A unique aspect of biking the Pacific Coast route in the summer time is the throng of other cyclists doing the same crazy thing as you. We never had a day that we did not interact with some other cyclist that we met along the way. Most campgrounds along the coast have hiker-biker sites where you pay between $3.00 and $6.00 per person for a guaranteed spot to pitch your tent. It was fun to meet other cyclists and compare stories. There are an infinite number of ways to travel by human power and it is fun to hear the stories and adventures of others. We met one man in his mid-twenties who was a competitive cyclist. In one day of riding, he had covered the same amount of miles it had taken us 3 days to accomplish. His plan for the next day was to ride 170 miles.... we bid him farewell that evening because we knew it would be the last time we would be seeing him! On the opposite end of the spectrum, we spent an evening with Bill who had been living on his bike for 8 years. He spent his time cycling (ever so slowly) up and down the Pacific coast, averaging about 15 miles a day at the break-neck speed of around 3 mph. All this information was by his own acknowledgement, but there was nothing to suggest any other story. I really wish I had taken a picture of him. He was quite the character.
Paul and Alaine spent the first 10 days with us before having to head back to Bellingham
We met lots of interesting people along the way. Here are just a few of them:
Nick is an environmental educator from northern California who lived in a tree house. We camped with him for about a week before he had to pick up his pace and get to San Francisco. He was meeting his family to fly to Vermont for a family reunion and then was going to Dewey Beach for a vacation with friends! Small world.
Kem was born in Peru, but had lived in many spots in the US. He had cycled in New Zealand and Vietnam. in years past. He was just finishing his university studies and then heading to Cambodia to work with the World Health Organization.
We met 60+ year old David on our way into a State Park and he cycled in with us to have a chat. He was on the road from Minneapolis, Minnesota and was just traveling around enjoying himself (remember, we were in California at this point!) He is the author of several books on biking and his latest was titled, "A half-million miles of a biker's life" which lets you all know that amount of cycling he has done in his life. We found him in a breakfast restaurant the next morning (he was doing the hotel thing) and cycled into Eureka with him. He was headed further that day so we bid each other good-bye. Here's hoping we're still on our bikes at his age!
Tim and Adrienne are from Irvine, California. Adrienne's sister lives near Bellingham so maybe we'll see them again some day. They were cycling to San Diego, and we spent about a week with them.
Christian and Manuella are from Switzerland. They had been on the road since February. They started in New Zealand and had cycled many parts of the western US before they met up with us on the final leg of their trip. They were headed to Los Angeles for their flight home. Gunther is from Germany. We met him at the final campground before San Francisco.
We met Sarah at the first campground on the Oregon coast. She works for a non-profit in Washington DC. She had started her trip visiting friends in Alaska and was cycling on her own from Vancouver BC to to San Francisco. We spent many nights with her and then left her behind when she took an extra rest day. We were so happy to run into her again on her last night before cycling into the city and heading home.
