I think I made a wrong turn right out of the campground gates this morning. It maybe cost me 15 km and possibly views I’ll never know I missed. What I received was 2 hours of common, uneventful rural riding and breakfast at a roadside fruit truck. At least it was quiet.
For the first time in my life I am listening to an audiobook. Around the World by Bike by Alastair Humphrey. At 25 years old he spent a few years cycling the globe. So far the book is amazing.
I got it bad with this cycling thing.
After the strawberries and apricots (and Takis) I got on the Monterey recreations trail. This took me through a cluster of towns including Marina, Monterey, Carmel and a state park full of sand dunes. Awesome riding for about an hour and a half.

Carmel has the last grocery store for maybe 2 days of riding so I stopped there for provisions. Grocery stores are dangerous places for hungry cyclists. Especially since you may be carrying everything you buy for days and up hills. About 30 minutes past the store I stopped at the beach for a picnic. I was flanked by seagulls waiting for me to drop something.

From there google told me I had 2 hours and one big hill to go to Big Sur.
It is no secret that I am terrified of heights. The older I get, the more intense this fear becomes. Apparently it’s genetics. My grandpa, my dad, my brothers. Same across the board.
Well, my big hill was of course a shoulderless, sometimes barrier free, cliff side, winding, very windy, trafficy hour of terror. Not quite as bad as north of San Francisco but bad enough. I realize I did not whine much in the post I just linked to. So grab some popcorn and let me get it all out.


There are people everywhere, their cameras out, drinking in the vistas, and all I can do is focus on the pavement 8 feet in front of me. Looking anywhere else would mean vividly imagining the myriad ways I was going to die. I did NOT once look over the edge or at the ocean. The upside is it never even registered that I was doing a fairly steep climb.
Near the top the wind was so strong it actually pushed me up part of the hill. Had to be 40+ kph winds at least. And I’m on a tight two lane bridge, dead center of the road, holding up traffic. riding the brakes, trying to move straight and praying that I don’t get blown off or run over. In that order. The only other cyclist up there was walking his bike. Maybe because he was sane.
I rounded a corner and realized there was another hill, curve, bridge just like the last 🙁
I was pretty certain I’d experience something like this on this ride. I’m thinking (and hoping) that’s as hairy as it’ll get.
All safe and clean and cozy at Riverside Campground in Big Sur now. I will dream of flat and low riding henceforth, here on my $90 USD patch of woodchips.
Thanks for the morning chuckle!
Well, you probably would have lots of “bixby bridges” on a trip around the world so let’s stop reading books, listening to audio tapes about it! Enough said. Beautiful, breathtaking photos, Here’s to a day of wind free, flat trail riding. I agree with Don, thanks for the morning chuckle.
Chad, Sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing. Wishing for you only downhill and no traffic from now on!
Paul Beach
Sounds like you’ll have a few more gray hairs when I see you next!
Or less hair even
Hahahaha