Tag Archives: family biking

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 24: Doheny State Beach to San Elijo (Part 1)

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Anne | 2 comments

previous post: Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 23: Palos Verdes to Doheny State Beach

Day 24: Doheny State Park to San Elijo State Park

Since we had to vacate the hiker/biker site at Doheny State Beach by 9:00 AM, we didn’t have time for our usual leisurely in-camp breakfast and coffee routine. A park staff person came by with her clipboard at 8:30 and made sure we were checking out. Seriously? You’re still checking up on us? Thankfully we were ready to go and cheerfully answered her questions before we pedaled out of the campground at 9:00 AM on the dot. Even though we grumbled about the forced exit, I guess we could consider the 9:00 AM deadline a silver lining, we were on the road early! We even had time for a leisurely diner breakfast in nearby San Clemente. 9464284526_18c5b91dcb

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

2013: A drive to Oakland and rest days in Bay Area

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Tim K | 1 comment

previous post: Seattle to Portland

Days 4, 5, 6 and 7: Portland to Oakland in a minivan then a few rest days in the Bay Area

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Not much to report about our drive from Portland to Oakland except that two tandems and four people really do fit in a minivan. And driving is tiring. And the kids complained more on our 11 hour drive than they did riding in the pouring down rain on the highway for an entire day. Continue reading →

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Posted in bike touring, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged bike touring, bikes, family biking

Winter: A time for Planning Summer Family Bike Tours

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Anne | 8 comments

What sort of winter hibernation do you enjoy? The Car Free Days family tried to escape the cold and dark by hunkering down at home; reading, drinking gallons of hot tea, cuddling up around the fire, and occasionally getting out-of-town to ski in the Cascade range.

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But a few winters ago we started doing something even better with the short, sucky days: dreaming about and planning epic summer bike tours.

Coping with Winter Blahs

With just over 8 hours of daylight during the winter months, Pacific Northwesterners (and Scandinavians, and Russians, and ….) must come up with some way to preserve our sanity day after dark sodden day from November through March. Residents of these northen climes rely on many different methods for coping with winter dreariness. Some use light therapy, others make regular pilgrimages to day spas; soaking in hot pools and sweating away sorrows in saunas. Still others escape altogether with vacations to warm sunny climates. For some reason the historic, go-to strategy of heavy drinking has fallen out of favor. At least in our circles.

A new twist on beating dreary days came from family biking media darling Emily Finch this past December. I spent a good part of my early Christmas vacation living vicariously through her highly entertaining winter indoor-painting-therapy-program: Continue reading →