And the Rains They Came

Free camping in town means getting up at first sign of sunlight. Good thing I set my alarm, because sunlight wouldn't come for the whole day. Mendocino before rise was even nicer than it's usually happening main drag. I sat at the cafe for a long while hoping the damp cool air would leave; I'd wait two whole days for that.

Highway 1 was way more pleasant the last two times when the overcast clouds held no percip, now it was grueling. In Point Arena I turned the corner into town to see a fully loaded Vaya. The owner of this Vaya was Donald, a 3 year off and on again cycle tourist on his "final ride" (I find it hard to believe that anyone can have a final ride). He too was waiting out the rain. We shared the cover of rain at the cafe at the foods store for a bit and talked of touring, rain, weather, the beautiful places and what it all means. His company helped me realize that the rains would pass and that comfort and discomfort is only passing.

I pressed on to Gualala where I searched for a dry haven once more and when it never ceased I called my Gualala Point Regional Park my resting place for the night. After a wet night covering everything in mud, I did the same I did the last time I was there, and escaped back into Gualala in the morning. The weather report said clear skies that day, let's hope.

Turns out this would be the day of the total washout. After Fort Ross Highway One becomes really scenic and beautiful road. The road climbs up to over 500' dropping straight to the crashing waves over the rocks. It's gorgeous, but the rain made all the beauty shit. My legs were starting to give out under the added weight of wet and mud. I'd been changing in and out of wet clothes constantly to the point where I feared I'd have nothing left by the time I hit Bodega Bay. The climb was not the worst of it though. Once over the top the rain pelted my face on the fast descents, my brakes were squishy and the cliffs were still steep; I was staring my mortality in the face. I took it carefully, as much as I was dying to get to Jenner. Despite the death defying feats, when I got to Jenner I took solace in the little cafe in town with some great espresso, vegan sandwhiches, and vegan cake (for only 2 bucks a slice! killer!), just what I needed as I squished on the floor. I felt bad for being a mess, but I just couldn't stand it anymore. At about 5 30, I took off once again in the rain to finish up the final 12 miles to Bodega Bay, a flat romp that actually did go by quickly, passing by the many beaches, surfers, and photographers out on this crap day.

Setting up camp in Bodega Bay was not ideal, as the rain was still falling and now I had sand to contend with. By the time I was in my sleeping bag nothing was dry. I was miserable and felt defeated. I met my match, water from the sky. Lesson learned I need to get better wet gear and smarter with dealing with it.

Thankfully, the next day was much better. The weather cleared by 11 AM and once I had hit Valley Ford the sun was shining beautifully on the cow pastures of Sonoma. After a brief afternoon in sunny Petaluma, I dropped into Larkspur, calling this wet and rainy 3 day tour over. I grabbed myself some Marin Brewing Co. for dinner as I waited for the ferry. Just before I grabbed the ferry the sun baked me dry. I had made it. Camp was over, the rain was over, and I had a shower and more beer that night. Only a few days in town, time to plan, then get back out there. There is plenty of summer left to go.

Forget Work: I'm Riding

Memorial Day, the unofficial kick off of summer, as May rolls over into June and the bike tourers see the sun and put rubber to pavement and hit the road. My big one doesn't start for a couple more days, but last weekend was an absolutely great kickoff for another adventurous summer. I came across this bike ride through social networking, legimitely social networking, as I saw the Facebook event and figured, I love bike camping and am always down to meet people who are into bike camping as well, so Saturday morning I loaded up my bike and headed off for BART to catch up with a group ride down the coast and some camping.

Getting set at San Bruno BART

The top of Sharp Park Road.

After some final preparations and introductions at the San Bruno BART, the 14 of us set off around 10 AM, for a week of bikes and camping. As with any BART ride, the beginning was ugly suburbs, and required a heavy climb out of San Bruno with traffic and the gray only made the scene bleaker. We regrouped at the top then dropped down the sweeping descent of Sharp Park Road to the coast, where the sun was waiting to greet us. From there our ride leader, Woody, took us to the Planet of the Apes, sharing it with some people for the first time. There was concern about skinny tired road bikes, but I was the only one to blow a flat on here, way to go me (bad time to experiment with lower tire pressure, oh well).

Descending Planet of the Apes

From Planet of the Apes it was onward to Half Moon Bay, unfortunately, this meant sticking to CA-1, the popular bike touring road, but always heavily trafficked (and thankfully, continually expanding shoulders, but I still think work needs to be done). Half Moon Bay was a longerish stop for lunch and groceries. It was a little tough getting 14 people on the same page, but we finally started out from there. This was where our pace really picked up and we cruised along the coast, despite some rack malfunctions and ingenious tube latching, we made real good time that we made it to our campsite with hours of daylight to spare.

The bikes lined up at Half Moon Bay.

The boats in the Half Moon Bay Harbor, surprised to see so many docked on the three day weekend.

Then the best part about group bike camping began, the cooking, hanging, and chilling at camp. This was something I never really had a chance to enjoy during solo touring, for me, it was mostly about riding, but the campsite, located at Green Oaks Farms outside of Pescedaro, an organic farm with full outdoor kitchen and outhouse (handicamping is what someone called this, I find that fitting). We had some great cooks help out with dinner as well as some vigorous games of Cards Against Humanity. A 55 mile day for day one and everyone had made it with little wear.

Day Two was the off-day, the day to go out and adventure. There was very little plan of what to do. I had found some light trail that I wanted to hit, but wasn't sure if anyone would be into it after the day before's long ride. Originally it seemed as if people were going into town to Pescedaro, but there was only one member of our group who did that, instead it seemed that the trip to the trail and waterfall was the most popular choice, with the rest choosing the beach.

Meadows and bikes.

The trail was the Skyline to Sea trail, a rough hiker route that is an 8 day backpacking hike from the mountains to the sea, but the section near the sea is open to biking so that's where we hit. The ride was a great introduction to mountain biking for some who had never been before, one of our members, Jessica, was even on a Fuji road bike and was able to manage most of the trail (there were a few technical sections that only the experienced Woody was able to tackle). It was the perfect introduction to trail for a lot of our group, then it was a short hike to a waterfall nestled within the redwoods, where some of us bravely faced the chilly water to cool off from the ride.

The group on the coast (early photos because my camera died outside of  Half Moon Bay, d'oh!)

After the falls, we saddled up and raced back to our campsite for pie from the Pie Ranch, an organic pie shop on Highway 1 that grows everything they put in the pie on site. Busting out those trails made our crew hungry for sweets and we all made it back in time for pie (I opted out, but man those pies were tempting me  to break vegan). The second night had another great dinner and great fire to sit by before calling it a night.

The third day our group shrank some as some members decided to catch rides back into the city, while the rest of us chose to bike down to Santa Cruz and figure it out from there. Once again Highway One shared some brilliant views on the way south. We stopped at Swanton Berry Farms (10 percent discount for cyclists and a nice touring bike log) for some more pastries that I could only watch people eat as I stuffed my own face of peanut butter (these are the things I miss from a less restricted diet is these neat little places that I can only marvel at as an outsider, but alas, it's my decision and I am sticking with it). From there we hit some more trail along the coast, zigging and zagging along the bluffs overlooking quaint little coves. The trail brought us right into SC.

Rolling along.

This was now my first time in Santa Cruz, unfortunately, I can't say that I really got a good look at it. We stood at the base of the pier and Woody pointed out the boardwalk and the pier, but people were anxious to figure out how to return. I wasn't. I planned to ride. We had one last meal together at a diner (where I could get vegan food, yes!). Then we all parted ways.

There was a small group that stayed in the Santa Cruz area to ride back tomorrow, there was a group taking the bus home, then there was me and Jessica. We were the only two who took up the challenge of riding to San Jose then taking Cal Trans home. Woody once again pointed us in the right direction and off we went. I had always been wanting to ride these beautiful mountains so was completely excited and now with a group of two we set a good pace climbing the mountain. It was a long sustained slope, not a steep one, but a noticeable one. The best part of the climb was having a climbing partner, we chatted the way up and before we new it we made our turn near the top. We cut north and began the fabulous descent down Old Santa Cruz Highway. The road was the perfect grade with the best bends, I hardly fluttered the brakes as the road swept around the redwood groves and before I knew it we were sitting next to the Los Gatos Reservoir, coming up on our final destination.

The last leg was the peaceful Los Gatos Creek Trail, with plenty of day light to go we gently crushed the last bit and pulled into San Jose. Now it was my turn to eat as we ventured over to the Veggie Grill. We took our time in San Jose and around 8 30 we finally packed in our food and hit the road for the lest leg towards CalTrain. When we got to the Santa Clara CalTrain station we checked the schedule and 9 : 05 was our train, and the last one! We were that close to missing the last train thanks to our complacency at the end, go figure! Thank the heavens we made that train and were able to relax on the way home.

All in all the weekend was about 145 miles, but the miles don't matter, the people mattered. Being a foreigner to their group I was very pleased to feel at home with these people very quickly. No one was snobbish, no one was uninviting, no one was unfriendly. There were multiple levels of riding (as to be expected) but no one felt like they were holding back the group or being held back, everyone was glad to be riding along with people, taking the weekend off to ride some bikes. This is planned to be an annual event (this being year two) and I really hope I can make it work again next year.