Sunday, November 21, 2010

Santa Barbara and Carpinteria

date = 2010-11-12
distance = 55

In the morning we stopped at a bike shop (Bob's Bikes) in Goleta, just
before Santa Barbara. I had noticed one of my tires getting low on air
and when I went to pump it up at the shop it burst. So we fixed our
first flat of the trip.

The bike shop staff member gave us some good advice about bike routes
and shopping so we ignored the book and followed some of Santa Barbara's
bike routes. Taking his suggestion we stopped at the Isla Vista food
co-op to stock up on groceries and ate lunch there as well. It had a
nice community feel to it. While eating lunch we got talking to a
farmer who seemed to know everyone - the staff, the construction guy and
delivery truck driver.

For the next 20 miles we rode a great bike route mostly separated from
the traffic. And we saw more bikes than we had seen anywhere else. The
route took us through the UCSB campus where there were several massive
bike parking areas that looked like something from Amsterdam or Copenhagen.
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We did a side trip to the historic mission area of Santa Barbara and the
quaint (but somewhat upscale) downtown shopping area.

That night we camped at Carpinteria State Beach. They only allow bikers
to camp one night and we wanted to take a day off there so we paid full
price for a regular camping spot for the second night.

We spent our day off catching up on emails in a coffee shop, doing
laundry, sitting on the beach and drinking great beer at a strange
micro-brewery bar.

Note to users of the "Bicycling the Pacific Coast": The book suggests a
bike path between Refugio and El Capitan beaches. The bike path is
closed and blocked by gates in a middle section. You can get your bike
around the gates but it requires dismounting and lifting your bike.

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