A Ride on the Wild Side

A few club members proposed a cycling getaway to Paso Robles—count me in!

My cycling buddy and I were on the same wavelength, both of us able to take just two days off. To make the most of our trip, we headed down one day earlier than the rest of the group. For Monday, I put together a route to see the elephant seals near San Simeon, starting from the coastal town of Cambria.

The challenge of biking north on Highway 1 is ... headwind. We knew the winds would be picking up as the day wore on, but hoped to escape the worst of it by starting early.

Good in theory. Bad in practice, after we effectively lost an hour when I cavalierly headed us east, instead of west toward the coast. [Note to self: You have reliable navigation at your fingertips; use it!]

Into the wind, we headed. Well aware of my cycling buddy's disdain for strong wind, I would pause periodically to get a pulse on whether we should keep going.

She was a trouper today, game to continue—never having seen this colony of elephant seals, she trusted me that it was worth it. [It was.]

A chatty fellow in town for yesterday's Eroica was all-too-happy to educate us about the event. Vintage-bike people are passionate about their machines.

The ever-strengthening winds were now in our favor: without pedaling, I found myself coasting back toward San Simeon at 18 mph! Hoping to grab a bite to eat at Sebastian's General Store, we turned off near Hearst Memorial Beach—and found the building gutted, in the process of a major renovation.

It was bittersweet to ride down that avenue of eucalyptus trees, recalling the finish line for so many Hearst Castle Challenge rides for Best Buddies. The “barn” where we'd gathered to collect our bags and get massages is now a fancy wine-tasting place, its patio private with no access for a view of the beach. I had always expected that I would keep doing that ride—maybe scaling down from the full century to the metric, as I got older; but seeing these changes drove home a reality that those events are now just memories. Great memories, certainly; but new editions will not be minted. Maybe it's not just that the pandemic, including the closure of Hearst Castle, disrupted the routine.

There were still beautiful vistas to behold as we sailed back toward Cambria. I paused on a bridge to watch the cliff swallows swooping and was surprised by a bonus: turtles! Three were sunning on a rock, and another two were paddling about in the silty water.

I wrapped up our flat-but-challenging 24 miles (less than 700 feet of climbing) at an average speed of 13 mph (courtesy of that tailwind).

Back in Cambria, I decided my lunch should be a slice of olallieberry pie at Linn's, and I was not disappointed. [Fruit. Carbs. Mmm.]

And before heading back to Paso Robles, my cycling buddy introduced me to a place I'd never been—the quirky little hamlet of Harmony. A pretty glorious day, I would say.