Another Adventure – Vancouver, B.C. to the Mexican Border

We are in the final preparation for another long-distance bicycle ride from Vancouver, British Columbia, down the coastline to the Mexican border. This adventure adds to our other epic biking trips, our 2018 Seattle to Savannah and 2021 Canada to Key West. 

Each ride has its challenges, and this ride is no different. Helen, who is driving our Prius as a Support and Gear (SAG) vehicle, will probably log 8,000 miles. For Jay, who rides solo each day, his route of 1,800 miles is shorter than previous rides but is filled with many challenging days ahead. Overall, the route has 100,000 feet of climbing. 
 
We live in Atlanta and are taking advantage of our time on the West Coast to visit family and friends. With our late July start, we will encounter the last of summer vacationers for the first few weeks. We know campgrounds and coastal hotels are pretty much at capacity. We have made a few early reservations, but from past experience, we have found weather and riding conditions restrict our ability to plan too far in advance. We will take things day by day.

The Bike Course

Jay is following the Adventure Cycling Pacific Coast route. He has downloaded electronic versions of the route to his Android phone. However, he has converted that route to a third-party app called Ride with GPS. Unlike Adventure Cycling’s Bicycle Route Navigator app, Ride with GPS provides verbal queues on upcoming turns. Without verbal queues, a moment of inattention will result in a missed turn and a need to backtrack, an experience Jay confesses has occurred more than a few times. 

 

The conversion of the route was supported by downloading a map of the route by another rider who also used the Ride with GPS app. With his paid subscription, Jay was further able to adjust the route. A few detours were needed to avoid road construction and road closures south of Monterey, CA. The mapping and adjustments are tedious, but the time is well spent getting familiar with the course. Understanding the hilly conditions helped with planning daily riding distances. It is not uncommon, for example, to face 2,000 to 3,000 feet of climbing in a 50-mile day ride. 

Future Posts

We hope to upload a new blog post each week. The next time you hear from us, we will be in Vancouver ready to start the ride!