Bicycling the Pacific Coast: Canada to Mexico

• Introduction
• The Road
• The Community
• Images

 

Introduction

In late summer of 2001, I joined with some German friends, Guido and Waltraud Kohler, to cycle down the Pacific Coast of the US. Along the way we encountered overloaded logging trucks, huge RV's piloted by time crazed vacationers, all you can eat American pizza, an endless variety of other cycle tourists also doing the "Pacific Trail", and more cappucino shops per mile than restrooms. My longest trip yet, I cycled from nearly the Canadian border to San Diego with friends that made the miles glid by and cheered the

evenings with conversation. I had met Guido and Waltraud earlier that summer in an Austrian campground. Some casual conversation discovered that we both wanted to cycle the Pacific Coast at the same time. It was a lucky day for me because Guido and Waltraud were the best of companions and helped me have the best trip ever.

This web site offers some snapshots and impressions about cycling on the Pacific Coast. I don't try to provide a usefull guide to the route, like I've done for some of my other trips; many such guides are available. Instead, this web site offers some personal impressions of the trip

Resources for Pacific Coast Cycle Touring:

Many resources are available for cyclists interested in biking on the Pacific Coast route.

• Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Tom Kirkendall and Vicky Spring, published by The Mountaineers is a veritable bible for North American cyclists. I met many other cyclists and whenever the conversation drifted toward plans and itinerary one of the other of us would find it sufficient to simply ask: "Are you using the book?" This book provides a complete description of the route with plenty of information about campsites and other necessities. The book also breaksdown the trip into daily rides that seem to suit most everybody.
• Aventure Cycling Association has a wonderful set of maps available for the Pacific Coast. The route doesn't agree in every detail with the route covered in Bicycling the Pacific Coast, but it agrees substantially. These weatherproof maps provide lost of information about campgrounds, bike shops, stores, hotels, along with other information for the entire route. They also contain detailed maps of urban sections, something especially useful while transiting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• Web search: don't forget a simple web search using Pacific Coast bicycle route. You'll turn up many personal journals, some government information, and news by advocacy groups.

• The Road»