Riding Pacific Coast Highway
Last year, my friend Syd and I began planning a bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to celebrate our birthdays, each a day apart. We looked a how to ride between the two cities for a bit, and then the winter rains came.
The rains were wonderful for drought stricken California, but for our bike ride, not so much. The storms wreaked havoc on Pacific Coast Highway, the jewel of our route.
The area closed off by bridge collapse and rock slides is literally the most enticing part of riding the coast.
In May, Michele and I went to Cambria to celebrate our anniversary and ride up as far as we could the coast. We enjoyed the quiet and open roads north of Cambria, sharing it with deer, elephant seals, and turkey vultures. We were hooked.
We stopped at Ragged Point, where the road was closed, smiling from ear to ear from this kind of ride.
Our planning for a birthday ride changed, and we switched to several looping rides from towns along the coast. We had heard that there was a way to ride the closed off section of PCH by entering near the top of Big Sur at Pfeiffer Big Sur Park. We didn’t have exact details, but various cycling blogs were mentioning that the ride was doable and amazing.
By July, were locked in with a plan. On the birthday week, Syd, his wife Kate, Michele, and I rented a giant Sprinter van and headed north to Carmel.
Brian, my college roommate, met up with us in Carmel. Early on Sunday morning, we rode out without a lot of detail toward Big Sur, hoping to find our way.
After a bit of riding in circles, looking at maps, and stressful conversations, we found the entrance to trail up to Big Sur.
The trail up is switchbacks with stairs in places with about 800 feet elevation gain over a mile. Not a huge hike, but carrying bikes made it hard work.
We got to the top with no real idea of what we were going to find. After a few miles, we rolled past the remnants of the hiker crowd and were alone on the road. The fog was in and we couldn’t even see the sea. Only the road ahead of us.
With 5 more days of riding ahead of us, we were leary to head too far and turn the day into a sufferfest, but the hook had been set. Riding PCH without cars was unique opportunity.
The next five days we spent riding in Monterey, Paso Robles, Solvang, and Los Olivios, returning home to South Pasadena tired and happy.
Michele and I knew the window was closing on riding PCH again, as CalTrans was making a huge effort to build a new bridge and re-open the road. The estimate we heard was re-opening by the end of September.
After July’s week of riding, Michele and I couldn’t stop discussing PCH and made plans to make a special trip for it for her birthday. This time, we’d be ready and ride as far as we wanted.
The sky was drizzling Friday night when arrived in Carmel and we hoped for good weather, as this was likely our last real chance to ride PCH before it re-opened.
We headed to Pfeiffer Big Sur Park, parked, and began our adventure.
The highway has a lot of ups and downs, so we went back and forth from dramatic, enjoyable descents to slow, arduous climbs. We made it to Lucia, which is basically a wide spot in the road with a small gift shop. Lucia is 20+ miles in from where we hiked up onto the highway. Other cyclists were here as well, refueling. We sat down, ate the sandwiches we had brought, and smiled.
We decided to turn around here and head back. The actual edge where the road stopped was another 12 miles down. This would turn an already long ride into a painful 70+ mile ride. We opted for fun instead.
The ride back was uneventful, drama-wise. I had prepped with extra tubes, chain breaker, patch kit, etc., but never got a chance to use any of it.
The sun came out and our views got even more beautiful. We stopped to look and listen to the elephant seals. Climbing out, we rested several times after the longer climbs. I daydreamed about eating a chocolate bar. Michele daydreamed about jumping into a jacuzzi.
After the ride back, we hiked down the path to the campgrounds, slowly descending back to civilization.
Back at the car, covered in sweat salt & dirt, we were nothing but smiles.
It’s unlikely we’ll get the opportunity to ride PCH without cars again and I’m glad we made the effort. If you can squeeze a ride in before the highway re-opens, DO IT.
