A Gift From Mother Nature to Cyclists - Riding The Big Sur With No Cars

Well after 5 years of drought Mother Nature gave us a rainy winter.  It rained and it rained and it rained.  It ended the drought but it took a toll on the roads all over the San Francisco Bay area.  One area that took a big hit was the Big Sur.  The excessive rain created a huge one mile slide that took out Rt 1 and rendered the Pfeiffer bridge impassable.  This created a section of Big Sur that was cut off to all thru traffic.  The only way to drive into that stretch of hwy 1 is over Nacimiento-Fergusson road.  That's a tortuous 2 hour ride over to hwy 101.  All this means that a 33 mile section of Rt 1 on the Big Sur is now essentially cut off to all but local traffic.

What a gift to all cyclists.

The Pfeiffer bridge will open in late October so time is limited to ride the 33 mile Rt 1 segment without cars.

We were able to do it last week and it was a once in a lifetime treat.

We drove to Pfieffer State park and hiked the trail from there to other side of the Pfeiffer bridge.  The trail is busy with school kids and professionals headed to school or work.  They take busses or have cars on either side to get from home to work or schools. The trail climbs up about 100 vt feet over many stair steps.

Once on the road the ride begins with the full splendor of the Pacific coast in full view.  And a note for all cyclists the ride has no flat sections.  You are either Climbing or descending.  I remember thinking on every downhill as we headed out that I'd have to climb it on my way back.

Here's the profile of the ride - a real saw tooth and over 5,000 ft of climbing.  Many of the climbs are cat 4s.  That's over 18 times up WIllow Springs

Riding along the Big Sur in the solitude of you, your effort and the awesome rugged coast below is truly inspirational.  

Here's the complete ride on Strava.

Here's my pictures from our ride.