (especially south of Eureka) could be areas where you could get pretty thirsty. We were warned it can get pretty warm around Garberville but was in the 70s when we went thru it.
- If you camp at Elk Prairie, plan to hike for several hours on some of the trails thru the redwood forest. If you have not seen redwood trees before, you will never forget how amazing they are.
- I had a tablet without a phone plan that I used when I had wifi. We also had a portable hot spot device that we could use for weather updates and weather radar - but we had such great weather that we only used it once. But our weather was unusually good for the time of year, so we would definitely bring similar equipment if we did it again. In northern California we went for many days without wifi, even some of the chain restaurants that always have wifi elsewhere in the country did not have it in some parts of northern California. If you are relying on finding wifi every day, you may be out of luck. We also found that finding cell coverage was spotty at best.
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07-13-14, 09:04 PM
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I rode Astoria to San Fransisco late May thru end of June this year, did not comment on this thread earlier because I was riding the route at that time.
Many climbs in the 6 to 8 percent range. I usually got off the bike and started pushing when it hit 9 percent. I had a 24t granny and 32t largest rear cog. The guy I rode the trip with had an identical lowest gear but he usually stayed in the saddle until it got to steeper than 12 percent grade. My knees can't take the stress of hills that are too steep - and walking used different muscle groups, thus I chose to walk when he rode. I think most people however would have stayed in the saddle at times when I walked, so do not let this scare you.
Some of the alternate segments in Oregon were as steep as 12 percent.
The inclinometer in the photo indicates 20 percent. That segment was less than 100 feet long, but I had to get a photo of it.
We brought the book. We also downloaded the GPS electronic files from Adventure Cycling but did not bring their maps. I would do that again. Since we did not buy their maps, I can't comment on them. But having the GPS to tell us where we were and where to turn was great, the book was most useful for studying up on where to buy groceries and knowing where the hiker biker campsites were. About 1 or 2 percent of the time they differ on route. Where they did, we would pick one based on what it looked like in the area.
Send them an e-mail first and ask them to mail you the map.
I sent my request to: MC-RECP.odot@odot.state.or.us
and asked for both the bicycle map for the Pacific Coast and also a state highway map. Did not need the state highway map but the cycle map was invaluable to have in paper format.
I could not find an equivalent California map, but we did pick up a map at an info both with California state parks on it. But since we had the guidebook, this was not much additional help.
I would definitely get the book. Yeah, some of it is dated, but was worth having and worth carrying. I did not weigh it, but it is not exactly light.
One general comment, if you are camping at hiker biker sites, take every chance you can to use available chargers and bring spare batteries for all your electrics. I use rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. I found this power outlet in a campsite about 200 feet from our hiker biker site and used it to charge up all my batteries (GPS AA, headlamp and taillight AAA, camera Lithium Ion, tablet that uses USB charger, etc.) that evening. I needed several sparea camera batteries on the trip. Note that I carried a three in one type adapter that allowed me to put a AA charger, Lithium Ion battery charger and a USB adapter all into one outlet. At another site the three into one type adapter meant that two of us in the hiker biker site could share one outlet.
A few general observations:
- Almost every day we talked about how great the tail winds were going south. On most days we saw other cyclists going the other way, they had our sympathy.
- Lots of traffic in some segments. Wear high visibility jersey or vest or jacket or whatever. I was most nervous about the many bridges that had a slow curve to the right, no shoulder so you are in traffic lane, the RV drivers have to slow down for you, the drivers behind them that are tailgating the RVs might not see you until they are almost upon you.
- I used a taillight (or sometimes two taillights) all the time. In some areas where you pass from from sun to shade, you can be hard to see by passing motorists that have eyes accustomed to the sun and are still wearing their sunglasses.
- Oregon roads had more shoulder as a rule and were often flatter than northern California. We really did not like some of the California roads.
- Manchester Beach State Park hiker biker site was unimpressive, we went to the KOA nearby instead and were quite happy that we did that.
- You may need to ask where the Winco grocery store is in Eureka, it is a few blocks off the route. We bought several days of food there. Outstanding selection and good prices, do not take credit cards but take debit cards. Otherwise I think we stopped at every Safeway. If you are not from the west and have not seen Safeway before, you may need to sign up for the Safeway club to get sale prices.
- We generally liked the hiker biker sites in Oregon better than California. One California site, we would not have gone to (Mill Creek) if we knew in advance that we would go down a 600 foot (elevation) hill to get to it, then had to climb out the next morning (8 percent grade), that site was where the park dumped their excess ash and one of the food lockers had an insect colony living in it, plus we were warned that this site was frequented by a bear cub looking for food.
- We carried two days of freeze dried meals with us and were happy that we did. They were our backup supply if we found ourselves in an area that did not have good grocery stores or restaurants. We never needed to eat the freeze dried (I brought it home) but it certainly reduced our stress level and allowed us to be less obsessive about food planning logistics than we otherwise would have been.
- Be careful with your valuables. Twice there were some homeless people staying in the hiker biker sites and once we filed a complaint with the park staff about someone that appeared to we wandering into our campsites while he was walking his vicious looking dog.
- Only once did we run low on water, but overall we pretty much carried enough each day. (If I have to open my last bottle, I consider that to be running low.) That said, we traveled in May and June. If we were traveling in July or August, some of the areas (especially south of Eureka) could be areas where you could get pretty thirsty. We were warned it can get pretty warm around Garberville but was in the 70s when we went thru it.
- If you camp at Elk Prairie, plan to hike for several hours on some of the trails thru the redwood forest. If you have not seen redwood trees before, you will never forget how amazing they are.
- I had a tablet without a phone plan that I used when I had wifi. We also had a portable hot spot device that we could use for weather updates and weather radar - but we had such great weather that we only used it once. But our weather was unusually good for the time of year, so we would definitely bring similar equipment if we did it again. In northern California we went for many days without wifi, even some of the chain restaurants that always have wifi elsewhere in the country did not have it in some parts of northern California. If you are relying on finding wifi every day, you may be out of luck. We also found that finding cell coverage was spotty at best.
Many climbs in the 6 to 8 percent range. I usually got off the bike and started pushing when it hit 9 percent. I had a 24t granny and 32t largest rear cog. The guy I rode the trip with had an identical lowest gear but he usually stayed in the saddle until it got to steeper than 12 percent grade. My knees can't take the stress of hills that are too steep - and walking used different muscle groups, thus I chose to walk when he rode. I think most people however would have stayed in the saddle at times when I walked, so do not let this scare you.
Some of the alternate segments in Oregon were as steep as 12 percent.
The inclinometer in the photo indicates 20 percent. That segment was less than 100 feet long, but I had to get a photo of it.
We brought the book. We also downloaded the GPS electronic files from Adventure Cycling but did not bring their maps. I would do that again. Since we did not buy their maps, I can't comment on them. But having the GPS to tell us where we were and where to turn was great, the book was most useful for studying up on where to buy groceries and knowing where the hiker biker campsites were. About 1 or 2 percent of the time they differ on route. Where they did, we would pick one based on what it looked like in the area.
Send them an e-mail first and ask them to mail you the map.
I sent my request to: MC-RECP.odot@odot.state.or.us
and asked for both the bicycle map for the Pacific Coast and also a state highway map. Did not need the state highway map but the cycle map was invaluable to have in paper format.
I could not find an equivalent California map, but we did pick up a map at an info both with California state parks on it. But since we had the guidebook, this was not much additional help.
I would definitely get the book. Yeah, some of it is dated, but was worth having and worth carrying. I did not weigh it, but it is not exactly light.
One general comment, if you are camping at hiker biker sites, take every chance you can to use available chargers and bring spare batteries for all your electrics. I use rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. I found this power outlet in a campsite about 200 feet from our hiker biker site and used it to charge up all my batteries (GPS AA, headlamp and taillight AAA, camera Lithium Ion, tablet that uses USB charger, etc.) that evening. I needed several sparea camera batteries on the trip. Note that I carried a three in one type adapter that allowed me to put a AA charger, Lithium Ion battery charger and a USB adapter all into one outlet. At another site the three into one type adapter meant that two of us in the hiker biker site could share one outlet.
A few general observations:
- Almost every day we talked about how great the tail winds were going south. On most days we saw other cyclists going the other way, they had our sympathy.
- Lots of traffic in some segments. Wear high visibility jersey or vest or jacket or whatever. I was most nervous about the many bridges that had a slow curve to the right, no shoulder so you are in traffic lane, the RV drivers have to slow down for you, the drivers behind them that are tailgating the RVs might not see you until they are almost upon you.
- I used a taillight (or sometimes two taillights) all the time. In some areas where you pass from from sun to shade, you can be hard to see by passing motorists that have eyes accustomed to the sun and are still wearing their sunglasses.
- Oregon roads had more shoulder as a rule and were often flatter than northern California. We really did not like some of the California roads.
- Manchester Beach State Park hiker biker site was unimpressive, we went to the KOA nearby instead and were quite happy that we did that.
- You may need to ask where the Winco grocery store is in Eureka, it is a few blocks off the route. We bought several days of food there. Outstanding selection and good prices, do not take credit cards but take debit cards. Otherwise I think we stopped at every Safeway. If you are not from the west and have not seen Safeway before, you may need to sign up for the Safeway club to get sale prices.
- We generally liked the hiker biker sites in Oregon better than California. One California site, we would not have gone to (Mill Creek) if we knew in advance that we would go down a 600 foot (elevation) hill to get to it, then had to climb out the next morning (8 percent grade), that site was where the park dumped their excess ash and one of the food lockers had an insect colony living in it, plus we were warned that this site was frequented by a bear cub looking for food.
- We carried two days of freeze dried meals with us and were happy that we did. They were our backup supply if we found ourselves in an area that did not have good grocery stores or restaurants. We never needed to eat the freeze dried (I brought it home) but it certainly reduced our stress level and allowed us to be less obsessive about food planning logistics than we otherwise would have been.
- Be careful with your valuables. Twice there were some homeless people staying in the hiker biker sites and once we filed a complaint with the park staff about someone that appeared to we wandering into our campsites while he was walking his vicious looking dog.
- Only once did we run low on water, but overall we pretty much carried enough each day. (If I have to open my last bottle, I consider that to be running low.) That said, we traveled in May and June. If we were traveling in July or August, some of the areas (especially south of Eureka) could be areas where you could get pretty thirsty. We were warned it can get pretty warm around Garberville but was in the 70s when we went thru it.
- If you camp at Elk Prairie, plan to hike for several hours on some of the trails thru the redwood forest. If you have not seen redwood trees before, you will never forget how amazing they are.
- I had a tablet without a phone plan that I used when I had wifi. We also had a portable hot spot device that we could use for weather updates and weather radar - but we had such great weather that we only used it once. But our weather was unusually good for the time of year, so we would definitely bring similar equipment if we did it again. In northern California we went for many days without wifi, even some of the chain restaurants that always have wifi elsewhere in the country did not have it in some parts of northern California. If you are relying on finding wifi every day, you may be out of luck. We also found that finding cell coverage was spotty at best.
I chose to ride north to south. I won't be carrying any smartphones, tablets, or laptops. I'll probably just get the Biking the Pacific book as I can't really afford the $80 AC maps. I'm doing this all on a low budget with low equipment, so I expect there to be some hard times, but I'll manage. But I will make sure to carry enough food and water. I have three water cages and a 2 liter hydration pack, so I can carry roughly 1 gallon of water with those and whatever else in the panniers.
07-13-14, 09:23 PM
#63
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Wow, awesome suggestions. Thanks!
I chose to ride north to south. I won't be carrying any smartphones, tablets, or laptops. I'll probably just get the Biking the Pacific book as I can't really afford the $80 AC maps. I'm doing this all on a low budget with low equipment, so I expect there to be some hard times, but I'll manage. But I will make sure to carry enough food and water. I have three water cages and a 2 liter hydration pack, so I can carry roughly 1 gallon of water with those and whatever else in the panniers.
I chose to ride north to south. I won't be carrying any smartphones, tablets, or laptops. I'll probably just get the Biking the Pacific book as I can't really afford the $80 AC maps. I'm doing this all on a low budget with low equipment, so I expect there to be some hard times, but I'll manage. But I will make sure to carry enough food and water. I have three water cages and a 2 liter hydration pack, so I can carry roughly 1 gallon of water with those and whatever else in the panniers.
07-13-14, 09:26 PM
#64
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Get the ODOT coastal route map, the Krebs NorCal map, and your smartphone and save the weight of the book. I won't carry anything that I can't eat or that won't keep me warm. Read the book before you leave and save notes on your phone. Oregon is incredible. CA1 is kind of scary. If you keep the weight down there isn't a hill that you have to walk, the steepest pitch is just south of Elk, CA. Stop to take lots of pics and have a blast.
07-13-14, 10:33 PM
#65
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Wow, awesome suggestions. Thanks!
I chose to ride north to south. I won't be carrying any smartphones, tablets, or laptops. I'll probably just get the Biking the Pacific book as I can't really afford the $80 AC maps. I'm doing this all on a low budget with low equipment, so I expect there to be some hard times, but I'll manage. But I will make sure to carry enough food and water. I have three water cages and a 2 liter hydration pack, so I can carry roughly 1 gallon of water with those and whatever else in the panniers.
I chose to ride north to south. I won't be carrying any smartphones, tablets, or laptops. I'll probably just get the Biking the Pacific book as I can't really afford the $80 AC maps. I'm doing this all on a low budget with low equipment, so I expect there to be some hard times, but I'll manage. But I will make sure to carry enough food and water. I have three water cages and a 2 liter hydration pack, so I can carry roughly 1 gallon of water with those and whatever else in the panniers.
IMO there is no reason to carry a gallon of water at 8.3 lbs. We carried two of the larger water bottles, 22 ounces, on the bikes, and never had a problem keeping them full. There are very few stretches that water is not readily available.
The only reason to carry more would be if you plan on wild camping and need extra water for cooking and washing.
Last edited by Doug64; 07-13-14 at 10:42 PM.
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