and more pixs

more pixs

Day 1 pixs...

Day 1....rough...naturally.

Day 1
A very frustrating 30 miles....and a very redundant 30 miles at most.

A long busy travel day. Drove from Crozet to Ric airport at 4am and didn't get to San Francisco until high noon (pacific time). Got very little sleep on flights to say the least and only managed to snag a bag of trail mix the entire day....oh yeh and half of a Subway sub...which = nothing.

Once I reached the airport I took the BART to Oakland to fetch my bicycle. Thank goodness it was there and well tended too with no issues to report. I assembled it infront of the Amtrak before heading back across the bay and in search of the infamous Golden Gate Bridge.

All i can say is that San Francisco is one awesome town! I was not expecting such variety in architecture, colors, and energy of the place. Nor was I expecting such breathtaking scenery right in the bay area...nor was I expecting to see the real deal Alcatrez island.

I then got lost through the city streets of San Francisco.
I am fried right now...not from sunburn but from exhaustion.
It's always a hard transition into a bicycle touring lifestyle and trying to find ones way around via bicycle through a busy busy city ain't easy.

Anyways, here's hoping for more great weather tomorrow as I move away from this city and more towards the infamous Pacific coast and down Highway 1.

I am fried and going to sleep in Daly City.

This time tomorrow.....

This time tomorrow I'll soon be touching down in San Francisco Int'l Airport.

Can't believe my departure date has approached so fast.

As with every trip there are such a rollercoaster of feelings and questions that roll through my mind.

Am I prepared well enough? is the route I mapped out realistic for the alloted amount of time? will my bicycle get there in one piece? etc etc.

It's like this before every bike trip I find and usually by the second day or say I start to find a rhythm and seem to shed the comforts and routines of "civilized" lifestyle and transform into someone that lives and adapts to the surroundings and landscapes around me.

A chameleon of sorts.

Been reading the book "The Anza Trail" and it's very inspirational as to what those folks back in the late 1770s were able to accomplish without any roads or maps of how to get from southern Arizona to San Francisco.  Add on the constant threat of Apache ambushes and slow progress through the deserts and unpredictable, and often time brackish and unsuitable, drinking water.

Anyways, just woke up after working three nights of night shift, so if this blog post portrays itself as a bunch of rambling and incoherent sentences, then it prob is (esp seeing I don't proofread prior to clicking the "post" button).

I'm ready to start and very, very excited to explore so much new territory.  Who knows what and who I'll meet along this 1,100 mile journey through such varying terrain.

That's the beauty of travel by bicycle I reckon....

Plane leaves tomorrow at 0700 from Richmond.

Time to tie up any remaining loose ends......

Bicycle Shipped...one week until I am.

Dropped my bicycle and gear off at the Amtrak station in Charlottesville.  

Of course it took two hours between explaining to the desk clerk what I was having done, where I needed bicycle box to go, when I needed it to be there by....by the end of it all he discovered that there is no Express Amtrak shipping to any station in San Francisco.

Blargh!

He gave me the phone number to Greyhound and suggested I try having them ship it to San Francisco.  I hauled the cumbersome box out to the car again and called up Greyhound to find it would take 7-10 days to get the bike box out there.

No thanks.

After a second round of discussing options with the desk clerk behind the Amtrak counter we concluded that shipping to Oakland, CA would be the next best thing.

And so it was settled.  

It should only take 4-5 days, perfect, and only cost $60.00 to ship.

Fortunately, San Francisco has something called the BART (Bay Area  Rapid Transit, very similar to metro system).  Judging from the maps it shouldn't be too hard to get from the airport and across the bay to Oakland Amtrak station, pick up bike box, take the BART back to Golden Gate bridge area and start the journey.

Of course, things are always appear easier in writing.

Just 5 days or so until I fly from Richmond to San Francisco.

My legs are getting restless to get this trip going....

Anza Trail...who knew?

Well, was flipping through a book of maps/trail in America and saw that the route I have planned out follows nearly most of what is known as the Juan Bautista de Anza Historical Trail.

I did some online research and found a book on amazon.com about it. Ordered it today and hope to read it a little before and during bike trip.

Rather than type about the significance of the trail I'll just post a link from the park service about it.  

Cool stuff to say the least.

http://www.nps.gov/juba/planyourvisit/index.htm

Route Update

Well, getting closer to departure date of April 15th.

Been busy getting some decently long rides in, esp with this warm spring weather!

When able I let my mind brainstorm route modifications as to make the most of where I will be bicycle touring through.

Original plan was to bike from San Francisco to San Diego and head east to Phoenix.

Then I got to thinking....

Last year I biked L.A. to San Diego....basically lots of city biking.  

So rather than bike over old pavement, esp thru city, I'll head east at Ventura, CA and go around L.A. 

This change in course will roll me through some very desirable sights:  Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear Lake, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Salton Sea.

I'm especially excited about checking another Nt'l Park off of my list (so far I've been fortunate enough explore 12 National Parks).

Well, that's it for now.

Next step is getting a bike box and shipping my bicycle out to San Francisco via Amtrak, which I'll do in a couple weeks or so....

Bike Tour Snapshots of 2009 Season

The Details....

April 15th marks the beginning of my 2010 bike touring season.

I'll be flying to San Francisco, CA and biking down the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route to San Diego, CA.  I'll then turn my bicycle east and head towards Phoenix, AZ and fly back home.

It's about 1,100 miles total and I'll have about 13 days of bike travel.  

Between the ACA maps and the book "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" I shouldn't get lost too much right?  Skimming through the book there appears to be a lot of places to get out of the saddle and hike around.  This should be very doable seeing the daily average miles need be only around 85 miles/day.   

Such attractions along this route:  

Golden Gate Bridge, Anu Nuevo State Reserve, Natural Bridges State Park, Big Sur, McCay Canyon, Hearst Castle, Pismo Sand Dune Reserve, Yuha Desert, Chocolate Mountains....just to rattle off a few attractions.  

I'll be using my usual bike set up: Fuji Roubaix with the bolt on seat post rack.  This will encourage me to pack light.  

I've been training as much as this winter season allows and already feel very strong on the bike despite the relatively low miles I've been able to put in....

Another month and a half to clean up bike, put on new chain, cables, etc and continue training and making of flexible itinerary. .....

Reflections...

Well, with cabin fever comes the motivation to map out the year in a casual way. 

After a tough 2009 bike touring season I'm hoping for better in 2010.  I've had much time with being snowed in all winter to analyze the various tours I did in 2009:

x2 day Los Angeles to San Diego

x2 day trip on Delmarva Peninsula

x4 day Central Colorado Trip

x3 day Allegheny Mtns Bike Loop

(I had planned on biking from VA to Maine but that fell through before it even began.)

With each of those trips in 2009 I learned a good bit about how being prepared physically, mentally, emotionally and mechanically can all contribute to a successful bike tour; regardless of it being a 2 day or 40 day trip.  I hope to carry these lessons with me on each intended tour for 2010.  So, here's to an exciting year ahead in the world of bike touring!  With many miles of roads yet still to explore!