The Valencia Street Bike Lane Project is really pretty much done. They got rid of the ugly silly center lane earlier in March and repaved that part of the road with fresh blacktop. The bike lane now zig zags around parklets. Cars have to park further into the street (I like it how now car folks need to watch out for the bikes when walking to the sidewalk – the narrative is flipped). Also, there is plenty of space for cars to drop off people. This is the plan that I thought would work best a few years back. It is like how the bike lane was implemented originally at 14th Street. Bravo!
With the advent of the Great Highway closure and Sunset Dunes Park at the beach, San Francisco is becoming a fine bicycle town.
Cars are still getting use to the bike lane. This driver thought that green zone means that is where you park.Valencia at 22ndValencia at 21st. As bicyclists we are use to going around stuff.
Valencia Street Bike Lane looking south at 22nd Street
Valencia Street Bike Lane looking north at 22nd Street
“The Henry Miller” is a bike trip that I did solo in late April and early May of 2025. I had always wanted to do this ride and get down to the Henry Miller Library along Highway 1, past Big Sur. The trip was encouraged along by a website page https://www.bestcoastbiking.com/san-francisco-to-big-sur. This website has the maps and itinerary. I followed the maps more of less but instead of Big Basin Redwoods State Park on the first night I stopped by my friend’s place in Boulder Creek. Julie, the sister of a high school buddy and her husband Al were great to get to know and hang out with. Thanks for the awesome dinner!
“The language of society is conformity; the language of the individual is freedom. Life will continue to be hell as long as the people who make up the world shut their eyes to reality. Switching from one ideology to another is a useless game. Each and every one of us is unique, and must be recognized as such. The least we can say about ourselves is that we are American, or French, or whatever the case may be. We are first of all human beings, different one from another, obliged to live together, to stew in the same pot.” – Henry Miller from “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”
Some of the riding highlights are the first day’s climb out of Woodside up the Old Honda Road. This is 2000 feet straight up an old wagon trail through the redwoods. More bikers than cars do this maniacally climb. Once you reach Skyline Blvd you take a sip of water and have to climb another thousand feet. Light traffic and a good route when the coast is fogged in. Very wild with many nature preserves.
Old La Honda Road
The traffic from Boulder Creek to Santa Cruz is a bit nasty no matter what route you go. Highway 9 for a lot of it with a few backroad detours. Once in Santa Cruz the bike paths are many.
New Brighton State Park in Capitola south of Santa Cruz is a very good park for both bikes and campers. Killer bike camp spot. There are some premier ocean-side camp sites on top of the hill. Would some day be nice to reserve that for car camping.
New Brighton State Park
Biking through the farms of Watsonville is fun as you are definitely in farm land. It is interesting to see where the food comes from and take in the climate. Acres and acres of strawberries that go on forever as far as the eye can see. A lot of lettuce and broccoli this time of year. People hard at work picking and farming. One lettuce-picking crew far from the main road flew a huge Mexican flag and were blasting mariachi music out of a converted school bus.
When you hit Moss Landing there is about 10 miles of dreadful highway shoulder riding which is never fun. The highways in this part of Monterey County are pretty bad. Two lane roads where they need four. Traffic gets backed up with people just trying to get to work. It would be brilliant if there was a dedicated bike path all the way from Santa Cruz to Monterey.
In Monterrey I camped in a spot the bestcoastbiking.com recommended, Veteran’s Park which is up a hill from the wharf. It worked out fine but next time I would get a hotel.
Day three headed down the coast. Checked out Carmel Mission Basilica, started up by Captain Gaspar de Portola and Franciscan Father Junípero Serra. Portola and Serra are the names of streets, schools and shopping malls throughout California. Serra spent most of his life in pain from probably an infected insect bite. Thank science for modern medicine and antibiotics.
Carmel Mission Basilica
It is fun to be around a classic place like Carmel Mission Basilica, where the bones have a presence and seem to talk though the floor boards. Cool paintings like Leon Trousset’s 1887 Father Juniper Serra’s First Mass. Everything looks so orderly. The ship in the harbor. Native Indians looking on in the shadows. I then rode down Highway 1 to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park with strong tail winds. The further you rode, the less the cars.
Leon Trousset’s 1887 Father Juniper Serra’s First Mass
Day four had a fun ride to the The Henry Miller Memorial Library and hung out with the locals while the foot traffic rolled in, stopped for five minutes then got back in their cars and moved on. In our family are a few Henry Miller classics, one, a signed version of the banned “Tropic of Cancer.” The book was printed in Mexico to avoid the authorities. The books where definitely my father’s. Henry Miller was a great writer and thinker and lived an amazing life. One of the inspirations for the ride is that Henry Miller liked to ride bicycles. He did not care for cars. In his late fifties he moved to Big Sur.
“After a time, habituated to so many hours a day on my bike, I became less and less interested in my friends. My wheel had now become my one and only friend. I could rely on it, which is more than I could say about my buddies.” – Henry Miller from “My Bike and Other Friends”
Julia Pfeiffer State Park (let’s just call it Julia) is an 11 mile ride down the coast from the other Pfeiffer Park. At one time there were many Pfeiffer’s down this way and according to the bulletins the women obviously kept things together. Ranching and massive honey farms. Julia has great trails and waterfalls where the fallen redwoods wrap around other redwoods by streams in an obscene orgy of interactions. Much to explore.
Big Sur
On a Monday morning I left early and headed north. The traffic was light. There were clear skies and no wind. To Carmel, then along the coast to Monterey. Up a coast bikeway that runs along the beach, golf courses and opulent ocean mansions and then over to the scrappy Salinas Amtrak Station. The northbound Coast Starlight leaves every day at six-thirteen pm. I caught the train right on time.
The Gear
Pedestrian bridge over 280 by Crystal Springs Reservoir.
Old La Honda Road
New Brighton State Park
Steinbeck photo in a restaurant in Monterey
Monterey golfers
Watsonville area. On top of the hill is an old Victorian house.
Carmel Mission Basilica
Carmel Mission Basilica
Carmel Mission Basilica
Carmel Mission Basilica
Carmel Mission Basilica
Leon Trousset’s 1887 Father Juniper Serra’s First Mass
Leon Trousset’s 1887 Father Juniper Serra’s First Mass. This is perhaps my favorite photo of the trip.
Big Sur
Big Sur coastline with blooming purple Echium candicans, the Pride of Madeira
Photos of opening day at the new park on the Upper Great Highway at Ocean Beach. They call it Sunset Dunes. People will probably always call it “OB.” It is great how they got things in motion so quickly. So many great ideas! Skate park, public art, open pianos, great spots to view the waves at Noriega Street.
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Sunset Dunes Park – Ocean Beach in San Francisco
Ocean Beach view from the Cliff House in San Francisco
Except for an occasional freak warm day or two, San Francisco is usually pretty chilly in the summer months. In the morning, in many neighborhoods we wake up to the marine layer, otherwise known as fog. Sometime around lunch it can push back out to the ocean for a few hours, only to return in the early evening. Rarely do you get a glorious sunset. Various more inland and protected neighborhoods, like The Mission and Potrero Hill can go for days without ever seeing this fog. So around July I like to get out of town and travel to warmer climes.
The Goin’ to Madtown 300
In 2024 I once again did the bicycle ride from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin an activity now called “bike packing.” I have chronicled this trip before.
This was my fourth year doing the ride. One of the main differences in 2024 was the fact that the Mississippi River and other rivers were running very high. Entire campgrounds were flooded which made for some fun improvisatory sleeping arrangements. Thanks to Sarah and Dan at the Humble Moon in Stockholm for their hospitality. Indeed, in the hinterlands of the country it takes people consciously committing to community no matter the histories or differences to build community. People and music over Packer games.
Goin’ to Madtown 300
The Great River Road – Highway 35
The Great River Road – Highway 35
The Humble Moon
The Great River Road – Highway 35
The Great River Road – Highway 35
The Great River Road – Highway 35
Trempealeau Hotel
By Onalaska
By Onalaska
Goin’ to Madtown 300
Paul Lyons on the road
Sparta Trail
The Trempealeau Hotel is still awesome with delicious food, great beers and friendly people. Come to think of it – no televisions in that place too. I had a few nights when it rained but my Nemo Hornet OSMO Ultralight 2P Tent worked great. Big shout out to La Mexicana restaurant in Sauk City that had some delicious lemonade and tacos that made me feel like I was still in San Francisco. The ride from Sauk City to Madison is actually pretty nice. I like to go through Marxville. One of the roads was closed and being resurfaced but that did not stop this bicycle.
Madison to Columbus Amtrak by Bike
This year I took a little different route to the Amtrak Station in Columbus Wisconsin. It is about a 40 mile ride and you can get out of Madison on mostly trails. Also, the best way into Columbus is weave your way on the farm roads like Marshall Road – a really sweet ride. As always before you get on the train cool off with a swim at the Columbus Aquatic Center. The Empire Builder heading west leaves Columbus Wisconsin at 5:55PM daily.
East Glacier to West Glacier
Riding a bike from East Glacier to West Glacier is very fun. Sure there are some climbs but the open spaces and amazing views make it all worthwhile. Last year I documented the ride.
I reunited with some friends that I met last year and made some new ones. At one point, at a campground I ran into Ernest and Jack from Switzerland. They were riding across the entire United States at a pace of about 80 miles per day. They were pretty hard core about it all, wearing red, white and blue jerseys emblazoned with a flag of the United States and some lettering “America Tour 2024” in hopes of being received congenially during their ride. I suspect they are either spies on a mission of discovery or players in an upcoming Netflix series. Later on my ride in Glacier I camped with an interesting Czech fellow who has biked in over ninety countries. I shared my dinner of pasta primavera – all the food I had left. Below is the recipe. It was delicious after a day of riding the Going to The Sun road.
Glacier Zucchini Delight
1 zucchini
12 cloves of garlic – entire garlic bulb
1/2 bag of elbow macaroni
olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper
Directions
Cook up macaroni al dente and set aside
Chop up zucchini, garlic and basil and sauté in olive oil
Combine ingredients
Add more olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
On Amtrak in Montana. The skies are always amazing.
Two Medicine Grill in East Glacier
Glacier National Park headed to Two Medicine Lake
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park in St. Mary’s where I was caught in a downpour that flooded the campground. The river’s rising. Time to move to higher ground.
Glacier National Park – The Garden Wall
Glacier National Park – The Garden Wall
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park
The Empire Builder is Amtrak’s northern train through the west. It is good to reserve space for your bike ($20) beforehand however many agents at Amtrak are not very knowledgeable about bikes on trains.
If you are going through Portland on the Empire Builder you have to ride to Whitefish (you cannot get your bike on in West Glacier) and put your bike in a box (Amtrak provided for $10). It is possible to to get your bike on the train in West Glacier but you have to go through Seattle. This year I rode an extra thirty miles to Whitefish where I put my bike in a box. Whitefish was nice with very good lake swimming, breweries and a farmers market. There are probably more interesting bike routes than the one I took as I was advised to ride Highway 2 and I improvised some of the side roads to get away from the cars and trucks.
The Amtrak trains in the summer of 2024 are being delayed because of the heat and speed restrictions but I made my connection in Portland on the Coast Starlight. Amtrak comes through again!
“In November 2022, San Francisco voters reaffirmed the previous legislation, making the new JFK Promenade a permanent car-free route enjoyed by a wide range of visitors. Along the route, visitors can enjoy art installations, public pianos, rest stops and enhanced entrances featuring seating and lawn games, and live music.” JFK Promenade
One of the beautiful things that happened during the COVID 19 pandemic was the creation of slow-streets. Entire blocks where closed to through-traffic cars. San Francisco got outside and walked down the middle of streets. Kids learned how to ride bikes. Roller skaters searched out the best blacktop and did their thing. It was and is a beautiful thing.
After a lot of tussle, local propositions and screaming and hollering, JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park is a permanent car-free route. Ride your bike. Go for a stroll. Play a game of ping pong. Take in the various interesting sculptures. It is great to have this large drive free of cars. It helps to makes San Francisco a great city. It is one of those places to rejuvenate your soul.