Checking in from Morro Bay. After resting up in San Francisco we have been feeling good physically. Our last day in SF turned into a game of who could visit and connect with shops in one day. The stakes were that the loser would have to set their PR the following day. Of course, I beat Brooks' ass by waking up at 6 am and planning my route, not to mention the fact I could cover more ground quicker. I tried to give him the shops that were closer together (aka downtown) but most of them ended up being tourist rental shops.
Brooks set the tone for the push south from San Francisco, not only setting his PR the following day, but setting it again the following day (34 miles) and another massive 30 plus mile day after that. It was truly epic to witness and support. These have been long days and Joshua and I have been stoked to be a part of it.
During these past 4 days I've taken it relatively easy, riding 141 miles, 68 of which were down the Big Sur coast today. We're working well as a team, creating some awesome video and photography, and navigated a second major roadblock, the closure of Big Sur due to a landslide.
We had heard about the closure and decided that we would need to go inland, whether it be by foot or leg power. But without a feasible cycle route and 125+ miles of hot, shade less highway running, we had to figure out how we were going to approach the situation. We ended up coming to a good compromise and have covered the same amount of miles that we would have had we gone down the 101 from Salinas to SLO.
Here's how we did it, in case you're curious.
Moss Landing to SLO is 142 miles. We decided as long as we make up the miles we drive we wouldn't be leaving our integrity behind.
We slept in the harbor parking lot at Moss Landing. I went south towards Monterrey 27 miles and Brooks and Joshua drove to a small town called Cooper, 6 miles away. Brooks wanted the heat, so he ran directly on the side of the 101 out of Salinas to the town of Soledad, 30 miles. We then drove from Soledad to SLO, had dinner and found a campsite.
The next morning we drove up the coast to where the Big Sur highway is closed because of "Paul's landslide." We got the story from a few locals that because California experienced a ton of rainfall this past winter the coastline has experienced major erosion. This happened in January and was such a large landslide that the crews who started working on it had to stop because the entire area was unstable. There is no estimated re-opening date.
Back on the iconic Big Sur coast, with less than a typical number of cars we shot some epic footage and I rode 68 miles to Morro Bay. Brooks ran 16 miles and we got another huge uplift with Lauren showing up and taking us to a BOMB Mexican restaurant called "Lolo's" - her nickname. Our server Angel took care of us with never ending chips and house made salsa.
For what it's worth, it's been hard to avoid noticing the synchronicity on this tour. The previous day in Santa Cruz I had an impromptu stop at a shop called, "Vibes Up." I shared a few samples of earthy and without asking, the manager walked me over to the corner of the store and gave me a gift, a little sticky pad with crushed gemstones and essential oils meant to raise the vibrational frequency of whatever you place on top of it. We're either living in a simulation or the power of subliminal messaging is just that strong… I got to the car and saw the name of the product was, "earth energy squishy." I almost sh*t my pants.
When you zoom out in google maps it looks like we're getting close to the end of our journey (the border of Mexico) but we're still ~200 miles north of LA. Our bodies are feeling the miles add up but mentally we're as stoked as the day we started the trip.
A few observations:
- Mother Nature always wins. It doesn't matter how structurally sound and well-built the road though Big Sur is, eventually land slides and the road must be re-built.
- Grassroots, one great customer at a time is the only way to launch a brand without a massive budget.
- The power of story. Storytelling has been a key part of the human experience since before written history. The story we tell, as we're living it, is less sales pitch and more story, which brings down t. Next week we'll be circling back with the proper sales pitch for these shop owners and buying managers ;)