Notes on cycling down the California coast: 550 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, then 175 miles to San Diego and the US–Mexico border.
Co-ridden with Alex Becker, Cooper Grace, Elliot Klein, and Riley Walz; co-written with the help of Elliot’s highly detailed Strava descriptions.
In March 2024, I embarked on my first-ever bike tour, riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles with a few friends. We averaged about 60 miles a day for nine consecutive days, logging a total of 550 miles on the saddle on our way to LA. Then, in May, I continued another 175 miles on my own down the coast to San Diego, eventually finishing up at the US–Mexico border in San Ysidro.
Here’s how it went down.
While we’d been entertaining the idea of an SF–LA ride for a while, we didn’t start seriously planning or preparing anything until mid-January 2024, around two months beforehand. This ended up being completely fine, and there really wasn’t anything we needed to do any earlier1
In fact, we would frequently book hotel rooms an hour or so before showing up.If Big Sur were open, though, we would’ve likely needed to make reservations for hotels there in advance, especially if we didn’t want to camp along the side of the road.
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Preparing for the trip primarily involved two parts: fitness (making sure we were up for multiple consecutive days of 50+ mile rides) and logistics (gear rental, routing, timing).
For the most part, we were all fit enough to stay together when the ride actually came around. While some prepared more than others, we all came into it with relatively high levels of cardiovascular fitness already, which was helpful2
(Elliot mountain biked competitively in high school; Riley ran cross country in college; Cooper and Alex rowed in college)
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On my end — living in LA3
For me, this was enough to be able to tackle the 550-mile tour with no problems.
Although we’d read online that spring was a perfect time to do the ride since it wouldn’t be as rainy as in the winter and it’d also avoid the summer tourist traffic, the timing was primarily constrained by my student status at UCLA. Consequently, we didn’t put that much thought into the exact dates other than making sure they coincided with my spring break (everyone else was either working full-time and took PTO, or was between jobs). We ended up riding between March 21–29, 2024.
Elliot was an experienced bicycle tourist, having already done multiple tours in the past (including another 500-miler along the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia and North Carolina), so he put together a comprehensive packing list for us:
74 words
Clothes
Bike Gear
Miscellaneous
Since we’d decided to do a credit card tour (i.e., staying in hotels instead of camping), we didn’t need to bring any camping gear. In terms of routing, although we came up with an approximate itinerary before the trip (e.g., Santa Cruz by Day 2, Monterey by Day 3), what actually ended up happening was towards the end of each day, we would see where we were and decide on some nearby city to stop in which we could feasibly reach before dark. We’d then book a two-queen-bed room at the cheapest hotel we could find in that city. I brought my sleeping pad and bag (for the hotel room floor), and we would put two people in each bed and rotate the floor sleeper nightly. Altogether, this worked out to about $20–30 per person per night, not too much more than a hiker-biker site at a California state park.
The only truly important detail that came up in planning was the landslide situation in Big Sur. We’d originally wanted to take the coast route (along California Route 1) from Monterey to SLO since we’d read online that although the road was closed to cars, it was still possible to bike through the closure. Unfortunately, the massive rains a month and a half before our scheduled start date (literally) blocked our plans. Instead, we ended up going through the Salinas Valley (along the 101) instead5
which was still quite pretty — Steinbeckian? — in its verdant, pastoral splendor; but alas, not the same as Big Sur.Hopefully the road is fixed soon and we can do this part of the ride later this year.
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We rented gear from the legendary Mike over at The Bike Hut at Pier 40 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Cooper and I brought our own bikes and only needed to rent racks and panniers, but the rest of the guys rented touring bikes as well. Everything worked great — I highly recommend them for any of your other San Francisco bike rental needs.
Immediately after I finished my last winter quarter final6
at UCLA, I headed back to my apartment and packed my bike in a bike box7
— taking off the seat, handlebars, and wheels and wrapping the frame in pool noodles8
There are a bunch of resources online on how to pack a bike for a flight — here’s one video.
× Close. I was able to fit the box in the back of an UberXL, and then at LAX checked it in for my flight to SFO. Since I was flying Alaska Airlines, I wasn’t charged an oversize fee, even though the box was larger than the standard checked baggage dimensions9
A few other airlines also have a policy of not charging oversize fees for bikes — for instance, American Airlines also didn’t charge extra when I brought my bike out from Philadelphia in January. Southwest, notably, does charge an extra $75 for bikes.
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Since Riley’s place was halfway up a steep incline near Twin Peaks, we decided to stage at Cooper’s place, on slightly flatter ground in the east side of the Mission close to Potrero Hill. We picked up our bikes and panniers from the Bike Hut in the early afternoon and began packing on Cooper’s sundeck under the watchful eyes of Anh Phoong, looming over us from a billboard on an adjacent rooftop11
. We eventually rolled out at around 4pm, cutting west across the city to the car-free oasis of Golden Gate Park.
My first pannier problem occurred in the park — one of my bags fell off when I went over a bump a little too quickly — but after re-securing it with one of Elliot’s bungees it seemed to mostly be alright.
After traversing the park, we turned south at Ocean Beach and hugged the coast through Daly City and Pacifica. Dinner was at Sam’s Chowder House12
in Half Moon Bay, and we retired for the night shortly afterwards, 33 miles from San Francisco.
After fueling up on the hotel breakfast in Half Moon Bay, we got rolling by 8am. A morning of immaculate coastal riding down the 1 — dancing bunches of California poppies to our left, dazzling blue ocean to our right — brought us to Santa Cruz by the early afternoon, where we stopped for lunch at Arslan’s Turkish Street Food. Upon hearing about our big bike adventure to LA, one of the restaurant employees gave us a complimentary box of Turkish delight, which we devoured.
We were originally only aiming for Santa Cruz (there’d been some rain in the forecast for the afternoon), but the rain held off, so after lunch, we decided to push on to the next town over, Watsonville, a few miles inland from the coast.
On our way out of Santa Cruz, I got my first flat tire, which Elliot graciously helped out with. It would be an omen of things to come, though, as over the next week I would become intimately familiar with how to swap them out myself13
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We made it to Watsonville with about 75 miles on the day.
We got a bit of a late start on our way out of Watsonville to Monterey, waiting out some morning rains at the Motel 6 and dealing with more tire issues on my end.
Eventually, though, the rains subsided and we returned to the coast, biking past the Fort Ord Dunes before reaching the beaches of Seaside and Monterey.
Wanting to make the most of Monterey and the coast before our inland detour around Big Sur, we squeezed in the 17-Mile Drive (which is free for bikes) before heading to our hotel in Monterey14
, totaling about 50 miles for the day.
We woke up to some more morning rains in Monterey, so we spent a few hours watching Mexican TV shows in our room at the Days Inn before it dried up outside, eventually rolling out of town and into the Salinas Valley at around 11am. We enjoyed a lovely tailwind, zooming past miles and miles of fields and rolling green hills along the 101, and got 65 miles in before stopping in King City for the night.
We set off from King City at around 9:30am and began a comfortable cruise down the southern half of the Salinas Valley. There was a bit of freeway biking (on an egregiously bumpy shoulder) and I experienced two flat tires (which Elliot once again patiently helped fix). To escape the traffic, we embarked on a brief side trip up to Lake Nacimiento — including what was probably one of the toughest climbs of the entire trip — before rejoining the 101 corridor around Paso Robles15
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As we were biking into Paso Robles, a motocyclist zipped by us; her wallet flew out of her pocket and landed on the ground as she passed. Cooper picked it up and we took a half-hour break on the side of the road to scour LinkedIn, Facebook, and TruePeopleSearch (Riley’s favorite) to try and find her phone number in order to get in touch. Alex was eventually somehow able reach her son (“oh, she’s my mom”), and we Priority Mailed her wallet back to her in Atascadero, where we stopped after 75 miles.
The ocean views finally returned as we climbed out of Atascadero, down a crazy descent through SLO, and into Pismo Beach. Unfortunately, the coastal riding was short-lived as we quickly cut inland to avoid the restricted areas around Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Depending on whom you ask, today may have been the day we officially crossed from NorCal to SoCal as we left SLO County and entered Santa Barbara County16
The Monterey–SLO county line also seems to be a popular choice.Personally, I’d split the difference and say the NorCal–SoCal border is the line connecting SLO and Bakersfield.
× Close— stopping in Santa Maria for the night after about 55 miles.
After a couple of days along the coast and a few days through fields, we continued our Tour de California with a trek through the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley. We stopped in Solvang for the night, where we had a Danish dinner and retired to Svengaard’s Lodge after 43 miles.
Our day began with a climb out of Solvang, then an epic descent to the ocean that got me going fast enough to blow out not only my inner tube, but my entire tire as well. Luckily, Elliot was carrying a spare17
I was honestly pretty doubtful that we’d need it, but very glad we had it — thanks again, Elliot!
× Closeand we changed it in a turnout near Gaviota Beach.
We stopped at UCSB hangout Naan Stop for lunch, and the man behind the counter generously gave us some complimentary rosewater lassis after hearing about our journey.
Afterwards, we enjoyed the excellent coastal bike infrastructure past Santa Barbara, and we finished our longest day by far — a little over 80 miles — in Ventura, where we had pizza with some friendly locals at Fluid State Beer Garden.
We left Ventura at around 9am for our final push to UCLA, about 70 miles.
We experienced some of the most stunning coastal riding of the trip since the Pacifica–Monterey segment back in NorCal — alongside some of the worst bike infrastructure of the entire trip.
Following a brief stop at Nobu Malibu18
The valets were wonderfully helpful; they even moved a car for us so we could lock our bikes to a fence behind a parking spot.
× Close(it was on the way) to see if there were any available seats at the bar (unfortunately, the restaurant was completely packed when we pulled up), we opted to go to Cava in Westwood instead for our post-ride meal.
After nine days and 550 miles, we squeezed ourselves (and our bikes) into my UCLA apartment, very much ready for a lazy, relaxing weekend in LA19
There was some talk about riding on to Tijuana, but with rain in the forecast and most of us pretty spent (except Elliot, who went on another 50-mile bike ride two days later, up Topanga Canyon), we figured some rest was in order.
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While we weren’t able to make it to San Diego directly after our trip from San Francisco, I ended up going on my own20
over Memorial Day weekend, May 25–27, 2024. Since I was by myself, I opted to carry some minimal camping gear — a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, and a camp towel — rather than pay for hotels.
I rolled out from UCLA at 9am, heading down San V to Santa Monica, where I picked up the beach bike path down to Redondo Beach. At Redondo, I turned east and cut across town on Torrance Boulevard to the LA River bike path, which took me down to Long Beach and back to the coast.
Around Newport Beach, instead of sticking to the PCH, I decided to go down the Balboa Peninsula then take the ferry to get back to the mainland, which was a fun little side trip21
On the ferry: there’s this older guy with an e-bike next to me, then me, then these two 20-something OC girls, all seated in a row facing the inside of the ferry.A ferry employee walks by to collect the fare ($2) from the older guy but the man pulls out six singles instead, points over me, and says “I’ll also cover those two young ladies over there.”I look over at him and ask, “what about me?” He pauses for a second, then after another moment says “I’ll cover this young man too” and pulls out two more dollars.
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I went a few more miles down the coast past Newport before stopping at a friend’s place near Crystal Cove for the night, after 75 miles of riding.
Some hectic interstate shoulder riding on the 5 through Camp Pendleton thankfully led to beautiful Pacific views in Oceanside and Encinitas en route to San Elijo State Beach, where I cowboy camped by the sea in the hiker-biker site after 55 miles on the day.
I woke up bright and early at my campsite at San Elijo State Beach and cruised down the coast past Torrey Pines and UCSD to downtown San Diego, where I caught the Coronado ferry and rode the Silver Strand to the border crossing at San Ysidro.
After 45 miles of riding, getting as close to Mexico as I could (I’d unfortunately forgotten my passport, so I couldn’t cross), I took the trolley back up north to a friend’s place in Mira Mesa, where I stayed the night before catching the Amtrak back to LA at Solana Beach the next morning.
Big Sur.
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