My Next Big Bike Ride: The Pacific Coast Route

Previewing the Pacific Coast Ride

Three years ago, I rode my bike across the country—from from San Francisco to Yorktown, Virginia. That ride was the adventure of a lifetime.

Not long after I finished, I promised myself I’d take on another big ride while I’m still healthy and in good enough shape. The next trip on my bucket list: riding the Pacific Coast. This post provides an overview of the route and my plans.

Note: I’ve mapped the full route using the RideWithGPS app. If you’d like a copy of the route, send me an email—or leave a comment below if you don’t have my address.

Route Overview

Just like my cross-country trip, I’ll be following a route developed by the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA). They do a great job designing bike-friendly routes, and I recommend checking out their route network here.

The official ACA route begins in Vancouver, British Columbia. To avoid the hassle of a border crossing, I’ll start just inside the U.S.—somewhere north of Seattle. I’ll figure out the exact starting point once we arrive in early September.

Washington State (Map 1)

The route through Washington will skip Seattle and instead cut through the San Juan Islands and down the eastern side of the Olympic Peninsula. Chris will be driving support in a car (more on that plan in a future post).

I plan to take about a week to reach the Columbia River, which forms the border between Washington and Oregon. A ferry will take us across to the Oregon side and the town of Astoria, where the route turns sharply toward the coast.

Map 1: Route through Washington

Oregon Coast (Map 2)

From Astoria, I head south along the stunning Oregon coastline. About 30 miles in, we’ll take a rest day in Cannon Beach—famous for its beauty and not just because it shares my name.

We’ll then continue south, stopping in small towns like Pacific City, Newport, Florence, Bandon, and Gold Beach. It should take just under a week to reach the California border.

Map 2: Route down the Oregon Coast

Northern California (Map 3)

We’ll take another rest day in Trinidad, right in the heart of Redwood Country. Chris used to cover this area when she was a sales rep for Kodak, but I’ve never seen it—I’m excited to explore it by bike.

From there, we ride south toward San Francisco, where I’ll cross the Golden Gate Bridge (for the second time—last time was with the kids 15 years ago). Then the route follows the coast again, heading down to Santa Cruz.

Map 3: Route through Northern California

Central & Southern California (Map 4)

From Santa Cruz, I ride around Monterey Bay to Carmel-by-the-Sea (yep, that’s its full name now). That’s where you’ll see “Salinas” on the map.

We’ll take another rest day there, and for good reason: Carmel holds a lot of history for us. Chris and I met 40 years ago in the Bay Area while working in sales for Kodak, and we had several dates in this area. I even proposed to her on one of them. We honeymooned in Big Sur, which happens to be our next stop on the trip.

From Big Sur, I’ll ride for about a week down to Los Angeles, then continue along the coast to San Diego and Imperial Beach, right at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Map 4: Route through Southern California

A Few Final Thoughts

That’s the plan—at least for now.

We also hope to meet up with some friends along the way, and maybe even ride a few miles with them. Of course, as Mike Tyson (and military planners) once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” In other words, we’ll adapt as needed. That said, as I mentioned in my previous post, this ride is on a pretty tight schedule. I have appointments and hotel reservations along the way, and I plan to keep them.

If you’re curious to see how it all unfolds, follow along. You can subscribe to get email updates on each new blog post by scrolling to the bottom of the home page and signing up. I’ll likely post updates every 2–3 days, including trip details, photos, and reflections.

Thanks for reading. The next adventure starts soon!