Day 3: To Monterey

July 12, 2009

I got up at 7:15 and was on the road at 8:50. Today I ride around Monterey Bay. The first 10 miles was in suburban traffic through Capitola and Aptos. I finally got back to the coast at Sunset Beach State Park. At the park entrance a pedestrian asked me where I was headed. It turned out to be a famous cycle tourist. Joe Kurmaskie, the Metal Cowboy. I knew he had published books about bike tours, and that last year he rode cross country with his two sons. This was my first time to meet him in person. Today, though, he was just going to the beach with his family. Someday I need to attend one of his presentations.

The road doesn't stay along the coast for long. It turns inland to a mostly flat agricultural area. The book says it's boring but I thought it was interesting to see the variety of crops. The smell of strawberries was intoxicating.

Many of the roads are low-traffic farm roads. But eventually I was back on Hwy 1 with nonstop traffic, but a wide paved shoulder. After a few miles a bike trail begins, several miles before my 1990 book showed a trail. It was great to get away from the highway. The trail passes along the edge of Fort Ord, a former army base. The trail goes 15 miles to downtown Monterey.

Monterey Bay Bike Trail. The posts are lights! I wonder how often the trail is swept?

The trail passes through a small eucalyptus forest on the edge of Monterey.

I didn't spend much time looking around Monterey because I plan to take a day off tomorrow.

Quad bikes for rent on the pedestrian street in Monterey.

The U.S. government established a customs house in Monterey in 1846 after seizing the California territory from Mexico.

Today's destination is Veteran's Memorial Park campground. It's up a big hill above the city. I took the wrong turn and climbed a huge hill in the wrong direction. Rather than go down and back up, I pulled out my Nokia N810 and fired up the GPS. The street map showed that I could continue on the road I was on to the top of the ridge, then down Skyline Drive to Veteran's Park. It's a city park with a large forested campground. $5 for a hiker/biker site. Occupants of the hiker/biker site were about half cycle tourists and half homeless people. $5, with free shower. I arrived at 5PM and paid for 2 nights.

Two other recumbent riders were there. One of them had just bought the Flevobike shown in the picture below. It's a radical bike that is extremely difficult to ride because you have to steer with your legs. It has a handlebar to hold the brake levers and shifters, but the handlebar doesn't steer the bike. After a lot of practice the guy was able to ride around the campground without crashing very often. He wants to tour with the bike. It's easy to imagine him crashing in front of a truck...

Flevo lean-steer bike. The guy in the picture wants to tour with it. He was able to make it around the campground without crashing.

Today it was interesting to compare Santa Cruz and Monterey. Santa Cruz is a trendy college town. Monterey is more upscale with a noticeably older population. But both towns are very pleasant places.

Today had a high temperature of about 68F. Overcast most of the time. I expected Monterey Bay to have warmer weather in mid July, but it doesn't feel cold thanks to the tailwind.

Distance: 49.6 mi (79 km)

Climbing: 2387 ft (723 m)

Average speed: 9.3 mph (14.9 km/h)

Maximum speed: 31.5 mph (50 km/h)

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 156 miles (251 km)

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