Reasons 3285 - 3783

After two beautiful sunny days in San Francisco we headed out towards our next destination. The morning that we rode out on was really foggy and decently cold. But we didn't complain, it wasn't rain. We just rode down the lane. Enjoying the terrain, which wasn't mundane.

It was a little tricky getting out of San Francisco, but we managed and found ourselves on highway one going South. Everything was going well. Throughout the day we had a lot of hills to climb, but it eventually flattened out for a stretch. Being on flat land felt good, so we were riding along at a good pace. Then disaster kind of struck. There were a bunch of nails on the shoulder of the road. Nathan was ahead of me and a nail went through his back tire and out through the side of his tire. The head of the nail was sticking up a bit and caught the edge of his fender which scrunched it up really good and pinched his wheel in place. Nathan’s back tire stopped and was shredded on the bottom where it was in contact with the road. He fell almost immediately.

I was behind Nathan and rammed into him with my bike. I was slowing down so I didn't hit him as hard as I could've. I topple over him and not even sure how I fell or even how my bike fell. I was okay so I frantically went over to Nathan to make sure that he was okay. He had some scrapes and some bruises but he was altogether whole.

The whole situation was very dramatic. It could have led to a broken bone or a sprain, which in turn could have delayed our tour. Our bikes for the most part were fine as well, just some minor touch ups. We crashed right outside of Half Moon Bay Airport, so there were a few people who saw us crash and came over. One of the guys to come over was a deputy officer and called over the fire department to come take a look at us and see if we were okay. The firefighters were really close by and they were really nice about it. The Deputy Officer drove us in his truck to the next bike shop which was in Half Moon Bay, about 10 miles away. The bike shop was kind of useless, they didn't have anything we needed. So we walk our bikes to the Half Moon Bay State Park where we were going to stay at for the night. When we got there we felt kind of defeated. But we ran into Caroline again after we had split ways in the redwoods. It was very welcoming to see her again, so our misfortunes didn't seem as bad.

The next morning we left for Aptos, but after Caroline made oatmeal for breakfast. Also Nathan had to fix his bike. Last night he took off his fender at the bike shop so he could at least roll his bike. In the morning, he put on my spare tire. I had just gotten a new set of tires in San Francisco, so I was carrying one of my old ones around.

Without a back fender Nathan was kind of hoping for no rain, at least for one day. However we did have pockets of rain. During one especially fierce rainfall we took cover underneath a gas station roof and quietly ate our cold Chunky waiting for the rain to pass. We got kind of lucky because there was no more rain till Santa Cruz.

We found a bike shop that had what Nathan needed and we left for Aptos which was about another 10 miles. Half way there it started to rain and Nathan's back end was getting soaked. It's incredible how fantastic a good pair of fenders are.

We arrive at Bart's place in Aptos and we quickly get under the cover of the garage. Bart was a very freindly host. Right off the bat he had snacks out for us which mainly consisted of peanut butter filled pretzel snacks from Trader Joe's. Trader Joe’s has quickly become our new favorite grocery store. Those pretzels didn't last long as Nathan and I devoured them, leaving Bart feeling bad becuase he felt like he should have gotten more of them. But really we just devoured them. We were still able to eat more and we had an amazing dinner prepared by Bart.

Nathan still had to fix his bike the next morning, so he used Bart's bike stand. The new fenders and a new tire and the bike was ready to go. We had arrangements with one of Nathan's friends’ Aunt who lived in Seaside and it wasn't too far away. We were supposed to be there by two, so we were trying to race to get there. But due to Nathan fixing his bike, having a flat, visiting a really awesome market with cheap produce, going to REI (the American version of MEC) and among other things we didn't get there till six.

Dorothy looking smiley.

No one was home, but Dorothy set a key aside for us. It was kind of strange being in someone's house alone who you've never met before. But for some reason Dorothy trusted us. Karen, a friend of Dorothy's was visiting the same time we were there and she got there before Dorothy. So we started chatting and we were all getting along very well.  Dorothy showed up a little later and the conversations just kept going. It was getting late and I was getting tired, and I tried to fight it. It was a losing battle and Dorothy basically told me to go to bed in the nicest way possible.

The conversation was put on hold for the morning and we all went to catch up on our sleep. We continued our conversation over Belgian waffles. We had a really great time with Dorothy and Karen, and it was hard to leave and to say goodbye after only one night.

Cycling Pebble Beach. The Pacific to the right. Fancy-times golf courses to the left.

From Seaside to Monterey was this really nice bike bath that we took for quite awhile. Then we kept following the coast around Monterey Bay, ending up on the 17 Mile Drive. It was nice for us because we didn't have to pay to get into this section of the coast, unlike those driving. I didn't know, but apparently the 17 Mile Drive is a big deal. It also goes around Pebble Beach and the Golf courses that are there. Biking that was really cool and we saw some spectacular views of the coast.

Nathan stopped to take pictures at Bixby Bridge and put this Death Cab For Cutie song on.

We then made our way to Big Sur. We slowed ourselves down for Big Sur, only riding around 40 miles a day. We did this because we weren't sure how many hills there were going to be and how high they were going to be. We camped three days in a row and every night was cold, probably the coldest we have had so far. The days were very beautiful and very sunny, with little wind, breath taking views and great hills to go fast down. Some parts of the road had small shoulders, but the drivers were generally very nice towards us. It is a touristy road and many people weren't going too fast. The windy, hilly road helped as well. Even though it was filled with a lot of hills, it was manageable because of our shorter days. Also to be honest climbing the hills was kind of fun because you knew you were going to rip downhill.

A small, wounded bird I saved from the middle of the road.

If you look really hard, I'm right, smack in the middle climbing that huge hill.

Three Italians taking a ten-day trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles. They were cheerful, happy people.

Camping out for the second night near Big Sur.

Sometimes we see hilarious vandalism along the highway.

Trying to warm up the feet on the third camping night in a row.

Elephant seals are exciting. They don't look it in our photos, but they are huge.

Nathan rips down a hill near Big Sur. This video is in real time.

Nathan rips down another hill and catches up with me near a construction zone. This video is in real time.

Our first night having a place to stay again was in San Luis Obispo. I was glad to not be camping again, mostly because of the cold.