Bicycle log update: August 16-27

Posted by Keith Pezzoli on August 28, 2010 at 05:51 AM

Making our way down the coast

Well into the Journey now. Highlights include the ride into the Sierra Nevada foothills and the coastal route along Highway 1 in California. The Sierra Nevada foothills are as beautiful as they are problematic. Many social and ecological problems—but many solutions in the works too. As time permits, we will eventually find a way to share the powerful stories we’ve had the honor to hear about and witness in action, including:

CHIPS, the sustainable forestery initiative headed by a team of tribal workers and others
Blue Mountain Coalition for Youth and Families
Paloma Community Gardens
Moke Hill and efforts to keep rural cultural heritage alive
Fiddletown and progressive ruralism (Kerry Williams)
The Ridge (a homestead off the grid where the folks involved are redefining the meaning and practice of a community-based self-reliance)

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On the move now, so I don’t have the time to report on what it was like cycling down Highway 1 along the coast (about 200 miles, passing Big Sur along the way). Hiram joined me on this leg of the Journey. Once we arrived in San Luis Obispo, Professor Mike Boswell showed us what the city is doing to make the roads bike friendly. I added a new concept to my vocabulary: “road diet” (eliminiating lanes from a highway to make room for a bike path). We were also treated to an extensive tour, led by Jeff Pienack (Chair of the SLO chapter of the Surfrider Foundation) of the Monterrey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. During this tour we captured video of tens of thousands of birds swirling together in a feeding phenonoman that blackened the sky with their collective swarming mass. The birds were flying in a looping pattern extending a mile or more in length, 200 feet across, and several layers of birds deep. They were flying just a few feet above the ocean.

Bicycle Log: Journey of the Global ARC 2010

75 miles (Aug. 19): Sacramento, CA to Jackson, CA (Sierra Nevada Foothills—the Ridge, West Point)
59 miles (Aug. 24): Gilroy, CA to Carmel, CA
55 miles (Aug. 25): Carmel, CA to Limekiln, CA (2 miles south of Lucia on Highway 1)
83 miles (Aug. 26): Limekiln, CA to San Luis Obisbo, CA
5 miles (Aug. 27): Bike around SLO with Professor Mike Boswell

Some photos: