pdxsforider

I rode from Cape Lookout to San Francisco, well to Danville, CA to be exact. I really appreciated all the advice and information provided on this forum so I wanted to share my experience with others, so they could benefit.

First let me say there is no right way to do this. I could have easily shed several days off the trip if I had wanted to, but I wanted a leisurely pace so that I could explore the various areas. I typically got to camp in the early afternoon the earliest was 11:30am and the latest was 3pm. I got up at 6am and was typically riding by 7:30am. My shortest day was about 44 miles my longest 74. I met people who were faster and slower, it really is a function of what you want. To me it was not about the destination, if that was the case I would have flown. I wanted to have ample time to explore places as a rode as well as be able to explore the various state parks I camped at. I did a fully self-supported ride, camped at the hiker/biker camps and cooked as well. The nice thing about this was that I got to meet lots of people, mostly foreigners. However if you wanted to stay at hotels and eat out each night you could easily do it. The hiker/biker camps are very inexpensive $5-$10 a night. I also did go out for meals on occasion and always stopped for a beer or two in the afternoon, especially when a good brewery was on the route!

My schedule along with the actual miles I did. is attached:

I generally followed the Bicycling the Pacific Coast guide. Even though the book is out of date it still has lots of useful information in it. There were two issues though: The camp site at Marine Garden Grove is now Burlington, Marine Garden is for groups only, an additional 2 miles to Burlington, but they have showers. Manchester Beach was closed, so I went to the KOA up the street which was a killer deal $10, hot tub, and showers.

I brought two spare tubes and had two flats. I was able to repair one tube the other was shot. My total mileage was ~ 840 miles, that includes the ride from Bart in Dublin to Danville. I would bring three tubes. I was going to get another tube in Fort Brag after my 2nd flat, but the bike shop was closed for two weeks. I also found that by the 2nd week I could tell my chain needed to be oiled, it was not shifting as smooth as it normally did, fortunately someone left a can of oil at one of the hiker biker camps so I was able to lubricate my chain.

I was not the slowest nor the fastest, I typically averaged 11 -13 miles moving speed an hour depending on the terrain. I am 56 years old.
This was a fantastic trip I really enjoyed it; a bucket list item that I had wanted to do for some time. If you want to see my daily posts of the ride take a look at my Instagram OCIR_Adventures. I hope you find this useful.

Enjoy!