Route and Timing

Route

Here is roughly the route of the trip.

Main portion - Cape Disappointment (WA) to Santa Cruz (CA) [click map to enlarge]:

This is around 870 miles and seems to be full of interesting spots along the way.  I have spent very little time along the coast for this portion except from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, so I am excited to be exploring this portion of the coast.

Second portion - Santa Cruz to Carlsbad:

This is about 500 miles and I have spent a good amount of time throughout much of it, so if I spend too much time hanging out in the main portion and have to go back to work I may not do the second portion.  However, I would like to do this portion as well since I have family/friends along the way and haven't been back to Carlsbad in years (used to live there) - hope to catch up with some folks who I lost touch with but I'm guessing I can find if I go down.

- This overall route (main + second portion) is optimized for ocean/beach/surf access except for at the end.  I'm not starting all the way at the top of Washington state as it seems a bit more of a challenge to get to breaks from the bicycle route in Washington.  There are some good breaks at the southern part of San Diego that I'll be missing out on by not going all the way to the border - but this is me being nostalgically provincial.  I used to live in Carlsbad (North County San Diego), so being in San Diego and surfing Carlsbad is good enough for me.. no need for me to go further south. :)

- I'm also looking at some meditation stops along the way.  There are several monasteries in OR and CA, though the ones I am aware of are not on the coast.  At least one of them can be reached (or close by to) by an infrequently running bus, so may take an inland bus detour there (it's along a fairly busy highway, so will try to utilize the bus for that)


Timing / Departure Date

This has been a bit of a moving target.  The new plan is for the Monday after next.

So, if you dislike reading about preparations for the trip and prefer actual travel posts, you might want to wait until July to re-check this blog.  :)

I initially intended to head out in late June but then tried to speed up my preparations to early/mid-June in order to meet up with a colleague who happens to be doing the Pacific Coast ride right now (and I thought I'd make it down in time to join some friends for an annual Big Sur camping trip).  In my rush to get ready, I ended up hurting my back, which delayed my progress.  Then I still was trying to get out this week and two friends asked my why I was stressing if this was my vacation and it made me realize that it's a bit foolish to head out before everything is ready.  I have the intention of spending my break mindfully and rushing to get things done seems quite counter to that goal.

Two days before I was booked to leave, I changed it to the end of the month (the next time the rideshare I'm using to get up north was available).  Reverting the timing back to the end of June will allow me to do the following:

- Plan the details of my route carefully.  I had only planned the first 3-4 days out fully and then was going to wing it.  But, those first few days seem so nice (at least in the plans) that I realize I should spend a bit more time mapping out other parts of the trip.

- Prep my food.  I'll post more about this later.

- Test my gear.  I haven't had bike shorts in years and it turns out the ones I bought for the trip are incredibly uncomfortable, so the extra timing is giving me the opportunity to get some comfortable ones.  I also took my toe clips off my bike ~2 years ago as they were scuffing my shoes when I was commuting and putting them on again has been a somewhat embarrassing re-learning.

- Finish up some things.  I have some stuff to do for some of the volunteer efforts I do.  There's also a community event I had been sorry to miss.  I should do some things for my bike (like wrap new tape on the handlebars).

I will try to post things on preparing for the trip next week which hopefully won't be too dry/boring. :)