I just finished the San Luis Obispo Randonneurs Pinnacles Traveler 600k brevet, a point-to-point ride that started in San Jose and finished in Ventura, near Los Angeles. The ride started in downtown San Jose, so I was able to take the Caltrain to there with just my bike and gear. The plan was to ride Amtrak back from Ventura, but Patrick’s wife came down and I managed to get a ride home with them.
I did the ride mostly with Patrick and Kris Jones, although we picked up and dropped a few different riders along the way. The route took us south from San Jose through Hollister and then Highway 25. This led to the remote Peach Tree Road, which was almost deserted as far as cars was concerned. We reached Paso Robles by the late afternoon, and turned towards the coast.
After passing through Morro Bay and stopping for food, it was pretty much dark. I managed to pick up a series of flats, the last of which exhausted my supply of tubes, and caused a bit of a meltdown. I collected myself and we managed to reach Santa Maria, where we grabbed a few hours of sleep.
We started out the next morning and stopped in Solvang for breakfast, which was hot, big, and very delicious. After climb up and over Gaviota Pass, we were at the coast, but still a long ways away from Ventura. We spent quite a bit of time on the coastal highway before reaching Goleta where we exited onto surface street. Then it was a nice scenic journey along the coast until we reached the finish by late afternoon.
Overall, a very good adventure and one that I hope to return to in the future.
May 16, 2016 by Mike
