Pacific Coast: 101- Is this the *most* BEAUTIFUL bike tour in AMERICA?!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2024
- Pacific Coast: 101
Episode 1
Are you interested in bike touring down the Pacific Coast? Check out Episode 1 of my four part series! In this series, I will be sharing the logistics of cycling down the Pacific Coast. Information will include the iconic sites you will see, such as Puget Sound, the Columbia River, Mount St. Helens, the Oregon Coast, the Redwoods, the Golden Gate Bridge, Big Sur, and the famous Southern California cities, such as Los Angeles and San Diego. Future episodes will share information about navigation, camping, and traffic conditions. I hope you tune in!
What a great ride
It was awesome!
I really enjoy your channel, the trips you all have taken and story telling. I rode the Pacific Coast route when I was 17yrs old in 1976 with a buddy of mine. We started in Seattle, took a ferry to Victoria, BC, pedaled the island for a few days, then ferried to Port Angeles,WA, then the 101 & 1 Hwy all the way down to Tijuana. Not many bicyclists on the road back then like there are today. We all used paper maps we bought at gas stations for navigation. It was a blast and I still ride today at 65yrs old. PS- love it that your dad goes on tours with you. Looking forward to more of your videos!
Cheers, Doug
Thanks so much for watching!! And what an adventure for a 17 year old in 1976! I have always wished I would have grown up in the 60s and 70s!
My son says the same thing! It really was a magical time of innocence, change, freedom, turmoil, and optimism all wrapped into one. Looking forward to the rest of your series on the PCH because I get to relive that trip through your lens. I was in Astoria a few yrs ago and drove across the bridge to Washington. It still looms large in my memories! Hahaha
Great job!
Thanks!!
Nice beginning to your 4 part series. So, what’s next on the bucket list?🚴🚴
Honestly, I have no idea!!! 🤣
Very nice! I only did the San Diego to San Francisco portion, but fell in love with it. My three top highlights were Morro Bay and Morro Bay State Park where we stayed one night, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, where we stayed two nights because was so nice and Carpinteria State Beach.
Yes! Honestly, there was something incredible about every single day. Loved that section you did, for sure!!!
Nice! I'm glad I found this follow-up video to your and your dad's bike trip from Canada to Mexico! I, too, absolutely love Big Sur as well as Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, but several other cyclists' accounts of riding out of Big Sur to continue riding south mentioned how arduous the climbing was on bikes. Was that climb pretty challenging? When we camped at Pfeiffer and were driving home to L.A., I recall worrying about drivers not giving bicyclists adequate room, particularly on somewhat blind corners. What was your experience with this on your bike?
Honestly, after riding the entire route, nothing stood out to me after Big Sur climbing wise because the entire route had tons of climbing almost every day. It probably just seemed like another day of climbing to me, haha! Same thing with blind corners and road conditions- nothing stood out. The worst place on the entire route was the Sonoma Coast area- that took the cake as far as no shoulders, no guardrails, blind corners, and the rudest drivers I’ve ever encountered (all likely tourists so not dogging on people from that area). Planning on making another video in this series about riding conditions!!
@@aspenswanderings Excellent! I look forward to that forthcoming episode, and thank you for your feedback! Cheers!
Definitely a bucket list route! I've driven it for the purpose of seeing it, but it would be much better without a windshield between. It appears you shipped your LHT's to Earl's ahead of your flight? How did you get them home after the trip... same process from an LBS on the south end?
Funny you ask. Getting our bikes home was a big ordeal and I’ve never had issues shipping my bike home. Earls Bike shop was great. I made arrangements with Chula Vista Cycles (outside of San Diego) to ship my bike home and they bailed on me when I showed up at the shop on the last day of my ride. I called a bunch of other bike shops in the area and none of them would ship my bike home, or even acted like they knew what I was talking about. Our only option was to go to the UPS store. They had two bike boxes for my dad and I and were very nice……almost $900 to ship them home…..wasn’t happy at all with Chula Vista Cycles. But, that’s my typical process and it normally works out fine and costs around $130, give or take.
Great videos. thanks for posting. Im just about to start cycle touring. Could you kindly tell me the size of the ortleib panniers you use?? In kilos if you have that figure. Im thinking of 20x 2 kilo size on the back and not sure yet on the front. Thanks (I watched your video describing the gear you take}
My rear bags are 40 liters each, and my front bags are 25 liters each. Hope this helps!
Thats brilliant, thanks. it does help@@aspenswanderings
Hi Aspen ! I also enjoy riding too ! How long have you been riding ?
I’ve been riding my whole life, but I started bike touring in 2018.
@@aspenswanderings that's awesome !who is your friend that you ride with? It looks like a lot of fun for sure . I'd love to be able to do what you do :)
Hi Aspen:
I just discovered your videos. I like them. But I prefer to ride on bike trails rather than roads with cars. I doubt I would feel safe on 101. Did u feel safe? Why or why not? Thanks.
Sam
I actually did feel pretty safe about 95% of the trip. Washington, California, and Oregon are very bike friendly states. For the most part, when they build their roads, they include a good sized shoulder where you can ride instead of directly on the road. The shoulder varies- Oregon has huge shoulders, almost the size of a whole lane. Washington and California had pretty decent shoulders, with the exception of a few places. With that being said, drivers along the route are used to seeing cyclists. It’s nothing new to them, so they are better trained to keep an eye out for them. I’m from Kentucky where there are typically zero shoulders to ride on and people aren’t used to seeing cyclists, so I felt much safer riding the 101 than I did in Kentucky. The route does have quite a bit of traffic, but it does avoid areas that are notorious for crashes or bad traffic. Plus- most towns and cities either have bike lanes or bike paths! I definitely think you should consider it- it was an incredible trip. There were only two places that I felt unsafe and I think you can avoid heavy traffic in those areas by just getting up early before rush hour. Another thing that helps give me peace of mind is riding with a mirror so I can keep an eye on traffic, as well as having an obnoxiously bright rear light (Bontrager Ion Pro light- meant for the front but I made a mount to use it on the back). Let me know if you have any other questions! Thanks for watching and commenting!!
Follow up question, Aspen: How did you manage the logistics of planning, training, and then doing the trip while being a teacher (I think I remember you talking about that in one of the vids)? I forget how long you took actually riding, but how easy was it balancing the end of a semester with the planning and getting ready? First year teacher here, but planning some cycling adventures soon...
Oh- great question!!! So I am in a unique position as a teacher, as I’m an elementary music teacher. At our school, we don’t take grades, so my after school workload (grading papers, parent teacher conferences, etc.) is a lot less than that off a classroom teacher. With that being said, it is balanced out because I am obviously in charge of lots of music programs, which require a different type of planning and preparation. So- I would take my maps with me to school, and if I had a few minutes free, I would study them and take notes and such. BUT- I meticulously planned out my TransAm tour (like planned out every single day)and it fell apart on the very first day, so I really didn’t put a whole lot into planning everything out for the Pacific Coast since I learned my lesson the hard way on that. I’m glad you asked this- I’ll incorporate it into next weeks video!! Thank you!!
Hiii,,, Iam Mahesh from India. My dream is to Explore the world adventurously and i decided to explore the world by cycling and iam going to start my journey in this September 2024,,any advice please 😒😒
Note: Ignore my english (grammar)😊