Jeff Bikes: San Luis Obispo to Santa Maria

San Luis Obispo - Santa Maria
47 Miles

Stopped for a geocache at the Long-Bonetti Ranch and they headed on out of town towards Pismo Beach. Got a little turned around at the very last instruction on Adventure Cycling's map 51 (Exit on San Luis Bay Road) and the very first instruction on map 52 (Continue on Ontario Road), compounded by a distraction stopping to help a couple of Cal Poly students change a flat tire on one of their bikes. They had replaced the tube and were trying to pump it up, but it wasn't holding air. Turns out the brand new tube they put on the bike had a hole in it (probably not a brand new tube!). I helped them take it off, patch it and put it back together, got back on my bike, rode to the next intersection and followed San Luis Bay Road, which was a right turn. Turns out I should have ridden straight on which would have taken me to Ontario Road. Fortunately both roads intersected the same cross street (Avila Beach Road) and turning left eventually brought me back to the intersection of Ontario and Avila Beach and I was back on track. Along the way I noticed a quick movement to my right and turned just in time to see a wild turkey trotting away from the side of the road and into the underbrush. That was pretty cool.

Before long I was pulling into the beach towns, Shell Beach, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach and Oceano. I didn't stop to explore as I was running behind schedule (when am I not?) and was just trying to put some miles on the bike. And I have to say that while this is obviously a very lovely area (and very wealthy area too, by the looks of it) I didn't enjoy the ride here much. Most likely it's because I've been very spoiled lately in terms of incredible scenery, but I think part of it was that much of the route seems to go along what seemed to be back-roads...industrial areas, a lot of closed businesses, back lots, etc. There also seemed to be a lot of RV and mobile home parks in the area past Pismo Beach. Clearly this is a very popular area but the route wasn't showing me its best face and I didn't want to take the time to go off route and explore.

Just past Oceano there is a loop that detours around a small stretch of Route 1. I have no idea why; however, at the point where the detour started, Route 1 was looking very narrow. It was a pleasant enough ride with a nice little climb in the middle and then a nice descent back down to join Route 1. There is a small market and a designer burrito shop at the intersection. Then it was back on the road for a long stretch to Guadalupe.

Along the way to Guadalupe everything gets very agricultural while Route 1 gets narrower and less-well maintained, which would be fine were it not for the high volume and speed of the traffic. Between Guadalupe and Orcutt it just got worse, and I was getting about as nervous as I'd been on the trip so far. The shoulder varied from a foot or so wide of asphalt (often several feet of packed dirt, but often not) to bits where the white line was at the very edge of the asphalt. It was also very windy and there were a lot of semi's and huge agricultural vehicles. There were places where there was simply no room for me if two semi's were passing each other, so I spent a good deal of time with my ear tuned to the traffic and was riding off the road whenever I heard any substantial truck noise, and everything was OK. I was also traveling this stretch in late afternoon/early evening, so I think there was a higher volume than there would be earlier in the day...so maybe plan to hit this area in the early afternoon.

Despite my nervousness about the traffic, this was a fun area to bike through. Huge fields of food in all stages of growth, heavy trucks leaving fields of pickers full of produce. Being a guy who sits at a computer all day for a living, this is a more tangible sort of work going on all around me.

As I was approaching Orcutt I pulled out the smart phone and got directions to Auntie Sharon's house, and was there in just a few minutes, walking in to find lots of friendly faces and a fabulous spaghetti dinner. Good times!