I've been attempting to seduce my long time friend Tom Loomis into a cycle tour trip for several years. I knew how to do this because Tom and I share so many interests. We both like to travel, we both enjoy a sense of adventure in our travels, and we can both put up with the nuisances of dirt and bad food without actually enjoying them. Generating some interest in cycle touring was the easy part, finding a route and getting some time were more difficult. My first trips were in Europe, in some of the most famous cycle touring areas of the world. Those first trips in Spain and Tuscany made such favorable impressions that later more difficult or less interesting routes failed to cure me of the need to cycle tour. I wanted a great experience for Tom but with the weak Dollar/Euro exchange rates Europe had become a little too expensive for us. In 2001 I cycled down the Pacific Coast and remembered a wonderful trip, an almost ideal combination of good weather, beautiful scenery, and interesting encounters so I thought this would be a good introduction. And so it turned out. We're also joined by Roy Watanabe, also new to cycle touring, who has been training hard for the trip.
As before we traveled along one of the most beautiful coastlines in the US. The coast of Oregon and north California attrace visitors from around the world to enjoy the spectacular beauty and timeless fascination of the ancient red wood trees. Traveling from Seattle to San Francisco would take us about one month and 1000 miles, enough for Tom to get a clear idea about long distance touring and a sense of accomplishment from a long trip. I wasn't certain how the trip would work for me, having traveled that route once before. It turned out I had as much fun as the last time and resolved favourably for me that I really do like the process of cycle touring as well as the goal of seeing places in between a new way.
I was really impressed with the way Tom and Roy prepared for this trip. They didn't sit on their butts until a couple weeks before we started and then go out of a couple afternoon rides. Both prepared carefully and worked hard to get their bodies in shape. I remember early last year mentioning that I had gone out for a 60 mile ride with a friend, Tom had just finished a 6 mile ride. Tom wrote that that distance seemed impossibly long. Before we began Tom had worked himself up to riding into work 25 miles, working, and then riding 25 miles home. He can inspire anybody that wants to get into cycle touring but hesitates out of fear they cannot cope with the physical demands.
Tom kept a blog of his own with his own view of the adventure, you can read about it at Touring from Seattle to San Francisco by Tom Loomis.
A note on the maps. You can drill down into the Google maps to see details of the route. However, in some cases Google maps does not support routes on bike paths. Basically, it seems that Google restricts the map to roads available to automobile traffic. So, in some cases the map shows our route along the nearest road instead of the bike path. This is particularly the case in the last couple miles before the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I'm starting from my own home for the second time. Last summer I started from my apartment in Pullman Wa on a trip through Oregon to Missouri. This time I get to start from my apartment in Bothell Wa, treading my way through city traffic to the ferry at Edmonds. I packed my normal touring equipment except a little lighter on clothing and thanks to the Kindle I got for retirement a lot less weight in books. While cool, I didn't expect cold weather. Last time I found the mornings chilly so I brought a sleeved wind breaker along with my wind breaker vest. No rain pants this time, just a rain jacket.