I know that this could fit into other threads, but I just need responses quickly.
So tomorrow me and a few friends are taking a trip down to santa cruz, I’m getting a ride out to sf state with my friend that goes there but he doesn’t end classes until around 3 so I’m taking my bike and seeing how far i can make it to santa cruz on highway 1 to kill time.
I’m hoping somebody here has done it, I just want to know if there’s any precautions I should take and how hard it is. My worst fear is getting hit on those curvey roads or run off a cliff or something, I don’t really know how fucked up drivers are on it. I’m determined to make it all the way down there because they wont be leaving till 4 or 5, but I mostly want to get an idea of the ride and do it for fun because me and my other friend have been wanting to do it for so long. If I get too exhausted I have a guaranteed ride that will eventually come past.
I understand its about 70 miles…I’m doing it on a track bike by the way.
I know guys who have done that ride on track bikes. I never did it when I lived in SC, but my friend said that Devils Slide and I think Pacifica were sketchy. I would definitely try to leave before 3 though. I would not like to be on hwy 1 in the dark. Lemme know how it goes, I’ve been meaning to do that ride for a while.
Devil’s Slide is sketchy as hell, though I haven’t been through there in a couple of years. They may’ve patched it up. The rest of it is likely pretty straightforward. I imagine that it won’t be easy dealing with a stiff coastal breeze and not having any gears to help out.
I wanted to solve all my problems, to get out of drugs, I’d had enough of that. I’d had the college, I’d had the… earning the money and the material trip. I just decided I was gonna find a new way of life. And so I took off on my bicycle, pedaling up Highway 1 and found myself one day in Eureka, California.
Left around 12, had my chain fall off on a monstrous long hill called skyline drive, fucked up my randonneur even worse on it. Got a flat in half moon bay. Wandered around for an hour pissed off, found a bike shop, told them my situation, they sold me a tube for $5 instead of $7, let me fix it myself, had all kinds of problems doing that cause I was trying to rush it. took about an hour because I swapped my front and rear tires, then didn’t have long enough valves for their pumps, but finally remembered how i’d done it before and used a schrader converter. Finally got back on the road at 4, started enjoying myself. around 6 I arrived at a lighthouse called pidgeon point and it was getting dark so I decided to wait there for my friends to catch up and drive me because it was easy to spot. called them after about 15 minutes, and their clutch fucking died so they were calling a tow truck. Now it’s pitch black and im stuck on highway 1 25 miles from santa cruz, call my friend lucas in santa cruz. he tells me its gonna take him about 45 minutes to get out there but he doesn’t know how all 5 of us and a bike will fit in his car. around like 6:45 I decide to start riding, no lights or anything to see how bad it is, it wasn’t bad at all because cars only passed me every 5 or so minutes, I could ride in the road and because it was pretty straight I’d see them and have plenty of time to get way in the bike lane. It was a bitch when people had their hi beams coming at me though. I got to santa cruz at about 9, safely, called my friend lucas and it turned out that he didn’t need to give the others a ride because they rode in the tow truck. but also now he was stuck in mud next to the light house and needed to be towed out. the others were in santa cruz, I rode my bike up to the campus…basically it.
Can’t believe how far I rode, I’ve never gone more than like 35 miles in one ride, did 25 in the dark last night. I can’t believe I actually accomplished it, I thought there was no way after I got a flat and lost 2 hours of daylight. In all it took about 6 hours of riding, It was an awesome ride, It would be super easy on a road bike.
Yes, and an extremely fucked up rear tire. foolish, but I only did because I knew if something went wrong on this ride I could get picked up eventually.
Epic. I’m not going to comment on your good judgment or lack thereof. Glad you made it safely. Anyone else planning a sketch ride like this in the Bay area, let me know. I’ll PM you my number and provide SAG.
I tried looking it up but just came up with a bunch of acronyms. So basically the cars that follow cycling tours.
Dammit, I really want a road bike I need to find some sort of income, its so hard to find a job around here as a teen whose never worked… I have fun riding fixed around a certain radius, but its just kinda silly doing what I just did. I wanna expand my distances and see what I’m fully capable of.