California bicycle tour - Christmas time

[Jim S.]

Hi all, 

I may have a bit of time off in December, and I was thinking about a San Francisco to Los Angeles bicycle tour. I know there are many sources of information regarding this, but I'd value any insights from the group on the advisability of such a tour at that time of year (weather and daylight may work against me), and any advice on the route generally. I could camp, stay in motels, or both.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jim S.

[Bill Lindsay]

The Kirkendall/Spring book is still a pretty good resource, and has been in print so long and so ubiquitously that your local library probably has it.  The Adventure Cycling map series for that route should cover a lot of the same info and is a good place to spend your money.  I think Adventure Cycling can sell you digital files.  You could check the free gpx routes archives for RUSA and/or Santa Cruz Randonneurs and/or PCH Randonneurs and piece together routes from their catalogs. 

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Steven Sweedler]

Jim, I rode SF to San Diego this past January. I used the Adv. Cycling maps. 10 days and only the last four were warm and sunny. I have the Kirkendall and Spring book as well as the AC maps if you want to borrow them. Its a fabulous ride, was my second time and I hope to do it again. We stayed in motels.   Steve

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Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

[Chris Corral]

Sounds about right. NorCal is usually cold, cloudy, foggy, and possibly (probably not) wet, while SoCal is almost always sunny. Like actually.

That said, its a beautiful route, that is excellent any time of the year.

Enjoy,

On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 1:18:48 PM UTC-7, Steven Sweedler wrote:

Jim, I rode SF to San Diego this past January. I used the Adv. Cycling maps. 10 days and only the last four were warm and sunny. I have the Kirkendall and Spring book as well as the AC maps if you want to borrow them. Its a fabulous ride, was my second time and I hope to do it again. We stayed in motels.   Steve

On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 8:28 PM Jim S. <ja...@simeri.me> wrote:

Hi all, 

I may have a bit of time off in December, and I was thinking about a San Francisco to Los Angeles bicycle tour. I know there are many sources of information regarding this, but I'd value any insights from the group on the advisability of such a tour at that time of year (weather and daylight may work against me), and any advice on the route generally. I could camp, stay in motels, or both.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jim S.

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[Drw]

I’ve done this ride 2x. My advice is to pick sections where you want to leave the main roads and research those parts well. There are a couple parts that are suuuuper boring (to me), that you just have to slog thru and/or are on major highways. I most enjoy finding some unpaved street, but that can be tricky and definitely will add time to the overall trip.

I’d also possibly consider using the pacific surfliner to cut out certain parts or add sections north of SF or south of LA.

If I did it again, I’d probably only go as south as SLO and spend a couple days exploring those hills and then catch the train back to LA.

[Shawn Granton]

On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 1:12:33 PM UTC-7, Bill Lindsay wrote:

The Kirkendall/Spring book is still a pretty good resource, and has been in print so long and so ubiquitously that your local library probably has it. 

I'd urge anyone seeking out Pacific Coast Bike Touring experience in book form to NOT seek out the Kirkendall/Spring version of the Bicycling the Pacific Coast, as the last edition came out over ten years ago (and was already shop-worn then.) Instead, seek out the NEW Cycling the Pacific Coast book put out by Bill Thorness. He took over the book from Kirkendall/Spring, and created a fresh new version that came out last year. It's much more thorough and more accurate than what's come out in the past.

Best,

Shawn 

[dougP]

If you're coming into San Francisco & going south from there, weather should be good in December.   The further north of the Bay Area, the more problematic the weather.  I like the hostel in Ft Mason as a jumping off point (Do Not stay in the one downtown; crummy location for biking).  The Adventure Cycling maps thru San Francisco are a bit fiddly.  An easier routing from the hostel is just head west & hook up with the Great Highway heading south.  Daly City may be one of the boring bits mentioned by others but you're not in it that long.

Big Sur of course is the highlight of this trip.  Plenty of lodging and camping opportunities.  Big Sur to San Simeon is IIRC 65 miles with 4,500' of climbing.  It can be done in a day but it's a pretty long day, esp with a load.  There are a couple of campgrounds along the way so you can break it up, take it easy, & enjoy the scenery. 

SLO is the start point for the Amtrak Surfliner that goes all the way to San Diego (Amtrak's Coast Starlight also goes thru but fewer trains).  However, there is still good riding south of SLO.  You'll have to look at a decent map but inland from Ventura is a cool little town called Ojai.  Both lodging & camping options there.  From Ojai, head east to Santa Paula then continue to Moorpark.  Pick up the Amtrak or Metrolink (LA commuter rail).  Terminal is downtown LA Union Station.  From there, Metrorail (light rail) has two lines that go west toward LAX.  The Expo line goes to Santa Monica and the Green Line goes to Redondo Beach.  The Green Line follows a freeway that skirts the south edge of LAX, BUT the rail line makes a turn & heads south before it gets to the airport.  There is a stop from where you can actually see the airport.  There is a bus service from there to the airport but I don't know about carrying bikes on it.  You'd have to check that out. 

Most of the published routes follow SR 1 (aka PCH) all the way from Ventura to Santa Monica.  It's always billed as "scenic drive thru the Malibu, home to the stars, surfers," etc.  It's also crazy busy, with the most entitled people in the SoCal blasting down the road.  I've done it once & lived to tell about it, but that's enough.  And I grew up in LA so I'm used to crazy drivers.  After Point Dume, it's solid houses on the coastal side so there's nothing to see and you're too busy trying to survive to enjoy it anyway. 

On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 12:28:21 PM UTC-7, Jim S. wrote:

[Steven Sweedler]

I used the Old Pedro Mountain road to get to the coast from SF. It was a highlight of the trip,  once a paved toad, road it hasn’t seen  traffic in decades and is a narrow trail in most places. Drops down to Rt. 1, and was lots of fun. Steve

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[Benz, Sunnyvale, CA]

The AIDS/Lifecycle ride goes from SF to LA. Maybe you can piggyback on their route and modify to suit your taste?

One risk is that if it rains in December, and your route is on Hwy 1, there is a small chance that there may be a landslide, and you may be stuck with a big detour.

Finally, you can consider soliciting some fellow Bobbers who may live along your route, and who may enjoy accompanying you part way. They may even show you around to choice spots for eating, or camping, and it's certainly nicer to ride with friends than solo (or at least I prefer that).

Good luck!

On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 12:28:21 PM UTC-7, Jim S. wrote:

[Jim S.]

Thank you to all! This is incredibly helpful.

[Hunter Ellis]

I did this ride in October 2016. It was great. Like other people have suggested, I'd recommend a few detours. If you have the time and the inclination for a lot more climbing than "necessary", there are a lot of good side routes to pick and choose from.

You could start by picking and choosing segments from this route:

https://bikepacking.com/routes/sf-peninsula-traverse/

Pescadero has a great bed and breakfast option. Otherwise its a little too long from SF to santa cruz and a little too short from SF to half moon bay (for my taste), if you're staying by the coast. Riding the Butano Fire road up to hwy 9 and descending into Santa Cruz that was is another good option to disrupt the monotony (but beautiful monotony!) of the coast.

I regret not taking the "outside loop" through monterrey, hugging the coast instead of climbing a busy highway pass.

Big Sur was AWESOME, even if there were lots of cars. Henry Miller Library is a cool spot. lots of camping opportunities. You could also get adventurous here and go up the ridge to the coast road. I've never done that but I've ssen some good pics!

Cambria to SLO is kinda Meh. Definitely take the detours that avoid the highway. Los Osos Valley Road.

From Santa Maria I went inland on Foxen Canyon road, which was great (except it was like 100 degrees!). I stayed in Solvang, and then went up 154 over the San Marcos Pass. Near the top, there's an "old San Marcos Rd" (or something) that cuts off and was a SUPER fun descent into Santa Barbara. Now that I"m a more adventerous cyclist, I'd look at the Refugio and Camino del Cielo way up the pass. If you're just going from Solvang to Santa Barbara and its not 100 degrees, that could be reallllly cool.

I'd  agree with DRW and skip the Santa Barbara to LA section and just hop on a train. (I'd also stop at SLO if you wanted to hug the coast--it was only interesting after that because I started to deviate.

Camping: 

Sunset Beach south of Santa Cruz was nice and had showers. 

Samuel P Taylor (before SF) is great and has showers.

the San Simeon Campground was not so great, I'd avoid that if you can.

I snuck into Pfeiffer Burns when the whole area was closed for fires. I had the whole place to myself and it was amazing, but usually its quite crowded. Maybe not in December though. The indoor lodging options in Big Sur are usually quite expensive. Limekiln is another camping option but its pretty exposed.

If you do ride past Santa Barbara, the Point Mugu campground is great. But there's not a great stopping option between Solvang/Gaviota and Pt Mugu--the Oxnard Campground was close d(maybe you could sneak in there though). I ended up riding 90 miles that day, the last 20 of which were not super fun.

-Hunter

[Mike Godwin]

Yes, it is a bit busy between Cambria and SLO, but for an urbanized area, the riding around here cannot be beat.

Mike SLO CA