The Coast Ride
The Coast Ride is a three day, 375-mile ride over MLK weekend from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. Ever since I heard about the ride in early 2020, participating in the ride was one of the top items on my bucket list. Unfortunately COVID cancelled the 2021 edition, but fortunately in 2022 the ride was organized and I ended up having an amazing time with Wade, Gina, and Ying-Yu.
The ride down to Santa Barbara is split into the following three segments:
- Day 1: San Francisco to Monterrey. 130 miles, 6500ft.
- Day 2: Monterrey to Morro Bay via Big Sur. 122 miles, 8000ft.
- Day 3: Morro Bay to Santa Barbara. 128 miles, 5200ft.
This ride also traces a plot line from The Graduate, one of my favorite movies (I won't go further into this lest I provide spoilers 😉).
Logistics
One really nice part about the coast ride is the simplicity of logistics. With the registration fee, SAG drivers will help you transport your luggage from the start to end location of every day's ride. Food and water are provided at rest stops along the way of each ride, and Costco Pizza will provide the much needed calories at the end of the day. I cannot express how grateful I am towards all the organizers and volunteers who made this experience happen.
After registering, a rider only really needs to worry about the following: finding a group to ride with, booking hotels for the two nights, and determining travel plans to San Francisco and from Santa Barbara.
There are many hotel (and dining) options in Monterrey and Morro Bay, and as the hotel rooms we booked had two queen sized beds, my group consisted of four cyclists, including my friends Wade, Gina and Ying-Yu. Being based in the San Francisco Bay area, we did not need to worry about traveling to the start of the ride (being only six miles from my apartment), and we booked a one-way rental mini-van on the way back from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, with enough capacity to transport the four of us along with our bikes. For this reason, I would recommend doing the coast ride in a group of four (if you are comfortable sharing beds), making logistics the easiest.
Depending on your cycling speed, there could be enough time to drive back to San Francisco on Monday night from Santa Barbara, which is what we did. Some stayed Monday night in Santa Barbara before driving / flying back to San Francisco on Tuesday morning, some did a fourth day of riding up Gilbatrar Peak near Santa Barbara on Tuesday.
The Ride
Overall I really enjoyed this ride, representing a new benchmark for my cycling fitness level. As I was in Boston during winter for the two months preceeding the ride, I was not able to put in the baseline miles that I wish I could have, but the help of the draft and a lot of energy gels powered me through the three days. (Much kudos to everyone who pulled.) With over 300 cyclists participating, it's always possible to find a paceline and draft at your pace, making the ride somewhat easier than what the large mileage suggests.
The first day began in San Franciso and ended in Monterrey. We had our lunch breakin Davenport and passed through Santa Cruz in the afternoon. The first day was somewhat eventful; a tsunami warning was issued along the California coast, and strong crosswinds, especially around Devil's Slide, made the ride a bit dangerous.
The second day was definitely the highlight of the ride. Passing through Big Sur State Park, we biked through many scenic spots, including the Bixby Creek bridge. Since we started our ride early, we did not experience much car traffic until later in the day. After a lunch stop at Ragged Point, we biked by elephant seals near San Simeon, before reaching Morro Bay.
The third day of riding took a more relaxed mood. Wanting to go more at our own paces, I ended up riding in different groups and joining different pacelines as people decided to take breaks at different times. For the final part of the ride, from Lompoc to Santa Barbara, I joined Wade, Gina and a couple others for a fast ride (for me) on the home stretch. The climb up to Gaviota Pass isn't necessarily hard by normal standards; however after riding 300 miles, the gradual ascent was a burning experience, a mental grind to hold onto the draft and not get dropped. After biking by the Gaviota Tunnel, the final 30 miles of the ride was not ideal, biking on the shoulder of the US 101 freeway, accompanied by light rain. It didn't feel the safest but there weren't any alternate routes. we needed to get to Santa Barbara, and fortunately we completed the ride.
Other info.
Here are my strava activites from the first day, second day, and third day. We found our hotels and rental cars online; as prices vary I won't post which hotels we stayed at, but feel free to message me if I can provide more information about the ride.