Bike Touring Day 3: Monterey to Plaskett Creek

When planning the trip, we knew that Day 3 was going to have a lot of climbing.  The 65 miles for the day would cover much of the Big Sur coastline.  Besides hills, we were looking forward to impressive views of the coast.  Big Sur delivered both.

We had more of a climb heading out of the campground, but soon enjoyed a fun down hill stretch toward Carmel.  I'm not sure I have ever seen a sign for a wild boar crossing before.  We were starting to wonder if we'd been transported to Arkansas over night.

Curves ahead: FOR THE NEXT 74 MILES! 

Once again the weather was mild with cloudy skies.  While climbing, you work up a sweat.  While coasting, you get the chills.  After riding the hills for 30 miles, we took a lunch break at one of the small service areas along highway 1.  The prices were as steep as the hills and the line for the men's room was 6 to 8 people long!  On the other hand, the sun came out!  It gave us an opportunity to dry out a few things.

 

One of the fun parts of the trip was meeting people along the way who are interested in where you are coming from and where you are headed.  Thankfully most of the drivers are courteous about sharing the road with cyclists.  There is not a bike lane or much of a shoulder on the coastal highway through the Big Sur area, so you have to take up part of the right hand lane.  About 6 drivers honked at us that day, but a vast majority of cars were patient and waited for good places to pass when necessary. 

The views were beautiful and helped motivate us when the climbs presented a challenge.  At about 6pm we pedaled into the Plaskett Creek Campground - our stay for the night.  Upon arrival, we found out that the water was not potable.  We had some water, but not enough.  We needed to make an important decision.  Should we boil water in order to have what we needed or go to the next town and buy more?  Gorda, the next town, was several miles away (up hill).

Dal decided to talk to the campground host.  I wasn't sure what his plan was, but I knew that he was less than happy about the situation.  He came back to report that the host was willing to drive to Gorda to pick up several gallons of water for us (for a fee of course), but at least we wouldn't have to make the trip ourselves.

One of the interesting things about bike touring is meeting other cyclists.  The hiker/biker campsites are a good place to meet them, and Plaskett Creek was no exception.  Two riders that we met were Grant and Larry.  They were from San Diego, and riding several days from Big Sur to Santa Barbara.  They were both seasoned riders, so it was fun to hear about their experiences, especially Grant's stories about riding from Alaska to Seattle. 

After a dinner of pasta, sauce, carrots, and bread we enjoyed some water and went to bed.  Oh, by the way, did I mention that due to a water shortage, the bathrooms were out of service?  Well, they were.  That meant we got to use a couple of fancy (NOT) port-o-potties.

Bike Touring Day 2: Pescadero to Monterey

 

Day 2 began with a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and some fruit.  After breakfast, our adventure was set to begin.  I was a bit anxious to see how things were going to go with my rear tire and tube.  Our strategy was to put a tube patch on the inside of the tire and place four layers of ducktape between the patch and the tube liner.  After putting the tube inside I carefully inflated the tire enough to carry its load without causing the hole to open too much.  We were hoping the tire would hold up until we got to a bike shop in Santa Cruz - about 20 miles away.  Rob's dad, Tom, was willing to be "on call" in case the tire wouldn't last.  If we got into trouble we would give him a call and he would take me to the bike shop with his truck.  

The miles gradually ticked by as we headed toward Santa Cruz.  I could feel the swollen part of the tire each time it took its turn on the road.  I was praying we'd make it so that Tom wouldn't have to bail us out.  As we made our way into Santa Cruz we were relieved to see the bike shop only a few blocks into town.

By the looks of the tire, we didn't arrive any too soon.  After examining it more closely, I discovered the patch had warn through, as well as two layers of the ducktape.  I bought a set of new tires and went to the work of changing them.  (Since it was getting close to lunch time, the guys got some food while I switched out the tires).

 

In case you are wondering, the old tire was meant to be smooth between the treaded part - it hadn't worn down quite as much as it appears :)  The new set was looking good and ready to roll!

After lunch we navigated our way out of Santa Cruz and rode between various fields of strawberrys and produce.  It is hard to beat the smell of strawberry fields.  One road was quite rough, however, and caused Dal's headset to get loose.  Thankfully he had a long enough wrench to get to the screw that needed tightening.  Unfortunately, he had to empty nearly every bag in his possession before finding it!  One thing that made the stop even more interesting was that we were down-wind from a goat farm.  Let's just say the goats didn't smell like a strawberry field.

As we got rolling again, I could tell that it was going to be a long day.  Our day was long to begin with - 75 miles - but our stops to work on our bikes added time as well.  Another challenge was that the back of my ankle was getting very sore.  My hunch is that I had placed the seat a little too high at the beginning of the trip.  I felt a little better after lowering the seat, but I could tell that the muscles/ligaments were going to take some time, probably days, until getting back to normal.

Our late afternoon included riding on back roads, a little bit of PCH, and bike paths leading into Monterey.  Since the whole day was overcast, it was difficult to know how much sunlight we could count on before arriving at our destination.  It felt like we were going to cut it close.

As dusk approached we finally made our way into Monterey.  Seeing our bikes loaded with gear, a local asked if we were going to Veterans Memorial Park.  "Yes!" was our immediate reply.  "You're getting close," he said, "but you might want to get some dinner before going up the hill to the campground."

The boys were all over that idea!  There was a McDonald's nearby so we decided to make the stop.  We were all exhausted and scarfed down value meals and enjoyed a rest.  It was somewhat dark by the time we got back on our bikes.  We turned our lights on and checked the map to see where we were headed.  The local gentleman mentioned a hill - and he wasn't kidding.

We were doing a steady climb for about a half a mile and then saw what looked like the entrance to the campground.  That's where the hill got even more steep!  (We later found out it was a 13% grade).  As we travelled another half mile up the steep winding road into the campground I was thinking, "Please Lord, let there be room in the hike and bike.  After this hill, I don't think I can go much further."

Thankfully, the hike and bike area was pretty large and there was enough room for our weary bodies to lay down.  We put up our tents and managed to muster enough strength to take a shower.  The showers were hot and free :)  But small and not very clean :(    Regardless, it was nice to get cleaned up before crawling into the sleeping bag.