Week 1 — A Bike Story

A bike story has begun! A huge thank you to everyone who supported the start of this journey and to all who came to see us off!

It was a surreal moment as we boarded the train, eyes still teary from our farewells to our friends and family. A journey seven years in planning starts after we wake up in Oakland. A cocktail of emotion, we were overwhelmed with nervousness, excitement and disbelief that we had left. To this day, a week later we still are adjusting to our new lifestyle.

Evan asking himself if he really wants to do this. - Oakland Jack London Square

These first few weeks will be used as training to break in our legs and situate our gear. Averaging 32 miles a days so far, our goal of 60 miles seems far away. For the first few days the 3-4 hours of riding left us sapped of energy, struggling to cook before crawling into our tents for deep rest. As we pedaled down the coast, we developed a deeper understating of our bicycles and equipment. We began making subtle changes to our setup, balancing our front bags for better stability and organizing bags with relative items for quicker setups and tear downs. All things familiar from previous trips but forgotten from the long gap between tours.

Eyes lit by the glistening sun dancing off the deep blue of the Pacific, we rolled upon the Big Sur on our fifth day. Riding up and down the contours of the coastline we stopped at every view point soaking in the view and taking a break from the lung draining hills. The shoulder of highway 1 on this stretch is non existent. This combined with drivers intoxicated by the views made for very stressful riding. Wanting to experience the Big Sur even more, we took our first rest day in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. A huge park in a forest of red woods, Pfeiffer Big Sur is by far one of the best campgrounds we have seen. Our rest day was spent stretching our legs, catching up on our journals and some routine bike maintenance. With a surprise birthday party planned for Charles in Cayucos on the 9th, we pressed on hoping to make it in time. Exiting the Big Sur was a much more peaceful ride, the hills less abusive and drivers more polite.

Our first week has been tough but absolutely amazing. Our quads are drained but our hearts are full. We have already seen vast improvements in these past seven days and know that these gains will only continue. Understanding that these first three weeks will be training we joke that the real trip starts once we reach Mexico.