MY ride south along the Pacific Coast of the US saw it’s fair share of changes. I went from the lush temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest down to the dry and arid southern California climate. Leaving Olympia, I said goodbye to friends and family and got to experience my first birthday on the road with the flu which caused me to miss a concert in Portland with a friend. While being sick brought me down a bit, I didn’t let the wet weather dampen my mood. Sure I never really got dry for a few weeks, drained my solar panel because we never saw the sun, and struggled even to push my bike across the Columbia Rive Bridge leading into Oregon due to strong winds. But experiences like that only my life richer and more rewarding when you hear the news of a high pressure system moving in bringing WEEKS of sunshine!
Cycling in Oregon was a joy! Along the coast every campground had hiker/ biker sites and almost all had free hot showers! I can’t recall being that clean so regularly bike touring before! The Oregon coast definitely lived up to the hype about being beautiful, and I recommend this ride to everyone. While I was sad to see Oregon go, I was excited to make it to another state. Sadly, aside from a few stretches northern California could not live up to the joy of cycling in Oregon. Whereas in Oregon everything was open, the people more chill and relax, north California was a fenced in land. There was barbed wire and no trespassing signs everywhere and the people I ran into were generally standoffish. The views were still pretty spectacular though, so that was nice.
When I finally got to the Redwoods I started to fall in love with biking in California. I felt as if I was in another world, Endor (I know it’s a moon, people) perhaps. I constantly biked with my head looking up and my jaw wide open in awe of these enormous trees.
While in the Redwoods I met some amazing people, two of whom I would see again in Hollywood, Cetine and Isley.
After Christmas I spent a few days in San Francisco with my friend Jo from back in Minnesota I left the coast for a while to head to Yosemite. Biking across the valley to get to The Valley was quite boring, I thought the Midwest was flat but damn this was insane… until I reached foothills of the Sierras and my days of easy riding were over. But all the effort biking up the mountains was worth it for views like this.
I would spend a week in the Valley hiking, making new friends, and taking in all that I could before I had to leave Yosemite behind for now. One thing I know is I will be back and I will come with climbing gear that time.
After I left Yosemite and had two days of downhill riding I spent a while back in the flat lands of the valley, loving the ease of cycling but hating the views. One thing that really surprised me about while riding through California were the shear numbers of prisons. It seemed like every city had one, which is crazy and leads me to believe the system needs some tweaking.
I spent over a week in the LA area, seeing new friends and old. I hung out with Isley and Cetine while in Hollywood before heading south to Santa Ana to stay with my old friend Tad and meet some more internet friends IRL. Leaving LA I meandered south slowly to San Diego, taking my time so I could relax on beaches and enjoy the remainder of my time in the US.
Looking back over the past couple of months riding I can definitely say riding in Oregon was the highlight of my time on the west coast. I enjoyed most everything about my time in that state. While California and Washington both had their moments of being spectacular, Oregon never really stopped being amazing. The people, the route, and the beautiful scenery made biking their sublime.
