PowerCycle

10/22 Today I did something I thought I’d never do on this tour. I caught some air. It’s not really an accomplishment worth repeating since I’m riding a bike that weighs over 100 lbs but nonetheless I did it. At the time I suspected that a serious crash was the more likely outcome. It happened when I was riding at a pretty good clip down a hill. The 2 weeks off dropped my riding skill level down by about 20% so all day I’d been making little steering mistakes. Not having a shoulder to ride on and a strong side wind didn’t help either.

Well this time I steered my ass right down into a small ditch that ran alongside the highway. I couldn’t get back up onto the road because there was drop off into the ditch and I couldn’t stop because the ditch ended in 10 feet and it was dirt so I’d fall for sure if I tried. So I pointed the front wheel at the best spot I could find, hit the end of the ditch and shot up and back onto the road. I landed and thought I was a goner. The front wheel jiggled a little but I stuck the landing! I couldn’t freaking believe it. My panniers didn’t even fly off. I laughed for a good 5 minutes after that.

Before the Evel Knievel stunt I stopped at Point Lobos State Reserve, which is about 10 miles south of Monterey. Talk about some beautiful costal scenery. I went on a couple short hikes on some of the trails that run along the coast. What an amazing place. The surf just pounds the rocks along the shore sending water at least 30 feet in the air. I remember there being a high surf advisory for this area because of a storm so that might have contributed to it.

After that there was more up and down riding along the coast up until Big Sur. Big Sur wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was kind of picturing something like Sedona but maybe a little smaller. Well it was a lot smaller. There were about a half dozen buildings, mostly motels, pubs and RV parks. I stopped for a smoothie and took off.

The CG I’m at is called Pheiffer Big Sur State Park. $5 to stay here. The biker campsite isn’t bad but the pay showers have no lights in them. There’s only one other guy here. He’s an older guy (70′s) riding from Vancouver to San Diego. Didn’t catch his name yet.

GPX Track