Friends in High Places

Before I delve into the next chapter of this adventure, I first want to thank everyone reading, commenting, cheering, praying and whatever else you're doing, for the kindness and support you have shown me over the past weeks. I love reading your comments and knowing that in some sense I'm not in this alone. So again, thank you so much. It gives me more motivation to share my adventure even when I just feel like sleeping.

So here it goes...

Day 24 - 30 miles (Monterey to Big Sur)

I met the coolest family this morning. A French couple with three children are biking around the world for a year. They pulled their children out of school and are home schooling them in between biking days. They are biking from San Fran to LA, flying to Bolivia and bikingaround South America, then flying to Japan and biking around Asia! Talk about a family vacation...

Today was my shortest day yet. I seem to be regressing. Or progressing in taking it easy. I've really made it a point to enjoy myself here and take time to explore when I can. Biking out of the Carmel Highlands,

I stopped to climb atop a cliffside mound. As I reached the apex, a huge rush of ocean breeze seized me. I have never felt such strength and constant force from the wind than I had in that moment. It literally did not stop. I had to brace myself as I took pictures.

Gazing over the neon blue of the ocean, I was struck by how special this place is; not the Carmel Highlands, not California, but planet Earth. There is beauty in all of life if you let yourself see it. Not even the wind could blow the smile off my face as I descended back to my bike.

Riding along Big Sur, I caught up to some fellow bikers I met a few nights ago (Sarah and Joyce). We ended up eating lunch together in town. Both of them live in California and we're staying at the same camp as me tonight. It was only 4pm and we were less than 2 miles from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park aka our campsite for the night. By the time we set up camp, it was only 6pm! It's hard to describe how awesome it feels to be done biking early and having a few hours to relax before going to bed. It's the best.

Me, Myilan, Rob, Sarah, and Joyce

Rhiyanna

At camp, we met up with some old and new faces. Rob, Myilan, and Joel ended up camping with us and it feels like a biker family. I hardly know these people but the sense of camaraderie is growing quickly. I also met Corey, a hitchhiker from Florida who's been on the road for almost three months, and Rhiyanna, a cyclist headed north from San Luis Obispo to Santa Cruz.

A few of us ended up going on a short sunset hike to Pfeiffer Falls. It felt good to be using new muscle groups as we traversed the steep terrain. The waterfall itself was not too impressive but the hike was entertainment enough. We headed down in the dark and saw some more familiar faces. Richard, who I hadn't seen since Northern California and Braden and Tiffany, who roll up to camp notoriously late every night, greeted us in the dark.

Tiffany and Braden

We ended up talking until late before heading to bed. Tomorrow's another short day. 30 miles to Pleskett State Park. I've been going with the flow and staying at the same parks as the majority of the other bikers because it's been fun getting to know them. This trip is getting better each day.

Day 25 - 30 miles (Big Sur to Plaskett)

I can't believe I've been riding a bicycle for almost a month! I've gone 1,275 miles and have about 400 to go. Although it's gone by quickly, I find myself amazed by the series of events that have transpired in so short a period of time. As I lay in my tent ready for bed, the surrealism of this trip fills my mind. 25 nights on the road, sleeping in 25 different places, stopping in hundreds of shops, seeing thousands of different people and hundreds of thousands of new sights.

The first half of the day did not treat me well. After saying goodbye to my two new friends Corey and Rhiyanna, I started getting my bike ready for the day. As I checked the tire pressure of my back wheel, the valve screw blows out and my tire quickly loses air. My streak of zero bike repairs has ended. I had to replace a perfectly good tube due to a stupid valve screw! 30 minutes later, I was on the road.

McWay Waterfall

The entire day was a bit gloomy and overcast with sporadic rays of sun attempting to poke through. I'm not sure if it was the weather or some other unseen force, but I was not in the mood to ride down Big Sur today. The roads weren't great, but I've ridden worse roads. The shoulders were narrow but I've ridden on narrower shoulders. The highway was crowded but I've ridden on more congested streets. The hills were steep but I've ridden on steeper grades. I had no explanation for my mood. I just wasn't feeling it.

Today was the first day I've truly felt alone and it got into my head a bit. I realized I was ruminating instead of paying attention to the present moment and the beauty around me. I was glad to stop for lunch so I could refuel and reset my demeanor. I made it to the only restaurant in Lucia to chat with Rob and Myilin for a bit before they took off for camp. The food was surprisingly good although fairly expensive. Can't wait to get into bigger cities and pay smaller fares.

ULTRA TENT!!!!!!!

I had camp set up around 5 so I had a lot of free time. I meditated, read, napped and then we all (Rob, Myilan, Braden, Tiffany, Sarah, and Joyce) had dinner together. We're riding close to 60 miles so we all retired pretty early tonight.

As I'm writing this, it has started to RAIN IN CALIFORNIA!!! Not a misting or sprinkling...RAIN! And thunder and lightning! Oddly enough, this is the most rain I've encountered on this whole trip. I'm really glad I kept the rain cover for my bike. I'll be curious to see what tomorrow looks like... I'm not even upset about it; just impressed.

Day 26 - 62 miles (Plaskett to Morro Bay)

Today was my first 60+ mile day in awhile. In theory, it was nice to get back to my regular mileage. In theory... After shaking off my soaked rainfly, I packed up my moist tent and footprint along with my other bike gear. While at camp, I met three guys who were biking a big loop from Denver. They rode to Southern California and are headed north up the coast then will cut through Idaho and Montana to get back home. Sounds like a fun two week trip.

I decided I'm going to start taking pictures of the cool people I meet at campsites. I wish I would have thought of this sooner, but better late than never! After a hasty farewell, I got started on the most challenging part of Big Sur: the climb out of Gorda, CA. A 1,000 foot climb followed immediately by a steep 300 foot climb. I'm not sure if it was the candy the night before or adrenaline, but it was not as difficult as I had anticipated. Leggett was much harder for me to climb due to the steep grade and the length. This was shorter and less steep. I definitely wasn't complaining about either difference.

Jiwon

On the way up, I met a new cyclist who is now part of our biker family: Jiwon from South Korea. She is going to school for Psychology and wants to study occupational therapy. I met up with Rob, Myilan, Sarah, Tiffany and Braden at the base of the hill for a quick bite to eat and then biked along a leisurely 20 mile stretch of flats. Along the way I stopped to see some elephant seals parked along the beach. These beasts are huge. At 4,000 very fat pounds each, they weigh more than your car.

I had a second lunch in San Simeon and realized I was a little behind schedule so I decided I'd rush to Cayucos so that I wouldn't have to set up camp in the dark. I ended up going 22 miles in 80 minutes! An average of about 16.5 mph. I caught up with Tiffany and Braden at a cookie shop and then headed into Morro Bay for the last 7 miles of the day.

Rock at Morro Bay

I accidentally plugged in the wrong address into google and ended up biking an extra 6 miles to a different part of Morro Bay State Park. I barely made it to camp before dark. We decided to celebrate Big Sur by eating pizza and drinking beer at Pizza Port. It was a lot of fun. We ended up staying up until midnight.

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day. We're biking into Lompoc and have a big hill climb at the end of the day: Purisma Hill. Rob says it's tougher than what we did today.