The End of the Beginning

The 12 months following the End of the Beginning of my adult working life

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Day 32: Living the Californian dream in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara: cool surf town with a great vibe.

I've never seen so many skateboarders (prompting memories of Santa Barbara landmarks from playing Tony Hawks as a child), all of whom seemed to be of professional standard. We had a fun day casually cycling around, eating out and relaxing. 

It was great in the evening to meet up with an old Uni friend and his girlfriend, Tim and Nicola. Bizarre to see an old friend from five years before but really great to meet up for a delicious dinner while overlooking the bay.

Would love to come back here on holiday one day.

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Day 31: Santa Maria to Santa Barbara. Fire, wind and cycling

The first two-thirds of today's cycle were fairly uneventful (except for a punctured tyre), as we pushed higher and higher up a road slightly inland from the coast with soaring temperatures. As we descended a massive hill to get back to the coast we noticed that there was an immensely strong tailwind. Hurrah! Or so we thought.

While it was an awesome experience to be 'pushed' up a hill by the wind on the final section, the fun soon changed as we turned at a 90 degree angle along with the road. The immense tailwind was now on our side. We were barely able to stay up and a motorcyclist in front of us lost part of his luggage in front of our eyes. Which is when we came across the fires. 

A motorcade of about 30 Fire trucks and a new crew were parked in the side lane (where we cycle), which pushed us in to the dual carriageway. As we passed, I was hit by an extra strong gush that pushed me in to the side of one of the trucks. It was too dangerous to go on so we took shelter behind some of the vehicles. The kind firemen of California came to our rescue and allowed us to sit in their truck while we worked out what to do. In the meantime, over 100 firefighters worked on putting out a forest fire which threatened to close the road with thick smoke. Fortunately the wind was blowing it out to sea.

Ultimately, on the advice of the news crew and firemen, we decided it was too dangerous to continue cycling with the high winds. We caught a lift the remaining miles in to Santa Barbara. What a place to arrive. Probably my favourite destination of the whole cycle, Santa Barbara was the epitome of everything Californian. Surrounded by big mountains on one side and with beautiful beaches on the other, it's natural beauty drew us in immediately. I felt another rest day coming on...

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Day 30: Morro Bay to Santa Maria

After the disastrous previous day, thankfully we had an easier time of it on this ride. Now firmly in a more arid, desert like Southern California we pushed through on dry, dusty roads. We passed a car show at Pismo Beach and had a delicious smoothie. We were also given some free inner tubes at a stand (which were to come in handy...)

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Day 29: Kirk Creek Campground to Morro Bay (Birthday special!)

WOO HOO! What a way to remember your 28th birthday, I thought, as I woke up to a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. Today will be great, I thought, as I got ready to embrace another beautiful oceanside pedal. As long as I can contact my friends and family who I dearly miss, I couldn't wait to enjoy every minute of the day.

All I needed was an internet connection.

A connection on my phone that would allow me to Whatsapp my family, to Factime my girlfriend Caroline, to read any messages via email or Facebook that anyone had sent me. And how hard could it be to get an internet connection - we'd found them easily everyday so far within an hours cycling. 

My excitement quickly turned to disappointment, as hour after hour of cycling we could not find anywhere that had wifi access. Each cafe we stopped in yielded nothing. Cycling becomes a lot more mentally challenging when you are keen, or desperate to get to your destination. And so we pedalled, through the intense heat of the day for hours while I sunk deeper and deeper in to an internet-free frenzy of anger. If I couldn't get it soon, it would be too late to contact my friends and family! To her credit, Jenny tried her best to help me see the funny side of it, and while I tried, it was becoming increasingly difficult. Until we came across our old friend, Best Western. By now, I knew that all Best Western's had free internet, so as we sat down to enjoy a break (Apple pie for Jenny, Internet for me) I was able to finally receive and send messages. Relief!

Communications sent and a happy birthday boy later, we set off to reach our destination for the evening, Cayucos. It turned out to be a hard cycle, with a strong headwind making each pedal harder than the last. We were relieved to finally arrive, especially as we decided to get accommodation for the evening as a birthday treat. Or at least that was the plan. 13 hotel and B&Bs later, we were forced to leave the town. Due to a local University graduation ceremony there was no accommodation available. Nightmare! We hadn't encountered this once on our trip so hadn't planned for such a contingency. We'd have to cycle on to Morro Bay. The only problem was that it was already getting dark and the cycle was another 15 miles away.

As we cycled in to Morro Bay, some homeless cyclists joined us, briefly muttering to Jenny something about murder. We decided to leave them to it. After enquiring at about 10 hotels, we finally found the only room in the city available. A room that cost over double anything we'd paid anywhere. Still it would allow us to finish the cycle in almost the complete dark and head for dinner. 

I must call out Jenny's awesome attitude and help she gave me this day to keep my morale up and to bring us through the day as a team. I would have really struggled without her support and we ended up having an awesome meal that night (with a couple of drinks) to celebrate. Thanks Jenny!

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Day 28: Carmel to the Big Sur

A stunning cycle along this world famous road. With dramatic landscapes (and a lot of uphill cycling) it made for a memorable days ride. We also passed this cult-like place which was recommended for it's spa but were unfortunately unable to pop in.

In some ways, however, the Oregon coast had provided similarly stunning scenery but had the added benefit of being virtually empty. 

Still, a stunning cycle before arriving at an equally stunning campsite for the night before my birthday! It was at this campsite that we bumped in to our friend, Clint, from a previous campsite. He introduced us to a fellow cyclist he'd met, Dustin, who turned out to own some sushi restaurants in San Diego. He invited us to dine their when we arrived - a great incentive! Along with a world famous denim designer called Ubi, we all drank a little wine and ate marshmallows as we watched the sunset around a campfire. Not a bad way to spend my last night as a 27 year old!

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Day 27: Resting in Carmel, CA

When we arrived in Carmel it was obvious- we had to spend a full day here. With beautiful weather, this beautiful village with it's plethora of restaurants and boutique cafes and shops seemed like the perfect place to relax. And relax we did. I can see why it's one of the most desirable places to live in America and why many of the rich and famous choose to have homes or retire here. It had the charm of a rural French coastal town, the restaurant scene of a trendy city and the beautiful Californian beach. Bliss!

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Sunset at Carmel

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Jenny on the 17 Mile Drive

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DAY 26: Santa Cruz to Carmel

The first part of this cycle was hard going mentally due to the relative lack of beauty on the ride. Although we passed through some beautiful farmland with the sweet smell of strawberries in the air, for the most part we cycled through scrubland alongside busy roads.

However, once we'd reached Monterey everything changed. This picturesque town marked the beginning of some of the most stunning cycling we'd seen since leaving Victoria. The famous '17 Mile Drive' gave us beautiful beach landscapes to admire as we pedalled toward Carmel. 

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Day 25 (Night): Our first warmshower experience...

Cycle tourers unite!

The genius who came up with the concept behind the aptly named www.warmshowers.org deserves several large medals/trophies. Why?

This site connects cycle tourers, who are willing to offer accommodation/warm showers in their houses to other cycle tourers. More often than not for free. Others we'd met on the road had spoken very highly of the site and of several places they had stayed in. It didn't take much more than that to persuade us that we should give it a go!

After Jenny had set up a profile the day before, we had a very kind offer from Anne Berne to let us stay in a spare room at her place in Santa Cruz the following day. After cycling over 80 miles that day from San Francisco, it was a relief to know we'd be sleeping in a bed rather than on the ground. We had no idea just how great the evening would be however.

Anne warmly welcomed us with her tenant as well as her boyfriend. After settling in to our own room, we got showered and all headed out to get a dinner at a local restaurant which Anne recommended. What a place! Clearly from all her previous cycle touring experience, Anne knew about the appetites of hungry cyclists! It was great to be able to speak with Anne and the others about Santa Cruz and to get local views and tips. Thanks Anne, Eric and Anne's flat mate!

Jenny has a photo of us all together - will add ASAP!

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Santa Cruz resting

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Day 25: San Francisco to Santa Cruz (84 miles!)

Most people take two days to cycle from SF to SC, however, after two days of rest in SF we felt strong and decided to bosh it out in one day. After a strong coffee in the famous hippie area, Ashbury Heights, we pounded along a fairly busy section of road by the sea.

The day's riding was fairly arduous at first with busy roads and at points, no cycle lane/area. However, as the day went on it became more and more pretty. This was definitely helped by the strong tailwinds that helped us push out an average of 16mph over a two hour period (very fast for cycle touring!). After another of what I called the 'miracle stops' (where Jenny would transform from being on her last legs to being all-smiles and bounding with energy after eating some sort of cake/desert), we set off the push through the final 30 miles. 

With only a few miles to go, a huge coincidence happened. I noticed that a cycle path had emerged alongside the main road so pulled in at the nearest opportunity. As I did, a couple of cyclists on mountain bikes were heading in the opposite direction so I waved them down to ask if the path would take us in to Santa Cruz. The man confirmed that the path did and then asked me if my name was Mark Rushmore?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!!?!

I was taken aback that this random man, who had been passing at that exact moment after we'd been on the road for 6 or 7 hours would know who I was. I suddenly remembered that my friend from uni, Julia Mair, who had spent a year in Santa Cruz University had got in contact with a friend of hers to ask for some top SC tips on my behalf. Low and behold, this was her friend who happened to be cycling past at that exact moment. A few seconds later and we'd never have met. It really is a small world.

We felt great as we arrived on the Santa Cruz pier; not only had we cycled  our longest distance yet and saved a days cycling but we were also going to try out www.warmshowers.com for the first time...more about which in the next blog post!

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Days 23 & 24: San Fran, man.

Our amazing friend and host, Dan, who had only moved to San Fran from Dublin with Google a few weeks before we arrived, sorted us out for a couple of days.

Not only did Dan provide us shelter in his hill top mega pad in the famous Castro area but he also personally showed us around the various bars and restaurants in the surroundings areas (including the trendy Mission area). 

The highlight for me, however, had to be a trip to the headquarters of the internet: Google Campus. Given the influence that Google has had over the last decade and the fame it's achieved for it's 'wacky' offices I was very excited to have a look. It's funny that while on holiday, I'd want to visit the offices of a friend. But this is Google and it didn't disappoint.

Arriving through a total lack of security checks (you can walk to the front door), we met Dan beside the Google Bikes (which anyone can use to get from building to building). As we set off on our cycle we passed other Googlers playing Beach Volleyball, in upside down yoga poses, hanging around chatting, heading toward one of the many canteens. In essence, it felt like a university campus (and everyone is not far off university age). We got to see some really cool things (not least, the grand piano being played perfectly in the atrium of an otherwise anonymous building) and best of all, we ate one of the free meals (delicious). If you're ever in San Fran/Mountain View and have a friend working at Google, I'd highly recommend visiting.

Thanks Dan for being an amazing, patient and generous host - you really helped make our San Fran stop a relaxing break before we set off to complete the final 700 miles!

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Day 22: Tomales to San Francisco!

Big day. Making it to San Francisco had a huge psychological element to it. If we could make it to San Fran, then we could probably make the whole journey. It had crept up on us as we cycled for 9 days in a row without a rest day (hardcore!) and now we were here. Final few miles to go.

As it happens, the ride between Tomales and San Fran is a popular one among weekend cyclists and we spent the day in the company of dozens if not hundreds of lycra clad hardcore weekenders. Great to have a chat with a lot of these guys and girls who gave us advice as we got closer and closer to our day's final destination. 

At lunch we had to escape the heat by ducking in to a cafe for an hour in the air conditioning. However, bizarrely just after we climbed a hill only a couple of miles from our lunch spot, the temperature dropped as we descended in to Fairfax. We must be getting close to San Fran, I thought.

As we entered Sausalito, the wind picked up (almost pushing Jenny over) and the cloud came in, as is usual in San Fran. Crossing the bridge was a seminal moment for us both as we knew we'd got over the hardest parts of the cycle. Epic!

We then chose the steepest hill in San Fran (already famous for it's hills) to climb up to get to our friend's house in the Castro area. Possibly not a wise plan but the adrenaline from the day got us up (somehow). Now for a couple of days rest with Dan. It'd been a tough 9/10 days of solid cycling but the net result was that we had arrived a day early, had many adventures and could now have an extended break. Ahhhhhhh

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Day 21 (continued): Kindness of strangers part two

After meeting Anthony and Penny, I didn't think we'd meet anyone else who could come close in terms of kindness to strangers. Then 20 miles later, just after we'd crossed the 1000 mile barrier and just as Jenny was about to mutiny due to soreness, we entered the town of Tomales.

Tomales, however, was about 18 miles short of our intended destination and with little or no accommodation (it was hard to work out which), and with Jenny barely able to move, we were in a tough position. So what to do? We went to eat at the Sausage Sandwich shop.

Fortunately, while there we met a very kind lady called Susan who we got chatting to. Upon hearing our predicament, Susan very kindly and unexpectedly offered us to sleep at her house in her pop up caravan! Having met us only minutes earlier, she had offered to bring us to her home for shelter and for a shower. Incredible. We were genuinely taken aback as this offered a solution to a potentially big problem. 

Susan could not have been more welcoming and friendly and we proceeded to have a great nights sleep. We all went out for breakfast the next morning and said our goodbyes. Much like with Anthony and Penny only hours earlier, we were so touched by Susan's generosity in helping us out. It's amazing how kind people can be and certainly something that will stick with me and hopefully, remind me to help others as I have been helped. Thank you so much Susan. Again, please do look me up if you ever make it over to the UK, as I would love to return the favour!

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Day 21: meeting some of the kindest people I've ever met

One of the highlights of cycle touring for me is the amazing people you meet along the way. People that in your everyday life you might not get the chance to stop to speak to, or whom you pass unknowingly. Without a doubt, on our way to Tomales from Gualala, we were lucky enough to meet Anthony and Penny, a couple from San Antonio, Texas. 

They had seen us cycling past them, and as avid cyclists themselves had got out of their car and crossed to a little cafe where Jenny and I had stopped to take on water. Americans from the South are known for their hospitality but Anthony and Penny could not have been more welcoming nor friendly as they kindly offered to buy us some food for our trip! A couple of banana fritters in caramel sauce later, we sat around discussing our trip, our route, our bikes and finding out all about their trip around this part of California and Anthony's time in the navy. 

They were full of enthusiasm for our cycle, kindness in their offers of help and in buying us food and helpful tips. More than anything though, they gave us a huge morale boost, as we both were genuinely moved by their generosity and warm nature. 

Thank you Anthony and Penny, I truly hope that I can repay you one day and that if you are ever in London, you'll look me up so that I can return the favour!

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Day 21: Gualala to Tomales

What a day! Some of the most beautiful scenery as we cycled along the coast (you can see in the photo both fog from the sea and then sun just inland), the cold of the fog keeping us at a nice temperature, We then entered Sonoma county, famous for its wines. Incredibly scenic- check out the photos!

Best of all though were the people we met, who made a HUGE difference to morale - so much so, I'm going to post about them seperately