Forty-six years ago in 1975, my friend Marlene & I joined two guys on a bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
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THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Biking from San Francisco to Los Angeles
in Eight Days 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
October 25 - November 1, 1975
(487 miles for the boys, 449 miles for the girls)
Composed by Marlene Ellwood in 1975
Editing & Photos Added by Barbara Levine in January, 2022
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Principal Characters 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
Barbara Ayotte (Levine), engineer & trip editor (front left)
Marlene Ellwood, secretary & trip reporter (front right)
George Kerster, engineer & trip leader (rear right)
Eddie White, engineer (rear left)
🚵♀️ Forward by Barbara Ayotte Levine
Forty-six years ago, in October 1975, when I was 34 and two months before I started dating my husband Stan, George Kerster invited Marlene Ellwood and me to join him on a bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We had biked with George previously on several trips he organized in the early 1970s, but those were two-to-three day trips and for shorter distances each day. Wanting a new adventure, Marlene and I eagerly accepted, and George added Eddie White to the group to fill it out.
Marlene, George and Eddie worked at Hughes Aircraft, where I had worked for a couple of years in the ‘60s, but Marlene and I hadn’t met Eddie before.
We girls did absolutely no bike riding or other exercise to prepare for the trip. Eddie trained for two months by riding around the hills on Palos Verdes Peninsula, and George rode frequently.
Today, at age 80, I ride my electric trike with my husband Stan each week along the beaches in Southern California. We also ride in the mountains at Mammoth or in the desert in Indio when we travel there. Our weekly beach ride is usually 14 miles of flat riding (we drive our bikes to the beach from home), and it takes us about 2 ½ hours. The longest we have ridden in the past several years is 35 miles when we rode to Venice Beach and back to Torrance Beach. That was truly an exhausting day, and there were no hills.
In comparison, on our eight-day ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1975, Marlene and I averaged over 60 miles a day (including four days ranging from 71-78 miles) with elevation changes as large as 1400 feet. But then again, we were younger by 46 years!
The most grueling experience was the fourth day from Big Sur to Cambria when we rode 71 miles in 11 hours, and two-thirds of the day was through the very hilly terrain south of Big Sur with many elevation changes in the hundreds of feet. Marlene and I both tore our Achilles tendons badly that day!
In addition, on two of the days we were riding much of the day in the pouring rain!
George preplanned the trip, including making lodging reservations at each destination. He wanted his wife to know where to reach him each day if necessary (there were no cell phones back then). This had its disadvantage – like the day we arrived in Santa Barbara at dusk and we still had 10 more miles and two hours to pedal across town in the dark to get to the hotel George had reserved.
Looking back, I don’t know how we did it. Those Were the Days!
🚴♀️ Map Notations
On each map, the start of our bike route is indicated in bright green, the waypoints are in orange, and the destination is in red. A chart showing elevation change vs. distance traveled is below each map, with orange dots corresponding to the orange waypoints on the map above it. The trip biography is annotated in the same colors and numbers to correspond to the respective map locations.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Trip Overview 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
Marlene and I finished the trip eight days after we started at our respective homes in Manhattan Beach (Trip Destination), located in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.
🚵♀️ Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Cruz, 76 miles for boys & 38 miles for girls
We left Los Angeles October 25, 1975, on PSA's 7:45 AM flight to San Francisco International Airport (Day 1-Start). After a routine trip, we disembarked and reassembled the bikes just outside the terminal building. This operation took approximately one hour.
Top left: Eddie & George carrying a box with a bike inside from the baggage claim area.
Top right: George & Barbara assembling their un-carted bikes (with help from a bystander).
Bottom left: George & Marlene watching as Eddie finishes assembling his bike.
Bottom right: Barbara on the way out of the airport. (Notice the yellow saddlebags over my rear bike rack that hold my gear for the trip.)
Before we had ridden a mile into our new experience, Barbara had a flat tire (B flat #1). We were not even outside the airport confines at this point. George, of course, had no kind words for sew-ups and Eddie was getting his glimpse of them.
Note: George and Eddie were riding clinchers,* while Barbara and Marlene were riding sew-ups.**
* Clincher tires are the most popular type and were the default setup for most bikes. A clincher tire is constructed with a bead that hooks onto a wheel with a clincher type rim. Inside each tire is an inner tube that you fill with air. When you get a flat tire, you remove your inner tube and replace it with a new one (or easily repair the tube with a patch).
Because clincher tires and tubes are ubiquitous, they are a good choice for many riders. It’s easy to buy new tires and tubes, and maintenance and repair are straightforward. Plus they are a lot cheaper than sew-ups.
** A sew-up tire – also called a tubular tire, tubie or tub – is a combination, one-piece tire/tube. You have to mount a sew-up to a special rim – back in 1975, this was done by gluing the tire to the rim. When you got a flat tire, you had to remove the sew-up tire from the rim and replace it or repair it. Repairing a sew-up takes time, and we weren't equipped to do it on the road.
The primary advantage over a clincher tire is that sew-up wheels and tires are lighter than a clincher, so they are easier to accelerate, are better during climbing, and the ride quality feels smoother than it does for clinchers.
The major disadvantage is the process of replacing sew-up tires if you do get a flat. They can be difficult to remove because they are glued on to the rim. Gluing another sew-up back on can be a mess, and it takes time for the glue to dry.
Another disadvantage is the cost of a new sew-up. Sew-ups cost an average of $13 each in 1975 versus $7 for a clincher, and a new inner tube for a clincher was less than $2.
It was somewhat difficult to get out of San Francisco. We ended up portaging our bikes over a railroad track to get to the street we wanted.
The town of San Bruno (Day 1-1) was difficult to ride through because the road was very narrow and it was heavily traveled. We had people screaming at us to get off the road, etc.
Eight miles into the ride, Marlene had a flat tire (M flat #1). More unkind words regarding sew-ups.
Our destination was Santa Cruz (Day 1-Destination) for the first night's rest. We went via Half Moon Bay (Day 1-2). The weather was super. There were many uphills and downhills and lots of traffic. We saw many golden fields of pumpkins.
Barbara started experiencing trouble with her rear wheel quick release. It was adjusted several times, but the problem could not be located. We ran into a group of bikers who had gone from San Gregorio Beach to Half Moon Bay for lunch and back as their outing for that day. Their SAG (Support and Gear) wagon stopped and offered us some water. It was pretty hilly through there. There was not much traffic anymore.
As we got to the top of the hill off San Gregorio Beach (Day 1-3), after riding 38 miles and with 38 miles to go to reach Santa Cruz (Day 1-Destination), it was discovered that Barbara had a broken skewer on her rear wheel quick release. It was now impossible for her to ride.
Top left: George & Eddie helping Barbara change her first flat tire within the airport confines.
Top right: George & Barbara portaging their bikes over the railroad tracks outside the airport.
Bottom left: Eddie, George & Barbara with a view of San Mateo & the San Francisco Bay from whence we came.
Bottom right: At the top of the hill off San Gregorio Beach where Barbara’s bike broke down.
Barbara and George flagged down a small pickup, and two young college students took Barbara and Marlene into Santa Cruz to look for a bike shop. Barbara shared the back of the pickup with both bikes and an Afghan dog.
The first shop we stopped at sent us to the Bicycle Trip (Day 1-5). It seems the Bicycle Trip has empathy for touring bikers because they have done quite a bit of it themselves and understand their problems. The college boys, Warren and Austin, made sure Barbara and Marlene were in good hands and went on their way.
The quick release was replaced and several adjustments were also made. Barbara also purchased a new sew-up. The Bicycle Trip is a first-class bike shop and is highly recommended.
Then Barbara and Marlene started out in the dark to find the motel (the time had changed the night before back to Pacific Standard Time). George had told the girls to go to the Motel 6. There is no Motel 6 in Santa Cruz, so they decided that the Big 6 Motel (Day 1-End) would suffice. It is a very scuzzy motel and expensive, $18 for a small room with twin beds and dirty. [Big 6 Motel, 335 Riverside Avenue, Santa Cruz.]
George and Eddie showed up around 8:30 PM. They had ridden the last 33 miles in the dark. Eddie remembered vividly the sun setting behind the 33 miles to Santa Cruz sign. The girls were informed that night riding on a bicycle is treacherous.
We then walked to a Szechwan-style Chinese restaurant for dinner, which was approximately two blocks from the motel. The restaurant closes at 10 PM, and we arrived about 9:55. We were going to be refused service, but George asked the waiter to order for us to conserve time, and he agreed. Good food.
🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️ Day 2: Santa Cruz to Monterey, 50 miles
Big 6 Motel, Santa Cruz (Day 2-Start): RAIN! It had been raining since early morning. We had breakfast on the Boardwalk. The boys then spent from 8:00 to 9:15 AM looking for rain gear for the girls. Marlene and Barbara toured the Boardwalk in the rain while the boys were shopping. They bought three sets, because Eddie's gear got torn on the way and Marlene's poncho would not cover her legs. A visor was purchased for Marlene, but Barbara used it and Marlene used her hat. George used Eddie's hooded jacket over his rain suit.
Top right: View from our motel room of the pouring rain.
Top left: Eddie, George & Marlene in their rain gear.
Bottom left: Barbara in her large rain top.
Bottom right: Marlene posing in her new rain gear.
We finally started riding at 10 AM into a hard, steady rain. Our hands and feet got sopping wet immediately, but we never got cold because of the heat being expended from the constant pedaling. The biggest problem was that everyone got soaked underneath the rain gear from perspiration, and we didn't dare remove our rain gear and allow the cold air to hit us in our wet clothes. We also discovered that the only waterproof saddlebags in the group were George's.
Barbara had another flat (B flat #2) in the rain just prior to reaching Moss Landing (Day 2-1). Just as the flat was changed, a man in a Datsun pickup stopped and offered us some assistance.
We went into Castroville (Day 2-2), the Artichoke Capital of the country, for lunch. Naturally, we had artichokes. Very good. A couple in the restaurant thought we were shark fishermen. It must have been our stylish, bright yellow rain suits.
After lunch, it was decided that we should backtrack to Preston Road (Day 2-3) to avoid the Highway 1 freeway. A Road Closed sign was in evidence plus some barricades. George inquired at a corner liquor store regarding the condition of the road and he was told they thought it was paved through. So, on we went.
We noticed some mud as we started on the road, which was slimy and sticky. We rode for a short distance. Barbara was leading – then we came to some more mud and she came to a sudden stop. The sight was ludicrous. There was so much mud in her wheels that they would no longer turn.
Top left: George & Eddie helping Barbara change another flat tire beside a busy freeway in the rain prior to Moss Landing.
Top right: Barbara after her bike wheels became engulfed in mud on Preston Road near Castroville.
Bottom: George carrying his bike on Preston Road after the wheels stopped turning because of the mud.
We finally decided we could not get through on Preston Road and that we would have to turn back. But the first thing that had to be done was to clean the bikes. So back to Castroville (Day 2-4) we went to the local 24-Cents Do-It-Yourself car wash, where we hosed the bikes as well as our shoes and rain gear.
We took Highway 1 from Castroville to the Ft. Ord Bike Path (Day 2-5) to which we were directed by a policeman. George took off his ripped rain pants on Seascape Road (Day 2-6) and repaired them with masking tape.
The rain stopped by 3 PM, but we kept the rain gear on to keep warm. George took off his rain pants for the second time on the bike path – the rain had restarted after he had taken them off the first time. We finished the ride in the dark. Somehow, George's front derailleur had become stuck between gears and he had to finish the day riding in low gear.
We stayed at the Monterey Peninsula Motel (Day 2-End). Super. The cost was $14.50 and the room was equipped with a stove and refrigerator. It looked like a palace compared to the motel the night before.
The motel also had a laundromat available, which we eagerly took advantage of, considering our muddy experience that day. George and Barbara took care of the laundry detail and had to use bleach because there was no soap available. George was in his warmups and Barbara in her rain pants so that all clothes could be washed. The remaining mud was removed from the bikes.
Barbara noticed she had a bulge in a tire. We walked to the Round Table for pizza. OK.
🚴♂️ Day 3: Monterey to Big Sur, 35 miles
Monterey Peninsula Inn, (Day 3-Start): Sunshine! The dawning of a beautiful day. The motel furnished coffee, juice, toast, donuts, etc.
George found two broken spokes on the freewheel side. A man at the motel offered George a 10" crescent wrench; the man also got the freewheel off – George was not strong enough to do it himself. George changed three spokes because one spoke nipple would not turn. He tried to fix the derailleur, but the shaft was bent inside. Barbara and Marlene changed the bulging tire (B flat #3) themselves while George was changing spokes.
Our first stop that morning (8:30 AM) was a hardware store for some oil to quiet all the bikes, which were now squeaking as a result of the ordeal the day before in the car wash.
The next stop was the Aquarian Bicycle Shop (Day 3-1), which we found closed at 9 AM after we had made a special trip to find it at the recommendation of the Bicycle Trip.
We continued on Highway 1 to Carmel instead of taking the bypass along part of the 17 Mile Drive.
While we were in Carmel, George stopped at a bike shop (Day 3-2) to purchase spokes and a derailleur ($9.08). The rest of us went to the Safeway (Day 3-3) and bought some goodies for lunch.
A hotdog bike rider had passed us near the Safeway while George was in the bike shop and did not acknowledge our existence. We passed him later on a hill and he looked ill. George asked him if he was OK – it turned out he was just resting.
Fantastic weather – clear, sunny, beautiful scenery, and a nice tail wind made the pedaling much easier. There was no need to use the HALT dog spray on a Doberman who was supposed to exist in Carmel Highlands (Day 3-4). Lots of hills and a nice downhill ride. Barbara had no rear brake at the time, but this was not discovered until much later at the next motel.
We had lunch beside the road behind a hedge to shield us from the wind. Marlene, the official trip photographer, changed her film in a giant mailbox.
Top right: Marlene by the Monterey city limit sign as we biked out of town.
Top left: View of Carmel Bay on our ride through Carmel.
Bottom right: Barbara, George & Eddie dining in the dirt. Marlene’s giant mailbox is at Eddie’s elbow.
Bottom left: George, Marlene & Barbara at the entrance sign to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. {The park is named after John Pfeiffer, who lived in a cabin on the property beginning in 1884.}
We continued on to Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur. We got rooms in the park at the Big Sur Lodge (Day 3-End) for $19 (shown at the red dot in the topographic photo below). They were very large and clean, but there was no TV.
Topographic photo showing the Big Sur Lodge (red drop) and surrounding terrain. The trails we hiked to Pfeiffer Falls (blue drop on the upper right) and Valley View (upper center blue drop) can be seen, as well as the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park sign (green dot) at the entrance to the park.
We arrived early enough (2:30 or 3:00 PM) to go out and enjoy the park. George's daily maintenance chores were interrupted as he was replacing his derailleur so he could hike with us. He had ridden a 5-speed all day because he could not shift.
We hiked to Pfeiffer Falls (shown at the upper right blue dot above), which were pretty. We also hiked to Valley View (shown at the blue dot in the middle above), from where we could see to the ocean. Barbara led the hike, with Marlene bitching all the way because of bad memories of having climbed Mt. Whitney on August 1st and discovering hiking is not her thing.
Upper left: Eddie, Barbara, George & Marlene stopping to rest on the ride to Big Sur.
Upper right: Eddie, Barbara & Marlene at Pfeiffer Falls.
Lower right: Eddie, Barbara, George & Marlene at Valley View.
Lower left: A deer in the front yard of the Big Sur Lodge.
After the hike, George went back to repairing his bike. While the others sat around watching George, two deer walked through the front yard and then ran off into the brush where they were joined by several others. We watched the deer gamboling for quite some time as they stirred up quite a fuss, probably knowing full well that there were no hunters around. Also, there were no bucks to be seen amongst the group.
George then inspected Barbara's bike to search for the cause of a noise, and that was when the defective rear brake was discovered. The cause of the noise was not located.
While George was still playing mechanic, Barbara and Marlene went to the lodge to buy soft drinks. Barbara succumbed to temptation and bought an expensive turquoise ring, using most of her remaining cash. The rest of her trip would have to be done mostly via plastic cards.
We decide to go back to Fernwood (Day 3-5) on foot for dinner – a distance of about one mile. Highway 1 was pitch black and narrow, and we remembered that there is little pavement to the right of the white line that is painted on the side of the road. There were many stars in evidence, but no moon could be seen. Barbara and Marlene carried their leg lights with them and turned them on each time a car approached. The dinner at Fernwood was very good.
On our return trip, as a car drove by, we heard a CRACK! Eddie claimed it was a .22 rifle shot. Barbara, Marlene and Eddie all smelled the gunpowder. The remaining walk was frustrating for all. Whenever we saw a car approaching, we all jumped to the side of the road and cringed, fearing that same idiot might return.
When we returned, we reported the incident to the gatekeeper at the Park and also to two policemen who were in the lodge. They questioned Eddie as to whether it could have been a firecracker. It seems they had been having some of that in the area. Eddie said in his opinion, it had definitely been a shot fired from a .22 rifle.
We went to the girls' cabin and played poker (6-card stud) for raisins. George won as he always does when playing poker, and Marlene lost as is her wont.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️ Day 4: Big Sur to Cambria, 71 miles
Big Sur (Day 4-Start): We got up at 5:30 AM. It was still dark. We ate juice, cheese and bread in George and Eddie's room. We were on the road at 6:30. There was frost on the roofs.
We hit Ventana Hill (Day 4-1) just after leaving the park. We warmed up immediately. George and Eddie stopped once on the hill to rest; Marlene stopped three times and Barbara stopped approximately ten times. The hill was overrated – everyone rode up the hill – nobody walked their bike up. George and Eddie could have ridden to the top without stopping, but decided to rest because they thought they were one-half way when in actuality they were near the crest.
Forty-six miles were all up and down – very difficult. The last two hills in Monterey County were much worse than Ventana Hill, but we rode them all. We stopped frequently, but did not walk.
We stopped in Lucia (Day 4-2) for breakfast which is 25 miles from Big Sur. The food was excellent.
Marlene is now using mainly her left leg to pump because her right leg is in much pain from a sore Achilles tendon.
The weather along this stretch was very clear. The sun was shining brightly and the scenery in this area is always outstanding. There was no traffic until about 10 AM. We noticed many out-of-state cars and quite a few honeymooner cars.
Barbara got hit in the face by a Monarch butterfly – luckily her mouth was not open!
Eddie did not think the hills were miserable. Of course, Eddie had been training for this ride for two months. George and Eddie waited 30 minutes for Barbara and Marlene to show up, during which time George took a nap. They were waiting at the San Luis Obispo County Line sign (Day 4-3) posed for a picture, but Marlene just whizzed by. That particular portion of the ride was downhill and she didn't want to waste it.
Top left: Marlene in front of the sign to Ragged Point where we stopped for lunch.
Bottom: George waiting patiently for Marlene & Barbara to catch up.
Top right: Barbara, Eddie & Marlene in front of the sign at the city limits of Cambria, our destination for the day.
We stopped for lunch at Ragged Point (Day 4-4) at 2:50 PM. Then it was 25 miles of relatively flat riding (only one small climb) to Cambria (Day 4-End). Very fast riding - approximately 2-1/4 hours. We arrived in Cambria at 5:30 PM.
We stayed at the Cambria Palms Motel [2662 Main Street, Cambria] in the last two rooms they had available. It was an OK place - nothing spectacular. It was a 71-mile, 11-hour day! According to the boys, the girls did OK - better than expected.
George and Barbara got a half-pint of Seagram’s VO to polish off the tortuous day, while Eddie showered and Marlene had her coke.
After George showered, we went to dinner at the Grey Fox Inn. Marlene was still bitching about her leg – in fact, she had difficulty walking to dinner. {Barbara adds: My ankles were so swollen and painful, and both Marlene and I could barely hobble the couple of blocks to the restaurant and back.} Excellent food and highly recommended. It was expensive, but gourmet dining and worth every penny. They had San Martin Moscato Di Canelli by Charles Krug by the glass, which is somewhat hard to come by – in fact, nearly impossible to obtain – so Barbara had three glasses and enjoyed every drop. The Grey Fox Inn looks like an old house which has been converted, and it is about a block off the main drag. We were the only customers after another table had been vacated.
It was very cold walking back to the motel. We stopped at the market to buy some juice and cheese. There were no customers there, and the girl at the counter said the town closes up at 6 PM.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Day 5: Cambria to Santa Maria, 78 miles 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
Cambria Palms Motel, Cambria (Day 5-Start): We were up at 5 AM in the dark – Barbara claims it was 4:45. {Barbara adds: My ankles were even more swollen than the night before, and I didn’t think I could get my shoes on, let alone lace them up.} We had breakfast in George and Eddie's room at 5:30 of juice, cheese and bread.
We were on the road at 6:15 AM – it was still too dark at 6. It was extremely cold, and we could barely pedal as a result. Barbara had no gloves so we had to stop often. Even with the gloves, everyone else had to stop frequently because it was so miserably cold. We could barely move, let alone pedal a bike.
We rode 16 miles and had a second breakfast in Cayucos (Day 5-1) at 8 AM. After breakfast, we returned to the bikes and found Barbara's tire flat (B flat #4). The flat was replaced with a worn spare of Marlene's that had a slow leak. The bike shop in Cayucos did not open until 10 AM, so we decided to continue on.
Upper left: George & Barbara starting out in the cold – notice Barbara’s exhaling breath.
Upper right: Barbara riding early in the morning.
Lower right: Barbara, Marlene & Eddie beside a busy highway with a narrow shoulder.
Lower left: Barbara riding on a wider road shoulder on a busy freeway.
We traveled on the freeway part of the way, and a policeman stopped us just as we were getting off the freeway in Morro Bay (Day 5-2). He didn't give us a ticket, but he did tell us not to travel on any roadway that had a freeway sign – unless there was specifically a sign showing bikes were allowed when no alternate route was easily available. He also advised us to call the Highway Patrol for a detailed map made specifically for cyclists showing alternate routes. He gave us instructions on how to get to an alternate route from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo (Day 5-3/4), which saved us a few miles.
Our fourth stop at a bike shop was in San Luis Obispo (Day 5-5). Barbara bought two more sew-ups and Marlene bought one. We were informed that sew-ups were supposed to age for approximately two years – so the rubber could get hard enough that they would deflect glass much easier. The man said to oil Barbara's freewheel to stop the noise – that seemed to work, so Marlene's freewheel was oiled also.
On the way out of town, we stopped at a very scuzzy cafe and had lunch. The hamburgers were very good as they usually are in those kinds of places. We left there at 2:45 PM with 40 miles yet to ride. Barbara was having doubts as to whether she could make it or not. She was now being bothered by a very painful Achilles tendon. The girls were probably suffering these symptoms because they did not do any training whatsoever for this trip.
The route to Guadalupe is a very narrow, miserable road with no shoulder, many curves and hills, and a plethora of produce trucks who move for no man. We arrived in Guadalupe (Day 5-7) at 5:05 PM and discovered that we only had eight miles to go. The road from Guadalupe to Santa Maria had a good shoulder, so the many produce trucks were not intimidating.
We reached the outskirts of Santa Maria at 5:45 PM in the dark. We finally reached the Motel 6 (Day 5-End) at 6 PM. [Motel 6, 839 E. Main Street, Santa Maria.] The rooms were adequate and only cost $11.61. TV was 50 cents extra and was black and white. Eddie showered and immediately crashed and burned. He did not go to dinner with us, nor did he partake of the hors d'oeuvres which consisted of bourbon and 7, coke, peanuts, apples and cinnamon rolls.
The three of us had dinner at Boy's Restaurant and then returned to the motel where we watched TV for a while.
🚴♀️ 🚴♂️ Day 6: Santa Maria to Santa Barbara, 76 miles 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
Motel 6, Santa Maria (Day 6-Start): We were up for breakfast at 6:45 AM. As we walked to the restaurant, the rain began. It just poured while we ate.
Upper left: George & Eddie checking maps in the rain while Barbara watches.
Upper right: Marlene & George in front of a freeway sign that shows 9 miles to our next stop in Los Alamos and 67 more miles to pedal to our destination of Santa Barbara.
Lower right: Eddie, Barbara & George in front of the old Union Hotel in Los Alamos.
Lower left: At the top of the hill with a long, wild ride down for six miles to Refugio Beach (the longest downhill of the trip).
The Highway Patrol was finally contacted by phone, after trying several times the night before and three times that morning. They said they had maps of alternate roads, so on with the rain gear to find the Highway Patrol.
We voted not to ride through San Marcos Pass. The map showed Highway 1 or an alternate along Highway 1. We took the alternate through Los Alamos (Day 6-1). We paused long enough to take a picture of an old (early 1800's) building (the Union Hotel, lower right photo above). We were still in our rain gear as we were experiencing light rain off and on.
We rode on to Buellton and had lunch at Pea Soup Andersen’s Restaurant (Day 6-2), of course. It was a very good lunch. George capitulated to Barbara and Marlene and said they could sit for 15 minutes to digest their food – he would go and take a nap. As Barbara and Marlene got up from the table, George could be seen wending his way through the crowd, coming back to get them. Their time was up.
George's rear wheel broke - it was out of line soon after Buellton. He could not straighten the rear wheel and had to remove the rear brake cable (release brake). George rode up a two-mile hill and caught up with the group. Then we rode a wild 6 miles downhill (lower left photo above). It was the longest downhill of the trip. George didn't let go because of no rear brake. We ended up along the ocean at Refugio State Beach (Day 6-3). There was an extremely strong wind from the north – it actually blew us up some of the hills.
George left the group and forged ahead so that he could find a bike shop before they closed for the day. George met a USB student who told him to go to the Bike 'n Hike shop in Goleta (Day 6-5). George opened it up (biked hard) and arrived at the B&H at 4:45 PM. The owner gave George $1 and asked him to buy them both some coffee. The owner worked on the wheel until 6 PM, including changing some more spokes. George happened to step out of the shop as the rest of the group was pedaling by. While at the shop, George thought Marlene should buy a new front derailleur and cable.
Before catching up with George at the bike shop, the rest of us had gotten off the freeway at the Hollister off-ramp (Day 6-4). Barbara stopped halfway up the off-ramp to check the freeway and make sure that Marlene, the taillight of the group, would see that they had gotten off. Well, Eddie (who was not far behind Barbara at this point) looked down to check his map, and when he looked up again, he saw Barbara just as he collided with her and her bike. He did a beautiful somersault roll into the ice plant. Then Eddie hurt his ankle when he started up the hill – evidently because he was in the wrong gear.
When we got to the top of the hill, we stopped at the gas station for a break, to which Eddie objected by saying he'd rather rest at the motel. But the girls told him that because they were weak and puny, they had to stop more often. We tried to call the motel from there, but the gas station phone was out of order – so we rode two more miles and called again. That's where the group was coming from – we had just crossed the street – when George popped out of the bike shop.
Barbara had been taking Tylenol all day to assuage the pain in her leg and make the ride possible.
We arrived at the Pacific Park Motel (Day 6-End) at 8 PM – some ten miles from the bike shop. [Pacific Park Motel, 122 W. Cabrillo Boulevard, Santa Barbara.] George put the new cable and the derailleur on Marlene's bike while watching The French Connection on TV.
We dined at the Espana (a Castagnola restaurant) – without Eddie once more. He claimed he was going to finish watching the movie, but he crashed and burned again. Barbara and Marlene bet George to this effect and won the bet – 25 cents each. Males are the stronger sex - right?
It had been decided that George and Eddie would go on alone the next morning and make Manhattan Beach in one day. The girls refused to be whipped any longer. They were not interested in riding a 100-mile day. They just wanted to take their time and enjoy the remainder of the trip – and besides, they didn’t have to be at work until Monday, a whole 3 days away.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Girls’ Day 7: Santa Barbara to Ventura, 30 miles
Pacific Park Motel, Santa Barbara (Day 7-Start): We were awakened at 6:30 AM by the manager who thought he was doing us a favor playing alarm clock. He felt badly when he was told that we had changed our minds and were sleeping in.
We got up at approximately 7:00 AM. We took our time getting ourselves together and left the motel about 8:30. We rode a couple of blocks to the Santa Barbara Inn (Day 7-1) for a leisurely breakfast in their restaurant, which is on the third floor and overlooks the beach. Good food at comparable prices to anywhere and a very pleasant atmosphere.
Upper left: Marlene outside our motel room in Santa Barbara.
Upper right: Barbara & Marlene enjoying a leisurely breakfast in Santa Barbara without the boys.
Lower left: The campground on the way out of Carpinteria where Barbara led us astray.
Lower right: Riding along the freeway again. Marlene by the sign showing 16 miles to Ventura, our final destination for the day.
We finally got started at 9:45 AM. The map that George left with us to help us find our way home only went to Carpinteria (Day 7-2), which is ten miles out of Santa Barbara! Barbara, the new tour leader, was going to show us a scenic coastal route out of Carpinteria, and we ended up in a campground. Marlene had to ask the Parks and Recreation guy that was cleaning the men's john how to get out. We had to backtrack a bit.
Marlene noticed a bulge in her tire, but decided to wait for it to blow – which it did on the freeway out of Carpinteria (M flat #2, Day 7-3). We changed it and started out again. A mile later, that tire went flat (M flat #3, Day 7-4) – and it was brand new – so we had to change it.
Our next mistake was when we almost got on the road to Ojai (Day 7-5). Barbara looked at another map and discovered we would be going inland.
We got off the freeway in Ventura. We stopped in a small cafe at the outskirts of town and had lunch – a cheeseburger and a Coke again.
After lunch, we hunted for a bike shop to buy tires. We found a Foster Freeze (Day 7-6) instead, and we each ate a strawberry sundae while sitting on the curb.
We bought two more tires at a bike shop in Ventura (Day 7-7). Total flats for the trip: four for Barbara and three for Marlene. We spent more money for tires than we would have spent for gas had we driven a car!
We decided to stop and visit some friends of Marlene's in Ventura (Day 7 – End). We found them at home. They didn't recognize Marlene because of all the dirt. We decided to stay there for the night after they invited us – so our total mileage for that day was a whopping 30 miles! It was a very slow, relaxed 30 miles without the Gestapo behind us with the whip!
We kicked back, ate a lazy dinner and watched TV. Marlene's friends were slightly worried that their drains would become clogged after we each took a shower and washed our hair.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Girls’ Day 8: Ventura to Manhattan Beach, 71 miles
Friends’ home, Ventura (Day 8-Start): We got up at 6:15 AM and ate breakfast. We were on the road at 7:20. We rode to Highway 101 (Day 8-1) where a Bicycles Prohibited sign was in evidence. It served as a deterrent for a while, but when we tried to find an alternate route and couldn't, we decided to chance it and travel on the freeway.
Marlene & Barbara ready to set out on our last long 71-mile bike ride from Marlene's friends' house trailer in Ventura to home. I only have this one photo for our last grueling day – we must have been too busy pedaling those final 11 hours to take more!
We finally spotted an alternate route (Highway 1, Day 8-2) just as Barbara saw a motorcycle officer on the other side of the freeway – she was afraid he would either return or radio ahead to the Highway Patrol. The alternate route took us alongside the Point Mugu U.S. Naval Air Station (Day 8-3).
We stopped just north of Zuma Beach (Day 8-4) and watched pelicans dive for fish.
We rode on to Malibu. When we saw Pepperdine University (Day 8-5), we almost kissed the ground. We had been expecting to see it over every rise for about ten miles. Those ten miles were very hilly.
We called our friends Barbara and Larry Broekemeier (who owned a house on the sand in Malibu) and told them to meet us at the Malibu Pharmacy (Day 8-6) for lunch. Barbara B. could not believe we had just pedaled in from San Francisco. She knew George had been planning a trip, but she had no idea we were along. They wanted us to look at their triplex which was under construction on Malibu Canyon Road, but we refused to backtrack one step on our bikes – so they drove us over and back.
Off again through Malibu. The traffic from Malibu to the Santa Monica bikeway (Day 8-7) along Pacific Coast Highway was the worst of the entire trip.
Marlene got patted on her behind by a fast biker just south of Malibu. She screamed because she didn't know what had happened until she saw him pedal by. Barbara was laughing so hard she almost fell off her bike.
Our last stop was in Venice for a fruit and ice cream crepe at the Sea and Shore (Day 8-8), located right on the strand. Delicious and expensive. There were many characters as usual on Venice Beach. We saw a man (?) with white, shoulder-length hair, mustache and long beard – he was wearing a ladies' knee-length skirt and a ladies' blouse with padding underneath. Very strange.
The sun was setting as we were going through Marina del Rey (Day 8-9). We arrived at the Manhattan Beach pier (Day 8-10) at 5:45 PM. Another eleven-hour day! Barbara adds: And at the Manhattan Beach pier, we still had to pedal uphill from the beach for a mile to our respective homes! (Manhattan Beach, Day 8–End of Trip)
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Notes 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
• George should carry freewheel remover.
• George acquired bike boxes from United Airlines, which United charged for. The trip was postponed for a week, so George returned to United and got his money back – including the money paid for the boxes – but he didn’t return the boxes. The trip was then booked on PSA. We used United's boxes, and we turned them inside out so the PSA labels didn’t show.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Other Bike Trips with George 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
• March 1973: Round-trip bike ride between Monterey & Carmel through Pebble Beach with Barbara & Bill Rutgers and the Hughes Aircraft biking group including Marlene, Larry & Barbara Broekemeier, Ken Beall, Jim Cloud, Roy Blanchard, and George Kerster. Spent one evening with Barbara's brother Frank who was stationed nearby at Fort Ord.
• May 1974: Two-day bike trip in Calaveras County in Northern California. Stopped at the Jumping Frog Contest of Calaveras County at the Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, [2465 Gunclub Rd, Angels Camp, CA 95222] – northeast of San Francisco, near Tuolome.
The Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee features the famous jumping frog competition, inspired by Mark Twain's story: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras, and takes place over 4 days on the third weekend in May. It is also the longest running county fair in California.
• November 1974, Wine Country Safari: Marlene & Barbara ‘crashed’ the 'boys' two-day bike ride through Napa & Sonoma Valleys. George had organized the trip for 4 guys (George, Jim Cloud, Ken Beall and Chuck Tonies). Unbeknownst to the other guys, Chuck invited Marlene and me to join the ride. Ken & Jim didn’t want any photos taken of themselves and us girls, because their ‘other halves’ thought they were going on a ‘guys-only’ bike trip.
🚵♀️ 🚴♀️ Postscript 🚵🏻♂️ 🚴♂️
George Kerster passed away in 2016 – Marlene and I attended his memorial service. Neither Marlene nor I has seen or heard of Eddie White since the bike ride in 1975.
George was a little older than I, but I don’t know his birth date. He was married, and lived in Manhattan Beach (as did Marlene and myself). Marlene and I knew his wife Carol. Carol must not have enjoyed bike riding, since she was never on any of the bike trips we took.
As far as I know, Eddie was single, as were Marlene and myself at that time. I don’t remember where Eddie lived, but it was somewhere in the South Bay.
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