Pacific Coast Ride by Glenn Medina July 2025
I retired after 34 years as a land surveyor with Caltrans on December 30, 2024. About five years before retiring, I dreamed up a crazy idea: to bike‑ride the entire California coast from north to south during the summer of my first year of retirement. I knew I didn’t want to do it self‑supported, which would have meant hauling heavy saddle bags, a tent, and a sleeping bag. So I persuaded my wife, Kathy, and my son, Zack, to come along and stay nearby each day with the car in case I needed support.
And I did it!
We drove all day Monday, July 7, 2025, to a hotel on the PCH, three miles south of the Oregon–California state line. The next morning, I started at 7:09 AM, rode to the state line, took photos at both signs, and then began my long bike journey.
Day 1 (July 8): Eureka — 105 miles, 5,761 feet of climbing, 10 hours 27 minutes, 6,437 calories burned. Day 2: Eureka to Myers Flat — 98 miles, 8,900 feet of climbing, 11 hours 57 minutes, 6,554 calories burned. This was my hardest physical day but also my favorite because of the epic scenery, including the Lost Coast and riding through a redwood forest late in the day on the Avenue of the Giants. Day 3: Myers Flat to Fort Bragg — 87 miles, 6,891 feet of climbing, 9 hours 48 minutes, 5,452 calories burned. Day 4: Fort Bragg to Walsh Landing — 93 miles, 6,317 feet of climbing, 9 hours 16 minutes, 5,688 calories burned. Day 5: Walsh Landing to Stinson Beach — 75 miles, 6,172 feet of climbing, 8 hours 49 minutes, 4,760 calories burned. Day 6: Stinson Beach to Half Moon Bay — 56 miles, 4,580 feet of climbing, 9 hours 6 minutes (long delay due to mechanical problems), 3,611 calories burned.
As I began crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, my right shifter cable snapped, locking the chain in a hard gear with no ability to shift. I called Kathy for a bike swap. She was over an hour away in heavy Sunday traffic, but I was incredibly grateful I had packed a backup bike. That decision kept my journey on schedule.
Day 7: Half Moon Bay to Monterey — 84 miles, 4,446 feet of climbing, 8 hours 9 minutes, 4,929 calories burned. On this day, awesome Kathy took the broken bike to a shop in Santa Cruz while I continued riding, and they replaced the shifter cable. What a great support team.
The next day, July 15, was a much‑needed rest day in Monterey — and Zack’s birthday! At this point, I had ridden 599 miles with 43,067 feet of climbing.
Day 8 (July 16): Monterey to the north end of the Highway 1 closure — 74 miles, 5,203 feet of climbing, 7 hours 51 minutes, 4,523 calories burned. Seven miles of Highway 1 were closed due to a massive landslide from winter storms two years earlier. This was a remote area with no cell signal. The night before, I told Kathy to meet me at the road closure at 3:00 PM, my ETA. Without any communication that day, she arrived three minutes after me. Incredible timing.
We then had to drive four hours around the closure to reach the next hotel so I could resume riding. We stayed in a cabin 13 miles south of the south end of the closure, overlooking the Pacific Ocean — our favorite lodging of the entire trip. The next morning, Kathy drove me back to the closure so I wouldn’t have to double back. Again, amazing support.
Day 9: South end of the closure to Pismo Beach — 100 miles, 5,105 feet of climbing, 10 hours 7 minutes, 5,893 calories burned. Day 10: Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara — 90 miles, 3,730 feet of climbing, 8 hours 2 minutes, 4,979 calories burned. Day 11: Santa Barbara to Malibu — 95 miles, 2,523 feet of climbing, 8 hours 58 minutes, 5,192 calories burned.
A special bonus on Day 11: my good friends Danelle and her husband, Ross, met me south of Santa Barbara at 10:00 AM and rode 50 miles with me on the PCH. They drove an hour from home just to join me. Much fun.
Day 12: Malibu to San Clemente — 93 miles, 3,547 feet of climbing, 10 hours 34 minutes, 5,139 calories burned. This was my hardest mental day. Navigation glitches delayed me and added eight extra miles and 1,000 extra feet of climbing. I was only 2.5 miles from my hotel in San Clemente, but I was exhausted, hungry, and frustrated — and I still had a long, steep hill to climb to get back on course. It turned dark, and it was the one day I didn’t bring my headlight. So I called Kathy for a rescue, and she picked me up at the San Clemente Pier.
Because of that mental beating, I decided to take an unplanned rest day on July 21. Both bikes needed attention, and all three of us needed rest. Our daughter lives nearby, so it also gave us extra time with her.
That rest day, I secured a visitor pass for Camp Pendleton so I could ride through the base the next morning and avoid I‑5. It was worth the 45‑minute wait in line, even though it took less time to ride the nine miles across the base.
Day 13 (Tuesday, July 22): San Clemente to Imperial Beach, south of San Diego — 83 miles, 3,182 feet of climbing, 8 hours 18 minutes, 4,704 calories burned. I originally planned to go a few miles farther south to where the Mexican border meets the ocean, but Google Maps street views looked sketchy and Kathy was nervous about driving there. So I proclaimed the Imperial Beach Pier “good enough!”
TOTALS: • 1,134 miles • 66,357 feet of climbing • 121 hours 22 minutes total time (including stops) • 93 hours 38 minutes moving time • 67,861 calories burned
Averages per ride day: • 87 miles • 5,104 feet of climbing • 5,220 calories burned
Bonus: Because of the calories I burned each day, I had to eat a lot — practically a medical requirement. The real reason I ride: food! I love seafood, and I ate fresh coastal seafood every day, sometimes for both lunch and dinner.
A cycling vacation dream came true. It was epic, scenic, and filled with lifetime memories. I could not — and would not — have done it without the incredible support from Kathy and Zack.
I took 177 photos during the rides, which is a lot for me. Here are two of them: one at the start on Day 1 and one at the end of the long journey.
