Heat Defeats but the Road Provides

October 3, 2014

Kirk Creek to San Simeon

I am sick of the effing sun. I am sick of the effing beautiful glassy ocean views.

When I next woke during the Night of the Living Raccoons, Orion was right overhead. A blazing red shooting star crossed below his belt and burned out by his sword. I could still hear the critters but it was quieting down. 5:30. Still too dark to see much but I can get started on the day. It was probably going to be hot again and an early start would be a good thing.

It was relatively flat and open the first few miles. “Relative” has changed for me in the last couple of days. The sun was still behind the mountains so I was in shade while the ocean was a brilliant blue in the sun. I turned in at Plaskett Creek Campground to get fresh water and there was my old friend Tony the crazy man who I met back in Big Sur hiker biker. He had arrived at Plaskett two days before. Yesterday he rode a few thousand feet of elevation gain on Forest Service roads. Today he was heading over to Mission San Antonio and back via Nacimiento Road. In this heat. Like I said, crazy man. We figured we’d meet again in Morro Bay in a couple of days. Talked to two other young men who’d hooked up on the road. Started from Bellingham, WA and were going to Baja depending on if the area had recovered enough from the hurricane.

Stopped in the wide spot known as Gorda for a big second breakfast. Ordered bacon and salted my food as an afterthought because you know I’d been sweating a lot. After that, only 12 miles to Ragged Point, which is where the mountains end and it opens up. I can make 12 miles. No sweat.

Well, lots of sweat. It was hotter than yesterday. Usually the climbs are short, a half mile or mile, then a downhill, then an uphill, etc. This climb was 3+ miles. It would have been a challenging but a very doable climb in normal circumstances but in the heat, it was trying. Again I pedaled from shade to shade, sat and panted a while, poured water over my head, drank.

The heat beat down like the proverbial anvil. In the protected sections, riding right on the pavement, it must have been over 100F. The wind was as hot so offered no real relief. When the climb out of Gorda was done, the nice curvy downhill did not delight me. I knew there was another steep long climb right after. I hated giving away the elevation. I stopped when my momentum petered out on the next uphill, found some shade, ate, rested, poured water over my head, looked at the climb coming up and tried not to be discouraged. Even the monarch butterflies couldn’t inspire me. Got back on Pokey. Giddyup I said and started grinding. Three quarters of a mile later I stopped in the next shade. As I parked I felt chills. That’s not a good sign. I postponed making any decisions until I rested and cooled off but there it was: Let’s be smart about this, time to hitch a ride, it’s not worth hurting myself. So I started watching for pickup trucks with empty beds that could accommodate my trike. And waited. And waited. And waited. Sheesh. It had been pickup heaven with all the local traffic but only tourists in rentals were passing me now.

Then three cyclists rode up and stopped. Two were a pair of middle-aged German guys. The other was Brent. We all discussed where we might be and how much further up it was to the top. I thought it was a lot more. Brent wasn’t so sure. The Germans took off, but Brent stayed with me, commiserating about the heat and saying it probably wasn’t that much further up, being gently encouraging. As he was about to take off he asked, “Do you have any electrolytes?” He plopped a tablet into my water bottle. This, I knew, would save me. I was almost obnoxious in my thanks. He wished me luck, said he’d see me at Ragged Point, and pedaled off.
That is what we call a trail angel. The road provides.

I gave the electrolytes some time to work their magic then continued. Brent was right, it wasn’t very far to the top, maybe half a mile. From there, it was basically downhill or flat the rest of the way to San Simeon. Woooohooooo! One car let me take the lane in front of them, keeping my back until the next little uphill, then tooted as they passed. They had a full rack of racing bikes on the back. Paisan. I breezed right by Ragged Point because the joint was crowded and I was enjoying the downhill. We were back down to the cooler sea level with broad vistas and the only ups and downs were due to sand dunes. Wide shoulders too! The sea bird life seemed to explode, so much more than I saw from the mountains. I whizzed past the crowds at the elephant seal beach, both human and pinniped, taking in some mock fighting and lots of flying sand the seals flippered over themselves. I could see Hearst Castle up on its hill, overlooking the route for miles. I was also finally in cell range so a bunch of text messages burst onto my phone. I stopped to talk to my sweetie for the first time in a couple of days. She arranged a hotel reservation for me in San Simeon.

Somewhere along the flats I saw in my mirror a familiar looking shirt. There was Brent coming up behind me. He asked why I didn’t stop at Ragged Point. “I didn’t need food, I had electrolytes!” I told him I wouldn’t have made it without his electrolytes and his encouragement and thanked him again.

At the hotel I forgot to ask for an ADA ground floor room, so I had an interesting time getting Pokey through the door sideways. The AC didn’t work, and I was so looking forward to freezing myself. Like much of the California coast, there’s natural air conditioning so the mechanical kind isn’t usually needed. I took a badly needed shower to wash off the crust of several days' salt, had a celebratory Fat Tire ale with dinner, kept the room windows open to the cooling air, then passed out.

Start of day 6, looking back at Lucia and Kirk Creek.

Those two dots up ahead are the two young guys on their way to Baja from Bellingham.

Stopped at a pullout after a little climb up from a big honking bridge over a creek. If you see "creek" on the map it usually means elevation loss/gain on either side. Sigh.

Only 12 miles to go until it opens up and flattens out. I can do that!

Mental and physical and locational low point. Just lost a lot of elevation I worked hard to gain, then had to get it all back again. Hot breeze. No shade. Almost packed it in a little ways past here until Brent came along with his electrolytes.

So happy to be looking back north at the south end of Big Sur.

A Hearst Ranch horse. Very curious about me and my rig. Still fried, I had an interesting conversation with her. Or him.

Hearst zebras. Descendants of William Randolph H's herd. They also paid more attention to me riding by than the people crossing the highway to photo them. So there.

Home for the night. No AC but eventually cooling breezes came through the open windows.

Helmet Head Hall of Fame entry. Also, face blotchy from heat rash. And orange wall adds to the entire effect, don't you think?

Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 162 miles (261 km)

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