A short afternoon ride

San Francisco here we come. An afternoon start with 38 miles from Bremerton to south end of hood canal.  Big clouds, sunshine, and many colors of roadside rhododendrums - glorious.

Another ride begins today

Tom, John, and I are biking to San Francisco starting this afternoon.

May bike ride

Start on 4/27/14
Amtrak to Eugene. San Francisco by 5/6

Day 9 Fireworks

The drive from Havre to Glacier NP was pretty flat & green but we could see the mountains in the distance. Whohoo! If you haven't seen Glacier, you need to. The Going- to-the-sun road was amazing. Lots of pullouts with amazing views. Wish we had time and equipment to explore more. Great campsite on the Flathead River. Fireworks all around us til after midnight.

Day 8 green again..

Woke up this morning with a buffalo in the next campsite about 15 yards away munching on the tall grass. Nice. Fortunately we packed up quickly & she didn't bother us. Saw another prairiedog colony on the way out of the N.P. Headed NW through MT til we hit hwy 2 & then headed W. More little towns than yesterday but still LOTS of grass. Not very interesting. Wimped out today when it was 95 degrees and opted for our 1st motel in Havre. Looking forward to mountains tomorrow.

Day 7 green & more green

Today was the day of recogning. We both looked at each other, thought about the bugs, miles, weather, grandkids, greenhouse, etc. and decided to head home and fly to Florida to visit our friends. With that decided we headed North in western N.D. Very surprised to see mile after mile of green rollers that look like the Palouse in spring. Not many farmhouses, just lots of grass and hay. The most unusual thing we saw this morning was the Petrified Wood Park in Lemon, SD. Amazing amount of petrified wood gathered within 20 miles made into buildings & art formations. Soon we were in N.Dakota. Still very green, but there were many more farmhouses, crops other than grass, and a few oil wells! Before too long we entered the Teddy Roosevelt National Park about a third of the way up the state about 25 miles from the border with MT. I haven't ever heard of this park but it is very cool. Lots of hiking opportunities and a fine 30 mile loop drive. On the drive we saw prairie dog villages, a wild turkey, a herd of wild horses, & two huge herds of buffalo. Nice cg on the little Missouri River. The bug bracelets I bought in Sunriver make sitting outside tolerable.

Day 6 Badlands NM

Parted with Mark & Cora who were heading N into Wyoming. Both Pete and I grew up seeing "Wall Drug" bumper stickers on cars so we couldn't resist checking it out in Wall,SD. Advertising pays.OMG. What started out as a drug store in the 30's has grown to almost a block long enterprise consisting of soda fountains, western wear shops, drug store, restaurant, souvenir shop + more not explored. The lady in front of me was on a tour bus from Las Vegas. Wow! And we are talking about the middle of nowhere..
Later on we arrived at Badlands NM where we had a nice pleasantly breezy camp space. The Badlands were crazy white erosions in the middle of National Grasslands. Quite the contrast.

Day 5 mt. Rushmore

Another beautiful day on our trip. Went to Jewel Cave NM in the morning. Fantastic adventure deep into the earth first by 27 stories down an elevator & then up &down  & around 700+ stairs. 168 miles have been mapped & they figure by airflow patterns there are 3000-5000 miles to be charted. After kicking back in the Horsethief CG we went to Mt.Rushmore in the late afternoon. Liked it more than we thought we would. Quite impressive but small in relation to Crazy Horse. Spent second night in the same CG studying maps to see where we head next....

Day 3 big sky country

400+ miles today from Canyon Ferry to Bruckus,MT in the far SE corner of the state. One big rolling hill after another and of course nothing but blue sky. Saw antelope, cattle, & deer + not so smart little prairie dog type critters who thought Hwy 212 was their private driveway. Stopped at the Battle of Bighorn Natl.Monument. Disappointed that it took until 1991 to erect a memorial for the Indians. Camped @ Wayside CG with a horse 20 feet away.

Day 2 following the rivers

Woke up at 4:15 a duel nature call--the need to pee and a plethora of birds greeting each other. First customers @Starbucks Lewiston 6:00. Most of day spent following the Snake, Clearwater,& Lochsa rivers. Lolo Pass trail has quite the history. Got to 86 in Helena. Nice campground on Canyon Ferry Lake near headwaters of Missouri River.

Road trip day 1

Off and driving! Nice warm but overcast weather most of the day. Great scenery driving from Cle Elem to Ellensburg along the Yakima River  as was the back road from Ellensburg to Vantage. Othello/Connell/Kahlotus/Starbuck/Dodge/Pomeroy/Chief Timothy St.Park finished up the day. Great detour to Palouse Falls St.Pk. except for the rattlesnake. Many green wheat fields, rusted farm machinery, and in a need a of a repair barns.

Day 14, 15, 16, and 17 lompoc to Costa Mesa

After an early breakfast an Vons market we head off to the last big climb of the trip. The Lompoc climb is over 1100 feet but is not steep until the last quarter mile. I beat Tom on this climb a couple of years ago so there was a  challenge in both our minds when we started out. I took a different route to the start of the climb so was unsure whether they were ahead or behind when the actual climb started. For the first 8 to 10 miles I did not see them in front or back so was still unsure where they were. Finally they show up in my mirror and the pace picks up. On the steeper sections they close the gap but on gentle sections I lose sight of them. Soon we are at the last quarter mile steeper section. I'm ahead but the gap closes quickly and they pass me just before the top. I guess we'll have to go for the best 2 out of 3 to see who really owns this climb. A quick steep downhill brings us to 101 and soon to el capitán Beach State Park for the night. It is sunny and warm and the body surfing nice. From the picture below you can see that Tom worked hard to beat me up the Lompoc climb - he's in bed asleep with the Sun still high up.

The next morning we head for Santa Barbara Airport where Tom needs to pack his bike and head home to make it in time to the see his daughter Amy's graduation from med school. The airport doesn't stock bike boxes so we visit a number of bike stores looking for a bike box - quite a challenge. U Haul tells us they have a bike box but when get there it's way too small. We finally find a box at a bike shop a few miles from the airport. A make shift travois drags the box to the airport and we send Tom off for home.

Its now after 12 but John and I decide we can make the 70 mile ride to Leo Carrillo beach campground 25 miles north of Santa Monica. We eat in Oxnard but arrive at the campground around 7 feeling hungry. Fellow rider
s Andy and Amanda are at the campground and they recognize we have had a long day and offer us their hot leftover spaghetti which goes down quickly - I think John licks the pot. Amanda works for Crankbrothers pedals and when I mention that my cleats are getting worn she gives me a set - thank you again Amanda.

A sunrise departure gets us to Malibu for a subway breakfast. The 20 or so miles from Santa Monica to Hermosa are on the beach bike trails. It is mild on the beach but must be very hot inland since the beaches are all crowded mile after mile. Riding is slow becase of all the people.  We detour thru Torrance instead of riding the hillier Pacific Palisades. Navigation and inland heat slow us through this section. Soon we are on crowded beach trails again. We arrive in Newport beach and take the scenic route via the Wedge and Balboa island before arriving at Henry (brother in law) and Jennifers. Dinner and a black and white tear jerker movie - goodby mr chips ends a great ride.

1280 miles
Keep rolling
Pete

Day 14, 15, 16 - Tom

Day 14 - a 80 mile day brings us inland to Lompoc. John and Pete look like they need a milkshake so I pull into Wendy's. Then off to set up camp. That evening pizza and a movie. Back to camp in the dark by 10 PM.

Day 15 - the Lompoc hill rematch. Pete beat me up the 1100' climb last time. I got him this time. Stayed at El Capitan beach where John buffed up his upper body while Pete and I body surf fed.

Day 16 - rig travois to carry bike box to airport.

Day 13 - Morro Bay

We are ahead of schedule so we took a rest day in morro bay. Played my first ever 9 holes of golf. Beautiful views from the couse.

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 12 - Tom -San Simeon

The day started with blue sky and 1000' climb up out of Big Sur.
A stop at a small market and a pastry, bean/cheese burrito, and coffee seems like the right amount to carry me for the next 30 miles of coast. John seems to think a couple of bananas and a donut are enough. Maybe he figures he'll find something even though there are no services for 30 miles.

I lag the group again. I figure everyone is ahead when John pops up behind me. "How did that happen?", I ask. John says he stopped to take some pictures at one of the lookouts and met a nice couple that offered him a apricot. A few miles later we run into Aaron who John chatted up as we were climbing a hill. Aaron had a Coleman stove and seemed to be making some sort of breakfast there by the side of the road. "Would you like a steak?",Aaron asked John. Both of us stopped our climb, pulled over, and each ate 1/2 of the offered London Broil. He also gave John a snickers bar, each of us a golden delicious apple, and a CD of his music, to send us on our way.

Well that seemed to carry me right through the 70 miles and 7000' of the Big Sur coast....but about 5 miles out of town John mentioned he was getting his lightheaded feeling and needed to eat soon. I guess that burrito beats apricot, as I felt fine.

We arrive in town and have a sit down meal around 3PM. All three of us just about fell asleep there at the booth. We rouse ourselves and make a early camp. We have a 6PM snack and Pete's off to bed by 7PM.

Day 12 - Cambria

Today was along hard day. 70 miles and 7300 feet of long steep climbs since leaving Big Sur. Even with spf 50 my nose is fried and John is having a problem with his lower lip. It is sunburned to the gumline from panting with an open mouth on the climbs. The views are great and the rollling is good. We are ahead of schedule so will have a short day tomorrow.

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 11 - Tom-Big Sur

Every day I find myself lagging behind early in the day. I make the excuse that I need more time to warm up. Pete says, "you need to make the legs hurt right away, it does no good to ease into the pain". As much as I try to take control of the situation, I seem not to find my stride till late in the day.
We met a rider today in the camp at Santa Cruz, George Semerau from Malibu. We rode together at different points throughout the day. A lot of fun meeting people along the way with similar bike interest. A picture of Pete and George is enclosed. A nice end to the day sitting at the lodge lobby talking. Actually staying up past 9PM.

Day 10 and 11 - SF to Big Sur

More  great rolling coastline, tailwinds, and now also traffic.  Memorial day weekend sure gets lots of people in the mood to go for a drive. We join the crowds for drive thru half moon bay and further south. Along the way we stop for strawberry shortcake at a roadside stand. John has broken another spoke so when we hit Santa cruz he's finally had enough - 6 broken spokes. A short delay at a bike shop for a new strong wheel and we roll thru a tourist crowded area before arriving at our campsite.

Salmi and cheese on sourdough gets us rolling at 6:30 in the morning. We depart camp with shortcut  directions from George who is on his 10th annual SF to Santa Monica ride. George catches up we us while we are enjoying strawberrys at a roaside market in Moss Landing. We ride off together towards Monterey and ride the 17 mile drive in sunshine. the morning has been mostly flat or short rollers so I've been able to punish Tom. We have lunch at Safeway and then begin the climbs to our campsite at Pfeiffer state park in Big Sur. This leg of the ride is longer steeper climbs so it was John and Toms turn to punish me. A good day again.

keep rolling,
Pete

Day 10 - Tom

Leaving San Francisco Pete hits a Safeway for a second breakfast.
Once we hit the coast again we find the coastal road has been closed. We try it out and find out why a few miles later. Storms have dumped sand all over the road.

90 miles with a 20mph tail wind brings us to Santa Cruz.

Day 9 - petaluma to san francisco

Dawn koa wakeup followed by dennys. Could not drink the coffee so made a second stop at starbucks. Thay were offering the new boulange pastries. Did not try but they still looked commercial rather than true bakery. Rolling farm roads bring us to novato where we navigate the burbs to the bridge. We hostel in the marina district and later walk to fishermans warf for fish and chips at codmothers.

Keep rolling,
Pete