San Francisco to Indio, California
San Simeon Village to Santa Barbara
The riding from San Simeon to my next stop of Pismo Beach was mostly on roads with rolling hills other than the long climb out of Cambria 8km after leaving the motel at San Simeon - another hill that I had forgotten about! Overall, the views were very limited as I rode with light fog as a constant companion until about noon when the sun started to burn off the mist.
At least the highway had a nice wide shoulder all the way to Morro Bay where I was able to leave Highway 1 and take some back roads through the countryside of the Los Osos Valley. Pretty well all farm and pasture lands. My map sent me over a long climb while on this route via Turri Road, it was supposed to be a shortcut but with the grind up the long hill and back down again I didn't see it as much of a shortcut but rather as pain for not much gain!
After being in the countryside for a while, I was glad to get back to the coast at Pismo Beach as it is much more interesting riding with ocean views rather than grasslands etc. Pismo Beach, Grover Beach and Oceano are all part of one big long beach recreation area that is known as the Oceano Dunes. All the guys with their fancy 4 x 4's and Dune Buggies frequent this area, and of course, as it was the weekend, the place was packed and noisy. But this was my planned stop as it was much further to the next lodging or camping opportunity.
I passed the North Beach campground due to reports that there was supposed to be a better facility with showers at the South Beach campground in Oceano, about 5km south. I arrived there to discover that the campground has been closed for construction all year! All the motels were either full or super expensive so I pedalled on back 5km to the North Beach - no hiker/biker sites there anymore and all the regular sites were full! But there was a promise of a site at the County Park back at Oceano 5km south again!
I'd passed this park but it looked more like a storage yard. Sure enough they had sites, but the place leaves a lot to be desired - it is next to the noisy highway at one side and the railroad tracks on the other - not to mention full of shady looking characters and rednecks! I was stuck next to one such bunch, but luckily about an hour after I arrived a couple of young guys on bikes showed up to share my meagre area - which was an unlevelled dirt area next to the neighbouring fire pit by the way! There were showers (next to the urinals) but no curtain so one was exposed to all visitors! Anyway, I was glad of the company at my site and felt a bit safer - safety in numbers and all that! The two guys, Darius and Ben, live in Los Angeles and are riding north to San Francisco, so had lots of questions for me about the route that I had covered. I'm glad that I could help them out, I even lent them my Adventure Cycling map for the section that I had ridden as I had finished with it for now - I gave them my address to return the map to, but still after quite a months I have not received it - I thought that I could trust a fellow cyclist, but there you are!
If you ever have the chance, do NOT stay at Coastal Dunes County Park unless you're desperate - that's all I can say!
By the way, I bumped into Tyler again as he has slowed down again after his long day in the saddle to San Simeon. He had stayed at the County Park too, but in area well away from mine, hence the lack of us meeting up there - he was not impressed either after being stuck next to a rowdy birthday party crowd that revelled into the wee hours!
So after the campground from hell, I set off for Lompoc going inland again as the Vandenberg Base blocks the coastal route for Highway 1. Rain showers, sometimes heavy continued for most of the very boring ride through agricultural areas that seemed to go on forever; very boring and wet ride with rotting cabbage and cauliflower smell as an accompaniment. I stopped in Guadalupe for a snack and to put on more rain gear then pedalled on.
The only challenge today was the Harris Grade Rd. which goes up to about 960ft. in a very short time - lots of hairpins to negotiate on both up and down sections. There was a tow truck about half-way down the descent, he had the job of hauling a car off the hillside that had launched itself over the edge and landed on a steep incline on the hillside. The woman driver had already been evacuated by the paramedics and fire fighters then taken to hospital. The tow truck driver told me that the car never rolled but landed flat on its belly, well, as flat as it could on that incline - that probably saved the driver's life?
Pretty well a downhill run all the way into Lompoc from the Harris Grade Rd. where I met up with Tyler again at the Starbucks in downtown Lompoc - that's were he told me of his night at the crappy campground on the previous night!
Lompoc's a big strip mall of a city and has all the usual array of stores and fast food joints found in so many larger towns and cities nowadays. There is a Federal Prison nearby as well as the huge Vandenberg base, which I would image fuel a lot of the economy here what with visitors etc. Good for me though as there are lots of motels at a reasonable price to stay at, even on a weekend!
Leaving Lompoc it was one long grind to over 900 some feet. But unlike yesterday which was a much steeper grade, today's climb was over many miles, so just punishment for a longer time ;-)
After about 30km Highway 1 ended and all traffic joins the freeway of Highway 101. Soon after that the ocean is in view again and the riding, albeit on a freeway, quite relaxing on a very wide shoulder. I stopped to eat my sandwich close to where I camped last year at El Capitan State park and then continued on to Goleta, which a suburb of Santa Barbara - actually the area of Santa Barbara airport.
All in all, an uneventful ride today other than having a couple of touring cyclists pass me and yell something with their Aussie accents. Without my hearing aids, that I cannot ride with due to excess wind noise, I couldn't make out the exact phrase, but recognised the accent - hope it was something nice that they said?
More in a few days - I plan a rest day tomorrow when I will be in Ventura.
AdamK and Basil, "Back to the beaches!"
