joeyajames

There is no construction. They haven't even started fixing it yet. So I don't think you'd have any problems with cops or construction teams stopping you. Probably just a roadblock before the washout that you could walk around.

Cycle Tourist

It's a pretty good nice ride from LA to the closure and back. The SF route and back is quite nice too. If you find you can circumvent the wash out so much the better. On the North, Big Sur campsite is wonderful. On the South, San Simeon is the closest. How about an airport in Willits or Ukiah as a start and head to Fort Bragg and then south to SF?

mikemc59

If one is really serious about making the trip from Santa Cruz to LA in March, and if the road construction has not begun, one could ride up to the barriers and using
a pair of disposable (or leave behind) waders or boots to get thru all the muck. You might need to walk a ways inland away from the drop off to get around, but it would
save you quite a bit of detours and climbing. The advantage here would be the amount of limited sightseeing traffic....

skidder

Be aware: if you're planning on taking the 101 south of Salinas as shown on some of the maps above there are VERY few services along there until you get to Paso Robles (south of King City and up a grade) if going all the way on 101. Soledad has some services, but everything south of there is basically 'big ag' farming communities. And the shoulder of Hwy 101 tends to have a lot of tire-puncturing debris on it through the Salinas Valley.

Another idea would be to take Amtrak from the Soledad/Salinas area south to San Luis Obispo (check the schedule to verify where connections are in the Salinas Valley, I believe its the 'Coast Starlight' line). From SLO you can head 'westerly' to the coast and the Pismo Beach/Avila Beach area, pick up HWY 1 and continue south to L.A. or San Diego.

Redshift96

PLEASE, also be forewarned that the stretch of 101 from south of King City to north of Greenfield, even through Gilroy (including the parallel access road/s) can be RIDICULOUSLY windy. Like... unbelievably so, if you happen to be there when they're howling. Which I suspect is most afternoons. I've stopped for gas in Greenfield late in the day and found it impossible to stand straight up while filling up. Hopefully some folks who have biked that stretch can chime in about timing. But I would take great pains to avoid that area regardless. Unless someone can confirm from personal experience that a combination of timing and direction would result in a tailwind... in that case you'd probably average better than 30mph for that stretch!! In all seriousness though, I'm pretty sure that the Greenfield winds are never a tailwind. My recollection is that they come in over the coastal mountains, meaning they'd be a crosswind. And man... if you were descending with a tailwind into Greenfield after doing the Carmel River Valley climb up over the ridge... that would be quite the white knuckle ride. It does prompt me to wonder however... if you rode up from the coast in the afternoon with a tailwind pushing you up, ,that would be a lark! Then maybe renegade camp below the ridgeline, and do the descent as early as possible the next day, maybe you could make it south in time to escape the worst of the afternoon hurricane-force winds.

Even aside from the wind, the scenic value of the 101 corridor is not particularly high after the first 10 minutes, and it's a long noisy haul alongside the endless high speed traffic, trucking exhaust and often-obnoxious odors of the endless large scale farm fields covering the Salinas Valley floor. Not to mention the stench of the occasional oil fields like those around San Ardo.

Surely /there are other (older) alternative inland routes that could get you down the Salinas Valley without dealing with the traffic/grit/ winds of 101. Possibly look into the old El Camino Real / California Missions route/s. I believe that some of the brevet routes (and past AIDS rides, iirc?) followed those routes, at least in part.

Lastly, if you are in shape and properly equipped for demands/conditions, and can find a gravel/dirt/unpaved route through Big Sur/Los Padres that gets you where you want to end up, I would definitely consider it. It would make for one hell of a challenging, but epic ride... like bucket list level adventure.

Redfish22

Will take likely 2 years to repair

indyfabz

You first. With a loaded bike. Post a video on YouTube. Everyone else recommending it go next.

Cyclist0108

Why would it take so much longer than the 2017 bridge repair, which was a vastly larger undertaking?

diphthong

because Redfish22 booked campsites/hotels/tickets along the route prior to the washout. you know how it is with construction...if it affects you, it takes forever.
if it doesn't, it's like "oh...that's done already?!" that...plus it's a (theoretically) smaller undertaking so less cashish and manpower thrown at it than the previous hwy 1 endeavor.
not to minimize the state's prioritization on reopening/keeping the stretch open at whatever cost...

murphys

There is already a path where CalTrans engineers (presumably) having been studying slide area soils. Right now there is still some water flow in that creek. March can be pretty wet, if it is raining the “red line hike around” could be dicey. Not something you would want to try in road shoes. Use mtb shoes, be prepared to unload racks and take a few trips around the slide. Rains are usually over by end of March.

nvossoug

Thanks so much. I figured as much. I spoke to people at the chamber of commerce there and it appears pretty clear that passage would be super tough under the circumstances. I'm planning to travel via Carmel valley and may just give myself an extra day to make it through the mountains and down the back side of pfeifer.

afm199

Yeah, the passage is tough, though I hear it is supposed to open soon.

The Carmel Valley route is nice, beware the speeders as you get further toward 101.

I'm not sure what you mean by the back side of Pfeiffer. I guess Pfeiffer State Park. That area gets a LOT of rain, like 50 inches a year, and it's rainy season, so bear that in mind.

afm199

That took over a year, if I recall correctly. The Rat Creek slide is only weeks old. I used to live right by the bridge.

If anyone is planning on using "rural" or "gravel" roads, they basically don't exist, and if they do, many are private. This area is extremely rugged and remote. I've biked it before and the only time I would do it is summer, but then there are so many tourists, including RVs with huge mirrors, that I won't do it anymore. Honestly, this is some scary bicycling these days.

pdlamb

IIRC the 2017 mudslide took about 18 months to repair, and it happened at the end of the rainy season.

Relevance? If 2021 turns out to be similar to 2017, it'll take about six months to start engineering the repair (time for the rain to start and remaining soil to settle), instead of three months in 2017. CalTrans will then have to design the bridge, prepare the site, and install footings and abutments, and then put the bridge on top of the foundation. It might be possible to shave a couple weeks off the 2017 repair time after construction starts. But then again, weather delays (including possible landslides at other places along the PCH which could deny access for a while) could delay it even more.

Bottom line, I think two years is a pretty good guess at how long it'll take to repair it at this time.

Redfish22

I hope it takes less. Just a lot going on now with COVID and 2020 fires

Darth Lefty 

I looked at both Trailforks and the Strava heat map and there’s really not much, is there? Legit or not. There’s a road in the mountains. Ironically Ventana Mountain Bikes is named after the local forest with no bike route.

Latest news. They are clearing the slide even though they haven’t designed what they’re going to build yet.

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/l...249229880.html.

There was a landslide on the ARBT for about two years lately and the blockade was mostly cheerfully flaunted.

rydabent

Why not??? Closed roads with bridges out are a great place to ride. NO CARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

afm199

I'm not sure you are aware of just how far out in the wilds this is. And I'm not talking riding the road, I'm saying don't go cross that washed out portion. It's being worked on and you won't get a friendly reception.

trailangel

They are probably waiting to see when it rains again, how much more slides down.

afm199

I lived in Big Sur for years and still am in the area. They started working a while back. The reason these slides happen is almost always a plugged drain under the highway. The 36" culverts get plugged and the water overflows the highway.( not always, if you look at the grove of trees you can see a huge landslide in the background from many years ago at Partington, it was hillside erosion,)

Rat Creek. Work is going on on both sides of the sldie.

KFC

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35206348

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35123834

nvossoug

The plan now is to go via Carmel Valley. I'm sure there'll be lots of beautiful sights, although I also anticipate a pretty grueling 2 days of riding!

CAT7RDR

California is $54B+ in debt. I ponder where the money is coming from for these type of major construction projects?

Leinster

California's $54Bn deficit during a global pandemic isn't really a reason to delay infrastructure repair projects. Holding off on repairing the road would mean reduced access to a major tourist attraction, for longer, and increase the price of the repair when they do get around to it.

Cyclist0108

According to the associated press: