Author: Shaun

The star of today’s ride was the amazing shoulder on the California 1 and US 101 highways! There was a fair amount of traffic, but the shoulders are so wide and clean that I barely noticed it. For most of the ride today, there was a rumble strip between me and the speeding traffic, which I love, because I can hear if people are driving on it. There were several places where there is active road work, and in almost all of them, they had special temporary bike lanes, even a couple with green paint, to alert drivers to the presence of bicycles. I loved this!

The scenery was not super interesting, but I did see my first citrus trees. I couldn’t tell if they were oranges or lemons, and I couldn’t figure out how to get closer to them without backtracking, but now it feels like “southern California!”

I also saw my first “Rest Area.” I was so excited! I did have to use the bathroom, and I thought it would be fun to roll into a rest area, and maybe chat with some drivers, but it was CLOSED! I stopped anyway, and figured I could always go behind a tree (hey, sometimes you gotta!), but I decided to check the restroom first. As I was getting off my bike, a man’s head popped around the corner, and his voice scared the heck out of me. He was a worker, and I asked him if I could use the bathroom. He said, “I’m not supposed to let you, but… it’s Monday.” So he unlocked the door for me. When I was done, he was outside doing pushups. I don’t think his job is hard enough, but I was grateful for his kind gesture. 😁

Later, as I was riding the trails through UCSB, I was amazed how many people were riding bikes, and there were multiple bike densely populated bike parking areas that reminded me of Sweden. Everywhere in Santa Barbara, I saw tons of people on bikes, from students on city bikes to old farts like me on racing bikes.

Adventure Cycling routes are separated by maps, which seem to be around 350 to 400 miles long. Today, I finished the fourth of five maps in the Pacific Coast series, with only around 252 miles to go. And they are probably the easiest, and certainly the flattest, miles of the entire tour. I am not in a hurry to finish, and I know I will be a little sad when it is complete. I really love the rhythm of touring, and seeing something new every day.