The plan was to ride from my home in Victoria BC to California for a solid 40+hr training camp to finish off the base miles for the year and test out some new TNF gear. I was stoked to be heading out on an early spring bike tour although the weather had my nerves a little jittery. My brother Dustin, had just driven up from California and was warning me about poor weather down the coast and showed me a couple forecasts calling for snow/rain showers. I was on the fence about the whole trip. I figure though if your already up on the fence you might as well get over it. There is a reason you got up there in the first place and pulling the pin last second is way to easy to do when the nerves and emotions are high. It is the #1 killer of wicked adventures. For this reason I no longer listen to last minute doubts as they are not legit. As my bro dropped me off at the ferry the sun was shining and my spirits high, although I did have to make a blind spot in my vision so I didn’t see the dark cloud looming over the Juan de Fuca strait.
Landing in Port Angeles I cruised through customs, hooked the old Bob trailer up to my Kona Red Zone and started down the Olympic discovery trail to Sequim. The trailer was overloaded with camping gear and proper training food as I knew I had to keep the nutrition high if I was to gain proper racing form from this sort of adventure. From there it was onto the 101S down the west arm of the puget sound to Potlatch State Park. It was a cruisy 145 km, with one solid rain shower but overall a great day to start the ride south. During the night, rain came in hard and thoroughly tested out my new North Face Kings Canyon tent. 
Day 2 was not a stellar day for being outdoors, let alone for a long bike ride. I road into a rainy headwind for 6 hrs and headed southwest across Washington state to the hamlet of Bay Center, the clam and oyster capital of the states. Mid-way through the day, drenched and chilled I had a moment of silence to question my sanity. Pushing on for another 2 hrs I arrived at the Mcdonalds in Raymond, and sat down and had a longer moment of silence. I needed to average close to 170km a day over 6 days to get to Cali in time for a pickup from Dave and the Kona wagon and I was only at 120km after 6hrs on this day. Pushing on I had 2 hrs of daylight left to get to Bay Centre which was just over 35 km away, shorter if I took a shortcut. I took the shortcut, which turned into a hilly gravel logging road. It really tested my carbon racing machine but I didn’t have time to slow down and feel sorry for it. Reaching the KOA at Bay centre just before dark was sweet. Even better was the washer and dryer machine on site which meant I’d have fresh riding clothes for at least two more days…
Day 3 started out rad as a huge tailwind pushed me almost to Astoria Oregon, a flat tire slowed the day down but pretty soon I found myself heading across an epic bridge into the oldest settlement in America west of the rockies. In Astoria it was stock up time at Fred Meyers and then off down the Oregon coast. The highway was sweet to ride on, big shoulders, respectful traffic, and some amazing scenery along the coast. There were a couple big climbs that slowed the pace down a bit as 60 lb Bob trailer acts like a giant anvil when you try to pull it uphills. Rolling into Tillamook for the night put an end to a solid 175 km day. This called for a bonfire celebration before hitting the sleeping bag hard.
Days 4 I killed it for 5 hrs, hit a grocery store in Waldport to deal with a minor bonk and then continued on another 1hr to a sweet Orgeon state campsite along the ocean. The state campsites were awesome as they offered $5 biker rates with hot showers and good infrastructure. They are set up all over the place and make it easy to plan your trip around so you always end up at one.
Day 5 was a good day for storm watching, I wanted the full experience so road right into the eye of it. I awoke on my bike to a 30 km/hr headwind with heavy rain drops blowing into my face. This was also the day the highway was super exposed as it snaked along some cliff bands near the town of Yachats. This made for some 14km/hr riding and at one point the fog was so thick I couldn’t see further then 30 ft ahead. Sketchy! I passed one big english bike rider on the side of the road wiping tears from his eyes. I wanted to cry too but my Mom and Dad had taken my Bro and I on some epic horseback trips in the Rockies when we were young. This paled in comparison to some of the snowy days out there in the middle of the mountains freezing our buts off on horseback. So I kept on going at 14 km/hr until I finally cracked, bought a bag of M&M’s and then continued on. Eventually the rain went away and the riding went from very poor to alright and I ended up 170 km down the highway at the Bandon beach campsite. Here I met up with Mark, a young dude from Portland who was on a lengthy tour of the states. He was hard as nails as he had just done the same ride as me but without a proper rain jacket and on a sketchy bike. Hardcore.
Day 6 made up for the day before as the sun came out and the wind was at our backs as Mark and I cruised south along a very picturesque highway to the Seaside town of Brookings, just 9 km short of California. It was tempting to push on but I had a sore knee and the campsite at Brookings was at an unreal setting along the ocean which provided a great base for some evening relaxation.
Waking up at the crack of dawn on day 7 I was off to Crescent City California. Dave road out and met me for the final 50 km into town where he and Matt had a hotel room waiting for a quick shower and the Kona Rig all decked out and ready to head to Santa Rosa for some racing on the weekend. It was rad meeting up with the guys, grabbing some Denny’s and then cruising through the Redwoods down to meet up with the rest of the Kona crew at Roger Bartlets house.
After a huge team dinner it was bike maintenance time to get the road bikes ready for a 80 mile grasshopper road race. The race was on a great course as we road up ridges along the ocean, down dirt roads and up some steep climbs. Unfortunately the courses are unmarked due to legal reasons and I missed a turn, lost the lead group and never got back on. I did chase for 1.5 hrs, and was 1-2 minutes behind the lead group for the duration of the chase. It was a great work out. In the end I would get lost again at an intersection, wait for another rider to show up and then cruised in for 10th on the day.
The day after, was a surprise race as Barry and Kris had plans of doing the Napa valley dirt classic and I was invited along.. Hopping on the new Kona King Kahuna hard tail just 30 minutes before the start of the race was better then x-mas. These new race bikes are under 20 lbs and ultra awesome. The race was ultra hard, I dangled off the lead 4 for the first 20 minutes then suffered in for 6th out of 25 or so elites. Nothing to write home about but it was a satisfying end to a stellar 9 day, 1200 km training block.
Sea otter was next up. The racing there was Monkey business although the weekend was a blast with all the great people and new products out on show. The “racing” consisted of a 25 minute short track and 1hr 16 min xc. The field was super strong with Olympic and World champions all over the place. I road like a bike tourer in the short track and was just getting my heart rate above 140 when my race ended. The XC went well for a lumberjack coming off a 42hr training week.
On sunday after “racing” at sea otter I hopped on the red zone and headed south with Max Plaxton, Kris Sneddon and Alex Grant for some coffees in Carmel. Following this I headed further south down the coast on a 220km ride to Morro bay. It was one of those unforgettable blue bird days with the Pacific ocean crashing below. Barry, Spencer and Kris picked me up just before San Luis Obispo and then it was off to Santa Barbara for a week of photo shoots and training. This weekend is the final race of the road trip with the Whisky 50 in Prescott Arizona. After that it will be time for some R&R back in Canada to recover from what has been another great team trip to start the year!
You didn’t saw you RODE to CA! That is awesome!!!!