Tag Archives: 2013

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 20: El Capitan State Beach to Carpinteria

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Anne | 1 comment

previous post: Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 19: Lompoc to El Capitan State Beach

Day 20: El Capitan State Beach to Carpinteria

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We met another friendly bike tourist in the El Capitan State Beach hiker/biker site. The five of us shared the giant hiker/biker site with its beautiful ocean view. As we’ve noted in a previous post about last year’s Pacific Coast tour, bike tourists who meet on the road often have little pet names for their fellow two-wheeled travelers. We named the friendly guy we met in El Capitan, “Mr. California”. When we inquired about his hometown, he replied “California”. He went on to list the real estate he owned up and down the California coast including houses in Ventura, Del Mar, San Francisco, Sonoma County and a couple other places. Continue reading →

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Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 19: Lompoc to El Capitan State Beach

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Anne | 7 comments

previous post: Pacific Coast Bike tour , Day 18: San Luis Obisbo to Lompoc

Day 19: Lompoc to El Capitan State Beach

We woke up in the Lompoc city park, took care of our usual morning routine of coffee and breakfast. As Tim made the coffee, I wandered over to the camp host’s site and asked if we could charge our electronics in the vacant RV site next to the hiker/biker. He said, no problem. So we plugged in all of the devices and continued breakfast and taking down our camp.

While we were packing up, the park ranger drove into the campground to collect the fee envelopes from the self pay box. To our surprise, he came over to the hiker/biker and gave Henry and Danielle a refund. They had been used to paying per person in CA State Parks. Naturally, they paid $10 for their site, $5 per person. But at the Lompoc city park, the camping fee was $5 per site, not per person! And he graciously explained they paid too much and gave them $5 back.

Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged 2013, acapaccoast, bike touring, bikes, CA, carfreedays, El Capitan State Beach, family bike touring, Family Cycling, kids, Lompoc, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandem, tandem bike tour, two tandem bike tour

Pacific Coast Bike Tour, Day 18: San Luis Obisbo to Lompoc

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Anne | 3 comments

previous post: San Simeon to San Luis Obisbo

Day 18: San Luis Obisbo to Lompoc

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We woke the next morning rested, clean, smelling good and ready to tackle the day. A little rest, some pool time, leg massages and mega doses of ibuprofen had done Tim’s knees some good. He was still reluctant and a bit worried about his knees and wasn’t sure they were going to take him 400 more miles to the border but he was willing to keep plugging along.

A couple of months before we left on the trip Tim changed his saddle on the tandem. The more miles he pedaled, the more Tim deduced that the position change from his saddle swap might be contributing to his sore knees. He considered asking a friend to break into our garage, remove his Selle Atomica saddle from another bike and mail it to a future stop. He figured that would be too much hassle for all parties involved and decided to just manage the pain instead. Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged 2013, acapaccoast, bike touring, bikes, CA, carfreedays, family bike touring, Family Cycling, kids, OR, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandem, tandem bike tour, two tandem bike tour

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Days 15, 16 and 17 San Simeon to San Luis Obisbo

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Anne | 2 comments

Previous post: Big Sur to San Simeon

Day 15: San Simeon to San Luis Obisbo

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We woke up in the hiker/biker site and most of the riders who had arrived late the evening before had already left. Early risers get the worm and get to ride the Hwy in a dense fog. We learned that one of the riders in the late arriving group had to catch a train in San Luis Obisbo so they had a valid reason for getting up and out of camp so early.

We enjoyed our usual leisurely morning routine with coffee, hot chocolate and oatmeal for the kids while we waited for the fog to clear. We weren’t interested in riding the highway in dense fog. Good call! The fog cleared and we were on the road by mid-morning. Destination: a hotel in San Luis. I couldn’t wait for a real bed, a shower and some laundry! Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged 2013, acapaccoast, bike touring, bikes, CA, carfreedays, family bike touring, Family Cycling, kids, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandem, tandem bike tour, tandem bike touring, two tandem bike tour

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Days 14 and 15: Big Sur to San Simeon

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Anne | 5 comments

Pacific Coast Bike Tour previous post: Santa Cruz to Big Sur

Day 14: Big Sur to Plasket Creek

After a day of R&R at Big Sur campground, everyone was ready to tackle the day. Our daughter was feeling better, Tim thought his knee could handle a short day and we were ready to get back on the road. Our Big Sur hiker/biker campsite campmate, Jay Dancing Bear, gave us the scoop on the next stretch of the coast. Jay reported that the sparsely populated and rugged coastal area would be the best part of our tour. He’d been traveling this area for more than 20 years and had some strong opinions about the set of campgrounds, beaches and services.

Jay Dancing Bear suggested we take the next section of the tour slow and to relish the tranquility of the remaining section of Big Sur. He scouted our Adventure Cycling maps and told us where he would camp if he was us. We appreciated the inside tips and settled on Plasket Creek campground, a forest service campground 33 miles south. Our friends, whom we traveled with last summer on the northern portion of the Pacific Coast stayed at Kirk Creek campground when they passed though Big Sur last year. They reported it was beautiful but had no potable water. They left the campsite thirsty and dehydrated and suggested we aim for Plasket Creek instead.

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A little tip about grocery stores in the Big Sur area: they are scarce and expensive along this stretch of coastline! We stocked up on groceries at the small store three miles from the Big Sur campground, still more expensive than a splurge at Whole Foods, but still cheaper than grocery options further down the road. Continue reading →