Summer Bicycle Touring

In the past, I have mentioned that I would very much like to do a short bicycle tour. While I'm not one to take off for weeks or months at a time to engage in a bicycle trek, I really would love to go for a few days and simply take in scenery and see how a shorter adventure would go. At the moment, I'm trying to work my mental state up to the idea of going on a short tour early next summer, possibly travelling from San Diego to the central coast of California. Why Cali? Well, I'm somewhat familiar with the state having grown up there, but I also know that there's so much I haven't seen. Additionally, the weather tends to stay more moderate, so I wouldn't have to worry as much about extreme heat and cool (at least in the summer). I also have relatives up and down the coast, so if all hell broke loose, I know there would be someone to rescue me. Sam, whether he likes it or not, will likely be suckered into this adventure with me (though I am fairly certain he would want to come along regardless), so that will allow a partner on the roads to help keep me moving along. I have also had the opportunity to take the scenic Hwy 1 route from Oregon down through northern California and it was quite beautiful (though not by bike as it was many years ago), so I thought perhaps trying out a southern route by bicycle could be a great option.

A bicycle tour likely wouldn't include a lot of this... but it might be a great time!

While this is the area that is currently in my head to do a short tour, I am open to other locations, and thought perhaps others might have suggestions on a good route to try out for a 2-5 day bicycle tour.   I'm also concerned about the southern Hwy 1 route in California. From the quick reads I have done online, it looks as though that route goes either back inland significantly (which I would prefer to avoid), or it travels through some rather iffy terrain with few directional signs (it seems more than one individual has become lost on this route).

web survey

Another option to get some experience and not be gone for days would be to try out a quick over night locally - basically traveling as far as I can in a day, camping, and coming home. This option is probably the most sensible in the immediate future, and while I'm open to the idea of starting such a trip before summer ends, I still think I'd like to have a slightly longer one at some point in the future. What do you think? If you were going to do such a trip, would you want to try out a shorter time period close to home first, or would you just go for a longer round first so you don't talk yourself out of it? I think I'm somewhere on the fence with this, so thoughts are certainly welcomed.

Vacation Time and Cali Cycling Route Suggestions

Sam and I are headed out on our somewhat annual visit to California in the next week-ish. I think we both have a love/hate relationship with this trip. We love that we get to leave home for a bit and see something different than the every day, avoid work, and of course we enjoy seeing our families, but we also find that the "obligation" of visiting makes it difficult to go anywhere other than to visit family for a vacation, and we're not horribly fond of being in a car travelling for many hours either. I'm sure there are others who can identify. We could make it a shorter trip and take a separate vacation somewhere we'd like to explore, but it's challenging because we have 3 dogs to drag along on the road trip (which means frequent bathroom/water breaks for anyone who hasn't attempted this), and several stops to make ranging from southern to northern Cali. If we rush through, inevitably someone feels neglected and as if we didn't really want to come and visit... which is only partially true (I kid!).

One of my favorite stops is to see my in-laws (and their pups - who happen to enjoy suitcases)

This year, we are also taking our bicycles along for the ride. We attempted this last year, but had a last minute hiccup with the bike trailer hitch and ended up not only without our regular bicycles, but actually purchasing new two-wheeled friends while visiting relatives (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing - but probably could've been avoided had we had our bikes). We wised up this year and will make sure everything is set to go the day before so as to not panic in the few minutes right before departure. The debate has ensued regarding which bikes to bring, but I think we've both settled on road bikes in case we attempt any longer distance jaunts, and honestly they are probably preferable as most places we'll be visiting are fairly hilly.

Speaking of possible bicycle jaunts, we are looking for suggestions for cycling routes to try while out that way. Even though we both grew up in California, Sam spent most of his time mountain biking, and I pretty much just rode around the neighborhood, so we're hoping to find some interesting spots to check out. If you have thoughts for the southern Orange County area or for the northern San Luis Obispo county area, we'd love to hear your ideas. I would prefer the less-hilly rides if possible, but I'm willing to try out anything with a great view. It's also possible (slim, but possible) we could end up in the Portland, Oregon area, so if you have suggestions for that area, please chime in as well.

Hopefully, I'll be able to share some photos as the trip takes place, but if things seem slow from the beginning to mid-July time frame, there is a good reason for it. Happy Friday!