Scenic Rollercoaster

By Pico Triano
Photos: Pico Triano

The California coastline running from Ragged Point to Carmel-By-The-Sea is exceptionally beautiful. I would have gotten even more pictures but the there was fog to deal with in the morning and later in the day I was dog tired.

If you read last months Finding My Rhythm, you would know I left Ragged Point behind schedule. It didn't turn out to be a big issue. Not that I made good time mind you. It seems I pedalled maybe a third of my riding time that day. The other two thirds were either walking the bike up steep hills (I didn't have a cheater gear for hill climbing on my 12 speed) or screaming down the other side.

Throughout the day I was grateful to be travelling north. The road wasn't too bad but I could picture myself being punted off the edge by one of the frequent RV's travelling the route. RV's do scare me on tour. They're nice enough people but some of them worked their entire life hard so they can enjoy their retirement. While working to save money they drove a sub-compact and now with those driving skills they're driving something the size of a bus. In places, that looked like one rough painful rocky tumble down to the Pacific.

There was a place where it looked like a small creek emptied into the Pacific Ocean. I wrote into a novel manuscript that a young couple followed it upstream on their bikes to a pool and picturesque wilderness campsite. Total fiction. If the book is published, there is no need to go looking for that spot because you won't find it.

My campsite at the end of the day was far less hospitable. If I recall correctly it was off a gravel turn out. I am bless with the ability to sleep on just about any surface when I'm tired. In the morning I may have a few kinks to work out but otherwise I'm okay. Granted I'm ageing and it doesn't work out quite that conveniently any more.

From there I left the scenic coastline and headed into the more heavily populated territory around San Francisco.

This story is a serial. If you wish to read the beginning, you can find it here: http://picoscycling.blogspot.ca/2015/01/it-begins.html