Bicycling Down the Pacific Coast from San Luis Obispo to Ocean Beach

We made it to Ocean Beach yesterday, and so far we’re having a great time. Here’s the condensed version. Below is a full post with more details of each day’s events.

• We’ve ridden 340.2 miles.

• Our favorite parts are getting stronger, riding along so much beautiful coastline, and seeing family.

• Our least favorite part was the traffic and hills in Laguna Beach.

• We learned that we should definitely do less miles when we have lots of climbing in a day (duh?).

• We laughed when uncle Bill told funny stories.

• We’re excited to head east.

Here’s where we rode from September 5 to September 14, 2017. The dots represent where we stayed each night.

Day 1 (9-5-17): San Luis Obispo to Orcutt—40 Miles

We started on the road a bit late our first day, as saying goodbye to family is never quick or easy—especially when we’re about to be gone for sixteen months. We hugged and held back tears before starting on our way to Orcutt. Below, Doug's pictured in the fog in southwestern Arroyo Grande. It was beautiful.

This day was a little difficult for us. Probably because we hadn’t biked in a few weeks and didn’t realize how many hills there would be, but we made it. We enjoyed biking through Guadalupe (pictured below) and old Orcutt. They were blips, but cute blips! We stayed with family members this night. It was really nice to catch up with them and have a soft bed to sleep in.

Day 2 (9-6-17): Orcutt to Refugio State Beach—55 Miles

Our second day was our longest and most physically demanding because we went up the Harris Grade. That’s a steep thousand feet, and we didn’t love it. But coming down into Lompoc felt very rewarding.

We thought we’d only make it to Gaviota State Beach because of our long day, but the camp host at Gaviota told us that the hiker/biker campsite at Refugio State Beach (just ten miles down the road) was something like 52,000 times better.

Well he was right. Gaviota’s hiker/biker site is stuck between the bathrooms and dumpster, while Refugio State Beach’s hike and bike campsite is directly across from the beach. We were beat, but riding the extra ten miles was well worth it. (Hiker/biker campsites are first come, first serve and reserved for people who walk or bicycle to the campground.)

Day 3 (9-7-17): Refugio State Beach to Ventura—50 Miles

We took a morning walk on the beach with our coffee, which was especially nice because there were only three other people out. We packed up, wrote down our directions, and left for Ventura.

This ride was pretty easy overall, but we were still a little tired from the day before. Even the rolling hills felt much larger than they were. But we had a wonderful view of the water throughout the day, which was really nice. We also had a protected bike path on the way in to Ventura. That makes riding near a freeway so much more pleasant.

We arrived in Ventura and were picked up by Bill and Barbara (my uncle and aunt). We loaded our belongings into the bed of their pickup truck and drove to their home in Camarillo. They let us shower and treated us to such a lovely meal, great conversation, and funny stories.

Day 4 (9-8-17): Point Mugu Rock to Leo Carrillo State Park—8 Miles

We realized we should have planned an extra rest day during our first week as we are getting used to things, so we asked Bill and Barbara to drop us off closer to our destination for the night rather than returning us north to Ventura. They obliged and took us to Point Mugu Rock.

We rode eight miles of gorgeous coastline before arriving at Leo Carrillo State Park, where we camped at a hiker/biker site. It wasn’t quite as nice as Refugio, but we found a secluded space to pitch our tent. Once that was taken care of, we walked to the beach for a swim.

Something was being filmed on the beach, but there was hardly anyone around once that was done and the cast and crew left. We stayed on the beach for an hour or so before heading back to camp to make dinner.

Day 5 (9-9-17): Leo Carrillo State Park to Torrance—47 Miles

The weather was amazing for our ride to Torrance (though we’ve had pretty good weather every day so far). We really enjoyed riding through Malibu and admiring all the old, quirky, and gigantic homes.

The area around Pepperdine had a couple difficult hills, but it was beautiful too. Once we reached Santa Monica, we were on the beach bike path. Being away from traffic was really nice—and being right next to the ocean was pretty great too. We stopped to eat at Thai Vegan, a restaurant in Venice that we’d gone to back in April. It was a nice treat.

We stayed at my cousin Matt and his wife Amanda’s apartment this night, though Matt was working so we didn’t see him. Amanda was really hospitable and let us take over the whole living room! We went to dinner with Matt’s mom (my cousin), Karen, and it was really nice to spend time with her. We’ve enjoyed seeing so much family down the coast.

Day 6 (9-10-17): Torrance to Huntington Beach—36 Miles

We enjoyed riding from Torrance to Huntington. We biked a few miles inland from Torrance to Long Beach, but we were along the coast from Long Beach to Huntington Beach. Marina del Rey had amazing homes that were fun to look at as we rode along.

We were lucky enough to get to stay at the family home of my mom’s coworker. We had the place to ourselves for the night, so we swam in the pool and actually used the stove and oven! That was nice. We then watched You’ve Got Mail—commercials and all—while catching up on some little tasks.

Day 7 (9-11-17): Huntington Beach to San Juan Capistrano—26 Miles

This day was a little interesting because we’d intended to stay at Doheny State Beach. However, we found out at the last minute that Doheny does not have hiker/biker sites. Its online brochure and campsite map shows that it does, but apparently they were recently removed. Thankfully a Warmshowers host said we could stay with them, so we had a place to go.

Overall, this was our least favorite day of bicycle touring so far. Most of the ride was nice, and we especially enjoyed meandering around Balboa Island (our bikes even went on the ferry). But the area around Laguna Beach had tons of traffic, narrow roads, and extremely steep hills (both up and down). None of that was much fun, and we wanted to get out of the area as soon as possible.

In Dana Point, just a few miles before we were done for the day, Doug’s bicycle chain had an issue. Thankfully a bike shop was a couple blocks away and, because we had the part with us, charged only five dollars to fix it.

Our hosts, Donnie and Susan, were wonderful. They already had a bicycle tourist staying with them that night, but they let us stay outside their home. They greeted us with cold beers, let us shower, and fed us a lovely dinner. We enjoyed watching the sunset from their back and chatting with them and the other bicycle tourist there—Cyril, who is riding from Alaska to Argentina—about the adventures they’ve had.

Day 8 (9-12-17): San Juan Capistrano to Carlsbad State Beach—38 Miles

We just had short, minor hills (can’t believe I’m saying that!) this day, and we enjoyed most of our ride. We bicycled through Camp Pendleton, which was interesting, as we could hear guns in the distance. This is a much better option than riding on the 5 freeway, that’s for sure.

We made it to South Carlsbad State Beach Campground by 2:00 p.m., so we set up camp and made lunch. My aunt Joan picked us up to bring us to her house, where my uncle Rick met us. We showered and did laundry before my cousin Tim joined us for dinner. Doug and I enjoyed another wonderful evening with family. We talked, ate delicious food, and sat outside in the warm Southern California evening air.

Day 9 (9-13-17): Carlsbad Rest Day—2 Miles

This was our first official rest day. We woke up around 7:00 a.m., made coffee, and ate breakfast. We then went to the nearby grocery store to pick up some supplies for the next few days (and we bummed some Wi-Fi off the Starbucks next door).

Then my aunt Joan kindly picked us up to take us to REI so we could get more fuel for our stove. We really appreciated this, as cooking food is pretty important for us.

After moving campsites (ours wasn’t available two nights in a row) and making lunch, we swam in the ocean for a couple of hours. I don’t think we could have asked for a better beach. There were few people, the water was clear, and the waves were huge. It was such a perfect day for a swim, and it made me realize that I’ll miss being near the ocean.

Day 10 (9-14-17): Carlsbad to Ocean Beach, San Diego—38 Miles

Yesterday we rode the last leg of our Pacific Coast bicycle tour. It was pretty easy for the most part, aside from a small hill in Del Mar and a long climb around Torrey Pines. This is all good training for us heading east out of San Diego.

We stopped at UCSD to spend some time with my cousin Tim. He treated us to a really nice lunch and then showed us around campus. We had a great afternoon and enjoyed seeing the Fallen Star art installation, which is a crooked house on top of the engineering building. Everything is wonky in there, and I got motion sickness. It was such a strange experience.

We left UCSD and rode to Native Foods (my mother ship, pretty much). Riding around Mission Bay was perfect. The weather was amazing, there was hardly anyone else out, and the bay itself was beautiful. I’m so glad we get to be on our bicycles and see everything slowly as we pass by. We ate dinner at Native Foods, which was a treat to ourselves for finishing this leg of the journey.

We arrived at our Warmshowers host’s home in Ocean Beach just in time to catch the last bit of the sunset from her front porch. Her name is Nicole, and she knows a lot about bicycling in San Diego, so we had a great time talking about our trip, our gear, and different routes to take. She’s been so hospitable and kind, as has everyone we’ve stayed with.

What’s Next

Today we will ride from Ocean Beach to El Cajon, where we’re staying with a family member’s coworker. A sinkhole opened up yesterday on the 8 freeway, so we need to see if that will interfere with our planned route. We’ll then begin the real climb, from El Cajon to past Alpine, tomorrow.

#Travel #BicycleTouring #PacificCoast #SanLuisObispo #SanDiego #Orcutt #Torrance #Refugio