creekster
07-06-2007, 01:09 AM
Originally my brothers in law and I had planned to ride from San Francisco to Santa Barbara over a few days (this is the same two that I rode with from SLC to St. George over 4 days a couple of years ago) but our plans were changed by the demands of our families, which turned out fine. Thus, our ride went from just south of San Francisco to Monterey. About 120 miles (given our routes and a side trip or two) over three days of riding. Instead of three adults we ended up with a train of a tandem (my wife and I) our two older kids 18 and 15, brother in law one and his two older kids (17 and 13) and brother in law two and his two older boys (15 and 14). I am pleased to report that the Creeksters all finished the ride, but several of the other kids didn’t quite make it all the way (but they almost made it).
Day one is Pacifica to Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel. The road from Pacifica is frighteningly narrow and I would avoid it at all costs; very scary. Plus, as you leave Pacifica there is a big hill that is not good for newbie riders. After you hit Montara Beach, however (about 5 miles) the road gets wider. Although very busy, the ride is easy with only some rollers and one moderately large hill on the course. Pigeon Point is beautiful. The Hostels are very cheap (you must book far in advance) and if you are traveling as a family are cool because you are all in the same house together (assuming you like your family). Weather was bee-yoo-tiff-ul. Hard to beat the No Cal coast when the weather is good. Just don’t forget the sun block (I did and my arms, legs, ears and neck are still red).
Interesting side note: On of the on-site hostel caretakers is Bronco Mendenhall’s brother. Very nice guy and very friendly to us given his family’s and my wife’s family’s ties to New Zealand, which he immediately picked up on (accents). He has taken a somewhat less conventional life path than Bronco, it appears, but was very friendly.
Day two is Pigeon point to Aptos with a stop at Ano Nuevo (elephant seals) and a cruise all over Santa Cruz. Perfect weather. The seals are big. Really big. And smelly. Really smelly. And they just lay around like big lard butts, which they are. It reminded me of me watching TV at home. Baddah-boom. The day was marred only by the appearance of some sort of car club parade. First it was about 50-75 mustangs of all vintages ( this is not an exaggeration; there were a LOT of mustangs on the road). Then about 30-40 camaros of all vintages and many in really outrageous paint jobs. Then there were some infinitis (yea, that’s what I thought too). The problem is not the cars, per se, but that many of the cars (and the camaros were by far the worst, especially those with wild paint jobs) were driven by these young-ish guys that were showing off and they kept “splitting” their lanes so there would be two cars, side-by-side, in the lane built for one car. In order to avoid on-coming traffic this meant they had to use some or almost the entire emergency lane, which is where the next Creekster generation was riding. Made me a bit tense. Otherwise the day was fantastic. Had dinner down at the beach. Very nice.
Day three was Aptos to Monterey. We took many back roads through strawberry, lettuce and artichoke (and that is one ugly plant) fields to avoid CA 1, which is a freeway for much of this stretch. These back roads were relatively flat, virtually vacant and offered stunning views. Rich fertile fields laden with ripening strawberries or beautiful green lettuce (and spiky mutant looking artichokes) rolling down to the ocean where crystal blue water lapped the shore. Wonderful. There was a headwind as the road turned west into Monterey, but it wasn’t too bad. The bike path in Monterey is a bit of a disaster, especially on a crowded day (and ours was) as it is covered with clueless pedestrians, dog walkers, bike renters with no skills, etc. 17-mile drive is crowded but the viewsmake it all well worth it.
This ride was much fun and I would encourage any family, even those without much biking experience, to try it.
Day one is Pacifica to Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel. The road from Pacifica is frighteningly narrow and I would avoid it at all costs; very scary. Plus, as you leave Pacifica there is a big hill that is not good for newbie riders. After you hit Montara Beach, however (about 5 miles) the road gets wider. Although very busy, the ride is easy with only some rollers and one moderately large hill on the course. Pigeon Point is beautiful. The Hostels are very cheap (you must book far in advance) and if you are traveling as a family are cool because you are all in the same house together (assuming you like your family). Weather was bee-yoo-tiff-ul. Hard to beat the No Cal coast when the weather is good. Just don’t forget the sun block (I did and my arms, legs, ears and neck are still red).
Interesting side note: On of the on-site hostel caretakers is Bronco Mendenhall’s brother. Very nice guy and very friendly to us given his family’s and my wife’s family’s ties to New Zealand, which he immediately picked up on (accents). He has taken a somewhat less conventional life path than Bronco, it appears, but was very friendly.
Day two is Pigeon point to Aptos with a stop at Ano Nuevo (elephant seals) and a cruise all over Santa Cruz. Perfect weather. The seals are big. Really big. And smelly. Really smelly. And they just lay around like big lard butts, which they are. It reminded me of me watching TV at home. Baddah-boom. The day was marred only by the appearance of some sort of car club parade. First it was about 50-75 mustangs of all vintages ( this is not an exaggeration; there were a LOT of mustangs on the road). Then about 30-40 camaros of all vintages and many in really outrageous paint jobs. Then there were some infinitis (yea, that’s what I thought too). The problem is not the cars, per se, but that many of the cars (and the camaros were by far the worst, especially those with wild paint jobs) were driven by these young-ish guys that were showing off and they kept “splitting” their lanes so there would be two cars, side-by-side, in the lane built for one car. In order to avoid on-coming traffic this meant they had to use some or almost the entire emergency lane, which is where the next Creekster generation was riding. Made me a bit tense. Otherwise the day was fantastic. Had dinner down at the beach. Very nice.
Day three was Aptos to Monterey. We took many back roads through strawberry, lettuce and artichoke (and that is one ugly plant) fields to avoid CA 1, which is a freeway for much of this stretch. These back roads were relatively flat, virtually vacant and offered stunning views. Rich fertile fields laden with ripening strawberries or beautiful green lettuce (and spiky mutant looking artichokes) rolling down to the ocean where crystal blue water lapped the shore. Wonderful. There was a headwind as the road turned west into Monterey, but it wasn’t too bad. The bike path in Monterey is a bit of a disaster, especially on a crowded day (and ours was) as it is covered with clueless pedestrians, dog walkers, bike renters with no skills, etc. 17-mile drive is crowded but the viewsmake it all well worth it.
This ride was much fun and I would encourage any family, even those without much biking experience, to try it.