Bike tour/March 2016

The suggested ride would follow the coast from San Francisco South to San Luis Obispo and likely be 95-123km (60-77 miles) per day over 4 days cycling and one day in a hot spring at the end while waiting for a train for a total of 435km (270mi) and about 4400m (~14500ft) elevation gain.

Dates and Times

Mako finishes a conference in the afternoon/evening of March 2nd. The trip will be for March 3-7 (with a return on the 6th possible, but difficult).

The Amtrak Coast Starlight is scheduled to leave SLO at 3:35pm which would get folks into Oakland at 9:24pm that evening and into Seattle at 8:12pm the following day. We'd want to be there early to put bikes into bike boxes, etc. This means if we want to take the train on the same day, it would be 68 miles over ~8 hours of daylight which might be tight.

Mako and Mika have tickets from San Luis Obispo to Seattle on the Coast Starlight leaving SLO at on 3/7 and will be doing the five day version of the trip. It should be possible to make the train back to Oakland on March 6th but it will involve cycling at or before sunrise on March 6th, making very few stops, and may be tight. Of course, this alternative plan will involve skipping the evening and morning at the hot spring resort.

General notes: Sunrise in SLO on March 1st will be at 6:31am. Sunset is ~6:58pm.

TODO

pack and send off bikes to Seattle on Amtrak (Thursday 2/25 or Friday 2/26)
ask someone to bring back stuff we won't need during the trip
DONE: (Mika) places to stay in/near Santa Cruz and Monterey
ask Peter if he can get fuel in SF
check weather to make sure it's not too windy or rainy
DONE: (MM) reservation at Sycamore
DONE: (MM) download OSM maps for CA
put routes on phones
get food

DONE: dried vegetables (shipped to seth's place)

couscous (Mako and Peter: Day 1-2; Mika and Mako: Day 4)

brown rice (Mika, Mako, and Peter: Day 3)

ramen x6

Japanese curry (Mako and Peter: Day 1-2; Mika and Mako: Day 4)

Japanese snacks

(Mika) instant pasta or rice for Day 1 and 2

cooking oil

salt

spice

pancake batter

(Mika) Uniqlo shopping in SF
bike maintenance at Charles

Packing list

Camping

tent
sleeping bag
cookware
fuel
camping food:

couscous?

curry roux?

hot chocolate?

Bike tools and maintenance

multitool (Mika and Mako each needs one)
tubes (Mika and Mako each needs one)
air pump (Mika and Mako each needs one)
tire levers (Mika and Mako each needs one)
water bottles
panniers
rear light
USB adapter for Luxos
USB external charger
USB cord

Clothing/wearable

knee braces
bike outfit
normal outfit
bike shoes
normal shoes
socks
towel
bathing suit
headlight

Misc

wallet
phone
ibuprofen
toiletries
sun screen
sun glasses
(Mika) glasses and contact lenses and solution

Proposal 1 (Credit Card)

This for a "credit card tour" which would involve no camping or camping gear. There are tons of spots for camping along the way so arranging something like this would be pretty simple if we wanted to do that instead.

Day 1: San Francisco→Costanoa Resort (60m)
Day 2: Costanao Resort→Monterey (74m)
Day 3: Monterey→Big Sur (Treebones Resort/Gorda Springs Resort) (68m)
Day 4: Big Sur→San Luis Obispo (68m); Train to Oakland/Seattle

Or this alternate with an extra day for hot springs at the end:

Day 4: Big Sur→Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort (77m)
Day 5: Soaking in Hot Springs; Train to Oakland & Seattle

Details on accommodation:

Costanao: <=$75 (which gets you a queen bed in a canvas tent!)
Treebones: glamping in cliffside yurts for 4 people should be around $350?
Gorda Springs: 1-4 guests $200-250
Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort (which unlike Gorda seems to have actual hot springs): 2-double beds for $160/night; two bedroom suites for 4+ people for $350; rooms come with fenced/private mineral springs hottubs

Another credit card option effectively skips Day 1:

Day 1: Caltrain from SF to San Jose; San Jose→Monterey
Day 2: Monterey→Big Sur (Treebones Resort/Gorda Springs Resort)
Day 3: Big Sur→San Luis Obispo

Obviously, we can then do the same thing with a final day.

Proposal 2 (Camping)

This is a very similar route but involves camping along the way and will end up costing between 10-25% in terms of basic rooming fees.

Day 1: San Francisco→Santa Cruz North / Costanoa Koa (61mi; ~$36 for 4ppl & 2 tents) Thursday the 3rd
Day 2: Costanao Resort→Veterans Memorial Park in Monterey (~75m; $6pp): Reservations for Monterey: Campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Mika will try to get a spot before going to the aquarium on March 4.
Day 3: Monterey→Big Sur (Limekiln State Park; Dispersed Camping on National Forest Lands; Plaskett Creek Campground) (64mi; Plaskett Creek: $5pp)
Day 4: Big Sur→San Luis Obispo (71mi to SLO; 79mi to Sycamore) (See Proposal 1)
Day 5: Train from SLO Oakland/Seattle

Note: I'm currently leaning pretty heavily toward this arrangement with the 5-day trip and a stop in Plaskett and spending the final night/day in a hotel at the Sycamore Mineral springs before taking the train back to Seattle. —mako ๛

Notes

Mika is interested in spending a day in Monterey. One option would be that she leaves on the morning of March 2nd and does the first two days on her own. She would then meet us at the campground in Monterey on the afternoon of March 4th. We finish the tour together.

Mika's notes

Bring enough snacks.
Day 1: Bring dinner and breakfast as stores are sparse after Half Moon Bay until Santa Cruz.
Day 2: Get light lunch in Santa Cruz (29 miles from Pigeon Point) and second lunch in Moss Landing (28 miles). Lots of dinner and breakfast options in Monterey but get food for Day 3/4.
Day 3: Make breakfast. Get food for dinner and breakfast at Safeway just outside Monterey. Not much until we get to Big Sur/Posts (~27 miles). Not much after Big Sur/Posts until a little bit in Gorda (past Plaskett) and Cambria (30 miles from Plaskett).
Day 4: Make breakfast. Get lunch in Cambria. 33 miles to SLO!

Weather

Climate graph for Plaskett, CA in Big Sur — March temperature mean min/max: 9-19°C; 23-24 days of dry weather! Pretty good for camping!